Guys?? Curious here. My bluetongue skink Chascamichay is a year old now and is going to be trained as a potential service animal. As a result she may need to travel with me. We live in Wa State USA. I plan to get her examined every year to ensure good health. If she ends up travelling with me then we will need a carrier. Preferably something that is soft but sturdy and that I can attach to my body. Chasca is 12 in long right now I think {not sure yet about weight}. Any ideas????
As for a carrier like you describe, I think that will be custom but they may be out there somewhere. The important thing is heat and UVB. I have seen many horrifying photos of bluetongue's with MBD. Personally My Blue Tongue gets a 12 hour cycle of UVB from his basking lamp. We do let him drop to room temps at night and in my house that is around 72 degrees but they should be fine as long as they stay above 60 for short periods. Stress may be a factor and you may need to do more frequent check ups and even bloodwork to ensure he has good calcium levels. From the title, "Herp Walk". Is this a marathon walk taking the animals or driving to designated areas and hiking?
I am handicapped and can't drive. Like I said she is going to be a therapy animal. More on working reptiles: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/art...ithery-snake-massage-designed-help-relax.html That article has to do with snakes. But Chasca is going to be trained for the same thing. There is a chance that she might be able to alert me to a seizure too.
I remember a very controversial story about a snake that alerted his owner of seizures but I never heard what had become of it. If mammals can sense it then why not reptiles. Unfortunately I don't see the snake message thing going over well here in the US with health department regulations vs salmonella or even Ebola risk exposure involved. If you saying as a companion animal for mental therapy, I have seen this in the US and it is a wonderful thing but reptiles are extremely hard to train. Usually when they follow a command it is to get at food. The snakes in that news article are just doing what they naturally do. They all look to be corn and rat snakes witch are generally mild mannered docile animals without any handling or training.
I know who you're talking about because I'm acquainted with him. And he has boa constrictors {or a boa constrictor}. Which doesn't make a good service animal simply because they are too big. And actually Chasca is kind of an OT {occupational therapy} animal at this point {she basically keeps me on a routine atm}. Not really sure if she is able to alert me or not.
I don't think the size is a huge problem, I have seen service dogs from Fox Terrier's to St. Bernard's so if that where translated to the reptile equivalent would be like a Box Turtle to an Adult Sulcata tortoise. I would absolutely love to here how this turns out, As long as you keep the animals stress levels at minimum while following it's care sheets I can't see any reason the animal couldn't travel with you and be happy.
It's not just the size actually. Never had a snake. But was planning on getting a garter snake prior to getting Chasca. So I did some research. Like all snakes I think that garter snakes are supposed to be transported in a basket with a fliter. This person transports his snakes in his jacket in sometimes 50F weather.
My snakes all have a hotspot (belly heat) area that is 85-86 degrees. I have taken my animals out and shove them in my sweatshirt pouch. They do fine utilizing my body heat to stay warm. My Blue Tongue actually prefers to be in my pocket with his nose poking out. For a Boa, Better get a big pocket in that jacket! Garter snakes would be the same care essentially as a Corn snake, As long as they have a warm spot of 86 they are good. 90 and up can be dangerous for them.
Mmmhmm. Apparently he got into some trouble with the local humane society because of the way that he transports his snakes. And because of some other animals. He has six snakes. Four budgies. Three cats. And five dogs. And they live in a townhome!!!! He didn't tell me that outright of course. But I was talking to him about a friend of mine in England who had a gecko. When I mentioned giving my friend the phone number for the humane society of Britain because her gecko got lost in her house he said "all they {the humane society} care about is money, they have no interest in helping people with service animals". Anyway ya. I kinda feel sorry for his snakes. If you're a boa constrictor then being transported in someone's jacket can't be all that pleasant!!
