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FreshFeesh posted:One of our two fat-tailed geckos has recently had a voracious appetite; instead of the normal 3-5 medium worms every two to three days, she’s now eating upwards of ten a day, and this behavior has gone on for almost a week. Is she preggers?
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Mar 20, 2019 14:40
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OneTwentySix posted:There are a number of reptiles that can have virgin births - it's called parthenogenesis. Most lizards aren't known to do it, but I've heard of monitors and a handful of other species where the female will produce a viable offspring from an unfertilized egg - essentially she gives birth to a twin. There are a handful of species that are obligate parthenogenetics, with all female species. You can get parthenogenic geckos fairly easily and I assume they’re as annoying to keep as they sound. Also, technically parthenogenic organisms give birth to clones. 
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Mar 21, 2019 17:03
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dwarf74 posted:Speaking of ball python breeders, the time to buy my son his first ball python has finally arrived. I just got in touch with a small hobbyist breeder in Tinley Park IL and we'll be heading up to pick one out this coming weekend. I'm very glad we're getting a snake from a breeder instead of a local pet store, as this thread recommended. (This guy isn't doing any crazy stuff, by all appearances.) The issue isn’t crazy stuff, the issue is breeding sound gene lines, not breeding for risky morphs like spider, and not inbreeding. If you’re gonna buy from a hobbyist at their own home, make sure to grill them on the snake lineage. Ask to see the parents and ask where they got them from. A good snake breeder is like a good dog breeder- they should know the pedigrees of their animals going back to when the lines were acquired. snake and bake posted:Ball python breeder weighing in. Spider balls are hosed up and should not be bred. I've been saying this for YEARS. Putting on my biologist hat for a sec- it’s really interesting to me that nobody actually knows anything about what causes the spider wobble because ball python genetics are relatively poorly studied (at least from a neuroscience or genetic disorder perspective) and snake/reptile neuro is an under-studied field in general. The big issue is that snakes are slow breeders and growers, they’re cryptic and not super expressive- and you can’t exactly ask them how they’re feeling. So when a big, noticeable phenotype like spider wobble pops up it kinda piques my ‘model organism detector.’ Studying spider ball pythons would be valuable from evolutionary bio and veterinary perspectives, but at the cost of labs keeping and probably breeding those snakes. However, I work in this field and I don’t have any problem with the myriad number of disease model or knockout/in animal lines that are already used in biology. I don’t think it would be unethical for labs to have spider ball pythons but I think it’s unethical for them to be in the pet trade in the same way that it’d be unethical for randos to keep leptin-deficient mice or diabetes model mice or whatever.
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Mar 21, 2019 18:33
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dwarf74 posted:Well, here's his page if you're interested. Oh, absolutely.
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Mar 21, 2019 19:33
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Cowslips Warren posted:Gravid, not pregnant. Yeah that.
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Mar 22, 2019 01:50
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dwarf74 posted:My kid got his first snake today. A pastel ball python. That snake is lovely but repeat after me: you guys a snake together Edit: you guys got* trilobite terror fucked around with this message at 01:46 on Mar 24, 2019 |
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Mar 24, 2019 00:44
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dwarf74 posted:Hah yeah no illusions there. He's adapting to his new habitat, and the cat's trying to figure out what the gently caress. Very nice! Not a huge note, but next time I’d try not to use a sheet of newspaper with quite so much ink on it. Having the coconut hide on top of that big picture like that (and next to the water bowl, no less) seems a bit hazardous. Any moisture there could make an inky mess and you don’t want the snake sitting in that. And if the snake decides to get wet and then go into its hide you may end up with a really bad situation. My recommendation is something like an unwaxed butcher or parchment paper or clean newsprint paper- these can all be bought in big rolls for really cheap from places like hobby stores or even amazon.
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Mar 24, 2019 01:52
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snake and bake posted:Actually, on further consideration, newspaper doesn't work as well in a tank. I use tubs and keep plenty of spares around, so I don't spot-clean, I just change out the entire tub if it gets dirty. Newspaper is great for that. I’m still gonna contend that a roll of white newsprint paper is safer and better looking and dirt cheap. Just take 15 minutes on a chill evening to cut out like 20 floors for your enclosure and have them ready to go for when you do cleanings. Edit: This is the first result on amazon when searching “newsprint paper” and the review photos are of somebody’s beardie enclosure. trilobite terror fucked around with this message at 21:49 on Mar 24, 2019 |
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Mar 24, 2019 21:44
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Khisanth Magus posted:It is a bit more work, but all of our reptiles have what are called "bioactive" setups. In the simplest terms it is a setup created to mostly mimic their natural environment, with the top layer they are on being a mixture of dirt, sand, and possibly other materials. It absorbs and releases moisture great, and with the addition of a "cleanup crew", which is a mixture of insect life similar to what would naturally dwell in the soil, there is minimal cleanup required because the crew will eat the snake poop, skins, and if it is established enough will even eat a rodent of your snake decides to not eat. This also provides some additional entertainment for the snake in that they get to dig in the dirt and even do some "landscaping" to get it how they want it. Sorry, but I refuse to believe that any terrarium CC, no matter how sufficiently established, is capable of adequately disappearing an uneaten rodent carcass. Unless your snake’s enclosure is, like, an isopod hellworld like a scene from The Mummy. I will second that a bioactive substrate may be a better choice for OP’s snake than straight coco fiber tho.
