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.
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.
posted by Mark Chapple at 10:39 PM
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