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learnincurve posted:Food is one thing, you are probably going to have to get a box of whatever live food frogs eat if he’s not bruminating. He is a bull snake! He is very handsome but do not ask him to nuzzle noses.
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Oct 11, 2022 17:58
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learnincurve posted:Food is one thing, you are probably going to have to get a box of whatever live food frogs eat if he’s not bruminating. Yeah,there are flightless fruit flies half an hour away and I currently have enough gas to head that way. Last night, Jack headed to the side of the house that frogs don’t seem to return from. We’ll see if he returns, since I’m still very surprised he’s still hanging around. Thank you for not making look up what frogs do instead of hibernating. Is bruminating based on sunlight or temperature, if you know off the top of your head? If not, I’ll google it.
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Oct 11, 2022 19:59
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Temperature and it’s based on where the frog evolved. Food gets scarce as it gets cold so they shut themselves down till it heats up. Reptiles can be super odd about that - friend had a imported green tree boa and they don’t eat till the rainy season ends and it got sent out during the wet, so when it got to the UK it convinced itself it was still raining and went on a hunger strike. She ended up taking it outside each day till it got the message. E: if you are picturing a small northern woman holding a tiny green snake while pointing at the sky while going “LOOK It’s not raining” you would be correct learnincurve fucked around with this message at 20:49 on Oct 11, 2022 |
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Oct 11, 2022 20:47
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learnincurve posted:Temperature and it’s based on where the frog evolved. Food gets scarce as it gets cold so they shut themselves down till it heats up. That last part seems obvious since that is very likely what I would be doing once I figured it out if I was in the same situation…although the northern England accent makes it more charming.
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Oct 11, 2022 23:00
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I just wanted to share Baby Frank with y'all because it turns out almost everyone I know hates snakes and it's really bumming me out.    He was shy at first and stayed in his hide boxes but now he's always out and about, whether he's feeling active or just chilling. He eats like a champ and just keeps getting fatter and fatter. My heart melts!
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Oct 12, 2022 01:17
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Oh he's gorgeous!
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Oct 12, 2022 01:59
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Awww look at his face markings 🥰
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Oct 12, 2022 08:30
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artsy fartsy posted:I just wanted to share Baby Frank with y'all because it turns out almost everyone I know hates snakes and it's really bumming me out. You came to the right place for adoration of your new babby. Also, Jack is currently in a big Pyrex carafe and I’m going next door to the neighbors garage sale to see if they have anymore sheets of plexiglass like at their last garage sale so I can make a big terrarium for him. I honestly have no clue how he is still alive since he keeps losing sight of prey by trying to watch it with his eyeless side while hunting. Also, I have learned that the petco near me has flightless fruit flies that are not completely flightless.
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Oct 13, 2022 18:24
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It’s feed day and only the young sneks are getting fed. Snooty, snek and f/t mouse go in, snek comes out. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FYH3wpDuSJU And Guenther who is now 5ft has been mournfully staring at me for an hour
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Oct 14, 2022 23:01
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lmao that little peek
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Oct 14, 2022 23:07
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I had my camera in my hand when he started creeping    
learnincurve fucked around with this message at 12:13 on Oct 15, 2022 |
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Oct 15, 2022 12:00
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Oh, my god 
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Oct 16, 2022 12:01
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I was looking for the article I found several months ago, when I first saw Jack, about how the cells for sue formation are by the spine and if they do not receive the correct electric prompt to those cells, then eyes do not form. (I am likely miswording that because I always work from pictures in my head). Anyway, since I am very likely misremembering the wording used in that paper, a different article popped up regarding using the correct biolectric current on ANY tissue on a tadpole causes them to grow eyes wherever they deliver the current https://phys.org/news/2011-12-bioelectric-tadpoles-eyes-tail.html So I made this 
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Oct 19, 2022 23:12
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As you once did for the vacuous Rom, grant us eyes, grant us eyes...
