reptiles

Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share
21

A roommate and I jointly owned a Burmese python which we named Shai-Hulud. He was about 7 feet long when we got him and a little under 10 feet long when I had to find a new home for him. I got orders to go overseas. He had a great, docile disposition. He only went aggro when he smelled a rodent. When he was in hunt mode, he would strike at anything that moved.

He was also a master escape artist.

Snakes are beautiful and I like the way they move. I think they’re graceful (most of the time.) But their brain isn’t like a mammal’s. I can imagine that I know what dogs and cats are thinking and feeling. Herps are different - more primitive.

22

I’ve been there many times, Tamerlane. Strawberry Canyon is one of my most favorite haunts. I suppose I’ll have to be more patient the next time I visit. Thanks for the tip.

23

re Tamerlane’s Post

Which I know I ought to quote, (but since it’s really long, and with the pay-per-post controversy I’m more aware of taking up space) so I won’t!
Yep, I should have mentioned that “Defensive Mechanism” thing, but since all of mine quit it after the first day or so, I just forgot! As far as the watery poop thing goes, I feed worms far more than fish so it hasn’t been much of an issue. I use dry grass on the bottom of the cage, which absorbs quite well, and I just shovel out the whole thing regularly.
Tamerlane is completely correct about making sure your pet is a common species. Some areas do limit or require a licence for wild caught animals. Check it out first! When I had a more extensive collection myself, I used to get inspected by the SPCA periodically. They had a guy from Fish and Game check me out, and the one’s I had were okay, fortunately!
Another thing to remember, there is no such thing as a cage that is too big. The snake needs, at MINIMUM, a cage long enough to stretch out full length. Garters are able to get up into a corner of the cage and push themselves up until only the last 2-3 inchs of the snake is still on the ground. A good lid is a must!

24

When I was 9 I caught my first pet snake, a 3-foot long common garter. We had a slough (think 5 acres covered in 2 feet of water) at the end of our street, so I fed him toadlets and tadpoles. My mom turned him loose while I was away at camp.

Not reptiles, but as an adult I have owned 2 scorpions that I kept in a terrarium in my barracks room and fed cockroaches. Unfortunately I was in the field when they had the mess hall sprayed and unwittingly fed them poisoned roaches.

I also owned 2 green iguanas for a couple years, they grew from 2-1/2 to over 3 feet long and were very healthy. I moved to Colorado in the winter and didn’t think they would survive the move, so I sold them to the most reputable local pet store. That was before many people were successful captive breeding them, so they brought me $80.00 each.

Currently I have the back half of my back yard fenced off from the dogs and it is full of garter snakes. They keep the bugs down in my vegetable garden and I enjoy watching them. I had a small water feature last summer. It has an inch and a half lip on the inside and I put 2 large rocks in it with a third rock resting on top to serve as a grotto for my fish and a bathing platform for the wild birds. The garter snakes really enjoyed it, having some cool water and a buffet of goldfish, so I had to buy a couple dozen feeders every week. One day I came home from work to find a garter snake unable to get out over the lip of the pond. As I pulled it out of the water, my wife was picking a dead goldfish out of the pond. She offered it to the snake and to both our surprise he took it from her hand.

Well, that’s my hand-feeding a wild snake story. Not exactly Crocodile Hunter stuff, but not bad for the 'burbs of Salt Lake City.

25

I’m a co-founder of a small conservation society and we do educational presentations in the elementary schools and libraries, and sometimes for the state F&G and police. My specality is venomous and I keep 16 specmens toward that end (although some five of them are for my own enjoyment and are never presented). Our biggest gig this year was for some 300 kids, sponsered by Ducks Unlimited.

I also do problem snake removal and re-location, reptile rescue and rehabilitation (the big save this year was a snapping turtle that some idiot had shot), and am licensed by the state, NC, for it.

I’ve got a couple of modest breeding programs going and next year, I’m expecting litters of Canebrake and Great Basin Rattlesnakes (C. h. atricadatus and C. v. lotosus).

