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Knormal posted:Anoles can be moderately difficult to keep properly, despite being $4.99 at PetCo. Besides the normal UVB and heat requirements they need a certain amount of humidity. If it was free I assume you caught him locally so that might not be a problem for your area, but if you're going to keep it inside where the AC dries the air out make sure you mist him from time to time. Google a caresheet if you haven't already. The story I got is that it was from a school project, and the class let the kids each take one home when school let out. The kid that had this one got bored really fast and my cousin (who the kid's family was staying with) took over caring for it for awhile. He's not actually equipped to do so, and gave it to my mom (who takes him to the hospital when he can't drive himself) to give to me since I have geckos so obviously I can take care of this gecko too! I found out later that my cousin knew this was an Anole, but named it 'Gecko' because it kinda sorta looks like the Geico one. Mom assumed that I would have this this one in quarantine for awhile before putting it in with the Cresteds. No I'm not doing that I assume everyone's heart was in the right place, but ouch. . . I really didn't want to make a deserty vivarium in the summer. Is it okay to take it outside for short periods of direct sunlight until I get a proper set up for it? The care sheets I've read indicate that the local weather is well within their normal range and it would only be while I'm outside myself anyway. As for the actual vivarium, is horizontal or vertical better? Would it try to dig up the plants if I used real ones?
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Jun 24, 2015 16:37
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You should be fine putting him outside for a while, just make sure he's got some shade to escape to if he needs it. Really just Google "anole care sheet", I've never kept them so I can't speak to them directly, I just know they need a generally tropical setup.
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Jun 25, 2015 07:47
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Atmus posted:The story I got is that it was from a school project, and the class let the kids each take one home when school let out. The kid that had this one got bored really fast and my cousin (who the kid's family was staying with) took over caring for it for awhile. He's not actually equipped to do so, and gave it to my mom (who takes him to the hospital when he can't drive himself) to give to me since I have geckos so obviously I can take care of this gecko too! I found out later that my cousin knew this was an Anole, but named it 'Gecko' because it kinda sorta looks like the Geico one. Mom assumed that I would have this this one in quarantine for awhile before putting it in with the Cresteds. No I'm not doing that Where do you live? As in what part of the country? Anoles are typically wild caught. Others can correct me if I'm wrong but you could just let it go if they are native to your area. We have them everywhere in the southeast.
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Jun 25, 2015 13:37
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My daughter is interested in a pet insect/bug an I was wondering if anyone had any recommendations. I know this is the herp thread, but some of you also keep bugs, right? The ideal pet would be: 1. Docile and slow (might have to be 'cuddled' sometimes or watch TV with my daughter) 2. Hardy and easy to care for 3. Preferably vegetarian 4. Not a roach (husband says it's creepy for our daughter to have a pet roach) I would be supervising, and my daughter has been very good with her pet caterpillars, so the little guy would probably be well taken care of. At this point I'm leaning towards one of the larger millipedes or some kind of beetle. Any suggestions?
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Jun 25, 2015 16:50
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http://wandertokyo.com/rhinoceros-beetle-care/ obviously a few things are different over here (like the gel you might have to mail order) but yep. Rhino beetle.
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Jun 25, 2015 17:12
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Shachi posted:Where do you live? As in what part of the country? Anoles are typically wild caught. Others can correct me if I'm wrong but you could just let it go if they are native to your area. We have them everywhere in the southeast. I'm in the Denver area, in Colorado. The care sheets kinda match up with the local climate, but I don't know if they exist here or not. I'd feel kind of bad just letting it go if I can reasonably avoid it though, but I guess that's an option. Knormal posted:You should be fine putting him outside for a while, just make sure he's got some shade to escape to if he needs it. I looked at the sheets, and apart from the heat gradient stuff it doesn't look like too big of a hassle.
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Jun 25, 2015 18:47
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They don't live in Colorado, and it's generally illegal to release captive animals into the wild, even if they're native - that's how a lot of diseases can be spread.
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Jun 25, 2015 19:00
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Atmus posted:I'm in the Denver area, in Colorado. The care sheets kinda match up with the local climate, but I don't know if they exist here or not. I'd feel kind of bad just letting it go if I can reasonably avoid it though, but I guess that's an option. Yeah they're def not native to Colorado and OneTwentySix brings up a good point.
