RE: Re: RE: Re: RE: I cant decide!! I would say a Crested Gecko because: 1. they don't need UVB or UVA 2. they are easy to mantiane 3. they are great companyons 4. they don't take a lot space at all! 5. they don't eat alot through out there lives 6. there temps. can be easaly controled 7. they can come in a LOT of colors, patterns and looks and finally 8. they are pretty easy to handle and they are not vary delicet in some ways Blue tung Skinks are also good but i think they are more needy then Cresties!
RE: Re: RE: Re: RE: I cant decide!! I'd get a crestie. They can be really friendly and mine has never tried to bite me at all. They're also cool to watch hunting and they don't need an overly large enclosure. Plus, the point corey made about the choice of colors.
If you don't mind a bigger enclosure and a higher expense, I'd suggest a Mountain Horned Dragon. They are very friendly and easy to care for. They are a lot like water dragons except they are easier to take care of, they're smaller and can have smaller enclosures, they're hardier and they aren't as expensive. I particularly like MHDs, and I'm getting 2 after Christmas, YIIIIIIIIPEEEEE! If you need something more economical, go for a crestie, or the BTS. They're fascinating as well.
Just do what I did and get one of everything. LOL of course I went overboard with the long-nosed leopards, I got 3 of them. I now have an Irian Jaya BTS, a berber, a veiled chameleon, 3 leopards, a sandfire beardie, 2 ball pythons, a king snake, a milk snake, 5 corn snakes, and a russian rat snake. No decisions to make.
HOLY COW WRIGLEY! You have all of those? Is that your own private collection? I'd love to have that many herps, but budget and space are my limiting factors.
Yes, they are all mine. The snakes are all in a rack so that eliminates a lot of space and the leopards all share a tank. I love all of my babies. Besides that, I have 3 cats, 3 kids and a husband.
I'll throw in a vote for the blue tongue. They get to be a decent size but not huge. You dont have to worry about them climbing out of the cage or making a leap for it during a cleaning. Ballerinas they are not. They kinda look like snakes so people will still think you're cool even though if you have a stupid lizard. They eat anything. Literally. Mine are like garbage cans. I have yet to find something they wont eat. As a matter of fact I have to be careful what I put in there cages since if its something they dont recognize they will try to eat it. Especially if its in/near the food bowl. Then all bets are off. Once I layed a dead rat down next to a blues cage and he was snapping at it through the glass. The rat was bigger than him yet he was gonna have a go at it. I love these guys. Every once in a while you get a bad one but the vast majority are not aggressive. They arent that expensive and captive bred babies are readily available. They have blue tongues. Neat-o. They are not difficult to keep and require just the basic reptile necessities. People say they need UVB. My oldest one has been with me 16 years and hes never had UVB or spent very much time outside. And he was full grown when I got him so Id clock him at around 19-22 years of age. And hes still going strong, eating like a pig and beating up the females I try to get him to breed with. Wouldnt you know it, hes my biggest most beautiful skink and hes a confirmed bachelor. Just my luck. Ive never met a friendly basilisk. And Ive met many. I had a pair once and they were too much aggravation for me. Any movement and WHAM! head first into the side of the cage. It was a constant battle to keep their mouths clean and try to stop them from killing themselves.They also have very delicate digits. Maybe if someone starts a project and breeds some of the wild out of them they will calm down. Until then count me out. Way too high strung for my taste. Its like living with George Castanza on too much caffeine with a frill. They are beautiful and if you have the patience for them I say more power to you. I prefer my lizards fat, slow and lazy. An ackie is a great lizard but if you want a "friendly" lizard they may not be your thing. They arent vicious but they love to burrow and hide. Of course if you set the cage up right they will spend quite a bit of time basking but their personality is typical monitor. Even though they are small they are still tough. I find mine to be quite intelligent and they exhibit all sorts of cool behaviors. And when I say intelligent I mean as far as lizards go. None of them are splitting atoms if you know what I mean. CB available. Can be expensive. Water dragons are cool if you can provide them with the spacious quarters and humidity they need. Can get CBs if you look. Dont be fooled by captive hatched. Not the same thing. I like them but dont have any personally since I need the space for other stuff and I refuse to cram them into an enclosure too small. Considering some horned dragons though Ive been hearing good things. Desert iguanas are almost certainly going to be wild caught and require very high temps and specialized care. If you keep'em hot enough and provide the right diet they can do well. But I wouldnt call