Someone mentioned the hassle of feeding rodents. I buy mine frozen and vacumn packed from a place in TX called the Mouse Factory. They’re shipped packed in dry ice. http://www.themousefactory.com/ will get you there. They do the dirty work. It’s best to get together with other herpers and put in a big order so save on the shipping.

Delighted to see that I’m not alone!

f

26

Hello all! I’m so glad to hear from fellow herpers! Zoogirl, I know what you mean about tokays- I have one that will actually cross the tank just to bite. He will temporarily ignore food just to take a chunk out of my hand. However, he sings, and that makes up for his personality.

I just rescued a savannah moniotr from some degenerate fool who was feeding him canned dog food TWICE A DAY. He is morbidly obese. I have him on a strict regimen of two hoppers and seven crickets every ten days, plus “out” time where he is encouraged to walk and climb around. He has a wonderful temperament, and actually enjoys having his neck scratched. This brings the monitor total to two, as I have a 6-year-old water monitor. VERY friendly. I love monitors, but I would advise anyone looking to keep them to do A LOT of research, and make sure they have the time, money, and space to keep them. They are intelligent lizards that really benefit from interaction with their keepers, and it would be cruel to deprive them of that, not to mention that taming is a must, since an aggressive, 7-foot, 90 lb. monitor is like having Godzilla loose in your house.

Zenster- When you get your project going, let me know where I can buy a Tank of the Future- I want one! Great idea!

Filthy- tell us more about your conservation project. I agree; the more I learn about humans, the more I like rattlesnakes, too. (and all reptiles, for that matter)

27

Here’s Douglas Adams’ take on it, from Last Chance to See.

He’s talking about Komodo Dragons, but it applies to other creatures.

“They are man eaters. That is not so bad in itself. Lions and tigers are man eaters, and though we may be intensely wary of them and treat them with respectful fear, we nevertheless have an instinctive admiration for them. We don’t actually like to be eaten by them, but we don’t resent the very idea. The reason, probably, is that we are mammals and so are they. There’s a kind of unrecognized species prejudice at work: a lion is one of us but a lizard is not. And neither, for that matter, is a fish, which is why we have such an unholy terror of sharks.”

28

Actually, it’s just four and sometimes five of us, each with our own speciality. We all do wildlife rehab and sort’a got together and began presenting. We’ve been doing it for about 3 years, now. Most of the animals we take into the schools are unreleasable rehabs. My beautiful female Canebrake Rattler came to me with a fractured skull and after 4 years, still can’t eat as large a rat as she should. A sad story behind this snake. She was so badly injured as well as malnourished, I nearly euthanized her, the dark side of what I do. She’s the one that will have the ‘blessed event’ next year, so taking the chance was the right thing to do.

Another of us is a raptor expert and keeps several that can no longer fly, including a kestrel that was hit by a car and had to have a wing amputated. I kept this bird for a short while and was sad to part with it.

We also have some small mammals, flying squirrls, a ground hog, a prairie dog, and so forth. Fortunatly, I only have the snakes to feed.

I rehabed an abused savannah last year and was tempted to keep it for a garbage can. He was a little sweetheart. But, I’m a little short of space and the people that wanted him gave him a great home. I’ve also done a nile monitor, a much diffrent lizard all together.

If you’re going to keep monitors, especally the smaller species, start up a colony of Madagascar cockroaches. They’re nutritious, the lizards’ll love 'em, and they’re kind’a fun as well.

This is our slow time of year and we have nothing listed. That will change after the new year.

I think that all of us should get into education to at least some degree. Only that way will we be able to save our wildlife.

luck,

f

PS: I too, have been whacked by a Tokay, my favorite gecko. He used to sing all night long.

29

I’m not afriad of reptiles nor do I think they are evil. But I can’t understand why anyone would want them for a pet. They aren’t cuddly, they don’t care about you, and after a short while the novelty seems to wear off. I used to feed my friend’s Iguana when he was out of town and I couldn’t figure out what he saw in his pet. On the other hand I think birds make even worse pets then reptiles. At least reptiles don’t make all that noise.

