Happiness!

Keeping your herps clean and healthy is key to longevity. After years of rescue and seeing the general LACK of quality care some people afford their animals, I realize you can only turn improve their life so much. The truth is the long term effects of poor sanitation are still unknown. However, preventative care avoids testing this theory.

For those concerned with the cost and time of care, keep it cheap and use bleach (cup per gallon of bleach is fine), have extra tubs or containers to store the animals. Think about it, if you have a snake from hatchling to live out its full life say 20 years, you will likely clean the cage some 1,000 times over the life of the animal. Now multiply that time the number of animals you keep. I have been doing this now for roughly 20yrs and I can attest to the efforts needed to maintain herps let along lots of herps. I have found lots of short cuts (as I am sure others have as well). So I am sharing a couple here for reference in hope to improve others efforts in providing quality care:

- I love 5gal buckets! For roughly $2.50 each they make great soakers for treating food dishes and bowls. Fill with dirty dishes, add a couple cups of bleach and a squart or Dawn or similar dish soak, and let sit for a day covered. The bleach will works it effects, when you rinse, scrub a little and rinse well.
- Plastic tubs rock! But don't stop at just enough to house your herps. Buy extra to swap out when cages are dirty, you can clean the soiled tub later, so don't let you herp sit in the soiled cage any day longer.
- Take the time to not only clean your herps cage, but interact with them. Listen, feel smell! Listen for raspy breathing, feel popping in their lungs or gurgling, smell for stanky rot smell (hopefully never!) and look at your herp. Bad sheds, retained eye caps, swollen body parts, extended vents or prolapse? Pay attention to the details.
- Remember if hte cage smells, there is a source, remove and sanitize. Get into the rhythm.
- Music or TV? Funny as it sounds, I have a stereo system and TV in or around my herp room. Why, to make it fun. Some argue their snakes like Country, Soft Rock and even (my favorite) Heavy Metal! Accountant by trade, herper by choice, Hard Rocker by Soul!

Good luck!

Winter is coming and for the people in certain states, its already here. When winter arrives, its time to prepare for changes in the home environment to help avoid health problems with our herps. Winter is notoriously dry as forced-air heat dries out the already dry winter air. Some homes experiencing single digit humidity that saps the humidity out of everything from your wood floors to your tropical herps cage. This is a critical time of year when cold drafts and low humity work to make your animals suffer respiratory distress leading to infection and illness. So what do you do to prevent this? Isolate your herps to a room that you can control the humidty with a good humidifier. Change the filter in the humidifier using the manufacturers instructions to avoid bacteria build up. If you cannot do that, then increase the water bowl and spray the cage periodically (daily mostly). There are great misting and fogging systems for smaller cages. Avoid soggy cages that can also lead to mold and fungus.

Also, drafts happen in our older homes dropping temps in the house below level too low for the cage heaters to keep up with. Don't just rely on your remote thermometers. Use infrared thermometers to scan the various temp ranges of your enclosures. Be aware that cages close to walls, windows and concrete floors can be 10-20 degrees lower than other cages connected to a cetnral thermostat. Increasing basking lights helps increase day time temps or using a larger under tank heater. Incandescent lighting will reduce the humidity so you need to compensate.

Also during this time as with our holiday decorations and scented candles, be wary of fire hazards! Don't overload your circuits and use properly rated powerstrips and avoid the electrical octopus. Watch out for extension cords that are hot to the touch as they are being overloaded. This is critical when you are dealing with space heaters which draw lots of current. If you use an oil heater, make sure you get one that has tip over protection.

Keep it safe for you and your herps. Remember that signs of illness are subtle so keep a close eye on your herps during this time.

Good luck!

For years, I have worked with adoptions and rescue of herps and often hear from the owners "it was too much", "my kid went to college and we don't have time to care for it....", etc. I look back at myself over these years and the state of my collection and others I know well with similarly large collections and wonder how we can do it and others can't or won't? Like anything else, it takes passion and commitment. I always joke with my non-herper friends that if you want a solid relationship, marry a herper! Though I have had herps my whole life, it was within the last nearly 20 years that I can claim to having a sizable personal collection. Those who know me know that I don't chince on my collection. A drug problem would be cheaper! But it gives me the satisfaction of know I am providing care for an animal or animals to allow them the ability to enjoy the best of their natural life cycle. To me the gauge of any being's quality of life is directly related to their overall physical health, including amount of stress as exhibited by their behavior and ability to reproduce periodically healthy offspring with out adverse effects to their own well being. Is this anthropomorphic? Maybe, but its the most understandable perspective I have.

