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Fezz posted:We've lived here for five years and we've never seen it before this week. Maybe a natural predator brought it over and dropped it, or a human, or dog/cat. Maybe it was in the wild/public area near your for years and then it crossed the road and now it’s hanging out in your neighborhood. Maybe you just never saw it and it’s been in the area the whole time. Nature is mysterious and you have been blessed with a tortoise. My point was just that most tortoises aren’t exactly migratory nomadic wonders, you know? IIRC your average small tort’s got a home range of maybe 10 miles max.
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Aug 22, 2021 17:09
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Fezz posted:The turtle wandered around the yard and then left. It comes and goes. Guess we have a new turtle friend who will come and visit. I wish we had “random turtles” in my country. All our cool animals live in the wilds where I would die if I tried to watch them.
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Sep 8, 2021 23:08
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Okay goons, I got a problem. One of my ball python cages is a massive wooden beast that used to belong to a vet's iguana. So the heat sources were never an issue when it came to the lizard reaching them: two bulbs set into the ceiling of the enclosure. But snakes like to stretch up the walls and this is no different. So in the past we built a nice screen box around the heat light. Great. But the snake keeps climbing up and scratching herself on the loving box. I have used various heat tapes to tape off any edges, and after a day or two, the snake shows up with tape on her side, or the water dish, or the glass. I need to find another heat source cover, but all the ones on Amazon are too small; the light base is about 6 inches.
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Sep 11, 2021 14:03
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Cowslips Warren posted:Okay goons, I got a problem. One of my ball python cages is a massive wooden beast that used to belong to a vet's iguana. So the heat sources were never an issue when it came to the lizard reaching them: two bulbs set into the ceiling of the enclosure. But snakes like to stretch up the walls and this is no different. So in the past we built a nice screen box around the heat light. Great. But the snake keeps climbing up and scratching herself on the loving box. I have used various heat tapes to tape off any edges, and after a day or two, the snake shows up with tape on her side, or the water dish, or the glass. Heat lights aren't suitable for ball pythons anyway. Your scratching/tape issues aside, BPs are not baskers, they're nocturnal. They do much better with side or belly heat sources. If that won't work with your cage and you need to stick with overhead heat, you could change out the light fixture for a VE radiant heat panel, which is lightless and much safer for the snake than a screen-enclosed bulb.
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Sep 11, 2021 15:10
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snake and bake posted:Heat lights aren't suitable for ball pythons anyway. Your scratching/tape issues aside, BPs are not baskers, they're nocturnal. They do much better with side or belly heat sources. If that won't work with your cage and you need to stick with overhead heat, you could change out the light fixture for a VE radiant heat panel, which is lightless and much safer for the snake than a screen-enclosed bulb. Is VE a brand? Because doing a search for it is not popping anything up, although I'm still amazed that Amazon sells hot rocks.
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Sep 11, 2021 16:34
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Cowslips Warren posted:Okay goons, I got a problem. One of my ball python cages is a massive wooden beast that used to belong to a vet's iguana. So the heat sources were never an issue when it came to the lizard reaching them: two bulbs set into the ceiling of the enclosure. But snakes like to stretch up the walls and this is no different. So in the past we built a nice screen box around the heat light. Great. But the snake keeps climbing up and scratching herself on the loving box. I have used various heat tapes to tape off any edges, and after a day or two, the snake shows up with tape on her side, or the water dish, or the glass. Could you, if the screen holes are big enough, coat the entire screen with epoxy? Make it all nice and smooth.
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Sep 11, 2021 17:45
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Desert Bus posted:Could you, if the screen holes are big enough, coat the entire screen with epoxy? Make it all nice and smooth. Wouldn't that pretty much melt with the heat source? Is there any epoxy thick enough that would stick on the sides and rims alone without melting long term?
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Sep 11, 2021 18:43
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Cowslips Warren posted:Is VE a brand? Because doing a search for it is not popping anything up, although I'm still amazed that Amazon sells hot rocks. Yeah, the brand is Vivarium Electronics. I've seen them on ReptileBasics but it looks like they're sold out there. And on Amazon, Pangea, and LLLReptile. drat, sorry. Maybe they're having a supply issue, or they've been discontinued.
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Sep 11, 2021 22:07
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Cowslips Warren posted:Wouldn't that pretty much melt with the heat source? Is there any epoxy thick enough that would stick on the sides and rims alone without melting long term? I 100% do just not know.
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Sep 12, 2021 02:26
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 Miri the tegu. I hope to leash train her.
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Sep 26, 2021 23:31
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That is cool! Are tegus chill? I have only had crested geckos as far as reptiles with feet go, and sadly we had to give ours to my sister because the cat is obsessed. I like how she matches your nail polish 
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Oct 1, 2021 23:34
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HungryMedusa posted:That is cool! Are tegus chill? I have only had crested geckos as far as reptiles with feet go, and sadly we had to give ours to my sister because the cat is obsessed. Tegus are like big lizard dogs Like dogs they can be v good and they can be v problematic, and they demand a lot of work to thrive I’d love to have one one day
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Oct 2, 2021 01:15
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Yeah, she's absolutely going to be a lot to work with, but I think getting her young like this will give me the best chance of raising a tegu who isn't too grumpy or nippy. We'll see, though...my other herps love to remind me of their teeth. Weirdly, Daniel Tiger the bull snake -- probably the grumpiest in my lot -- has yet to make me bleed. He does put on a serious show when he doesn't want to be handled, so that's probably part of it.
