Field Herp Forum

I am going to release excess into my backyard where the breeding parents were collected. Simus, I would encourage you to take Chris's suggestion of giving/selling your excess rather than releasing them back into the wild. There are a couple of reasons not to release animals that have been in captiv...

Kelly- I'm not sure what the sponges were like that you used. There was a product out there that was more foam like that I remember. The sponges that my friend had used were very much like soft kitchen sponges, just large thick sheets of them. This discussion made me go look more closely at the grou...

Let me start by saying I have not kept any salamanders. I am surprised by the desire to not lower the ph. Shouldn't chytrid be a non issue in a sterile lab setting? I have had both turtles and amphibian eggs get fungus when kept with too high of a ph. Once lowered, the fungus went away quickly. I am...

Substrates can be just as important as any other aspect of a captive herps environment, so this is a great topic. I'll just share some of my experiences. Hemlock mulch: I have used hemlock mulch a lot; for lizards and tortoises without problems. The lizards (lacertas and adult giant day geckos) seem...

The snake with the swelling was eating and defecating normally. I have not fed it since I started the amikacin per the vet's advice. I just gave it the 6th of 7 doses and I don't think it looks any better. Maybe slightly but I would have thought by now it should be gone if the antibiotics were worki...

Some easy general things to say, though, are: Live in a much smaller home, and let your land be natural. Consume fewer things, especially resource-heavy things, and try to consume things that were ethically produced. Don't follow trends, hype, advertising built around consumption. Buy locally. Eat ...

Jonathan- Can you give some examples of the way you have changed your lifestyle to have less of a carbon footprint? Please don't take that as an attack, I am asking so that maybe I, or others reading, can try to incorporate them into our own lifestyles. I think it would go right along with what you ...

Yeah I have definitely learned the hard way that I kept them too cold. There is not much info out there about them so I was going by their behavior. They were eating and defecating normally at pretty low temps. But I guess I pushed the limit just a little too far. The one snake was not purposeful as...

Kfen I hope all of our discussion does not cause you to discount recommendation that some interior whole body imaging was suggested as next step. With a small snake that was out that long, whether he refused food after, or in your case regurged (especially so shortly after eating) it was not an arb...

Bill, no offense taken whatsoever. You can ask all the questions you like. He traveled over an hour to this particular vet because he was a past president of the ARAV, so he should know what he is doing, but I have not had any experience with him prior. I keep Geoemyda spengleri and one Mississippi ...

I dont think the mouse source is the problem (as far as trying different mice) There is a source I would never use but that would be an imo/pm. I also wouldnt risk more regurgs. . I don't either, but I thought I might try it in the very slim chance it was. Just like I don't really think its a paras...

So the snake that was regurging did it again so I brought it to the vet. While we were examining the snake there, we noticed what I am going to call a slight anomaly on the side of that snake about 5 inches down. We thought it could be an injury from when the snake got out (I have a cat that was sta...

gila-91 wrote:Thanks everyone.

They should be kept cooler than typical pythons (colubrid temps), but they still need a hot spot (mid 80's F).

What about night time temps? Do you shut off all heat? I heard they can handle (maybe need) big nighttime drops, like in the 50's.

Wow. Feel free to post more pics of her! Certainly not something you see every day. I too am curious about your husbandry.

We could be lumping more than just species, but families together. I have heard of people referring to "their" flies as scuttle flies, or fungus gnats, both of which are separate families from the ones listed above. Where do they breed in herp rooms? I only have seen drain flies occasionally as pest...

Thanks for the idea! I don't have too many now as its colder and drier, but had quite a few last summer. I will try this method for sure. Even if the flies cant be vectors for anything, it will make my wife much happier!

I, too, am very much looking forward to the rest of the video(s). I have a couple questions about Brian Kubicki's place. If I ever make it back to CR, I'm considering trying to stay there. Is it true that you cant walk around by yourself, that you need him to be with you? If so, what do you do the r...

Keeping with the going off topic theme ;) ... To add to Bill's post above- a friend in college had a carpet python that was fed live mice all the time. The snake would just go right over, bite the mouse and wrap without hesitation. My friend's roommate decided to splurge and buy a parakeet (or finch...

Putrefication of a food bolus would mean a massive bloom of bacteria. Sometimes the abdomen will feel bloated,or flaccid, and you may feel pockets of methane gurgling with your fingertips. If that is the case, could it resolve on its own, or would it need anitbiotics to fight off the excess bacteri...

Thanks for the ideas. It did drink immediately upon being put back in its cage, but I didn't use pedialyte-will keep on hand from now on. It has always had a small basking area that it, as well as the other one that is set up identically, use. I am leery about vets having had a couple negative exper...

I have a 30 inch rein rat snake ( Rhadinophis frenata ) that has regurged its last 2 meals. I am hoping someone can help me out. Here is the whole story: It was doing fine for the previous 10 or so months that I have had it. It is currently being kept in the mid 60's at night and mid 70's during the...