them easy. I dont see the appeal of the crested gecko. I know the gecko people are going to hate me so please dont take offense. They are a little small and timid for my taste. Just MHO dont throw stones. I suppose if you want to set up a naturalistic terrarium they are a good choice since they are small and probably wont trash the place. I admit they are really cool looking though. Real nice ones command a hefty price tag. I havent seen a leopard lizard available for a while. As far as I know no one is breeding them and if they are they are going to be limited. So if you do find one its going to be wild caught. Be wary of wild caught desert species they are tricky. Plus from what I understand they are a little pissy. Ive never had one just what Ive read/heard. I didnt see beardeds on your list but I guess we all know how great they are. Cant get a much more docile lizard. Unless its stuffed. CBs all over the place in every weird color you can imagine. If you are like me and like normal looking animals you can get them very inexpensively. Many of the breeders sell off their normal looking offspring for very low prices. And the neat thing is they are most likely the "leftovers" from a breeding project and may be het for something. So if you breed them its like a box of chocolates. You never know what you're gonna get! I'll cast my vote again. Blue tongue!
Out of all of my lizards my leopards are by far my favorites and they are all wild caught. Not a "pissy" one among them. Everything you've read/heard about them is very wrong. They make great pets and are a lot of fun to watch and interact with. Mine love to be held and they are not boring at all. I will be breeding them next spring because I would like to see more of them in the pet market. You're right, not many people breed them so captive bred ones are very limited. I think that's a shame and they've gotten a bad rap. I've seen several articles about how aggressive they are and vicious and that's obviously not true. Everyone on here knows how much I love my leopards. I own a blue tongue as well and you're right, they are slow, fat and lazy and if that's what you are looking for in a reptile, they are fine but I find him rather boring so consequently I don't tend to interact with him as much as I should. I have to force myself to remember to take him out every couple of days just to keep him docile. My leopards leap at the cage every day begging to be held so they get plenty of attention. I just finished writing an article on them that I am submitting to Reptiles magazine as well as my local herpetological newsletter. I am a big promoter of the leopards. You know my vote has always been long-nosed leoparsd!
Please dont be offended. Just sharing some ideas. I highly doubt that every article I have read about leopard lizards is wrong simply because you have 3 that arent aggressive. Obviously almost ANY lizard can be tamed down if you work with it enough. Ive seen dog tame nile monitors, one of the most aggressive species out there. Just because a handful of people have tame niles doesnt change the fact that the vast majority of them are quite aggressive. I also highly question that they "beg to be held". Most likely they are exhibiting a feeding response or just trying to escape. When I said blue tongues are fat, slow and lazy that was meant as a joke. They are actually quite active although not nearly as agile as other species. But they do motor around on their stubby little legs. And I agree they arent for everyone. If you want a very active lizard that runs around and climbs with ease dont get a blue tongue. You will be disappointed. Plus they are tanks and re-arrange the cage to their liking so if you like to decorate your cages forget it. They will engage in unauthorized landscaping. I think its wonderful that you intend to breed the leopards. They would make a welcome addition to the hobby. Please understand I dont have a problem with a species whether its aggressive or not. I have both. Some lizards I can handle freely, others I have to exercise a little caution and others would like to see me dead. Its all part of the game. Plus I dont handle my animals very often as I enjoy just watching them be lizards. But most folks like an animal that they can interact with to some degree and I was assuming the original poster had that hope in mind. I dont know if years and years of captive breeding has some effect on a reptiles temperment but it seems to be so. reticulated pythons were notorious for being nasty or at best unpredictable and that seems to be changing. Beardeds are so freakin docile I doubt you could get one them to bite you if you tried. But I dont know if this is genetic or a by product of being around humans since hatching. I still stand by the statement to be wary of wild caught desert species and all wild caught animals in general. Ive seen far too many people burned. That is not to say that one should never purchase a wild caught animal. Just be very cautious, ask a lot of questions, observe the animal and go to a reputable dealer. Without wild caught animals we wouldnt be where we are in the hobby I understand this. Just use your head.
