Posted by Sarah on July 14, 2009
I think I’ve always been interested in reptiles and amphibians, although to tell you the truth if i was out walking and a snake I’d never seen before crossed my path I’d be a little nervous.
I loved watching the skinks, lizards, and toads that occasionally made their way to the house when I was younger, but I’d never had one as a pet until I was in college.
While I was in college I got the first of many African Dwarf Frogs, and after I got married we started getting reptiles, starting with the ball pythons, the panther chameleons, and ending with our leopard gecko.
How long have you been interested in reptiles and amphibians?
Do you have any now?
How long have you had them if you do, and are you planning on getting any if you don’t?
Posted by Sarah on June 30, 2009
How are your reptiles doing?
Is anything exciting going on?
Ours are healthy, but they aren’t exciting.
I guess that’s a good thing though – too much excitement would probably mean something bad was going on.
Are you planning on getting, or researching any new reptiles lately?
Planning on going to any of the reptile shows?
Leave a comment and let me know what’s going on in your reptile world.
Posted by Sarah on January 6, 2009
Over the past few weeks I’ve seen several ads saying “I’m willing to take all of your unwanted reptiles” or other animals on community message boards at local stores, and on internet message boards.
While there are a lot of people who are willing to take in unwanted reptiles, and a lot of people who want to get rid of their reptiles, how do you know if the people who are willing to take in “all unwanted reptiles” are going to take proper care of them?
Reptiles have a variety of different temperature and humidity needs and they often need a heat gradient, where one end of the cage is cooler, and the other is warmer.
If you have different species of reptiles then you’re going to need several different cages with different humidity and heat gradients in each, and most reptiles should be kept individually to minimize fighting, and to keep one of the reptiles from eating more of the food while the others don’t get enough.
If someone really is willing to take all unwanted reptiles then they’re going to run out of room pretty quickly, unless they have a huge house, and most of it is devoted to the reptiles and their care.
We have two ball pythons, a leopard gecko, and one chameleon – and their equipment takes up a whole room.
The cages have to be far enough apart so that each one gets the proper heat and humidity levels, and the chameleons have to have a UVB light to make sure they don’t get metabolic bone disease.
New reptiles should be quarantined for 30-90 days in a separate room, using separate equipment before they are moved into the room with your other reptiles to minimize the transfer of diseases and parasites to your other reptiles.
And have you seen the price of crickets and feeder rats and mice lately?
They’re expensive!
Do you really think that someone who’s willing to take all the reptiles that everyone in the city or state doesn’t want is going to be willing to do this?
There may be some who have the knowledge, the equipment, and the time, but I really don’t think all of them are going to be willing and/or able to provide the best care for the reptiles that they get, unless they place limits on the amount and type of reptiles that they take in.
That’s another thing to consider if you happen to come across any reptile adoption agencies.
A few months ago I was trying to find out if there were any reptile adoption agencies in the Fargo/Moorhead area, and although I got a ton of emails from people saying they were willing to take in unwanted reptiles nobody that I talked to actually adopted the animals out – they kept them all.
That may be a rescue, but without restrictions on the number and type of animals that are taken in, it could easily turn into a hoarding situation.
And if you don’t have any procedures to adopt the animals out then it’s not an adoption agency.
The reason that I decided to write this article is because I read a forum post by someone who had “rescued” a bearded dragon and accidentaly ended up with bearded dragon babies.
Now the poster is looking for more free bearded dragons so that she can open up a business selling bearded dragon babies.
Studies have shown that people value things more if they pay for them – that’s why most rescue agencies charge a fee.
They want to make sure that adopters value the pet they adopt, they aren’t just adopting the one that’s the cheapest.
If you have to get rid of your reptiles, or frogs, or dogs, or cats and there isn’t a reputable rescue in the area, don’t give them away unless you know the person that you’re giving them to will take care of your pet properly.
Charge something to make sure that the adopters will value your pet, and make sure they know what the care requirements are for that species, and that they’re willing to give the pet the appropriate care.