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Jun 26, 2015 13:20
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I kind of ruled that out anyway, as I have a bunch of empty terrariums and a light fixture that only still has UVB bulbs made for it, so I really just need to get a heating set up and figure out how elaborate I want to get with decorating for it. I also need to start breeding crickets or something, because gently caress $0.13 each now.
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Jun 26, 2015 18:23
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Order 100+ at a time from one of the online cricket places, like flukers or whatever. Set up a bin in a garage our outside or something, ideally where they can't overheat or underheat, have adequate ventilation, and won't attract nuisance bugs. Buy them on the smallish side and feed off of them for a couple weeks, then dump out the bin, hose it down throughly to flush out the horrible dead cricket gunk, and start again. That's what I used to do. Nowadays I just suck it up and buy 40 crickets a week at .13 a cricket because I got sick of dealing with the dead-cricket loam at the bottom of the bin constantly.
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Jun 26, 2015 19:05
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Fluffy Bunnies posted:http://wandertokyo.com/rhinoceros-beetle-care/ obviously a few things are different over here (like the gel you might have to mail order) but yep. Rhino beetle. Thanks for the suggestion! I showed some of these to my husband, but after seeing the prices on them he has changed the 'no roaches' policy. So we are getting flat horn hissers for the kid. They are big, slow, and cheap. I think we will try rhino beetles later if she's still interested in bugs. I might get one or two before that, though, because they look awesome.
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Jun 27, 2015 13:51
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So my Mexican Black Kingsnake, Dorian, just shed again with no problems. However, I noticed while handling him today that the skin underneath his throat seems sort of baggier than usual when I touch it - you can see it a little on the right in these photos, where he's pressing against my hand. It just feels loose. I don't think he's underfed because he eats like a monster, and it's only on this part of his body. The rest of his skin is perfectly normal. My main concern is dehydration - it's really hot here in Alberta right now, but he has fresh water every day. Am I worrying about nothing? He literally only shed two days ago. I have a tendency to freak out about everything because he's my first reptile.  Do I need to keep an eye on him or force him to drink more water, or am I just being a big baby?
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Jun 27, 2015 22:30
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If you're really worried, put him in for a swim in shallow water in the tub 
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Jun 27, 2015 23:41
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He looks good to me but I'm not a colubrid person. How often is he eating? My first thought is maybe a little excess weight. I would cut back on feeding and see if that changes anything. I'm not sure you should worry though, he is a beauty.
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Jun 28, 2015 21:20
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Meet Max! He is so adorable and tiny. Pictured also is Gonzalez the pond snail.
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Jun 29, 2015 18:32
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Atmus posted:I kind of ruled that out anyway, as I have a bunch of empty terrariums and a light fixture that only still has UVB bulbs made for it, so I really just need to get a heating set up and figure out how elaborate I want to get with decorating for it. Breeding crickets is easily the worst and most regrettable thing I've done since I've been into herps. FREE FOOD! I thought. No...not worth the effort...ever. Now roaches on the other hand, gently caress yes, they're easy. Not gonna help you with Anoles, though unless you're feeding off nymphs. I have a strict policy of not keeping herps too small once full grown to eat dubias. That being said, Leperflesh posted:Order 100+ at a time from one of the online cricket places, like flukers or whatever. Set up a bin in a garage our outside or something, ideally where they can't overheat or underheat, have adequate ventilation, and won't attract nuisance bugs. Buy them on the smallish side and feed off of them for a couple weeks, then dump out the bin, hose it down throughly to flush out the horrible dead cricket gunk, and start again. This is correct. Just order them online and be prepared to lose about half of them before you can feed them off.