I have no idea how many articles you've read about leopard lizards but I've read a few of them myself and what I've read is very unfavorable. The last article I read was obviously written by someone who has never owned a leopard lizard but only observed them in the wild. The behavior he described was that of a wild lizard in the wild. I do not take offense to your statements. You are entitled to your opinions and so am I. I agree, any lizard can be "tamed" over time but every leopard lizard I have was as calm out of the shipping box as they are today. They did not require "taming". The last 2 I bought were straight out of the desert. They were not tamed by someone before me. I won't speak on the subject of niles or retics because I've never owned one so I can't say whether some are tame and some aren't. I will only say that I have owned a lot of different lizards and snakes over the last 30 years or so and the leopards are by far my favorites. I do not give human emotions to reptiles but I will stand by my statement that they do in fact seem to "beg to be held". I will not try to convince you as you obviously have strong opinions and that's fine. I will say, however, that when I walk in the room they climb the glass and when I take them out they instantly calm down, find a favorite spot on my chest and fall asleep. I don't think it's a feeding response because they are very light eaters and rarely get excited about food. Do they want to merely escape their tank? Maybe. but they are obviously not looking to run away if they settle down to sleep once they are out. Next summer when I have beautiful baby leopards for sale, I will happily sell you one and you can see for yourself what wonderful pets they are. I, myself, have not been burned by purchasing wild caughts. Maybe I'm just lucky. I have received only healthy, parasite-free, non-agressive lizards. I sincerely hope everyone out there buying these wild-caught beauties is as lucky as me.
I have posted these pictures before but I will post them again for your benefit. You can see by the change of my clothes that this behavior is a common occurence and not something they've only done once. I have many other lizards that interact well with me also but these are the most endearing. Don't get me wrong, I'm glad you love your blue tongue. They are great pets and very handleable also but they are rather boring in my opinion. Of course I am only speaking from my experience with them.
I didnt mean to sound like I had a strong opinion on the subject. Sometimes its difficult to convey emotion over the internet. You can sound like a jerk without meaning to since you cant smile and you have no tone to your voice. If your leopards are tame thats wonderful. I too hope that every person buying a wild caught animal is as lucky. Not just the tame factor but health wise. The situation is improving. While I do not have strong opinions about taming reptiles I do about the wild caught situation. Its a horror show. I am pleased that these animals wound up in the hands of someone who will care for them. Many do not. I'll throw a theory out on the lizard sleeping on the chest thing just for kicks. Lizards have very interesting behaviors. Some of these behaviors are hard to understand. Heres an example. Did you ever hear the thing about turning a lizard over and rubbing its belly and it goes to sleep? Sure, everyones heard that. And if you try it you may discover that its true but here's whats really happening. When you put a reptile in an unnatural situation they dont know what to do. Sometimes a lizard will fight like mad until its feet leave the ground and then it goes limp. Why? Because it has no idea how to handle this situation. So it shuts down. Iguanas do this. If you hold an iguana by his back and his feet arent touching anything he just kinda gives you that iguana glare at least most of the time. But once he gets his claws into something solid look out. Being lifted up by a huge animal (us), turned on its back and rubbed puts the lizard in a scary situation. So it basically shuts off. Its not sleeping it just has no idea what to do. This is the lizards way of escaping the situation. It turns off. So thats what I would say the lizard is doing. Just turning off until the presumed threat goes away. Or, perhaps if they are handled often enough he no longer sees humans as a threat and is just being a lizard. Nearly all wild caught lizards have parasites. Its nature. There is a balance between the lizards and the parasites. The parasites dont kill