Help, newsletter and other stories

I had a reader send me a fantastic story about a gecko she found upon return from Hawaii. It's an interesting story about animal survival against odds and the strange concurrence of events that sometimes leads to a lucky find. You can read about it all here. Michelle tells the story of finding morning geckos that survived in her luggage.

There are some good tips on injecting reptiles from a vet when they are sick. These are handy. Also, in the previous issue I wrote an article on reptile cage making tips. Hopefully someone will find them useful.

There was also a tribute poem to Steve Irwin in that issue. I'm not going to add anything of note to that saga, so i will just leave it at that as the poem says it better than I ever could.

It's interesting to note that I have a few people contributing articles and I hope that as time goes by I will get some more contributions to the free Keeping Reptiles newsletter.

I have also added a care sheet on Jungle Pythons that was well done and contributed by a reader so the reptile care sheets and other topics are slowly building up in numbers.

Bearded dragon brumation/hibernation

A couple of weeks ago I noticed Gonzo, my bearded dragon, was acting a bit differently. Previously had always sat on a log close to the basking light, up fairly high. Lately had taken to hiding under newspaper. When I first got him he was not interested in a hiding place. I tried hiding dens but he always remained up high.

At first I wasn't sure what has caused his behaviour to change. He was still eating well, but only crickets. Greens, dandelions (his favorite) and other foods did not seem to interest him. The cage temperature had not altered but it was like he has decided to go into hibernation/brumation. When I lifted the newspaper to see him he was generally asleep. I couldn't figure out why.

It is winter at the moment in the southern hemishpere and the other reptiles are hibernating but Iwas surprised he had taken to it, as the internal temperature of the cage had pretty well remained the same. Not having had a bearded dragon before, I didn't quite know what to expect.

It was only just the other day that I realised that I had been shortening the snake cage days a bit here and a bit there and, as they run on the same timer, it has initiated the brumation in the bearded dragon. I feel a bit dumb about this as I should have realised.

My concern was kicked off by my wife, who kept on asking me "Is Gonzo OK? He's hiding. Are you sure he's not sick" I guess my immediate response was one of concern rather than thinking clearly of what had happened to change his behavior. I just adjusted the cage temperature down a bit to suit and let him hibernate.

Some days, the simplest things pass us by. I guess I was fooled by the blue tongues, who will go year round if you let them.

I think I will keep the bearded dragon lizard in the outdoor cage with the blue tongues and the snake necked lizard over the summer. You can see this cage on this page at reptile-cage-plans.com.

Snake shedding and other things

I received an email the other day that asked me about a young snake shedding.

The question was:
"I was just after a bit of information, we brought my daughter a spotted python for her birthday. This is the first time we have had a snake so we are learning slowly, the snake is approximately 7 months old,we were feeding her 1 pinkie a week but this didn't seem to be enough as by about day 5 she seemed to be hungry again, so we have started to give her 2 pinkie's on feed day. Should we be feeding on just one day or should we stagger it over the week?
Also since we have had the snake which has been just over 5 weeks she has shed twice and on both occasions the skin only seemed to scuff off in sections and not come off as one piece as I thought it would, we did on both occasions swim her in warm water as all the books say to do. But I was wondering if we were doing something wrong?, whit the way she is shedding and the frequency. Because she looks healthy and has increased in size since we have had her."

I replied:
"Feeding her the two pinkies on the same day is fine. In the wild snakes are oportunistic feeders and if they found a nest they would eat their fill rather than go away and come back in a couple of days.

The shedding twice is not as issue as the snake is young and obviously growing. Shedding times can vary and you did not mention how far apart the sheds were so I am assuming a few weeks. I am also assuming from your letter that the soaking worked for the snake and you were able to easily remove the unshed skin.

It may be that the snake's cage is not humid enough. Put another container of water in there and perhaps position it near the hear mat or the heat source so that sufficient humidity is produced. I also do not know what sort of cage accessories you have. For example a nice climbing branch is useful as they like to climb and it also allows a rough surface for the python to help itself shed by catching the old skin.

If you are still having trouble, soaking the snake in water almost always works if you use the following tip. Crumple up some newspaper to make numerous newspaper balls about the size of golf balls, enough to cover the bottom of the soaking container. Wet them and add them to the water. There should still be a small amount of unabsorbed water in the bottom of the container. If you can keep the temperatures appropriate, you can leave the snake in there overnight, but try for at least a couple of hours. Very often the snake will be able to use the paper as it crawls around to pull off loose skin on its own. This is what we want because it's the least stressful to the snake. However, if the skin is still there after soaking, you can GENTLY restrain the snake and use a wet paper towel, wrapped around the snake's tail, to carefully pull off the offending skin."