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Jun 30, 2015 15:11
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Update on Dorian: we soaked him in the tub a couple of times, he's eating normally, and it seems to have balanced it out. Thanks guys. We noticed a couple of days later that he was making an odd popping noise, and because I'm still paranoid as hell we rushed him right to the vet. It was just leftover shed in his nose that he got rid of, apparently (I was worried about a respiratory infection), and he's a healthy weight and showing no signs of any illness. They charged an arm and a leg but honestly, the peace of mind feels worth it. The vet said our husbandry was perfect, so I guess I need to stop freaking out 
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Jun 30, 2015 22:49
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Has anyone had a heat lamp just not get hot enough anymore? I'm using one that came in a Zilla desert terrarium kit I bought, and it's consistently gotten very hot, sometimes in the triple digits and the hottest ever was 106 F. I've only had it for 2.5 months and now it just doesn't get hotter than about 86, which isn't quite hot enough for my red-eared slider's basking area. I don't know why it would sometimes get super hot spikes or why it's not getting hot enough now, anyone else had that happen? I've tried rearranging the configuration of my lights on top of the terrarium, and I have a ZooMed probe thermometer touching the basking dock to constantly monitor the temperature, but the best temperature I've gotten is 87.
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Jul 1, 2015 01:57
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Bombinas are at it again! The new house we just moved in to has a really nice warm living room (thermostat has been reading 26-28 C in the late afternoon / early eavening), and the toads have bred again. Just yesterday, my wife was moving the tank to a new spot, and once it was set up, it was a full blown orgy up in there. Like a bunch of bloody animals I tell yah. Since she's down to 3 adults now, I figured I would do my best to keep a few of the new hatchlings alive. The last time any really survived to the point of losing their tails, it was a very laborious process of basically nursing the little retards to the point of not dieing if left alone for a few hours. I couldn't find any local feed small enough for them once they lost their tails, but we had a big compost bin out back, and it was hot outside. So I would go out with a small rubbermaid container, open the compost bin lid, and take a scoop of what came out with the rubbermaid. I'd usually get a fair shwack of fruit flies with that. But, I knew I needed to take away their flight abilities. So I'd throw the container in the freezer for just a quick stint, enough to knock the flies out, then poor them into the little tank we had the toadlets in. As the flies started to warm up, there was a brief period where they would drunkenly stagger around before taking flight. Hopefully they would be doing that right in front of the toadlet, and hopefully it would be able to scoop them up in its mouth, and not just a big mouthfull of substrate. Forget that nonsense. I'm not going to gently caress around this time, and I think I'll order something like this I wonder though, is this meant to be a starter colony for breeding them? It seems rather expensive for just a few flies. I suppose if you kept it isolated from the regular population of fruit flies, they should be able to breed and have the offspring remain flightless right? Would I just put the colony right in the tank with the toadlets, and let them feed off what crawls out? Anyone here deal with these suckers before? As of right now, we've got a bunch of unhatched eggs I salvaged from the old water, along with 3 really small tadpoles, and one very early starter big tadpole. He might actually be feeding on the smaller ones, and the unhatched eggs, which I'm cool with. Get big and be a winner little dude. I took some photos of the setup and what we've got in the tank if anyone is interested
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Jul 1, 2015 03:14
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B33rChiller posted:Bombinas are at it again! The new house we just moved in to has a really nice warm living room (thermostat has been reading 26-28 C in the late afternoon / early eavening), and the toads have bred again. Just yesterday, my wife was moving the tank to a new spot, and once it was set up, it was a full blown orgy up in there. Like a bunch of bloody animals I tell yah. Since she's down to 3 adults now, I figured I would do my best to keep a few of the new hatchlings alive. The last time any really survived to the point of losing their tails, it was a very laborious process of basically nursing the little retards to the point of not dieing if left alone for a few hours. I couldn't find any local feed small enough for them once they lost their tails, but we had a big compost bin out back, and it was hot outside. So I would go out with a small rubbermaid container, open the compost bin lid, and take a scoop of what came out with the rubbermaid. I'd usually get a fair shwack of fruit flies with that. But, I knew I needed to take away their flight abilities. So I'd throw the container in the freezer for just a quick stint, enough to knock the flies out, then poor them into the little tank we had the toadlets in. As the flies started to warm up, there was a brief period where they would drunkenly stagger around before taking flight. Hopefully they would be doing that right in front of the toadlet, and hopefully it would be able to scoop them up in its mouth, and not just a big mouthfull of substrate. Forget that nonsense. I'm not going to gently caress around this time, and I think I'll order something like this They can breed in the container. Also I prefer Ed's, personally, they're cheaper. http://www.flymeat.com/store/categorylist.aspx