lizards. Otherwise every lizard in the world would be dead. Its stress and bad husbandry that kills lizards. In long term captive monitors you can sometimes see the worms in the animals feces. Thats just the lizard expelling the excess parasites. Thats what healthy lizards do. You obviously care for your lizards and are a knowledgeable person who knows how to properly keep reptiles. Many folks arent. Even well meaning folks dont always know what they are getting into. So more often than not they blame parasites instead of bad husbandry. I would guess the number one killer of wild caught lizards is not giving them enough heat, all things considered and excluding stress which can not be measured. That and dehydration which is often overlooked. Everybody wants to see the lizard eat. But they dont always pay attention to whether or not he is drinking. Yeah, even the desert guys need water. Maybe not much but if they just spent a few weeks in shipment moving from importer to holding tank to wholesaler to another wholesaler to pet shop to you and havent had a drink that whole time then yeah they need water. If I had to guess why your animals are doing well I would bet anything its due to the care they have received in your charge and has nothing to do with parasites or any other afflication or lack thereof they may have had before you got them. If they were healthy in the wild, lets call that a 10, then through the rigors of capture and captivity they went to a theoretical 5, they are now back to a 10. Whatever problems that had in the wild they still have. And they are living with them as they should in captivity. If they breed then they are certainly a 10 since that is what healthy lizards do. They breed. Its in their nature. Thats what they are programmed to do. Sure a few species are tricky but the vast and I mean VAST majority of lizards will breed in captivity under the right conditions. And I dont mean photoperiods, brumation, rain chambers or other things we do to them to induce breeding. Im talking if their basic physical and psychological needs are met they will breed. Whether or not the eggs hatch are another matter. Im just talking breeding here, a natural function of the animal. Ill just throw this in because I find it interesting. I used to keep a lot of snakes. I do not own any now because Im snaked out. At one point I had over 100 adults not counting offspring. I love them, I read about them and I love to look at them. I just choose not to own them any more. For the last 8 years or so Im strictly lizard with a bunch of frogs just for fun. They look nice in the living room. Anyway, when I had colubrids they bred every year. Milks, kings, corns, rats, pines, gophers all of them. And had viable eggs. And Ive never done a brumation. All I did was allow a normal nighttime drop in temperature as the seasons changed. Very slight if it even effected them at all. Thats it. Yet I know people struggling to get their kings or corns to breed. Because they keep screwing with them. I hear..they have to be 55 degrees for 2 months, no 3, no 5 weeks,61 degrees, no 65, etc, etc, etc. Leave them alone and they will breed like rabbits. C'mon, a cornsnake? Its a breeding machine. I remember once during a cage cleaning I accidently put a male corn in with a female corn. And right there in a plastic bin on the floor he locked up with her in two seconds. And Im nothing special, believe me. Im not a scientist, a professional breeder or anything like that. I just give the animals choices and let them decide what they want to do. I give them a wide range of temperatures, humidity, food, hiding places, things to climb on, things to dig in and I leave them alone. Im curious as to how you know your animals are parasite free. Did you have a fecal exam done? Ive never done that and I would be interested in the results. I would love a captive born leopard lizard. As a matter of fact Ill take two. I think they are neat looking. And they are large enough that I would find them interesting. Again, no offense to the small lizards its just where I am in the hobby right now. I went through my terrarium phase where I had every weird tiny lizard around. After dealing with pinhead crickets for a while Im out. If it cant eat a full grown cricket I dont want it, LOL! Put me on the waiting list. Thank you for the interesting discussion. Which is what these forums are all about. Im new here and maybe I came off too strong but I just like to talk in more detail than the usual "My ball python wont eat!" end of post.
