Care of newly acquired reptiles

Any time you get a new reptile they should be quarantined. They should be placed in a cage with the minimum decorations and lined with newspaper so it can be easily cleaned. They should be kept away from any other reptiles in your collection to avoid transmission of parasites or disease. Always wash your hands after handling the new reptile before you go and touch the other reptiles in your collection as well.

Before you get your new reptile understand that at the supplier's facility or pet store, that reptile is exposed to illness, disease and parasites. This is because most of them do not thoroughly clean and disinfect the cages in between housing different reptiles that they have for sale. All wild caught reptiles have parasites and/or other illness. Most reptiles in the pet trade are wild caught. So for example after a wild caught reptile has been in a cage and sold, a captive born one could be placed in there next, it might not have had parasites and/or illness, but guess what? It does now.

Always take a new reptile to your vet for a fecal exam and a health check. If you are very experienced with reptiles you can learn how to do your own fecal exams and watch a reptile closely for signs of illness and take it to the vet if you suspect it's sick. I myself feel better having a vet do it all for me. They have a microscope for the fecal exams and can also take saliva or skin samples and look for bacteria, etc which would signify infection. This way infection is caught early on before it gets bad and could've caused serious harm or death to your reptile. Most reptiles do not show signs of illness until it is serious and often the result is death.

External parasites(ticks and mites):
Before putting your new reptile in it's cage for the first time thoroughly inspect it's skin, in between it's scales, eye lid folds, anywhere the skin folds, vent area, nostrils and folds around the mouth for ticks and mites. Ticks are bigger and easier to spot. Mites are tiny, usually red or brown/black in color. If it has any, pick them ALL off. Then soak the reptile in water to see if any you might have missed float to the surface. You must really try to find them all and get rid of them. A mite infestation is extremely hard to get rid of as the mites crawl off your reptile and go in cracks to hide or climb outside the cage and infect other reptiles. I do not condone using any tick/mite medications (sprays or stuff you rub on the skin) because reptile respiratory systems are very delicate and the reptile could go into respiratory distress and possibly die within weeks after being treated. These medications can be very toxic to reptiles despite what the labels say. After you think you have gotten all the mites off, put it in it's cage and instead of using newspaper for the bottom, use white paper towels. This way it is easier to see the mites crawling around if you missed any. If you see some, get them out immediately. Keep checking your reptile and it's cage for a few weeks to make sure you really got them all.

Treating for internal parasites and/or intestinal protozoa overgrowth:
After you get a fecal exam done and you know what type of parasite or intestinal protozoa infection the reptile has, the vet will prescribe medication and treatment. Different ones require different medicine so it is very important to know which one you are dealing with. Most parasitic worms are treated with Panacur(only a few types don't respond to it and need different medicine). Usually it is given once daily for 1-5 days in a row, 3 times, two weeks apart each time. The 1st dose kills the adult worms, the 2nd dose kills the newly hatched worms from the eggs that didn't die, the 3rd dose is to kill any that might have been missed with the 1st two doses. Wait 2 weeks and start taking in fecal samples every 2 weeks until 3 fecal exams in a row come back clean. This way you know for a fact the reptile is totally parasite free. Sometimes parasites can be missed or the reptile could get reinfected (if you don't clean the cage good enough) so that's why it's important to do 3 fecals in a row.

The most common intestinal protozoa overgrowth in reptiles is Coccidia. This can become deadly! It's most often recognized by very smelly feces. The longer it goes untreated the worse it gets. The feces turn very runny and get more smelly. The reptile eventually becomes lethargic and stops eating and drinking as much or not at all. Then it dies. The medication used for Coccidia is Smz Tmp (sulfamethoxazole/trimethoprim). Most other types of protozoa infections are treated with Metronidazole. Both medications are usually given once daily for 7 days. Then start taking in fecal samples every 2 weeks until 3 in a row come back clean so you know for sure the infection is gone.

VERY IMPORTANT...the whole time you are treating for parasites and/or protozoa infections you must clean up feces as soon as you see it! Change the newspaper on the bottom and disinfect the area and/or anything the feces touched. This is to prevent reinfection during treatment and until 3 fecals in a row come back clean. If you don't do this your reptile WILL get reinfected and you will have to treat it again later.

Respiratory illness:
If you notice excess saliva/mucus/bubbling in your reptile's mouth or nose it has a respiratory infection. Other signs are opening the mouth to breath, coughing and sneezing. Sometimes reptiles will also regurgitate food. Have your vet take a swab and look at it under the microscope. Usually it is bacteria and can be treated with antibiotics. Sometimes it's a virus, these cannot be treated usually:( or it could be fungal, which is extremely hard to treat and get rid of. Bacterial respiratory infections should be treated with oral antibiotics( Enrofloxacin, the oral form of Baytril). It is much less painful than giving a shot of Baytril and there are no worries of the injection site becoming necrotic. Enrofloxacin is usually given once daily for 14 days. It's also a good idea to bump up the heat in your reptiles cage a few degrees to help the recovery process during treatment.