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Jul 1, 2015 15:47
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Yeah I order a couple of cultures from (formerly Ed's) Flymeat.com. A culture of melanogaster kept at room temperature will produce flies for 4-6 weeks. During the week when the culture is peaking you will be needing to feed off at least a teaspoon full of flies a day; if you don't feed them off fast enough, the culture will crash faster. If that's too many for your frogs, just move them into a different container with a bit of banana or whatever, because the key thing is to reduce overcrowding and the amount of flies that are just dying of old age in the culture. This makes the cultures last significantly longer (like, 2-3 weeks longer). Hydeii are usually not available, but when they are, I always get one (I'm normally ordering two cultures at a time). They produce bigger flies more slowly and last a bit longer... 6-8 weeks, I find. Tadpoles eat fish food and algae and stuff. You should remove the adults as soon as you see eggs, because they'll eat eggs, tadpoles, and froglets if they feel like it. Froglets really need live food and flightless fruit flies are some of the best. You can also order pinhead crickets (these are crickets that are just a few days old) and they're good food items too. Dust flies/pinheads with vitamins and calcium every third feeding or so. Crickets should be gutloaded, and if you want vibrant red bellies, include carrots in the cricket diet to provide carotine. I've also heard of folks using various mineral supplements that contain "color enhancing" minerals. On the advice of a breeder I purchased a bottle of "Blair's Super Preen vitamin supplement" which is intended for birds. There's nothing alarming in the ingredients list but I eventually decided I didn't care enough to give it a try and risk overdosing a frog on some random vitamin that they shouldn't have too much of. In any case, bear in mind that frogs are "quantity not quality" breeders. They produce dozens or hundreds of eggs because most aren't expected to survive. If you lose a few tadpoles and a few froglets, that's not such a tragedy. Some just won't thrive and some will be unlucky and that's just the ciiiircle of liiiiiiifffe. e. Oh, one more thing. I'd ditch that blue gravel. You see this in pet stores constantly, and a lot of care sheets fail to mention it too, but: Bombina are circle-tongued. They have little stubby tongues that do not come out of their mouths. As a result, they cannot spit out something they've already got in their mouth. Combined with their vigorous hunting action, and they can sometimes swallow substrate. Consequently, Bombina spp. should never be housed with substrate that A) can be swallowed but B) can't be passed. Use aquarium sand, and/or large pebbles too big to swallow. I know from hard experience; I lost two frogs when I first got my firebellied toads, and one was definitely from impaction. Leperflesh fucked around with this message at 18:24 on Jul 1, 2015 |
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Jul 1, 2015 18:18
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Thanks for the tips guys. It looks like we might be stuck paying a little more for fruit flies, since flymeat.com doesn't ship to Canada.Leperflesh posted:In any case, bear in mind that frogs are "quantity not quality" breeders. They produce dozens or hundreds of eggs because most aren't expected to survive. If you lose a few tadpoles and a few froglets, that's not such a tragedy. Some just won't thrive and some will be unlucky and that's just the ciiiircle of liiiiiiifffe. Ain't that the truth. This is probably the 5th or 6th time these little guys have bred, and I'd be happy if one or two survives to adulthood. I'll have to set up a little tank for the new arrivals I guess. We haven't trouble with impaction yet, but that is a good point about the blue gravel.
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Jul 1, 2015 20:18
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So are bearded dragons supposed to be adorable little shits that do colossal things to inconvenience us/make us worry? My guy spends the entire day not pooping in a deviation from his normal schedule of "Poop while Quezacotl is at work", and then the rear end in a top hat shits just when I'm about to go to store/playvideogames/bed.
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Jul 2, 2015 06:23
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My crestie keeps pooping on me/my keyboard, plus I got pissed on by a snake yesterday, so.. it could be worse. e: Aww, just watched the crestie eating her GCD with her 'lil licky tongue. I forgive her. Build-a-Boar fucked around with this message at 08:08 on Jul 3, 2015 |
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Jul 3, 2015 06:33
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dog days are over posted:My crestie keeps pooping on me/my keyboard, plus I got pissed on by a snake yesterday, so.. it could be worse. I used to have crested that would always poo poo within about two minutes of holding her. And the other day I walked in the house and was knocked down by the overwhelming smell of poo poo. We have 3 dogs and I was just sure one of them had gotten sick in the house. Turns out my beardie took a massive crap.