LOL I like you! A lot. I do agree with a lot of what you're saying. It is a very interesting discussion and I appreciate your views. I am also a nobody. I have never even bred any of my snakes. They have always been just pets to me. I feel there is a lot of over breeding going on in the hobby so I have flat out refused to breed anything until now. Every 13 year old that gets a pet snake, their first question on the forum is "where can I find a male (or female)? I want to breed!" They end up with a lot of babies they can't take care of and only God knows what happens to those poor babies. I have absolutely no problem at all with small time (or even big time) breeders that know what they're doing and can care for the ones they can't sell. I do, however, encourage youngsters to wait a few years before they start breeding just to see if, after owning one or two snakes, they are still interested. I see so many people on these forums discover that snakes are fun to own and will be even funner to see tiny little babies pop out of those eggs. Yes, they are cute, but they need a home and they are now YOUR responsibility and not a toy. Okay, I'm off my soapbox. As for the sleeping on the chest thing, I will allow your theory and will freely admit that I have often wondered the same thing. When I first discovered that they will often fall asleep when I hold them I thought I must be totally stressing them out. The fact is, though, that my 2 females will sleep on my chest, undisturbed, for hours. They don't periodically wake up to see if the threat (me) is gone. My young male is a spazz. You can almost see the smile on his face as he happily runs around the room and refuses to sit still for more than a minute. I do allow them full run of one room that the cats are not allowed in. When they are out of their tank they are allowed to run all over this room for as long as they want. My young male takes full advantage of that and explores the room until he's exhausted. Then, and only then, he will fall asleep on my shoulder. That's when I usually put him back in the tank. The 2 females are not nearly as curious. They do like to explore but seem more content to be held. I'm like you in the way that I don't handle my snakes on a daily basis. They are out only once every 2 weeks when they come out to eat. That's when I take the time to handle them, to look them over and make sure they are healthy. In between feedings I clean tubs as often as I need to. They are in a rack with newspaper substrate so I can change the newspaper with each defecation. My lizards, though, are held much more often. I do like to interact with them and they don't seem to mind. My blue tongue only gets held every couple of days and that's mostly when I take him outside for some natural sunlight. It's getting cold now so I won't be able to do that anymore. He would prefer it if I left him alone so I don't overly handle him. My chameleon is never handled. He hates to be touched so I leave him alone. He is a look at only pet and as long as I keep the food and water coming we are friends. My berber loves to be held. She took some time but now she will actually walk into my hand when I put it in her tank. When I first bought her I thought she would be another "look at only" pet. She has proven me wrong. The leopards and the dragon get held as often as I have time. As far as their health goes...I admit, only twice have I ever taken anyone to a vet. I discovered that I know more about reptile behavior than the vets in my area. Sadly, I don't have a reptile specialist near me. The vet that I took mine to was not much help to me and I ended up treating my snake with common sense and a good book. It's the way I've done it ever since. I have taken fecal samples in and had them tested though. That is inexpensive and the snake or lizard does not have to see the vet. The first wild caught lizard I owned, I took a sample in and had it tested. It came back negative and that only means that there was not such a large amount of parasites as to be seen in the feces. I agree with you that all wild caught reptiles do have parasites. When I said parasite-free, I simply meant that they are not a problem. I firmly believe that parasites do not become a problem unless the lizard's health becomes compromised and the parasites are then allowed to grow and take over. Only a sick lizard will be affected by the parasites that naturally occur in their systems. A healthy lizard will have no problems as long as it's health remains good. If your husbandry is off, then yes, that will compromise the lizard's health and the parsites will then take over. I am not as good at putting it into words as you are but I agree with a lot of what you are saying. I have always believed in giving them the best, most natural enviroment I can give them. Each of my reptiles (excluding the snakes that are in racks) has a specialized enviroment with whatever it requires and I believe that is why I have healthy reptiles. Yes I chose healthy reptiles to begin with and that was a good start, but I also make sure that everything is as natural for them as I can make it. If they have to live in captivity to please me then they deserve the best I can give them. I give them a natural photoperiod as well. The lights go on in the morning and off when the sun goes down. I have never used timers. A timer would have to be changed daily and that's silly. I have been doing it this way for many years and it's worked for me. When the time comes I will be happy to sell you a pair of my babies. You will be the first on my list. I am in the process of writing a care sheet that will go with each lizard I sell. Not enough is known about this species in captivity and by observing their behavior I believe I can write a more accurate care sheet than the one that Petco gives out. I would like to see more of these relatively small and easy to handle lizards in the pet trade. They are hardy and will allow small mistakes from a first time owner and they are fascinating to watch and interact with. AND you're in luck! even a hatchling right out of the egg can eat a full grown cricket. I am in the process of switching all of my cricket loving reptiles over to roaches though and will let you know how that goes. Most of them are accepting them but the leopards are so close to brumating that they are not terribly interested in food right now. My biggest girl did eat an anole for me this morning though but I believe that is her last meal for this winter. Within the next week I will be trying to get the other 2 to eat an anole and then after another week or so it will be lights out for them. From what I've been able to learn (and as I said not enough is KNOWN about them) leopards do require brumation in order for their breeding colors to come out next spring. The male will not try to breed with them unless they are in full color. In time I will learn more about them and be able to pass along better information. This is my pet project for the next few years and so I have little time for anything else. I hope I didn't offend you by anything I've said. It is nice to have another adult to discuss issues and debate with. It is clear that we both have experience and knowledge and there's not enough of that going around these forums. I'm relatively new to this forum myself and I don't mean to offend anyone but I do have strong opinions and sometimes I can't help but share them.