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Oct 20, 2022 21:14
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Jack was sitting on its island, so I grabbed my camera, but then Jack decided it had lost the fruit fly it had been stalking, because the fly was now right under Jack’s chin. So Jack decided it would work better to get an aerial view. At least this picture has a good view of Jack’s foots. Does that thumb shape mean it’s a male? Jack seldom changes their color, so I don’t know if I can tell by the tint on its chin. Also, the metal ring is outside the glass. I’m still working on building a bigger enclosure, but Jack has only tried to escape when I put him in a jar to do a water change and then tried transferring him back. NOW I have a giant syringe to suck out the water for water changes. Jack is fine with that.
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Oct 21, 2022 05:44
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There is a fine tradition in Herpetology of picking the name you’ll like because there is a 50/50 shot of it being right and then just not giving a poo poo when you guessed wrong, or just not bothering to ever find out at all. Most of the snake people I know are well ‘ard convicted criminals now (I’m now on a list of people who will babysit for 12 months, 6 for good behaviour because the shelters won’t*), and “he’s called Delilah” when being shown a 12 foot retic isn’t even something to blink at. *I took the envelope containing hatchling and kept it alive.** I now realise that this was a test. **We bastard/magnatrude is 18 inches long and on small fuzzy
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Oct 21, 2022 08:35
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learnincurve posted:There is a fine tradition in Herpetology of picking the name you’ll like because there is a 50/50 shot of it being right and then just not giving a poo poo when you guessed wrong, or just not bothering to ever find out at all. I figure Jack can become Jacque. But also Jack doesn’t give a poo poo what name I give it or if its name is gendered And I’m not planning on learning how to breed them. Wee bastard and Magnatrude are both fantastic names. I have figured out that you can put fruit flies in the freezer for 5 minutes to keep them all from boiling out as soon as you open their container. But, while I’m getting better at tipping the container to shake out a smaller amount, it’s probably still too many fruit flies. Anyway, several years ago, a video was posted of, I think, Ellsworth the bearded dragon spotted his favorite food, peas(!), and he is so excited that he can’t figure out where to start eating. Jack does the same thing whenever the glob of frozen fruit flies hits his water and begins to swim to the popsicle stick pier. When I shook FAR too many in the other night, like a ridiculous amount, he hopped into the water to swim under them and leap out in the middle of the clump to force them to scatter for easier picking off. I get excited about mundane animal things. I figure this is the place to share laughing at mundane animal things. Okay, time to go work on a tall terrarium for a better home for Jack. Edit: content frog 
Bored fucked around with this message at 23:27 on Oct 21, 2022 |
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Oct 21, 2022 18:37
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Snakes have snake friends, babysit each others young, according to 2015 study of rattlesnakes. https://www.animalcognition.org/2016/01/12/interview-with-snake-behavior-researcher-melissa-amarello/ Now I’m going to go read the article about animals that like doing drugs.
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Oct 22, 2022 19:48
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Bored posted:Snakes have snake friends, babysit each others young, according to 2015 study of rattlesnakes. That is some interesting poo poo. I know with our leopard tortoises, our main pair, Jamocha and Chip, for over 20 years, ONLY bred with each other. No matter how many other females there were, Chip ignored them. Only in the past year or so have they "opened the relationship" and now he's after every other female we have. I never see the other male Chewy go after Jamocha, and Chip still gets her from time to time, but otherwise the males and females seem to have their favorites. Similarly, we sometimes miss a clutch of eggs, and find babies outside, usually with one of the adults, who somehow don't seem to crush them underfoot. I wonder what other snakes we assume are solitary but really are chill or want company. I know ball pythons are kept solitary, but ages ago I had two young ones who would go off feed if they lived separately (they were fed separately) and otherwise did fine if they stayed together.
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Oct 22, 2022 19:58
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It very much depends on the individual type and how they evolved, garter snakes live in groups as do the giant Madagascan hognoses for example. As a rule most snakes especially king snakes, do not like each other and the behaviour people cohabiting most kinds of snakes see is several snakes all trying to get under the same heat source. You can tell if a snake is communal by how they behave when separated, using the earlier example garter snakes give up on life and giant Madagascan hognoses won't breed. Musking is also a sign, Africa has loads of small lizard eating snakes who musk and then rub the stink all over themselves, and they seem to do better in small stinky groups - we are finding this out now because of habitat loss and people trying to convince endangered snakes that they want to breed in captivity. So basically don't worry, at this point we know which of the common pet snakes are communal or not and unless you have ever rubbed a chicken heart on a toad the answer is going to be not.
