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.
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.
posted by Mark Chapple at 9:53 PM
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