Yes, there are some species that are overbred, completely agree. I believe the worst one may be the burmese python but that is slowing down. There was a BOOM of burmese pythons in the late 80s-early 90s. They were everywhere. This is when the albinos were just starting to hit the pet trade. Thats when an albino burm went for $1,500 easy and people were snapping them up. Now people dont even flinch at the sight of an albino burm unless its double triple het for god knows what. I cant even keep track of the morphs any more. Since burms breed easy novices would get a hold of a pair not realizing that a large female can drop 30-60 eggs or in rare cases 100. Even if half the eggs thats a lot of snakes! My treefrogs just broke into chorus for no reason. Its the coolest. End of side note. I am a fan of captive breeding but agree that youngsters and novices should tread carefully. And certain species should be left alone. Some species may never meet the demand since the animals in question are just not as prolific as the burm. Good example is the prehensile tail skink. Awesome animal and hard to come by. If they do breed a female may have one, two, maybe 4(rarely). Very often its one. And they are usually sold before they are even born. Thats how in demand these animals are. The leopard gecko may suffer the same fate as the burm. They are hugely popular right now but if that dies down there are going to be a LOT of leos looking for homes. The leopard lizards sound like an excellent project since there really isnt that much known about them. It will be filled with discovery. People have been breeding collared lizards and the leopards seem similar so some of that information may crossover. Some may not, time will tell. I am not offended but any manner of discussion. Everyone has their views. I have been viciously attacked on other forums for using a particle substrate since many people prefer some type of paper or that awful astroturf. Hey, if it works use it. I too kept my snakes on newspaper when I had them. As long as they had a hide box they didnt seem to care. Plus I had a lot of them and at that point I was in full blown breeder mode so I needed to clearly see who was eating, who was shedding, who was defecating, etc. The newspaper made cleaning, feeding and record keeping much easier. For most lizards I use a particle substrate since many of them love to dig and so far it has done them no harm. For babies I use paper towels for the same reason I used paper on the snakes. It makes monitoring them easier and obviously a baby anything is more frail then an adult. Once they are a few months old they go on the normal substrate. Either dirt, dirt/sand mix or coco husk depending on the animal. Personally I love the coco husk and use it often. Great for frogs, lizards, awesome stuff. Do you use straight sand for your desert species or a sand/soil mix? I like to use a mix since it makes the substrate and bit heavier and it doesnt get into everything quite as much. Nothing wrong with straight sand just something I noticed by mixing.
I use a mixture. It makes the burrows hold their shape a little better and not cave in as much. I dampen the soil about once or twice a week while the leopards are outside sunbathing and let the heat lamp bake it dry. I frequent other sites as well and often get into discussions about using natural substrates. Generally, I find it's the ones that have never used it that are yelling at me about impactions. I always tell them that if their lizards are healthy, they shouldn't need to worry about impactions. It's not worth arguing about anymore, I can't change a mind that's not willing to listen. The collards do seem to be very similar to leopards and I have been using a bit of that data in caring for my lizards. It has been helpful. So far I have not found many differences although I don't keep any collards. I believe breeding the leopards is a project worth pursuing. I have talked (via internet) to others that have been successful and have gotten some good hints from them. My big female laid 7 eggs the day after I bought her but I didn't know how to incubate them and I believe I kept them too moist and maybe too cool. I will be more careful next summer and hopefully be more successful. We'll see, I'm looking forward to the experience. Maybe you can share some tips with me as well since you are an experienced breeder? I enjoy reading and have read so many books on the subject but that's nothing compared to hands-on experience. Besides your frogs, what else are you keeping right now?