Marc

30

Wikkit- thanks for the paragraph. I agree with what Douglas Adams is saying although this “one of us” business is somewhat confusing. I know people instinctively “like” mammals more than reptiles, being that humans are mammals, but I hardly think we empathize with ANY other animals, at least not that much. What gets me are these people who feel predatory animals are all bad. (Seriously- I have met people so deeply out-of-touch they think grizzly bears should be stopped so that all the elk can live in peace.) Also, I have seen people on TV who feel garter snakes are somehow a threat to human civilization, yet line up 6-deep to try and take pictures of their children with wild bison at Yellowstone.

Filthy- thanks for the info. It sounds like you guys really have it together. I have a lot of respect and admiration for people doing conservation work. I’m currently working with a licensed wildlife rehabber in my area with a view to getting my own license, and this is hard work. Good luck and success to you. Regarding hissing cockroaches, the tokay loves 'em, but the monitors refuse to eat them. In fact, my savannah seems apprehensive of them, 'though he’ll scarf up crickets.

31

Ditto that! I’d like to have a little ecosystem going on. Not a completely closed one, but a combination of fish and some herps, aquatic plants, etc. Would snakes and turtles cohabit peacefully, if they were of similar size? What about turtles and lizards?

How big would the Tank of the Future need to be to maintain a plant -> insect -> fish -> herp food chain, if I was willing to step in and stock the insects and fish occasionally?

32

Same reason folks like fish :slight_smile: - They’re often pretty ( or at least interesting-looking ) and can be fascinating to just watch, even when they’re not doing much. And believe it or not, some are cuddly after a fashion ( but not many, to be sure.

But each to their own, of course. I do prefer my affectionate ( if whiny ) cat to any herp I’ve ever had.

I hear you. I love parrots, but can’t take the occasional ( and inevitable ) screeches. I had a friend with an African Grey Parrot, an excitable Cocker Spaniel, and two cockatiels. When the dog started barking, the cockatiels started screeching, and the parrot started imitating all of them ( plus his owner scolding the others :smiley: ) at full, ear-splitting volume, it was like armageddon. Also they’re usually a lot of work to maintain and* entertain.

But these too, can be cuddly, affectionate, social pets ( the various psittascines are social, flock animals after all and the larger ones often form very long-standing social bonds in the wild that will transfer to a human owner ). And they can be relatively smart and diverting - Certainly much more clever than any herp. They also have the advantage over most pets of loooong life-spans ( again, we’re talking large parrots here ).

  • Tamerlane
33

When someone speaks of a ‘pet’ snake, or reptile of any kind, I shudder. There in no such thing as a pet herp. Treat one as a pet, and you will most likely get bitten or have the animal escape (in my case, either is very bad news).

With herps, you must appreciate the animal for what it s, not for what it can do for you. As mentioned above by Tamerlane, it’s a lot like keeping tropical fish, particulary hot snakes or gilas; you don’t take them out and play with them.

A display I want to build someday will take up the entire corner of a room. It will have water trickling down over rocks festooned with great beards of algae. there will be all natural plantings and perhaps even orchids on the walls. In the bottom will be a filtered pool with a population of colorful fish. In a dry corner there will be a grotto wherein will lurk one of the most sinister Cottonmouths in the world ( a snake I already have. Can’t present him any more due to his habit of going berserk). It will be climate controled, of course.

What’s not to love?

f

34

Oh man, you should hear it at work sometimes! We have two cockatoo’s, an African Grey, a crow, a pigeon and a finch, all in the same room! We had a cockatiel until last week, but she just passed away.
I think most of them are multi-lingual! The whole lot talk, and several have now learned to speak crow! The parrot meows, loudly, and someone, I’m not sure who, imitates the door opening. They “ping” like the microwave, too! Talk about pandemonium! All I have is a pair of budgies and it’s almost quiet around here! ( Well, except for the dog, and scratching, scrambling rodents, and hissing hedgehog, and that chittering sound the ferret makes, and degu fights, not to mention the kids…oh, never mind!) At least the herps are quiet!