Shedding is an issue that many owners have trouble with at one stage or another. I have been fortunate with my snakes and have not had any issues. Making sure the humidity is adequate and there are enough rough surfaces in the cage is a major step to reducing shedding problems.

The website reptile-cage-plans.com also has a range of articles that cover many
issues. Some of the the articles include:

• Where do you start to build a snake cage?
• Materials for Reptile Cages
• How to Build an Indoor Land Turtle Table
• Ball Python Cages
• Examples of Reptile Cages
• Snake Cage Size
• Lizard Cage Size
• Cleaning Reptile Cages - Keeping them healthy
• Building an outdoor snake-necked turtle enclosure
• Setup for aquatic turtles in small tanks
• Converting Cage Dimensions to Gallons and Temperature Converter
• Salmonella and Reptiles
• How to make fake trees for reptile cages
• An approach towards socializing snakes
• UV-lamps for Terrariums and their effectiveness
• Zen and the art of reptile maintenance
• Handling Snakes for the Nervous Folk
• Information on Disinfectants Commonly Used with Reptiles
• Reptilian Ethology (behavior)

There also others and a range of care sheets and other resources on the resources and articles pages.

Newsletter, odds and sods

It's been a while. I just sent out the latest "Keeping Reptiles" newsletter. There have a been a number of issues since my last post.

The last two have included an article about Black and White Argentine Tegus and there is currently a three part series on Diamond Pythons. While the articles have been published before I thought it worthwhile re-printing Stan Charis's excellent information sheet on the breeding and maintenance of Diamond Pythons. These, in my opinion, are one of the most attractive of the Australian pythons. They are misunderstood as most people see pythons as tropical. Diamond pythons are a temperate python, living down the Eastern sideboard of Australia, as far south as Victoria. This means the requirements for their captivity and care are different from most pythons. They can in fact be kept very easily but there has been a tendency to have the temperatures and humidity too high.

There are a lot of articles to be found in the newsletter, including archives, at
Newsletter Archives.

There are also articles on reptile and snake cage making at Reptile Cage Plans Articles.

I am currently working on some other snake cage designs so these should be ready soon.

Evolution: Fact or Fiction

I sometimes get replies from people who read the newsletter and fear that I might offend Christian readers of the newsletter with statements such as "While a few snakes do have small spurs, the remnants of hind legs shrunken by many years of evolution...".

As someone firmly ensconced in the evolutionary camp I find it hard to fathom that this may cause offence. The implication being that evolution is, after all, only a theory and an incorrect one at that. The email also went on to contend that it has been proven wrong.

I may be missing something here but I have searched and searched the reputable scientific papers an journals and cannot find anywhere that states it has been proven wrong.

Well, theory it may be. Evolution as a theory has been around for over 100 years. It was contentious when it first appeared and was continuously ridiculed. But it has persisted. Similarly, people have been trying to knock it down for over 100 years, but with no success.

In fact, I contend that most Christians happily live with evolutionary theory and a belief in God. The Roman Catholic Church is not bothered by it, nor are most religions.

The faiths most bothered by evolution are those that believe in the literal interpretation of the Bible and the 6000 years old (or 10000) theory.

I don't think any amount of evidence I provide will satisfy them. I know I should not lump them all into one category but the issue of Intelligent Design is a banner that is held dear to creationist beliefs and one that is put forward as a theory but is closer to a belief.

There should be plenty of evidence for intelligent design if it is true. As Fred Hoyle wrote when talking about the ease at which Helium turned into a stable Carbon atom:

"A commonsense interpretation of the facts suggest s that a superintendent has monkeyed with the physics, as well as chemistry and biology, and that there are no blind forces worth speaking about in nature. I do not believe that any physicist who examined the evidence could fail to draw the inference that the laws of nuclear physics have been deliberately designed with regard to the consequences they produce inside stars."

However, from a philosophical point of view David Deutsch says:

"One can take off from that starting point in a variety of directions. One way is to say, ah well, this is providence, this is evidence that the world was designed with the intention of having life in it. Of course, that kind of explanation would bring science to a dead stop because that could explain absolutely anything. And an explanation that could explain absolutely anything is not very good; you can’t show that it’s wrong.

And if the only role that the designer is playing in one’s theory is to explain design in the universe, then you haven’t gained anything because the designer is then himself, or itself, an entity exactly as unexplained and complex and with exactly the mirror image of all the properties that you’re trying to explain, except that it’s an extra entity. So it’s philosophically untenable because it simply takes the same problem and projects it onto another layer that’s unnecessary."