It takes commitment, resources and cooperation. Commitment by you and your family over the duration often spanning decades. Dick Bartlett just posted on Facebook keeping a tortoise for some 60 yrs, that's commitment. Not everyone can provide that commitment and when life deals out challenges, a responsible owner acts accordingly. You seek out the best substitute for you. Whether a friend, a collegue or through local herp society or rescue group. Resources of course are needed in both time and money. Another resource often overlooked by novice keepers is fellow herpers either within your own family or herp societies. These fellow enthusiasts not only have the resources of knowledge and experience, but also physical assistance. Ever try going on a honeymoon or vacation with a large collection? How about selling and moving to a new house? What happens if you get sick or injured for a spell? Fellow herpers are more than they appear. Cooperation? It relates to your fellow herpers, but also to your family and funny as it sounds, your herps. Working with aggressive or dangerous animals may be thrilling at times, but what about routine maintenance? Moving a large snake every week or two to clean the cage is often challenging enough, but a fiesty or aggressive one makes it difficult. To address those unwanted behaviors zoos look to condition animals to certain activities to make it minimally stressful and often times fun. You can do this to some extent with herps. I routinely work with many of my snakes to hold their head and pull back their lips to examine their mouth. Over years, many will let me do this in public so people can see their teeth. You may not be able to do this with everyone, but it is an example of the conditioning that can be adapted for routine maintenance. I even had a monitor that would open his mouth using hand gesture so he would let me see inside. I am sure his incentive was to also close it on me, but we never tested that side

My advice to anyone is plan what you can handle and be prepared to set aside time on a regular basis, but also plan your other resources. Budget for your pets. Not just for food, but vet care, housing changes, replacement heating, etc. Identify your fellow herpers and work out details of who can care for your collection in your absence. Share this with your family so they know who to call in an emergency. And my last bit of advice, know your limits. Don't over-extend yourself. Its tough, trust me. But after all these years, I know where my limits are. Keeping to those limits and if you feel you are exceeded them, contact your local herp society, fellow herpers, etc. to help you compensate. Work to make your routine maintanance schedules efficient and effective. Think of how many times you may clean a cage over the years. Sometimes a little investment upfront goes a long way in saving time down the road. And last but not least, enjoy what you do! Its really the passion that will sustain you, otherwise it becomes tiresome work.

For newbies who wish to get into keeping any larger species of snake, the following was created and used to share with others to avoid common mistakes made when keeping large snakes. A recent story by a fellow rescuer with the Chicago Herp Society reminded me of this paper I created a few years ago(and a little encouragement by another CHS member).

Rules to Live by when Keeping Large Constricting Snakes

1. Avoid handling any constrictor over eight feet in length without assistance.
2. Use snake hooks and tongs to move the snake and cage furniture around in the enclosure or shield the head to block potential strikes by the snake.
3. Never rush into a cage without alerting the snake, use a gentle stroke with the snake hook on the body. A reassuring hand on the lower part of the body well away from the head can also be used, but stay out of the striking range of the snake’s head.
4. Be alert for warning signals such as huffing, hissing, gaping of the mouth, tail wagging or circling of the cage. These are all signs that the snake would rather be left alone and is in a defensive mode.
5. Never wear the snake around the neck or waist without sufficient people to pull it off.


Damage Control – What to do if you make a mistake

1. Remain calm. Sometimes the snake will release if there is no struggle.
2. If you have others with you, keep them calm by talking to them, let them know your status and instruct them on what to do.
3. If you are wrapped up begin by uncoiling beginning with either the head or the tail. If you have help spin away to help uncoil and straighten the snake out to avoid follow-up strikes.
4. If you cannot unwrap the snake using the head or tail because the snake has bitten and is hanging on, try flushing vinegar into the mouth. If the snake does not let go or cannot dislodge its teeth, use a large wood or plastic spoon and slide between the jaw and bite area, sliding the head forward slightly to dislodge the teeth.
5. Immediately place the snake in a secured cage or compartment. A strike is stressful for you and the snake so leave them be and get assistance if necessary to return the snake to its enclosure.
6. If any teeth are lodged in the skin, remove them with tweezers, wash with water, apply antiseptic and wrap with gauze. Seek medical attention for treatment of possible secondary infection and internal tissue damage.
7. Learn from your mistake and identify what you did wrong.
a. Did you smell like food?
b. Did you act like food entering the cage?
c. Did you startle the snake or invade its territory?


You can get a copy of this from my website in case you know of someone with big snakes.

That really is the question at least these days....



I hear so often people gripping about not selling their babies, having to buy more caging to house them since they continue to grow, yada yada yada....

Here is a suggestion to those who are having a tough time with moving animals, don't breed them so much. What?! The reason the animals are moving is simply supply and demand. Too much supply and not enough demand. Don't worry I won't school you on basic economics (or advanced economic theory for that matter), but I am reminding young/inexperienced hobbyists the downside to breeding. You should actually PLAN your breedings beyond the hatching of eggs. You need to plan to house them, feed them and yes hang on to them for a year or two in case they don't sell quickly.

I don't claim to be good at pricing and marketing reptiles, I am pretty good at breeding them and sometimes too good for my own good. I am a hobbyist with a decent sized collection (my friends and family would argue this point) and love to breed my animals. The excitement of the breeding season is almost euphoric and yet must be tempered with some restraint. Too much of a good thing, and well, you get my point. So what does one do when you have a banner year and a not so banner time selling the animals? Be creative. It is called USP or Unique Selling Proposition, come up with something that markets you differently from others. In the reptile business, we thrive and survive on what is exotic. But be honest and be supportive, because people expect that from a breeder. For those who like descriptive phrases, "don't crap where you eat..."

And if at the end the season you have lots of babies, hold off breeding next year or scale back. You and your animals will do better then. Budget for the upkeep, plan your time or find friends who are willing to help out either by sharing effort or even fostering animals you want to holdback.