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Oct 2, 2021 04:32
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my cat is norris posted:Yeah, she's absolutely going to be a lot to work with, but I think getting her young like this will give me the best chance of raising a tegu who isn't too grumpy or nippy. We'll see, though...my other herps love to remind me of their teeth. have you been drawing up plans for an adult enclosure yet?
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Oct 2, 2021 09:14
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Soon! She's going to have an enclosure down stairs where there's a lot more space, but we haven't planned for it yet outside of vague conversation.
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Oct 3, 2021 02:36
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my cat is norris posted:Soon! She's going to have an enclosure down stairs where there's a lot more space, but we haven't planned for it yet outside of vague conversation. build it in the shape of a whimsical little trailer and roll it into the corner of your living room on some turf carpet with kitschy lawn decor items then every feeding time you guys can act out the Egg Man scenes from Pink Flamingos
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Oct 3, 2021 16:09
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 she's so great
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Oct 16, 2021 19:46
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That is a very cute, scaly puppy!
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Oct 17, 2021 05:25
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So, it appears I've been bit enough by our hognose to develop a hyper sensitivity to them. Fun. The instigator (who didn't let go until mouthwash became involved)  30 minutes post bite  Few hours later  The next day  I'm on 2 days post bite and the swelling is greatly reduced. Just my hand now, and no soreness or tenderness at least.
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Oct 18, 2021 22:52
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Oof. Did you try pulling back on the nose? This can sometimes dislodge the little beasts. I'm glad the swelling is doing better... you're definitely more sensitive than I am.  Lady Aberlin sends her regards.
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Oct 18, 2021 23:00
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The reaction was probably worsen by the fact my first response was to get my wife, then stand there and watch how she tried to work her rear fangs into my hand. Wasn't till about 10 minutes I dunked her underwater trying to get her to dislodge. She was dedicated - rather than back off, she tried dragging my hand out of the water ha. Was a pretty strong feeding response even though she ate a few days ago. I tend to not try to remove snakes once they bite. Their jaws are so fragile, and I've had to remove too many gartersnake teeth from doing that in the past. Holding them underwater generally works, and mouthwash has never failed as a last resort. My ms advisor has a story about another herpetologist having to go to the ER to get a gartersnake tooth removed from his eye after it bit him in the face.
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Oct 19, 2021 01:29
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ZarathustraFollower posted:The reaction was probably worsen by the fact my first response was to get my wife, then stand there and watch how she tried to work her rear fangs into my hand. Wasn't till about 10 minutes I dunked her underwater trying to get her to dislodge. She was dedicated - rather than back off, she tried dragging my hand out of the water ha. Was a pretty strong feeding response even though she ate a few days ago. Ow no ow ow no ow And yet how the gently caress? Incredible.
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Oct 19, 2021 01:36
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Chaosfeather posted:Ow no ow ow no ow I think the story went that he was counting labial scales to determine the subspecies and didn't have as good of a grip as he thought. Yeah, not the guys finest hour.
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Oct 19, 2021 01:48
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aquatic turtle keepers, do any of your turts fall asleep on their basks? Like for hours? When the light isn’t on? Is that normal? Should I be concerned?
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Oct 25, 2021 21:20
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HungryMedusa posted:That is cool! Are tegus chill? as long as you keep what they want on the bottom shelves https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fGTSbMyC7Cs Its time to upgrade my leopard gecko's home to a 20 ga enclosure. In his previous, smaller, home I used repti carpet (two pieces I would clean and rotate) with a paper towel liner below. Heat pad and daylight heat light light on timer. In reviewing current thinking many folks shy away from the carpet now, so what do you suggest I use for substrate? Also I'm seeing builds with a thermostat attached to the heat pad--where does the sensor get placed? This is a completely new build although I will keep a few of the dishes and hides. I welcome your thoughts!
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Nov 6, 2021 20:26
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Bilirubin posted:as long as you keep what they want on the bottom shelves personally, I would go with paper towel/butcher paper/contractor’s paper/etc and just forego any other substrate. The latter can look very nice and practically indistinguishable from repti carpet if cut to size, and you can pre-cut a whole pile of it and have it ready to go for easy cage cleaning. If you don’t like how that looks, you could also try some slate/tile/flat stones. Lots of leop keepers really like tiles and they’re hella easy to rinse off. WRT the heat pad, I would really only use it to maintain a hot hide temp that way, and nothing else. I wouldn’t try to heat the whole enclosure. Leops hail from the Pakistani/Nepali/etc desert, so letting their enclosure get down to room temperature at night is hardly a problem for them. It gets much colder in their wild habitat. Plus with desert reptiles, too much heat and humidity where it’s not wanted can lead to all sorts of respiratory and fungal problems. Obviously you’ll want to provide hot/cool + dry/moist hides, ideally one of each.