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Mar 29, 2019 21:30
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Axqu posted:Hello, herp thread! Got a couple questions for you guys. Platies and guppies are what seem to be recommended. Danios are dead-easy to breed and come in tons of awesome cheap morphs, but they’re in the same family as goldfish although they’re way more sensitive to the enzyme and seem to at least produce way less. To some extent expect that easily available/breedable feeder fish will express the enzyme to some degree, which just drives home that you should be feeding a varied diet and supplementing with vitamins. Pinkie mice may be a good bet. I’ve even heard of people successfully cooking feeder fish and getting their animals to take them. Cooking denatures the enzyme but also arguably denatures other, better things- and I imagine it’s tough to get herps to eat poached minnow. I doubt that’s better than just supplementing for Vitamin-b and mixing up the animal’s diet. Also bugs. Dubia roaches and worms of various types. Get them gut loaded with vitamins and then don’t worry so much about the unhealthiness of the fish feeders. You can’t beat bugs for energy density/nutritional variety anyway. Shrimp too, if you wanna get weird- and you can gut load them like bugs, but that’s more work.
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Mar 30, 2019 18:55
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Applebees Appetizer posted:Don't post here much, but I live in Florida and have a shitload of brown Anoles in my back yard that are pretty much my pets, I feed them meal worms occasionally and they eat out of my hand. Well today I saw a GREEN Anole in my yard, which I have seen very rarely in the wild anywhere much less my back yard so it made me super happy and wanted to share that. My son is a big fan of reptiles too and he freaked out when he saw it. Hopefully theres another one and they breed so I can have more greens PLEASE DON’T FEED INVASIVE SPECIES THANK YOU
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Apr 13, 2019 20:32
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Applebees Appetizer posted:Whatever. Do you live in Florida? Brown Anoles took over a long time ago nothing anyone can do about it now. as a working biologist and science educator it’s my professional opinion that you should go gently caress yourself with that hot take
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Apr 13, 2019 21:45
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crabrock posted:species adapt and ecosystems change. humans are a far more destructive species than that little lizard, and you're not telling them to leave florida (tho not a bad idea), so maybe pick another hill to die on. lol, I didn’t die on any hill this is like “audobon society good environmental stewardship 101”-level basic, and your response of literally “humans are a far more destructive species than that little lizard” when no poo poo, the lizard’s very presence in Florida is an example of humans destroying and destabilizing ecosystems is some andromeda-scale galaxy brain like, ok realtalk- I’m sorry I was high and watching USS Indiannapolis: Men of Courage earlier and I could have phrased my comments better at the time, instead of maybe the way an angry Nic Cage, international treasure may he live forever, might. All caps was a bad idea. But Florida in particular is ground zero for introduced pythons, tegus, anoles, iguanas, anacondas, caimans, and a buttload of other reptiles that were largely brought here via the pet trade (and also through shipping and agriculture) and have gone on to completely decimate the native populations of organisms. And as minor as leaving some worms out for the pretty lizards seems in the grand scheme of things, and it is, there’s a good reason why doing the same thing with green iguanas or tegus carries a hefty penalty (if you’re curious you should check out the story from this winter of the people who rescued hundreds of cold-stunned iguanas in their area and posted about it on Instagram without realizing that releasing them back into the wild would land them tens of thousands of dollars in fines) and why rangers/people who work in environmental management emphatically discourage people feeding or fostering the proliferation of invasives. And in the case of the anoles, the reason that the native green anoles are becoming rare in that area to begin with is because the brown anoles are driving them to extinction. And even if they may fill the same ecological niche it’s a big loss for biodiversity, and that’s bad. Just because it is technically how adaptation and natural selection work doesn’t mean that we should be mucking up or accelerating the process with our activities.