Here's the gang as of right now: 5 Indonesian blue tongues 4 Northern blue tongues 1 prehensile tail skink 6 ackies 2 argus monitors 2 black roughneck monitors 3 alligator lizards 3 frilled dragons 4 beardies 1 cranky green iguana A whole bunch of tree frogs. I have a dumpy obession. Its bad. I dont want to wind up like one of those cat ladies with 200 dumpy tree frogs hanging out all over the house. 4 horned frogs. I think. Or I might have 4 green footballs. Im not sure. Most of these guys Ive had for a long time. The newest addition is 1 bearded dragon that was given to me from someone who no longer wanted her. They are not morphs, they are all normal but very nice looking light colored animals. I moved recently and lost 130lbs (my girlfriend, lol) so now I have the room, time and space to get some new guys. Jeweled lacertas coming soon. Love these guys. And most likely mountain horned dragons. Kinda like a water dragon but dont need as much space/humidity. And neat looking. The iguana was a rescue. He was in sorry shape. Honestly, I didnt really want a green iguana at this phase of my life but I couldnt help it. Ive had him 4 years now. He has his own room in the new house which I have customized for him. Hes quite the character. He is not for breeding and I would not attempt to breed him. Hes just a pet. He doesnt like me much but I like him. He also gets supervised free roam of the second floor and he goes outside when its hot enough. I have a small tree in the backyard that he likes. he just doesnt come back when I call him so I have to scramble up there and get him. Someone should film it as its quite comical. My neighbors love it. There goes that nut chasing the lizard again.He does this one thing which is odd. If Im sitting down working or something upstairs and hes out he'll walk right up to the chair, look at me, and turn around and walk away. Its strange. Also he knows where his food is kept and will claw at the door of the fridge. Honest to God he does that. And hes not the only iguana that Ive heard does things like that. Regardless of all that he still does like to be picked up and still tail whips on occaison. Hes doesnt bite but he lets you know he doesnt like you. I had a pair of the prehensiles but the male died a while ago for a reason I do not know. He was doing fine and one day he didnt look good. I tried to work with him but before I could do much he was dead. Its a shame, too. They are hard to come by. Female is still hanging in there, no pun intended. My collection has no rhyme or reason. Its just what I like and what I happen to aquire. Several of the animals were given to me by people who didnt want them. I didnt plan on having 5 Indy blue tongues it just worked out that way. I had a male, got a female, he beat her up, got another female, he beat her up, said ok you're out got a new male. Then got another female who needed a home. The northerns were purchased as a group. Id like some pink tongues someday. Never had one, rarely see them available. The ackies are awesome lizards. I bought a trio and then a buddy of mine had eggs and I glomed 3. Wonderful, active, interesting lizards. Its a monitor without the size. They behave exactly like their larger cousins. They stalk prey, they give you that look. Highly recommend them. For your dollar maybe the best lizard you can buy. Depending on your taste of course. I love the black rough necks. They are shy for a monitor but amazing looking MHO. Would like to get more. I still have room for a pair od CB leopard lizards. Ahem. The alligator lizards are a personal favorite. As are the frillys. The male frilly still displays which is awesome. I hear some of them stop doing that after a while. As I said at one point I had many, many snakes. Somewhere around a 100. I dont want to do that again. I had aspirations of breeding as a profession or at least a side job but not any more. Now its simply for enjoyment. I do breed the animals and the offspring help off set the costs of their care which is nice but not essential. If they all stopped breeding I would still keep them because I enjoy them. The black roughnecks have not produced for me yet. She did lay eggs but they did not hatch. They are still young though so...we'll see. The argus do produce healthy offspring with very little coaching from me. As do the first trio of ackies. The next group isnt quite old enough yet. They may be but I dont push the animals to breed as I dont depend on them for an income. I tend to wait the extra year and breed them when they are larger and less likely to have a problem. Most of them are in custom made cages that I built out of plywood and FRP. Its very cost effective and I was a carpenter in my younger days so I have no problem doing the work. Some of the smaller guys are in different cages. Some tanks, Visions and such. Eventually Id like to get them all in the custom built stuff since then the room will look uniform and pretty pretty pretty. I have hardwired electric heaters in the room which I use to keep a background temperature of whatever is appropriate and then spotlights for basking spots. No hot rocks, heat pads, heat tape, none of that stuff. I have no problem with undertank heaters its just that when your collection gets large they become a bother and its easier just to heat the room and provide basking spots. I dont keep the room all that hot either. In the summer I dont use the heaters at all. In the winter I just use it to take the chill out since my house is old and doesnt have very good insulation in the walls. The majority of their heat comes from the lamps. With the exception of the iguana and possibly the argus nothing is huge or cumbersome. I really like salvator monitors but they just get too big. I cant provide them with a gigantic enclosure and the only spare room I have is occupied by the iguana and the sallys would eat him. The black roughnecks are long buts its mostly tail and they arent as heavy bodied as say a savannah. I dont want anything huge. A good friend of mine has croc monitors and they are ridiculous. They are at a point where they are now dangerous to handle. And they arent what you would call good natured, lol! Gorgeous though I admit that. And the crazy sob will most likely have eggs this year if they dont kill him first. He wants to know if I want one. No thank you,sir! Thats about the scoop. Questions? Comments? Mouse donations?