Skin infections:
Watch your new reptile's skin closely for signs of infection or discoloration. If it has a scrape or cut clean it out with Betadine and apply Silver Sulfadiazine to the area twice a day until healed. Don't use anything else as reptile skin is delicate and could be harmed by other ointments, antiseptics, soaps, etc. If the scrape or cut is deep and is infected the reptile will need antibiotics. Enrofloxacin given orally once a day for 14 days is usually enough to cure the infection along with cleaning the wound daily with Betadine and using the Silver Sulfadiazine ointment.

If you see your reptile's skin start to have gray patches/areas where it looks like it's going to shed, but it doesn't and the area starts to spread, it has fungus. Other signs are: the areas of gray skin are hard(necrotic), blisters, weeping fluids from the skin area, lesions and swelling of spots under the skin. Take your reptile to the vet right away! Do not expose this reptile to any other reptiles at all, not even in the same room! Fungus is not only spread by touch but the fungal spores can travel through the air landing on another reptile and infecting it. Whole reptile collections can be wiped out! Your vet will take a sample of the skin and send it out to be biopsied. Once you know what type of fungus it is, your vet will grow a culture and see what medication it responds to, and then prescribe that one for your reptile. Fungus is very hard to treat and might need to be treated more than once. Each treatment usually lasts for 2 months. The medications used for fungus are very hard on reptile kidney and liver so it's really important to keep the reptile very well hydrated during treatment. Usually the oral medication Itraconazole is used and sometimes also Conofite lotion applied topically to affected areas at the same time during treatment. If the fungus has not affected the internal organs of the reptile and is just affecting the skin, the reptile has a good chance of recovering and not dying. There are a few types of fungus a reptile can get and most are cureable. Beware of the deadly CANV fungus. It's extremely deadly and contagious!

After your new reptile has been in quarantine for around 3 months and has no apparent signs of illness it's usually safe to introduce it to your other reptiles. Usually during the 3 month quarantine period if the reptile had an illness it would've been discovered by you and your vet.

Caring for Green tree monitors Varanus prasinus

So recently many people have contacted me asking all sorts of questions about my green tree monitors. About the care I provide and how I got mine to be so tame and interactive with me.

First off I want to say I have done a lot of research over the years gathering small bits of info here and there from books, the internet and people. This has all contributed to the way I care for this species. So far how I care for them has resulted in 2 very healthy adults who have now just started to breed for me. The next adventure will be finding fertile eggs, incubating them and hatching them out to be healthy babies.

Care of my monitors:
Cage: 6ft tall x 4ft wide x 2 1/2 ft deep. Back wall and sides are covered in cork sheets so they can climb up and down the walls (these monitors are very active and need this). There is no screen but 2 vents for air flow. This is so the cage traps in heat and humidity. Screen is also bad because these monitors will rub their noses raw on it trying to get out. I have a nest box with a perch placed up high in a corner for sleeping and nesting filled with damp moss. These are aboreal monitors that live in trees so they prefer hides up off the ground rather than on or under the ground. There is a tree I made out of large branches and ficus sprays for climbing, vines and plants. I also have a large cork tube in the tree they like to go in and out of.

Watering/humidity: I have a large water dish big enough for them to soak in but they never get in it and rarely ever drink from it. They drink every day when I mist them. I manually mist them when I am giving them water to drink in the morning and I also have an automatic mister that sprays the cage every hour for 1 minute. Before the automatic mister I hand misted them generously at least 5 times a day for humidity and drinking. I keep humidity at 70-100%. I plan to add a fogger and stop using the automatic mister so much as the motor on it wears out quick:(

Heat/lighting: I use a 5.0 UVA/UVB light and 2 basking lights during the day. The UVB is used so they can make vitamin D3 (for calcium absorption) through vit D synthesis in the skin. The UVA also benefits because it allows them to see the full spectrum of their vision. Reptiles have 4 cones in their eyes vs a humans 3 cones and so they see more colors than us and need UVA to see them. Without UVA reptiles are essentially color blind. The basking area temps are between 110-120 degrees. The cool side and night time temps never go below 70 degrees. The warm side is 85-90 degrees. I use a heat emitter for night time heat. I use this because it does not let off any light to disturb their sleep/night cycle. All lights are on a 12 hour day/night cycle.