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Oct 22, 2022 21:48
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Nah man, king snakes love living in groups! Makes it easier to gorge on other snakes when they're right next to you. I swear, breeding king snakes has got to be more stressful than breeding rare cobras.
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Oct 22, 2022 22:08
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Cowslips Warren posted:Nah man, king snakes love living in groups! Lol. Noooooooo Edit: I just realized that looks weird with facial expressions. I was empathizing with what I imagine is lots of frustration while laughing at your snakes for being stupid assholes who have plenty of non-cannibalistic food. Edit 2: Jack loving HATES the soil, which seems to match his outdoor brethren. He goes for a swim periodically, then perches on whatever I put in there. Here’s hoping my unemployment appeal is successful so I can buy polycarbonate sheets and weld-on to make a bigger home. (My new job starts next week). The sheets I got for free at a garage sale are super thick, so bending them to the shape I want is proving to be more of a pain than it should be and one of my uv lamps died and I’m paranoid about having any particle of uncured uv on the joints. With weld on and similar products, I can make several sheets of plexiglass into a solid piece. I also need to get frog vitamin dust for Jack. He looks fine now that he’s not mad/stressed about the eco soil, but I always get paranoid when he’s resting and he has his little hands in fists. Like, what if they aren’t growing correctly because the only thing small enough for him to eat is fruit flies? Anyway, current unacceptable set up with tons of wood sticks for fruitflies to climb on to avoid drowning. After I took the picture, he pushed up into “ready” position, so I fed him. He took several fruit flies that I rescued from the water off the dowl I used to rescue them. So at least he does not think everything I do is a trap, like the tree frog that lives in the rusty metal tube on the porch swing does.  Also, I’m wondering if lucky bamboo would please Jack once I can build a better terrarium for him. https://india.mongabay.com/2018/01/father-bamboo-bush-frogs-are-sole-caregivers-protect-young-from-cannibals/ Bored fucked around with this message at 18:51 on Oct 26, 2022 |
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Oct 22, 2022 22:41
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I just picked up one of these not-exoterra 12 x 12 x 18 vertical paludarium style enclosures for $35 at Goodwill https://www.petco.com/shop/en/petcostore/product/zilla-vertical-tropical-kit-12x12x18 Any ideas for what I could put in there? Was thinking a crested gecko on account of the height vs footprint but I think it might be a bit small. Maybe a tarantula of some sort (GBB is probably what I’d want)? Or an amphibian, to take advantage of the paludarium bottom? Maybe a newt of some sort? Or dart frogs (too small, imo).
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Nov 4, 2022 19:30
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Crestie is a great idea, imo!
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Nov 4, 2022 21:10
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It’s been a week post-adoption, I think I can finally post my midterm-watching companion. 99% sure it’s a female. Not certain if she’ll go down for brumation this winter. She’s been hanging out at low temps and sleeping most of the time but she’s putting away blackberries like its summertime. Also she is mid-shed. the wee babb: 
trilobite terror fucked around with this message at 01:45 on Nov 9, 2022 |
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Nov 9, 2022 01:39
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Awwwwwww I adore her, her eyes are just divine.