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Nov 6, 2021 21:47
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Ok Comboomer posted:personally, I would go with paper towel/butcher paper/contractor’s paper/etc and just forego any other substrate. The latter can look very nice and practically indistinguishable from repti carpet if cut to size, and you can pre-cut a whole pile of it and have it ready to go for easy cage cleaning. Thanks! I love the look of the carpet but have noticed him hooking his claws in it from time to time. I'll take a look at some slate options and that contractor's paper because paper towel just doesn't do it. I'm also trolling through photos on reddit for inspiration. Its weird how polarized opinions are on the use of reptisand. I've had this guy for 8 years so far and he's been trucking along but in an enclosure that is smaller than idea. I never thought it was an issue until I put in a hammock for him to climb into and its made him so happy, and now I'm wracked by guilt for keeping him in too small a tank. I use the heating pad only on the hot side, but I've left it on at night. I had also been using a daylight heat lamp also on the hot side on a timer but apparently natural light is apparently fine, especially since he's an albino, so now I'm not sure whether to continue using it in the new set up. There are one warm and one cold hide, plus one humid hide is already in the tank (this latter is critical since I live in a higher altitude, low humidity location), and water and food dishes (where I place the calcium as well). The bigger tank will let me build taller with more things to crawl on, and I'm considering a large enough water dish for him to get into from time to time.
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Nov 7, 2021 00:05
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Bilirubin posted:Thanks! I love the look of the carpet but have noticed him hooking his claws in it from time to time. I'll take a look at some slate options and that contractor's paper because paper towel just doesn't do it. I'm also trolling through photos on reddit for inspiration. Its weird how polarized opinions are on the use of reptisand. I use contractor paper to line my rabbits’ spot. It was like $17 for a big roll at Home Despot. Lots of varieties. Some of them have like resin in them, avoid those. But the one I have is basically like a roll of extra thick unbleached construction paper.
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Nov 7, 2021 00:32
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This is just your friendly yearly reminder that if anyone in the Chicago/NWI area is interested in an Ackie Monitor just lmk. For a Monitor they are surprisingly small and friendly and a friend of mine breeds them.
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Nov 7, 2021 04:11
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Damnit. My mom found one of our box turtles dead today. Cheetah, and we had her for about...30, 35 years? She was our first ever hatchling, and she was on her back somehow in the yard, and died. I don't get it, she could have flipped herself over, there was nothing pinning her there, but gently caress. She was our first ever hatchling; our dog Toby found her in the yard, picked her up (accidentally snipping off the end of her tail) and ran around with her in her mouth until she saw my mom, then ran up and dropped the startled hatchling in her hand. At the time we had a huge problem with birds picking up babies, so Toby saved her. I don't know if we still have her mom or siblings; there was her and two others, and I know at least one of them died some years ago. Hibernation starts up soon, so maybe I can see if Tank is still around, or the mom Tonya. 30 years isn't that old for a turtle. I'm sorry she went the way she did.
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Nov 7, 2021 04:30
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sorry to hear it Cowslips Warren
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Nov 7, 2021 16:57
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I'm sorry for your turtle friend. 
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Nov 7, 2021 18:39
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Actually I was wrong. Tonight I was putting the tortoises away for bed, two box turtles wandered over, and it was cheetah and her sister tank. We've had them for over thirty years, and it's really cool to see both of them kicking still! Their mom died some years ago. So the turtle that we found that had died was probably one of the many unnamed babies that we've had hatched out in the past few decades. And we know for a fact that was cheetah because her tail got nipped off as a baby, and the turtle we found today still has the scar from where the dog picked her up is a hatchling.
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Nov 12, 2021 01:49
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Haha yay, that's great news! My little sand boa (named Sand Baby until something better strikes) was being unusually photogenic this morning.   
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Nov 12, 2021 13:58
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Another moult from my T sabulosus - adult colours really coming through now. She is a good girl and is always hungry.
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Nov 12, 2021 14:51
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She has lovely hair.
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Nov 12, 2021 14:53
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The cutest
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Nov 17, 2021 19:25
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my cat is norris posted:Haha yay, that's great news! That is a nice piece of Cholla, where did you get it? I use it for my aquariums and it's expensive and ordering online you never know wtf you're gonna get.
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Nov 17, 2021 19:55
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Picked it up at the local PetSmart, actually. The decor options there have gotten really nice!
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Nov 18, 2021 09:03
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my cat is norris posted:Picked it up at the local PetSmart, actually. The decor options there have gotten really nice! I have not been in a PetSmart in months since my PetSmart manager friend dropped a 55g tank on her toes and has been not working. I never wanted to learn what the weight of an empty tank could do to a person's foot, and uhhh it's not great. I'll have to go and check stuff out now cause I love some nice Cholla. Thanks for the info!
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Nov 18, 2021 18:40
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