Newsletter published and stories therein.

Keeping Reptiles latest edition has just been sent out to everyone (you can subscribe from here). I was delighted at how well it was received. It's good to start getting some more interaction from readers and I was able to publish one reader's story about collecting Apalone spinifera hatchlings along with some pictures.

I got another story in response about a Burmese python that I will publish next edition. It's a pretty funny story really and I think some of the readers will get a kick out of it.

A number of readers told me about their experiences with hurricane Katrina. Thankfully no-one has told me that they lost their animals or similar stories although I got a large number of undeliverable emails and I sometimes wonder whether this has something to with Katrina. I'm sure many folks lost animals but those who I have been in contact with have been saved that misery.

It's been a bit hard getting this edition out as 'She who must be obeyed' has been cracking the gardening whip about my ears. I'm sick of doing the paving and I'm only 1/4 of the way. Oh the pain, the pain. I will look good so I suppose I have something to look forward ie the satisfaction of a job well done.

The critters are all doing well and feeding well, although sometimes Gonzo, the bearded dragon, has been a reluctant starter. Other days he can't get there quick enough. I've only had him a short while so I guess I'll just have get used to his behavior patterns.

The snake necked turtle should start to come out of hibernation soon as the weather is warming up with the joys of spring here. Time to clean out her pond and replace the water, maybe get some new plants. I found some small water plants that grow on the waters surface on the side of the road the other day so I might collect some of them as they seem to have all died in her pond.

That's it for now. Have to off and do some fishing. Yippee!!

Of crickets and dragons

Well the Aussies have been roundly defeated by the English and lost the Ashes. I rarely watch cricket but this was one good test series.

It's a funny thing to non-cricket playing nations of the world, cricket. I mean, how many games go for 6 hours a day for 5 days straight and can still end in a draw? How many games congratulate you when you to bowl a maiden over? You can have a full toss if you like but ball tampering is frowned upon. You should vary the length of delivery. You can have a hooker in your side but they shouldn't be a tailender. Then there's rabbits, yorkers, googly, slips and golden ducks. Truly, a bizarre game.

Well, that's not really the sort of cricket I was thinking of when I wrote the title. I was thinking of the crickets I feed the bearded dragon. I want someone to show me how to get them out of the box without having to spend half my time collecting them from the floor and every other crevice they manage to secr. I try putting the whole box into the cage but that's also fiddly and then I have trouble getting them out. Sometimes I take the egg section out and tap it on the floor, but that's just a likely to send tens of crickets flying around the cage, jumping out the opening and the dragon going into a frenetic frenzy trying to eat them all at once.

I don't always manage to get them all and then I incur the wrath of, to coin Rumpold's phraseology, "She who must be obeyed". I really shouldn't be too mean about it but my wife tells me she finds them in the shower, the loo, the family room, I find them in my office and generally the little blighters get in every nook and cranny they can possibly find around the house. And they chirp at night. Chirrrp, chirrrp, chirrping away at 1.00am in the morning somewhere where you cannot possibly find them.

Another thing about crickets that annoys me is trying to get them from the herp shop. They come in on Thursdays so I make the trip down but them sometimes the delivery is delayed so I have to make another trip in. Then sometimes something else happens and my whole schedule is thrown out, like this last week, and as a result I can't get them for a few days. It's quite frustrating. The beardie can still eat lots of vegies but I like to vary the diet and have the crickets on hand.

I'm thinking I might change suppliers and get some local roaches. Roaches can't jump. Apparently they are very good food and easy to breed, although I don't think I'll broach the subject of breeding roaches in the house. I haven't got a death wish.

What I do like about the crickets is feeding time. Gonzo, the beardie, goes nuts. He chases them and stalks some of them and generally has a great time feeding on them. What's really funny is watching him eat them. He suddenly leaps upon the hapless cricket and uses his tongue to sweep it into his mouth. Then he munches down on them, almost smiling. He sort of smacks his lizard lips them like they are a delicacy. I suppose they are.

If you want to know more about keeping bearded dragons you can get some free care sheets, 14 page download and bearded dragon feeding info from my website here. You might have to look around a bit but it's there and along with tons of other articles and information.

Handling Snakes for the Nervous Folk

I just wrote and article on that on my website, Reptile Cage Plans. I started writing the article for the blog but by the time I had finished it I thought I would put it on my site.

It's about how my daughter got one of her friends to handle a snake. She went from being fearful of even touching it to handling it fully. I was really impressed how she handled this. I learnt a fair bit by watching this from her and how she gained the confidence of her friend.

I think it's amazing what your children can sometimes teach one if you bother to listen, watch and learn.

I hope the reader (singular - to borrow a phrase coined by Philip Adams - as I know only one person reads this LOL) does not feel cheated but I wanted to make it a resource on my site. Essentially the point of the article is the need to take things slowly and gently and let the snake and new handler gain confidence in each other and how my daughter managed to do this.

There was nothing spectacularly special in the process but I think the putting at ease and the way she was introduced to handling the snake were the keys. Of course this would not work with all people. I have a sister-in-law that will not even enter the room they reside in. Quite pathetic really but she is a drama queen and one must make exceptions. The old adage "You can choose your friends, but not your family" has inescapable truths.

Anyway, go to the site and have a read if you feel so inclined. It was a lesson for me and one that I only realized after I had thought about it some time later.