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Nov 9, 2022 18:13
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Ok Comboomer posted:I just picked up one of these not-exoterra 12 x 12 x 18 vertical paludarium style enclosures for $35 at Goodwill I've kept single crested geckos in 12x12x18s for years. You need to have plenty of climbing and hiding options, vertically filling the whole thing, and deep soft bedding for when they miss a jump or slide off wet glass and fall to the bottom. I would consider this size the bare minimum for an adult crestie or similar-sized gecko, and too small for a larger gecko like a leachie. I have also kept smaller species of dart frogs in these. They work well for a planted vivarium with a cork wall back and a sprayer/mister with an inch of standing water in a bottom layer filled with those little ceramic balls, covered with a fine plastic mesh and an inch of leaf litter, to keep things moist. Keep in mind that fruit flies can easily escape these types of enclosures, though. The size of crickets I feed adult cresties mostly don't get out, but pinheads for a baby gecko easily escape as well. For that reason some people prefer a tighter-sealing vivarium for animals being fed small live food. I do not think this footprint is ideal for aquatic animals like firebelied toads, newts, etc - you can make the vertical space look pretty but the animal is going to be confined to the horizontal space, and one square foot isn't much. I'd rather use a tank with more of a horizontal profile, and do so for my fire-bellied toads. Leperflesh fucked around with this message at 18:19 on Nov 9, 2022 |
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Nov 9, 2022 18:17
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I explained the many reasons why my (adult) son shouldn't get a rabbit, so he bought a baby bug eyed leucistic texas rat snake instead. "Rabbit" just bit me and hid which presumably is a real taste of things to come.
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Nov 9, 2022 18:40
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lol you shoulda let him get a rabbit at least they don't live 20-30 years
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Nov 9, 2022 18:59
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I manage a small wastewater plant, which includes a digester (basically a 10,000-gallon concrete pit that I fill up with sludge throughout the year until there's enough to hire someone to haul away) and the other day noticed this very sad sight: Can you see it?? Here it is zoomed in:  Poor little guy.  The good news is I was able to just reach him with a long rake thing (10-12 feet long), and while he tried to bite it at first he eventually wrapped the end of his tail around one of the tines and I was able to lift him out, give him a shower and put him somewhere away from all the poo.
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Nov 9, 2022 19:35
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Leperflesh posted:lol you shoulda let him get a rabbit Did my Yorkie ask you to make this post? I have to make two posts because I’m on mobile. Rabbit
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Nov 10, 2022 01:36
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The gene pool when they first imported them to the UK was a bit limited, and the problem with genetic issues was made worse because it turns out that first generation wild caught Texas rat snakes are batshit murder machines. It’s ok, my eyes are a bit funny too Rabbit
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Nov 10, 2022 01:40
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artsy fartsy posted:I manage a small wastewater plant, which includes a digester (basically a 10,000-gallon concrete pit that I fill up with sludge throughout the year until there's enough to hire someone to haul away) and the other day noticed this very sad sight: I’m fairly certain that snake appreciates the help. It just may have taken until the shower for it to realize you were trying to make its day less bad.
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Nov 10, 2022 02:33
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Bored posted:I’m fairly certain that snake appreciates the help. It just may have taken until the shower for it to realize you were trying to make its day less bad. I'm still wondering why he was even down there. But I've seen dead snakes in there before, and live frogs (that are too skittish to let me save them, unfortunately). Are they just poking around the rim and lose their balance? Are they enticed by the smell? A frog I can see jumping and not realizing there's a gaping pit where it's about to land; a snake I'm not sure about.
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Nov 10, 2022 03:25
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Hey guys, friend of mine suddenly walked in all excited that on a whim he got a pet chameleon for 80 dollars, probably from a skeezy place, I didn’t have time to warn him about how hard keeping a chameleon alive tends to be. Worst of all he got it for his child siblings so I am really worried for the thing. He knows about meal worms so he’s got that under control, he probably (hopefully) knows about heat lamps and making a glass cage with trees and substrate, what advice do you have to help him keep the thing alive and relatively well so I can forward the advice to him? My best estimation for the breed is that it’s this one:- https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Graceful_chameleon Thanks, hopefully the poor thing can be kept on decent health with any advice you can give.