Some recent correspondence cited a website called Dr Dino. I found these paragraphs below from http://www.drdino.com/articles.php?spec=100 more emotive than rational. They indicate that the writer has neither read or understands evolutionary theory. Evolutionary theorist are not cultists, nor would they ever suggest that snakes ever walked on two legs. To say that it is devolution is also ridiculous as that assumes that the snakes evolved body shape is less suited to its purpose than the one it has eventually formed.

"Furthermore, the bones that have interpreted as remnant legs apply only to hind legs. Are they suggesting that boa constrictors walked upright with two legs and had no arms? This would make for an amusing image. Perhaps the mindless designer of the evolutionist cult failed to provide them with front legs and made the rear legs go away for symmetry's sake. That, of course, is devolution, not evolution. Of course, if this devolution took place, we'd have to explain how a mindless designer determined that there was a problem with the original design in the first place.

This would be like positing that a man that was sound asleep designed and built a watch, and later, while still asleep, altered its design by removing parts that were not necessary. How could a mindless designer be concerned with symmetry, and how could it design anything that worked? These creatures, like the whole universe, were designed by a designer that was an artist and an engineer, not by a chaotic, undefined force, and even the evolutionary cultists imply that in their writings at the exact same time that they are denying it. One might call that an oxymoron, but there are no oxymorons, only morons who posit contradictions."

I also fail to understand the sleeping man analogy. There is not 'design' at work, merely small changes escalating over time that best suits and individuals' circumstances. Yes, it is chaotic but there is no 'force' and no, it's not an oxymoron. But animals that are able to best adapt will survive and procreate more effectively.

I liked this quote from Robin Williams, a science writer, although it is more tongue in cheek...

"With around 5 million and possibly 10 million species of insects on the Earth, the Intelligent Designer must like them a lot.

If made in His, Her or Their image, the intelligent designer or designers may have six legs.

He, she, it or they are sadistic, preferring to design the icumenid wasps with an intricate interdependence on their prey that requires them to parasitise a grub or spider so their
young can eat them alive from the inside out.

He, she, it or they must also have perverse Oedipal tendencies judging from the design of
the button beetle where the mother copulates with her sons before eating them.

That's beautifully balanced by other beetles where the newly hatched males insert their
heads back into mummy'’s reproductive aperture and devour her from the inside out.

It must take a devoted misogynist to design the Australian seaweed fly, who beats up his girlfriends before raping them.

And then there are the dubious ethics of a designer who put together the female preying mantis, who has to snack on the head of her partner during copulation.

I don't know what this says to you about a potential intelligent designer but he, she, it or they surely don't sound very Christian to me."

Possibly cruel but funny nonetheless.

More recently a fossil was found that shares features with primitive fish fins, but also has characteristics of a true limb bone and one that bridges the gap between fish and amphibian. Creationists have long been hanging onto the fossil records as being disjoint and lacking in intermediary steps. This certainly begins to bridge the gap, although it can never be fully bridged as flesh and bone are too easily destroyed in the harsh oxygenated and thriving environment we live in.

"The transition wasn't all or nothing," said Ted Daeschler, a vertebrate zoologist with the Academy of Natural Sciences in Philadelphia "It's not that some animals were thrown on land. There were certainly other functions intermediate."

As I see it, Evolutionionary Theory also explains why we can morph animals. We understand the basics of genetics and breeding to change animals and use it to create new roses, different and new bog breeds and various snake morhs over relatively short time frames. Creationist ideas are religious beliefs, based on faith and belief systems. Religion and science come from two different directions. Science asks the how and religion asks the why.

From a breeding point of view we now have more species of dogs, cats and domestic animals than we ever did in the past. In fact some farmers work hard to retain the genetics of some of the oldest breeds. Surely this is evidence of animals (and plants) ability to evolve, albeit more rapidly when human intervention is involved.

I had a look at some other articles on Dr Dino's website. One said the following:

"Creationists already have the Truth; the earth was created roughly 6,000 years ago. Evolutionists wish to construct their own truth; the earth formed slowly over billions of years. Both of these are subject to the same scientific method. When we observe the outpourings of data rendered from the science, we can see that the evidence greatly supports the idea of a young-earth (6,000 years old)."

Three things in this paragraph grabbed me.

1) "Creationists already have the Truth; the earth was created roughly 6,000 years ago."

Scientists do not claim to know the truth. They collect, measure and analyse data to arrive at theories that support the evidence. If the theory becomes unsupportable, then it is thrown out. Evolutionary Theory has not been thrown out by the scientific community and in fact becomes more secure as evidence continues to mount in its favour.

2) "Both of these are subject to the same scientific method."