Zen and the Art of Reptile Maintenance

I just wrote an article entitled just that. I hadn't written one for a while and it was quite difficult to start. Once I got going it was OK but I wasn't write sure what I really wanted to say. I know, I know, a fundamental mistake. Well it's not quite true. The title came to me a couple of days ago and that made me think about the book "Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance" and some of the takeways it had, but more specifically how it would relate to keeping reptiles. The article can be found here. I'll probably refine it more over the coming days as I'm not totally happy with it.

The main point I was trying to make was the need to pay attention to details and do things on a regular basis when looking after your pet. Things like cage cleaning, spot cleaning and examining your snake, turtle or lizard (or whatever) closely and carefully (I know it's a bit hard if it's a rattle snake but not many people keep them LOL). I ignored most of the other philosophical points in the book.

What prompted me to write the article was my brother-in-law asking about the ezine I publish, "Keeping Reptiles", and how it must be hard to write articles. I realized I hadn't personally written one for a while. He can't believe I actually run a web site that sells reptile cage plans. Well, I guess it's not your average web site. It came about from two things really.

One was my interest in having reptiles as pets, something I have been interested in since I was a child, and the other was a desire to earn money using the internet as a medium as I work part-time and run a small home business as well.

It was after doing some research that the idea of using my skills building things and combining it with my interest, that the site came around. I probably should have guessed really, as when I went to make my first reptile cages I had no idea. I also had a lot of help from Corey Rudl's book when it came to building the site and making it work (it's a great resource if anyone is considering building a web-site and get some traffic).

I then went to the local pet shops and spent ages examining the different snake (and lizard)cages. I would then go home a draw up some plans to make the cage. I went back quite a few times. The first cage I built was OK but I made a few mistakes in the design that did not work well for a range of reasons. When I made the next cage it was a lot better and I eliminated many of the design faults. I've actually taken that original cage and changed it to suit my needs and it now houses the bearded dragon. I changed the front of the cage and put in sliding doors. It now has a removable wire mesh roof. I can take this away and close the top down if I need. I think that's one of the big advantages of building your own cages. You can changes them if you want to and add and remove bits and pieces to suit your needs.

The bearded dragons cage needs this mesh lid more that the other reptiles as his cage can really get a smell up if it is enclosed, so having an open mesh allows the smell to go. The mesh was pretty easy to make. I was lucky to have an old flywire screen that I could take apart, cut to size for the cage opening and then put back together. I just use a couple of latches to hold it in place so that beardie can't get out. He has a high artificial tree in the cage that he likes to climb. He's a bit of a devil and can get out of the cage if the lid is open so I had to put the wire mesh on. I could remove the tree but he likes it so much up there that I don't want to do it to him.

Keeping Reptiles Newsletter, Cleaning Cages and other matters

Well I've just sent out another newsletter today. Sometimes it's a difficult process, finding material, sorting through it and also trying to make the ezine not too long. I know people's attention spans are shorter these days and they like information in shorter bursts. I'm considering making Keeping Reptiles a monthly publication. I guess I'll ask the clientele what they would like but it is hard to find time amongst a busy schedule. Maybe a longer newsletter published monthly would be better.

I have had some good feedback from the readers and a number have written to me about some of the articles. Some disagreed with Jen Swoffords views of the world regarding Iguana life spans in captivity (you can read the articles here). One of the letters is on the site so you read it and make up our own mind.

Another person wrote to me about feeding frozen mice/rats to their snake. This poor unfortunate person accidentally killed his snake but he lives in a fairly remote part of the world and the frozen food had probably been re-frozen or contaminated by the supplier. It was a salient reminder to make sure your frozen food supplier is a good and trusted source. I'm fortunate in that I have two sources, one of whom breeds his own mice for the local area.

I cleaned out my cages the other day and disinfected them all. Awful task but the consequences can be fairly dire otherwise. They all seemed healthy, but the blue tongued did look like they needed a good feed. They are theoretically my daughters responsibility but I have to step in and make sure things are being looked after occasionally.

I fed the children's pythons the other day. I was thinking that I probably hadn't fed them for about 5 weeks. I was going to feed them a couple of weeks ago but I had cooled down the cages and they had not appeared for a while. Usually they move out and about the cage when they want to be fed and that is my cue. The last time I tried to feed them, they left the food and it was wasted (I do not re-freeze it). No amount of enticing would get them to eat. This time they were really hungry and there was absolutely no hesitation. Bang, straight up after a quick sniff.

I think people are often inclined to overfeed their snakes. In the wild, it's often either feast or famine. The Chappell Island (no relation that I know of) Tiger Snakes off the southern coast of Victoria, Australia, feed predominantly on mutton bird chicks. During the mutton bird breeding season, food is everywhere. Mutton birds chicks are just a matter of moving from one hole to the next. The snake gorge themselves for six weeks, until the chicks are too large to eat and then go for ten months or so without food. It is a remote island, with, to my knowledge, no or very few human inhabitants and mostly tiger snakes, lizards and maybe the odd rat or introduced species. The tiger snakes themselves are amongst the largest of the tiger snake species and also said to be among the longest lived snakes, although this has not been studied extensively.

While these snakes probably have a biology suited to such a lifestyle, many snakes that live in difficult conditions must be able to go without food for long periods of time and then make the most of the food when it is readily available.