Diet/feeding: I have offered my monitors every type of insect but the only ones they will eat are lobster roaches, crickets and superworms. Mostly crickets and roaches. I have offered both pinkie mice but only the female will eat them. Since this species in the wild eats mainly insects and hardly ever eats rodents I only feed the female a pinkie once or twice a month as a treat. I read in a study that 30 something tree monitor's stomach contents were examined and only one, a large male, had rodent content in his stomach. All the rest of stomach contents, in all the monitors, were insects and a few other invertebrates. Since these monitors have a very high metabolism I feed them every day as much as they will eat. Usually this is around a dozen insects a day. I dust insects with plain calcium once a week(since they get most of vit D3 from the UVB light) and dust with multivitamins with added vit D3 once a month(since no UVB light is as good as natural sun). All insects are gut loaded with fruits and veggies before feeding. I have 2 food bowls in the cage, one on the bottom and one mid way up their tree that they eat out of. I also take them out and hand feed them. Occasionally I will offer raw egg which they LOVE.

Substrate: I use a bottom layer of fine cypress mulch with a layer of moss on top. This helps hold humidity in the cage. It's several inches deep on the bottom.

Handling: I handle my monitors every day, sometimes more than once a day because they always want to come out. I only hold them for 10-15 minutes at a time because my house is not near hot or humid enough for them and I don't want them to get sick. From day one I have never grabbed or constricted these monitors. Doing this causes them to fear you as they see that as being predatory. The CB male was a tiny baby when I got him and was never really afraid of me. All I had to do was stand still and let him check me out by crawling on me. He was very curious, more curious than afraid. The very day I got him he has always wanted to come out of the cage and be held or explore. The WC female was a juvie when I got her and in a week she was just as curious and unafraid as the male. Again I just let her crawl on me and check me out. She would try to get to a place to jump off of me but I would turn my body and so she had to turn and walk across me again. I would do this as I let her crawl on my shoulders. To get her out of the cage to do this the first week I would stick my hand in the cage and wait till she got curious and flicked her tongue on it. Then I would slowly slide my hand under her and lift her out and let her crawl on my shoulders. After that first week she would come to the front of the cage wanting to come out. I would stick my hand in there and she would climb up my arm herself, just like my male has always done. I used to hear that these monitors were a very shy and skittish species. I do not believe that to be true at all. I think it's just how you handle and interact with them that makes the difference. Mine are the most curious and outgoing reptiles I've ever seen. They exhibit behaviors I have never seen in a reptile before. They truly like being interacted with and it is not a food response. They always want to come out when they see people. They crawl in my clothes, ride on my shoulder or head, follow me around and come after me, sit with me outside, etc. They never try to run away from me or anyone and seem to like people. They honestly act more like a mammal than a reptile. They are so curious they have to check out new people whenever they meet one. They jump on the new person and crawl all over them and sometimes in their clothes investigating them. Very funny to watch people's reaction to this:)

Vet/health care: When I first got both monitors I quarantined them away from each other in separate cages. They both went to my vet's office for a health check and fecal exam. After the first fecal I waited 2-3 weeks and had a fecal done again and then another 2-3 weeks later had another done. All 3 fecals came back clean and they showed no signs of illness so I introduced them and kept them in a larger cage and they have been living together ever since. The reason for the 3 fecals in a row is so I was sure they were parasite free and I didn't happen to miss anything or have anything develop that might have been incubating. It is very important to do this in wild caught animals because they are usually loaded with parasites and or illness. It should also be done as a precaution in captive bred or born animals because you honestly do not know what the supplier's methods for cleanliness are and they could have been exposed to another reptile with illness or parasites or come into contact with something a sick reptile touched/lived in or on. Not many suppliers or petstores sterilize cages before putting in new reptiles:( A great book to read to find out more is "Understanding reptile parasites" by Roger Klingenburg. There are so many parasites and protozoa infections in reptiles that go unnoticed until too late, this book I highly recommend reading. There are also many illnesses like bacterial, viral and fungal infections so it is always important to quarantine new reptiles before putting them in with healthy established ones.

Breeding: Well I guess these monitors can breed at one year of age because mine have just started breeding. My female is a year and a half and my male a little over one year old. There is little info available about gestation and incubation temps so when I get to that point and experience it myself (try out things I've read and heard) I'll let you know what worked for me.

Interesting facts: They have a fully prehensile tail and sometimes they hang upside down with them while climbing and jumping around. They are quite the little acrobats! They protect this tail instead of using it like other monitors when threatened. Other monitors whip their tails and try to hit you but these tree monitors curl them up closer to their bodies like a chameleon but to the side instead of underneath. They have on the bottoms of their feet black rubbery feeling pads that help them grip onto branches and trees while climbing. Some things I've read, in the wild they live in a group consisting of a dominate male, a few adult females and juvenile offspring of both sexes. Females lay eggs in termite nests high up in tree cavities and when the eggs hatch the babies eat all the termites.