Not so. Creationism is not subject to scientific method - and in any event they do not need to do so as they already know the truth.

3) "When we observe the outpourings of data rendered from the science, we can see that the evidence greatly supports the idea of a young-earth (6,000 years old)."

Again, not so. It supports the opposite. Creationist theory will tell you otherwise but the weight of evidence, the chemistry, the physics and the overwhelming evidential data, not just radio carbon and the various isotopic dating methodologies but also remnant magnetic dating of seafloor rocks, ice plug sampling, geo-physical data and modern astronomy, including the most recent findings and the rate of expansion of the universe all point the other way.

Aafter visiting Dr. Ken's (Dinos) website and viewing some of his videos and presentations, I came to the conclusion that some of his misinformation is not helpful to the current debates on environment and future understandings of the issues confronting the planet. In my opinion these issues run much deeper than creationism and were my real concern about the sites information.

In one video he discusses over crowding and population issues as if there is no challenges around population growth. I think he uses a ridiculous scenario of 150,000 people per square inch based on non-intervention, non-bottleneck, smooth exponential population growth graphs. On the next slide are photos of open plains etc. Totally spurious evidence and nonsense. The issue is resources - water, energy, food, deforestation, animal populations, plants and raw materials, not people numbers per se. I think he knows this but chooses to twist the arguments to make those who are concerned about these issues look wrong.

Well I've said my bit and got it off my chest. Anyway, on another more cheerful note, I just published another edition of "Keeping Reptiles". It's free to subscribe and I welcome contributions - those that disagree and agree. It's all in the fun.

Conscience and the wild caught snake plus cage building

Someone recently wrote me concerning a dilemma she was having. The issue is thus:

"I have succumbed to my impulses recently and acquired a flying snake from Indonesia. A local distributor had it available for a good price and I just "had to" have it. It is something I have wanted since the first time I learned about them from the nature shows on T.V. I have been feeling just awful about it as it is wild caught and I did not purchase it with specific research needs in mind or to study it's captive breeding needs or something useful... Instead, I just plain wanted it for its "cool" factor.

It's just a really neat snake! I am having trouble coming to terms with this impulsive purchase and am not sure what to do about it. Part of me wants to keep it just because I like it and it's something new and exciting. Part of me thinks I should create a reason to keep it, like I want to breed them so there would be a captive-bred supply of them to protect the wild specimens from being de-populated, and part of me thinks I should donate him to an honorable public organization for education & display, but I just can't decide what to do! The greedy evil herper inside me has struck and I am so torn up about it! Any thoughts? -- and please be honest with me -- no holds barred, ok? "

This was my reply (slightly edited):

"That snake is a really interesting animal. It's a hard question, the one you ask. On the one hand there is a certain freedom that comes from being able to get whatever you want. It also carries with it a lot of responsibility. In theory it should allow for a lot of animals eventually to be captive bred and continue the species domestically. However countries like Indonesia and the surrounding South-East Asian countries, African and South American often decimate their local populations to feed hungry markets across the world. While the US regulates its imports, more needs to be done. Given the scale of animal imports, that is a huge job. "

"The poorer countries themselves cannot do it for the most part. Australia, a relatively wealthy nation, even has difficulties preventing smuggling. Less wealthy nations countries have scant resource for these and often allocate scarce resources towards other priorities."

"I honestly don't know what to tell you. I know Herp lovers all keep them for exactly the same reason. In an odd way we are all as guilty but people have been doing it for as long as we could. Where does the buck stop? If you didn't buy it someone else would. If no one bought wild caught animals that would stop the trade, but that's not going to happen quickly, nor without educating people about the need to buy bred animals and intervention from government. "

"Equally, how can animals be bred if there are no domestic populations from which to breed? They need to come from somewhere to begin with. There also needs to be a suitably sized DNA pool from which to develop a breeding program that will not lead to genetically deficient and in-bred populations."

"As an example, perhaps Australia should begin and develop a regulated export program. There is a demand for Australian herps and as long as they only exported captive bred animals there could be a thriving, lucrative and carefully managed trade. "

"Maybe many of the developing countries could develop markets and internal breeding programs that would help the local population and protect the wild caught populations. This could actually realize better prices for their animals and better care for the animals in transit."

"I understand how your conscience is being eaten up with this. Mine would be annoying me too. I sometimes even question the keeping of captive bred animals. "

"I think donating the snake to an educational institution is fine but it would need to be one that wanted it for research an educational program. I'm of the mind that says you may as well keep it and care for it. It would probably have just as good, if not a better life that way. Maybe you will find another one. Who knows these things? Some things just happen for a reason (and I'm not even superstitious or religious). Maybe you'll find a breeder who is looking for one. Who would you give it to, if you did give it away and how would that be better?"