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Apr 14, 2019 09:34
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Big Centipede posted:I understand the sentiment in regards to feeding invasives, but be realistic here. One guy occasionally feeding the brown anoles in his backyard is not going to make any impact on the already ruined ecosystem of Florida. If he was feeding burms or tegus or those horrible little monkeys that established themselves, I could see reprimanding him, but for brown anoles? Nah. I mean, how discriminatory can you really be if you’re leaving food out for them, though? Like, arguably a bigger problem is people feeding stray cats (cats are like, top 3 for clearing an area of local wildlife and most smart cat lovers these days are against letting homeless cats breed to make more homeless cats/make other cats sick/etc), and when you leave a plate of cat food out you’re likely also feeding raccoons, rats, possums, coyotes, etc. A dish of mealworms is an attractive snack for a lot of reptiles, birds, and mammals besides anoles, although that’s really small potatoes. But if you’re leaving stuff out overnight then your local rats are probably getting the lion’s share. trilobite terror fucked around with this message at 16:01 on Apr 15, 2019 |
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Apr 15, 2019 15:58
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Khisanth Magus posted:Why the hell are you mentioning feeding possums like it is a bad thing? They are an important part of the ecosystem unless you'd like to be always covered in ticks and have Lyme disease, which personally I am against. Possums are essential parts of their ecosystem and you definitely want them around in your area. But while they eat a ton of bugs they’re also really great vectors for fleas, ticks (including deer ticks), lice, toxo, Chagas, and a bunch of other infections (leptospirosis, etc). You don’t want them hanging out close to your house and making GBS threads under your deck if you’ve got pets/kids.
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Apr 15, 2019 18:10
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Zamboni Rodeo posted:Elmore continues to be a goofball. happy 420 little dude!
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Apr 21, 2019 16:23
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Psychepath posted:I ran into a trio of garter snakes while doing lawn work this afternoon, with the largest one slowly scooting around the side of the house to get more sun, and the other two basically riding ftfy (Biology is great)
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May 24, 2019 05:57
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Bollock Monkey posted:I'd love to live somewhere it was normal to stumble over snakes just out and about. I've only seen a slow worm once and it was dead. there are parts of Florida where you can run into all kinds of giant and dangerous snakes from all over the world like some kind of Far Cry sandbox...
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May 24, 2019 21:53
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Man it is so obvious now how much inspiration Gritty’s creator(s) took from bearded dragons (and also muppets, duh)
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May 27, 2019 14:52
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sorry, elmore is antifa now and there’s nothing you can do about it
trilobite terror fucked around with this message at 15:38 on May 27, 2019 |
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May 27, 2019 15:34
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(https://mobile.twitter.com/jbillinson/status/1049132218789105666)
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May 27, 2019 15:39
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Dapper_Swindler posted:I am thinking about buying a bearded dragon soon. i already have a BTS who is doing really well as well as ton of frogs. that or a ball python. Sounds about right (as long as you can provide well for it). I’d probably do the same thing in your position. Maybe gecko(s) of some sort or a tort. Someday....a tegu
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May 31, 2019 02:59
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Give the snake time to chill. Leave it alone for a few days and don’t move or handle it unless absolutely necessary. It’s common for snakes to need up to 2-3 weeks to calm down.
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Jun 10, 2019 20:02
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Maerlyn posted:We coaxed him out a bit with a mouse so at least we know he'll eat, the temp where he's hiding seems fine if not a little warm (low 90s) but hopefully if he were uncomfortable he would move. After getting the mouse down he tucked himself back into his hiding spot so we'll just leave him be. Like I said, most keepers will wait days or even weeks after rehousing before even trying to feed a snake. Some larger snakes won’t eat for a year after rehousing or stress. Snakes can go a while without eating. I’m not trying to tell you off or anything like that but prodding and handling a snake that’s just been adopted and rehoused and then feeding it two days after is just increasing the likelihood of complications. You shouldn’t be asking the “will he even eat?” question until he’s refused at least two meals from you, weeks in. It frustrates me somewhat that you say you worry that you “botched his transition to his new home” and then you continue to do seemingly the opposite of what everybody and all of the resources are telling you to do. If the book you read says “wait 5-7 days before handling or feeding your snake” why are you coming in here one day post-adoption and describing how you extensively handled the snake and two days after that to tell us about how you wagged a mouse at the snake?
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Jun 11, 2019 17:57
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Crocoduck posted:
That’s gonna be a big dart frog setup! How many froggos are you planning to put in there and what species/morph?
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Jul 4, 2019 01:10
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Crocoduck posted:Not really sure yet! Nice! That’s going to be an incredible enclosure. If I wasn’t generally space-constrained I’d love to do something similar, but I don’t think I could be happy with one species/morph. I’d probably end up putting two smaller enclosures in that space myself and doing a group of 2-3 tincs in one and auratus or terribilis in the other.
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Jul 4, 2019 13:55
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That’s got a soggy bottom. It’s a bad bake.
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Jul 8, 2019 05:25
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Crocoduck posted:Colorful while retaining that cool dank feel that I'm going for. plant some weed
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Jul 16, 2019 19:11
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Yeah if it’s tall, rather than wide, then it’s probably ideal for arboreal animals that benefit from the space- big arboreal snakes or chameleons.