Forgot about the egg thing. If your lizard layed eggs right after you got her it may not be anything you did that effected the eggs. Capture and shipping and all that sometimes messes up the egg production. A lot of the eggs layed by gravid wild caught females dont make it. Some do, some dont. Too much mositure can be a problem. I use vermiculite as a substrate to partially bury the eggs. Equal parts water and verm by weight. Some people say 6 parts verm to 4 parts water. Although by now I can just do it by eye if in doubt go by weight. You want the verm to be just barely moist to the touch not soaking wet. I keep the eggs in plastic shoe boxes inside a very simple homemade incubator which keeps them at about 85 degrees. A little flucuation is ok you just want to stay between 78 and 89 without going over 90 for most species. This will give you a good mix of males and females. If you go over 90 you will most likely get all males or males and some females who think they are males and who needs that? I only punch one or two small holes in the shoeboxes for aeration. It helps keep the humidity in. You will see the inside of the box sweat a little. Thats what you want. I generally do not add any water during the incubation unless the eggs or box look like they may be drying out. Then I mist the shoebox lid...not the eggs...with a small amount of water. Then I leave them alone. Dont touch them, dont turn them, dont mess with them. Leave them be. Thats there best chance of hatching. Even if the eggs look bad leave them alone they still may hatch. Ive seen healthy baby snakes crawl out of some pretty ugly eggs. However if you have an obviously rotten egg in there that is getting moldy or fungus get it out of there as carefull as you can. Im sure you can find much more detail in your books and various articles. I had good luck with the snakes and lizards by just keeping it simple and not screwing with the eggs. Oh, here's one trick. If the animal you are breeding can fit in a shoebox I used to make a laying chamber. You cut a small hole in the top large enough for the animal to enter. Then you put your verm/water mixture in there. This provides a nice humid secert spot for the animalt o lay and they will most often choose this as the place to deposit their eggs. Then after they lay you simply take the box out, put a new lid on with no hole in it and place it in the incubator. This way you dont have to touch the eggs or disturb them in any way. Usually the animals cooperate. If you have a hide in their that is humid underneath remove it until the egg laying is over or they may choose that spot. Ill bet you this trick would work with the leopards especially if the rest of their cage is dry. If you use a soil substrate and they bury in there I use a big scoop to take the eggs out and place them in the box like that. I dust off as much dirt possible but a little dirt in the box shouldnt hurt. Larger eggs, like burmese python eggs, can tolerate handling than tiny ones. The less handling the better.
Well first I will say that i'm sorry you lost your monkey tail. They are great animals and that's a shame. Sounds like you have an awesome collection. I could easily be the crazy cat lady but my husband keeps me in check. He hates animals of any kind and reptiles are right at the top of the list. We agreed to disagree on that a long time ago. He knew going in if he wanted to be with me he had to put up with the critters. I keep them in the basement in a room he will rarely enter and that's how we keep the peace. At this point he really doesn't know how many critters I have and he seems to prefer being in the dark so i let him. Since i am only allowed one room of the house, I keep my collection small (ish) and by small I mean both in number and in size. I am not at all interested in the larger species. That's a guy thing. No offense of course but few women are interested in burms or monitors. I am very much looking forward to breeding next spring and I hope it works out. I am pretty passionate about my leopards and will rattle on to anyone who will listen about what great pets they are. Unfortunately everyone is getting tired of listening so I need to get some babies out there so everyone can see for themselves! Thanks for the info about incubation and such. I will keep all that in mind next spring. Post some pics of your collection when you get a chance.