These are tricky issues. Even as I write about them I'm not totally crystal clear in my mind about solutions That said, I think it is important for people to discuss these issue and continue to tease them out. Currently we are in the fifth great extinction of the worlds animals and, while there is some inevitability to this, I believe we have a responsibility to our children and to grand children and so on to pass on as much of the biodiversity and worlds animals as we are able to.

Whether this involves breeding programs or ultimately protective and unpalatable solutions to herp owners, difficult decisions need to be made. There is a need to discuss this and work through the issues as they are raised.

On another note, lately there has been quite a bit of correspondence between myself and people who have purchased the reptile cage plans.

Some of the questions have been quite interesting and have forced some sections to be added and others to allow correspondence between cage makers. While there are a number of forums available for this, some people are not very comfortable doing this and like to go through a third party or talk to someone who they have established a relationship - business or otherwise.

One example was from a customer, Chris who was making a reptile cage for his turtles. The cage had to be quite water resistant and also resistant to high humidity. After a bit of research Reptile-Cage-Plans.com was able to find how to make cages not only water resistant but waterproof enough to actually hold water should you wish and added these details to the plans.

Another customer wanted to build a snake cage for a Burmese python. The cage had to be 10ft long x 4ft wide x 3ft high. Quite a big cage. With some adjustments to the plans and diagrams plus some further instructions the customer had all that was required to build such a cage. Again, these details were added to the plans and they were updated.

David was making his first ever reptile cage. Having purchase the plans he had embarked on the project. This is part of the email he sent, together with some pics.

Thanks Mark, very useful stuff....
I started my enclosure yesterday - here is where I am up to - The shelf isn't fixed in and the timber holding it up was just for the photo. Pretty proud of myself considering I have never made anything in my life!

Occasionally one has a disgruntled customer but the happy ones sure make up for them!

Newsletter and making an outdoor Turtle Enclosure

I've just finished writing an article about making an outdoor turtle enclosure. While I write about making reptile cages and spend some time investigating designs and trying to come up with ideas, looking at other ideas etc. It had not occurred to me to write about an enclosure I built in my own backyard.

I built it bout 3 years ago to house our snake-necked turtle, Shelley. She had been living in a heated aquarium and it just looked to small to me. The water was filtered but even so we had to remove the gravel every month or so and thoroughly wash it, drain the tank and put it back in. It was quite a chore and my children, whilst they tried to help, were young when we started and it was not something I ever looked forward to. It was a fairly functional cage but when I thought about it, these turtles were native to the area and should survive happily outside all year round. The best part was putting some live fish in the tank and watching her go nuts trying to catch them. They generally only lasted a few days. She was pretty darn good at catching them by being sneaky and using her snake-neck like a snake striking to snare them unawares.

Shelley has since thrived outside. It does get cold in winter but she essentially shuts down and we rarely feed her during this time. She submerges herself for long periods of time and is reluctant to show herself.

During the warmer months we feed her every couple of days, depending on the weather. You really notice her when the weather is warm. After a feed she will get out of the pond and sun herself on the rocks to help aid digestion.

The cage itself is quite large and allows us to put other reptiles in there during the day, like the blue tongues and the bearded dragon. The snakes wouldn't work - to good at escaping - but the lizards love it.

There are a number of plants in the pond so she can hide herself and for the lizards there is some tin sheet, logs and some low lying plants to conceal themselves with. There is also some bird netting over the top to stop predators like foxes etc. The enclosure is large enough to sit on and it is quite a nice garden decoration. People who come over always want to go and have a look inside at Shelley and whatever else may be in there.

I wrote and article on how to build an enclosure like it for the newsletter and it has a number of pictures of Shelley and the whole enclosure. I was quite pleased at how they came out. If you would like to view the article, it can be found here. The newsletter can be found here.

One of my cage plan purchasers sent me an email the other day with photos of his cage. He as done a nice job of it. Originally he had only a small log but as he had a jungle carpet I suggest he put in a larger log for the snake to sit on. I was pleased when I saw the snake happily sitting on the new branches he put into the cage. There are some nice shots of the cage and the snake here. Rob has really done a great job with the fake walls and the cages is a credit to him.

I'm also currently revising the book and hope to have a new version out within a month or so. I've designed a really nice arboreal cage that is easy to make and has a full frontal viewing area. I'm also putting the finishing touches on a simple to build stand (no cupboards but very functional) and nearly finished a section on making glass vivariums. Looking forward to finalizing all of these sections and adding them to the book. I hope that when it is all done it will be something that herp keepers will want to have.