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Jul 3, 2015 14:18
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Out of every pet I've ever owned, beardie poo poo smells the absolute worst. I have no idea how they do it.
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Jul 4, 2015 02:19
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Yesterday a beardie took a huge deuce all over my keyboard. I now have a new keyboard.
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Jul 5, 2015 19:31
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Beardie poo poo smells worse than kitten poo poo. It's almost art, really. Chalcides ocellatus. A skink I had years ago, a breeding group and sold off. Anyone know if they're common these days? The pet store I got them from closed down.
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Jul 6, 2015 00:03
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Also the sheer amount of poo poo they can poop out proportional to their body size is kind of impressive.
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Jul 6, 2015 05:46
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Need some quick advice. I paired my cresties a little over a month ago and my female now digging. I put in a lay box about where she was digging a hole but she pretty much refuses to use it. I was thinking I should move her to a bare tank with the lay box but I'm worried that will be too much stress. I guess I can always just go on an egg scavenger hunt. Other question is should I remove the male until she lays. I don't really want her having any extra stress while she tries sorting this out
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Jul 17, 2015 01:34
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Shachi posted:Need some quick advice. I paired my cresties a little over a month ago and my female now digging. I put in a lay box about where she was digging a hole but she pretty much refuses to use it. She doesn't like your laybox. What are you using in it? Bare tanks result in nothing but irritable geckos and she may straight up hold them back and then they calcify and she dies so yeah don't do that one. Some people keep male and female together but I've literally had no issue with removing him after a week or two of initial mating. No loss of fertility or whatever. And it keeps my girls in better shape in terms of being bit and hosed endlessly.
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Jul 17, 2015 01:52
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Fluffy Bunnies posted:She doesn't like your laybox. What are you using in it? A ziplock sandwich container with a hole in the top. I half buried it about in the area she dug the hole. Her tank has ABG for substrates. I removed the male. Gonna just see what she does. How long before laying so you typically see em digging around? She really doesn't look visibly gravid. No bulges or anything.
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Jul 17, 2015 01:55
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My girls love a sandwich container with a hole in the top, provided it's half-full of just slightly damp "aquatic pond planting medium." I squirt it once or twice when I mist and that seems to keep it the right dampness for them. Except when I just don't bother, and they lay in the sphagnum moss.
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Jul 17, 2015 02:54
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I use plain dirt for my layboxes and have only ever had one rear end in a top hat gecko who hated it. http://www.escalemodels.com/forums/uploads/monthly_08_2011/post-2198-094235900%201312467236.jpg If you mean these, that's legit what I use too. Don't bury it. I just sit it on top of the substrate and let them do their thing. She might just be feeling dry, too. Some don't show, some do. Some of my girls take 2-3 months to lay the first clutch, too.
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Jul 17, 2015 03:33
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Sounds good. I'll keep tabs on her and let ya'll know how it goes. I saw her digging about two days ago and nearly panicked...I really wasn't sure if they'd bred yet and was surprised because I haven't noticed any changes with her weight or looks. How long before they start digging do you typically see them lay?
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Jul 17, 2015 14:17
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Dude even male crested geckos dig sometimes. That's not necessarily indicative of her going into lay at all.
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Jul 17, 2015 16:09
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Fluffy Bunnies posted:Dude even male crested geckos dig sometimes. That's not necessarily indicative of her going into lay at all. Perhaps, but in three years this is the first time I've ever seen one of them digging. And she's def digging out a burrow. 
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Jul 17, 2015 21:57
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Baby snakes!!!! I had 11 jungle carpet babies hatch out the 1st and 2nd of July. They are adorable and they are feisty. I have never been bitten by or peed on by anything I have loved this much ever. I just have to get them feeding on something other than people and they will be ready to go. Unfortunately I am attached to them, so they may be staying here a while. Caught a couple of them shedding the first time a couple days ago.  shedding2 by hungrymedusa, on Flickr shedding by Hungrymedusa, on Flickr
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Jul 18, 2015 08:14
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Lovely little babies :3
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Jul 18, 2015 23:52
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Silver, if you want one LMK. Once they are feeding I would be happy to give you one of my little males. They should be really clean - here's the parents. I can give you the least bitey one - he has "nice" written on his ID card! Their dad is the ivory - he is kind of an a hole.  
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Jul 19, 2015 01:09
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