The thing about rodents though is that they can be propagated in captivity which is something that can't be said for feeder herps. That isn't entirely true. Feeder herps aren't propagated because it is not profitable. If you could breed anoles, treefrogs, etc .and sell them for the same price as wi...

I would bet the highest herp biomass-land area ratios are found at those huge Red-sided Garter dens in Canada. I guess we haven't set the land area size or time frame. If you are looking at very small area and for short time frames, then the above makes sense. Also with those parameters could be th...

I have heard a few times that salamanders make up the largest vertebrate biomass in the northeastern US, specifically red backs. That might be a contender for largest herp biomass worldwide.

Yeah, it just looked like her eye was bulged out, glad to hear she is ok. She is a beautiful snake.

Congrats on the success with such awesome snakes! I have always wanted spilotes, but just don't have the room to set them up right. Is there something wrong with the female's eye? Im referring to the second pic of the original post.

That was awesome! Neat transformation. I would love to see a nigropalmatus in the wild some day.

I concur with everyone else that rosies and goldfish are a poor choice for a staple food. Livebearers are a good choice, as are convicts if you want something larger. I raised lots of danios in a 60 gallon prefab pond with lots of water hyacinth in the summer in NJ. I didn't feed them specifically b...

I have never used those water crystals, but aren't you supposed to rehydrate them before you give them to your feeders? Wouldn't it have already been in gel form in the tank?

Thanks again for such a detailed response. I had asked about other hatches in your enclosures trying to understand all the variables in your experience. I had no intention of trying to incubate anything in peat purposefully, as I have had nothing but success with vermiculate.

Thanks again for the replies. Umop apisdn- have you had any eggs hatch in other substrates in your enclosures?

I don't have any pics, but I have made some big enclosures for tortoises- both fully enclosed and open top. I've only used wood for the builds. If you keep the overall humidity low, you don't have to seal the sides or top and it will last years. You do still however have to do something to the botto...

Thanks for the replies! I feel confident using it now.

Kelly- yeah it is such a pain to rehydrate. I use it for my worm bins.

I would/could potentially use it for a variety of herps, Geoemyda spengleri and some humidity loving Asian ratsnakes are the ones I am currently thinking about.

Here you go. These are all juvenile individual blanding's turtles, except the plastron shots belong to the turtles above them. I used all in hand pics so there is some size reference. I have also spent a few seasons working with wood turtles, but wasn't taking many pics then. http://i250.photobucket...

Anyone ever use straight peat moss as a substrate? I'm not talking about sphagnum, I'm talking about the stuff that looks and acts very much like the coconut bedding sold in bricks (eco-peat, bed-a-beast etc.) It is a lot cheaper than the coconut stuff marketed for reptiles and can be bought in bulk...

That is 100 percent a blandings turtle. It is not a wood turtle. I radio-tracked/surveyed a population of blandings everyday for an entire season. I will try to post up a couple pictures later, I just don't have the time at the moment to find them on my computer, upload to photobucket etc.

We saw a few of them: one road cruised, one in a man made pond, one in a shallow backwater area of a stream, and one in floating vegetation on the edge of a river. It seemed they could be found in/near all types of wetlands.

Thanks for the temp info. Hopefully I can get this female of mine stabilized.

Beautiful babies! When you say no additional heating, can you tell me what the actual temps your snakes experience are- daytime and nighttime. I bought a pair this year and have been having trouble with the female sometimes regurging, sometimes refusing food, and sometimes with not normal stool. Tha...

I too don't worry myself too much with parasites, especially with rodents, but the question came up in a conversation I was having. I would have some concern when using other wild caught herps (i.e lizards and frogs) as feeders.

I always hear that freezing will kill parasites, but no one ever has definitive proof, or exact guidelines i.e temps and duration. So does anyone out there know for sure how to kill all parasites by freezing?

I can't tell you about places outside of Kruger, but in 4 days inside of Kruger starting on the last day in Oct 2010 my species list was as follows(off the top of my head): nile monitor rock (savannah) monitor flat rock lizard 3 species of plated lizards rainbow skink Wahlberg's velvet gecko flapnec...

I too would not count out incubation temperatures. I have no references, but high incubation temps for turtles can cause shell abnormalities, i.e extra or fused scutes.

What a great trip report, I was actually considering going on a trip with them so I cant wait to see the upcoming posts!!!

I hope people can take the advice of the papers listed above and use it not only for not relocating "nuisance wildlife", but also not relocate animals for the sake of taking pictures. I have seen and heard of way too many people taking animals for pics, and then releasing them in any old "suitable h...

Umop apisdn- can you provide any more details like what species you tracked, or what state it was in, or even region i.e northeast, southeast etc?

Spotted salamander.

beanie wrote:Prices have dropped drastically but there is still quite the market.

That's interesting, here in the Northeast, the interstate ban made the prices INCREASE. At least thats what I heard from someone more involved in herpetoculture than myself.

What a great post! So many awesome species and photos. I really liked seeing the impressed tortoise as SE asian chelonians are rare on this forum. I don't mean to sound greedy, but: There had been enough rain to bring the rare Rhacorphorus tree frogs down to the ground to breed and we saw two stunne...