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Jul 27, 2019 01:21
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Don’t get an iguana.
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Jul 27, 2019 01:22
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What CW said, plus giving your snake options in their environment is 1) nice for the snake 2) nice for you because your snake’s behavior will likely be more interesting as she has reasons to move around 3) useful because snakes can’t tell you that they’re sick/hurt/etc but they can show you through their behavior. A snake that exclusively hangs out in their humid hide vs their dry hide and never comes out is a tell you might not get in a more homogeneous enclosure.
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Jul 29, 2019 16:23
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Owlbear Camus posted:I should have specified I am a miserable apartment dweller. That sounds about right. Or in the tub/sink really. I’d use 50/50 water/vinegar if you need a pet safe solvent. I made heavy use of a spray bottle full of the stuff with my rabbits’ enclosure and it’ll cut through dried up poo poo/piss no sweat. Stepping up from that, you can use something like dilute Simple Green or a Method cleaner but I would take stuff out for those types of jobs and rinse heavily, and I wouldn’t use anything beyond water/vinegar in the enclosure itself.
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Aug 6, 2019 19:59
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dwarf74 posted:A reptile guide I read not too long ago had great things to say about brown listerine as a reptile tank disinfectant. You might as well save some cash and use dilute ethanol and mint+eucalyptus extracts, since that's basically what listerine is minus some other compounds.
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Aug 6, 2019 21:22
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The Dregs posted:I saw a youtube video where they kept an old penny in the reptile water to cut down on microbes. I was wondering if the copper infused water was a good ifea for reptiles, I know it's disaster for a reef tank. I’d use a filter/do water changes first
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Aug 7, 2019 03:11
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Lungboy posted:No Skink fanciers around? There are a couple of skink owners around. BTS’s can be pricey and while their diets are dead-easy they need really intense basking spots to do well. You sure you don’t want to start with a leopard gecko? Not that a skink is at all unreasonable for a beginner, as long as you’re willing to drop the cash to do things right from the get-go.
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Aug 8, 2019 22:35
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Cowslips Warren posted:So when I had to put two sand boas together for a few days in April or so, due to some housing issues otherwise, I didn't worry because they were both females. They weren't together long. Easy enough, and no fighting or any issues. How far are you from MA?
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Aug 9, 2019 16:12
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Lungboy posted:Is a starter set like this a trap for a total beginner to keeping reptiles, or are they actually pretty decent to find your feet? Leopard geckos don’t need UVB either, the one downside is the live feeders. Depending on where on the aesthetic/hoarding spectrum you live you can also keep leopard geckos and corn snakes in plastic containers on paper towel so that enclosure can be muuuuuch cheaper than what the kit is offering- tho that kit enclosure looks quite pretty.
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Aug 16, 2019 21:55
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Rule of thumb- if the cost of the herp is the problem for you then you probably can’t afford to properly keep that type of herp right now. That doesn’t count rare morphs I guess. Not like a $3k ball or leopard gecko should be harder to keep than a $20 ball or leopard gecko.
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Aug 18, 2019 06:31
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Tortoises get pretty drat chill with interaction and people argue that they bond with them. In some ways the appeal of herps is more in the fact that there are lots of different kinds and morphs and expanding a collection is relatively less time and $ investment added on when compared to other pets than it is in interacting with them. Like, it’s a lot easier to have one leopard gecko or beardie and expand into two leopard geckos or a gecko and a snake, and then two snakes, etc than it is to take care of multiple dogs or cats, in my experience.
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Sep 6, 2019 14:59
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dwarf74 posted:Yeah but make sure your kids are okay with inheriting your pet. If you start ‘em young (the kids, not the tort) and bond them properly then your kids should see the tortoise as an important fixture in their lives. Like a dependent nonverbal sibling that eats hay and loves bananas. There’s a really great ep of Judge John Hodgman from, like, exactly a year ago that involved a 35 year old woman and her relationship with her mom, and halfway through the episode it comes out that she has an older “sister” in the form of a 40 year old tortoise named Gretel and the whole thing is awesome and adorable. In other news, I got a small (big for him) bite from one of my Eastern Painteds yesterday morning (or maybe Wednesday? I honestly can’t remember) while I was debriding an injury on his foot and now it’s infected. It’s on the web between my thumb and forefinger and hurts like a motherfucker now that there’s a big pus blister next to the puncture where he broke skin (update- blister appears to have ruptured as I type this on my phone). Anyway, let this be a reminder that pets- but especially herps, and especially mostly-carnivorous/aquatic herps- have dirty little mouths full of nasty bacteria that can mess you up if you aren’t careful.
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Sep 6, 2019 16:29
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