I just read an ad where someone said that they would visit the potential adoptors home, to make sure they approved of it.
Although this does sound farfetched, it’s done routinely by most dog and cat rescues, and it’s one way to ensure that your reptile is more likely to go to a good home.
After all, it’s pretty hard to borrow a 55 gallon tank that’s suitable for a bearded dragon, or to borrow a reptile setup just to look good for someone who’s considering giving you a reptile.
If you had to sell your reptiles or any pet what would you do?
What would you look for in a potential adoptor?
Where would you look to find someone who knew about reptiles and their care?
Do you have any experience with selling or buying reptiles from people who had to get rid of them?
Posted by Sarah on December 15, 2008
With the snow and the cold (it’s -20 here according to my backyard thermometer) and the news about the power outages across so many areas I started wondering what we’d do if we had an emergency and had to leave the house because there was no power.
I don’t know what it says about me that I thought about the fish before the reptiles – but in all honesty the reptiles will be a lot easier to move than the fish tanks.
Do you have an emergency plan in place in case you have to leave your house due to a power outage or a natural disaster?
To be honest, I’ve never really thought about it.
The snakes can travel together in a pillowcase, and we’ve got a kritter keeper that is large enough for Tiger, our leopard gecko to stay in for a while in an emergency.
The chameleon’s old baby cages are small enough that we could fit one in the car if we had both of the chameleons in it, but we’d really have to wrap it to make sure no cold got into, and they couldn’t stay in there together for too long.
The foods for the reptiles are a different story completely.
Even if we could find a place that would let us have the dogs and the reptiles they might draw the line at roaches or crickets.
Have you ever thought about what to do with your reptiles or amphibians in an emergency?
Have you made plans? If so leave a comment and tell me about them!
If you’ve got fish check out Do you have an emergency plan for your fish? on the Northern Lights Aquatics Fish Blog.
Posted by Sarah on November 25, 2008
I don’t know how to tell you this.
I really don’t want to tell you this, but I must.
I have roaches.
I thought I was through with them when I left Georgia, but it looks like I wasn’t.
Jeff got tired of the crickets, which admittedly did smell on occasion, and since winter is (supposed to be) coming up, and we can’t order the crickets anymore we were looking at alternatives.
We found someone selling some dubia and discoid roaches in Minneapolis and it was all downhill from there.
We had to go to Minneapolis for a birthday party anyway, so we carpooled down there, and I know I asked Jeff’s mom at least 50 times if she was really going to let him put roaches in her car.
I still can’t believe they let us bring them home.
I wouldn’t have.
Now that the roaches are here they aren’t that bad.
They’re in a rubbermaid container packed with egg cartons, and you can’t hear their creepy little feet skittering over the egg cartons unless you are messing with their cage.
I’m finally getting to the point where I’m not too creeped out to go in the reptile room, where the roaches are staying.
Jeff came in this morning and told me he saw a roach giving birth.
I told him I didn’t want to hear about it.
If you’re curious leave a comment and ask him about it – I’m sure he’d be delighted to share with you.
The chameleons and Tiger seem to like the roaches.
When Jeff brings Sully his roach cup Sully rushes right over to eat it.
He was a lot more ambivilant about the crickets, so Jeff usually left the cricket cup in the cage with Sully.
The only problem (if you don’t count digging around in the roach container to find the right sized roaches as a problem) is that he’s scared to leave the roaches in the cages, so if one of the reptiles isn’t hungry, they don’t get fed right then.
Which is good for me – I don’t want to give the roaches the slightest bit of room to escape.
It was bad enough to find the occasional cricket loose.
I’d freak out if I saw a roach running around the house.
We do have some superworms and mealworms for Tiger, Sully and Skye, so that they can have some variety, and if Jeff leaves me at home and goes off somewhere I’ve already told him I’m not messing with the roaches.
We’re gonna have to get some crickets!