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Nov 10, 2022 13:32
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Al-Saqr posted:Hey guys, friend of mine suddenly walked in all excited that on a whim he got a pet chameleon for 80 dollars, probably from a skeezy place, I didn’t have time to warn him about how hard keeping a chameleon alive tends to be. Worst of all he got it for his child siblings so I am really worried for the thing. he knows about heat lamps, does he know about UVB? Does he know that chameleons cannot drink standing water and that the enclosure will need to be misted every single day in order for the animal to drink properly? Both of these are non-negotiable, the animal simply will not survive without sufficient access to water and it will quickly go into metabolic failure without proper UV. Also calcium supplementation is strongly recommended, as with pretty much all reptiles. Also it's about a 50/50 shot that his chameleon can even be trained onto mealworms. Generally, crawling/climbing insects like crickets or roaches are preferred as they behave the way a chameleon's natural prey would. Chameleons aren't really evolved to eat food off of the ground or out of a plate, they catch bugs off of branches with their specialized tongues. Your chameleon may not even recognize a plate full of mealworms as "food". Also glass cages are terrible for chameleons, they need high humidity but they're also extremely sensitive to fungal/bacterial infections of the respiratory tract and skin. For this reason seasoned keepers will often do things like modify bird or chinchilla cages where they can control the amount of humidity and run a fan to ventilate stagnant air. In a dry environment something like a grow tent makes a much better, much bigger, much more affordable enclosure than a big tank. The biggest problem with chameleons is that, even if you do everything 100% perfectly, you're still only looking at a max life expectancy of about 4-5 years. They're very hardy at the low end (ie they'll put up with a lot of mistreatment and poor conditions long enough to survive/breed for 2-3 years) but they're very needy and complex to care for correctly and make properly happy. The truth is that the vast majority of chameleon keepers keep them poorly/relatively poorly for 1-3 years for relatively little effort and money vs. the minority of properly competent keepers who spare no expense and then get 4-5 years out of the same animal.
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Nov 10, 2022 15:18
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Ok Comboomer posted:he knows about heat lamps, does he know about UVB? Does he know that chameleons cannot drink standing water and that the enclosure will need to be misted every single day in order for the animal to drink properly? Both of these are non-negotiable, the animal simply will not survive without sufficient access to water and it will quickly go into metabolic failure without proper UV. Also calcium supplementation is strongly recommended, as with pretty much all reptiles. Thanks for this, it’s not my chameleon im not that reckless to buy one out of the blue. I will forward this information to him, I really hope he takes it to heart. Also I asked him if he knew about heat lamps and he said no. I had mistakenly assumed he did. After I recovered from my shock of how little loving thought he put into this I gave him a basic rundown as quickly as I can and sent him some YouTube videos, but drat if he doesn’t even loving know about heat lamps then sadly Im starting to think that poor chameleon is not long for this world 
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Nov 10, 2022 15:58
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Al-Saqr posted:Thanks for this, it’s not my chameleon im not that reckless to buy one out of the blue. You’ve done your best, sadly that is the fate of most reptiles in the pet trade
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Nov 10, 2022 16:03
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Ask your friend if he's located the nearest exotic pet veterinarian yet. You may want to help him brace for what even a single visit to the vet will likely cost (hundreds) and his long-term medical costs could easily run into $1k+. Unless he's willing to let the poor thing just die if it gets sick or has any apparent medical problems ever. My veiled chameleon cost me about $750, in 2011, to fail to survive some kind of weird partial paralysis that our very well-regarded exotic animal vet could not diagnose.
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Nov 10, 2022 18:24
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Leperflesh posted:Ask your friend if he's located the nearest exotic pet veterinarian yet. You may want to help him brace for what even a single visit to the vet will likely cost (hundreds) and his long-term medical costs could easily run into $1k+. Unless he's willing to let the poor thing just die if it gets sick or has any apparent medical problems ever. I hate to break it to you, but that chameleon is a small hand sized chameleon, we dont live somewhere with exotic pet vets and wikipedia says that species is not rare at all, actually now that I'm looking at pictures of a 'veiled chameleon' I think he got a female, it doesnt have stripes and it looks exactly like a female veiled chameleon does. it makes perfect sense how he got it for so cheap, because we live saudi arabia that's its main natural habitat, it makes me feel a little bit better about it's chances now that I know that chameleon is in it's natural climate (I had no idea chameleons existed outside of jungles and rainforests) I think the chameleon's chances of staying alive is much bigger, him being a first time lizard owner and getting this specifically for kids doesnt make me optimistic though. I did what I could and gave him the best advice I could, god speed to that cute little lady. Al-Saqr fucked around with this message at 19:02 on Nov 10, 2022 |
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Nov 10, 2022 18:57
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