Well that's it for now:) Wish me luck on getting some babies!

Building a cage for my Green Tree Monitors

So finally I am done building a cage for my green tree monitors! This is the first cage I've ever built. I am quite pleased at how it came out considering it was my first time building one. A lot of thought, time and hard work went into it.



I must admit it was difficult for me because I was building it by myself and I am not a strong person, lol! When I was trying to screw the frame together I couldn't get the screws in all the way and had to take them all out and use nails instead.



First I had my friend help me figure out all my wood cuts so I could take a list to Lowes and have them cut everything for me. I didn't know anything about building a frame and I am very thankful to my friend Jason for taking the time to explain and figure it out. He spent many hours on the phone with me:)



Next I stained the wood to match my living room furniture and applied 5 coats of poly crylic with a roller. To waterproof wood you only need to do 2 coats with a brush but since the cage is very humid and wet I put extra coats and made them very thick with the roller.



Next I cut out holes for my vents to go in. Since I wanted the cage to hold a lot of heat and humidity I did not want to use any screen. The vents are placed so that the air will circulate. One vent is at the top (in back) and one vent is at the bottom(in front). I stuck them on with sealant and after it cured I reinforced it with screws.



Next I put together the frame and attached my plywood to it. When it came time to attach the pieces of plexi glass for my windows and doors I noticed Lowes had cut it wrong! I had to go back so they could fix it.



When I attached the lights in the ceiling I did it backwards and had to redo it, lol! There are 2 basking, 1 florescent(UVA/UVB), and a ceramic heat emitter. I plan on switching to Mega ray MVB soon. They are the best for these types of cages.



Next I attached cork sheeting to all the walls. At first I tried doing it standing up but that was a disaster! It kept falling down and getting wavy. I had to lay it down, screw it in my frame and put sealant under the edges and on top of the edges. I also put sealant around the egdes of my vents where the cork meets.



Next I made their nest box. I used a sterlite tub with a clear opauge bottom so I could see up through it but the monitors can't see through the bottom and feel secure. This will help when checking for eggs. When eggs are laid under the moss in there I will see white spots and know to take them out. The nest box I attatched to a pulley system so I can lower and lift the box when I need too. The outside of this tub I covered in cork sheeting so they can climb on it and feel secure when inside the box. I also drilled a hole and attached a branch for them to crawl in and out of the box on.



Next I put together their tree. I found a huge Y branch and cut the tips off and placed the bottom into a plastic Xmas tree base. I measured out where I wanted their basking spots to be and how far they would be away from the lights and I screwed branches in those places. Then I screwed other branches all over the tree. I put a huge cork tube in the center of the Y in the branch. I also bought 12 fake ficus sprays and drilled holes in the wood branches and stuck the ends through. This way it looks like a tree with branches and leaves. It turned out pretty cool! The base I filled with rocks so the monitors cant get in it.



Next I drilled holes for all my plugs to go through. I put a cord gromet in 2 places. 1 on the ceiling for my lights and 1 above the nest box for the heat mat I am using attached to the side of the nest box. The heat mat is very small and does not get hot enough to melt plastic or burn reptiles. I have it so the female can choose what spot she wants to lay eggs in. Warmer vs cooler. I also drilled a hole at the bottom for the cord on my aquarium filter. I put a filter in their water bowl which is very large. It keeps the water clean and the moving water releases humidity into the cage. I drilled a hole in the ceiling for my mister's tubing to fit through. The tube comes into the cage and has a nozzle on the end for spraying. The mister is attached to the outside wall of the cage.



I attached vines and plants to the sides of the cage for climbing and put up my humidity and temp gages. Put their water bowl in and placed plants around it. Put in the filter, added water. Lined the bottom with cypress mulch and then a thick layer of moss on top.



Then I added the monitors!!! Here are some videos.



This is me building the cage with the end result
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z8_CXe2Km2w

This is right after I put in my GTmonitors
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fGf4ymWp5jY

Emeril & Jade sharing food

So I've noticed a new behavior in my green tree monitors lately. They share their food, or rather Emeril shares his food with Jade. When I feed them insects in a bowl inside their cage both monitors go down to the bowl but only Emeril will get in and get an insect. Jade sits there and waits for Emeril to get one and then she takes half of it in her mouth and they both sit there and eat their halves. He lets her do this and never tries to get away from her to eat his insect by himself. It's so fascinating to watch because Jade could easily get her own insects but she chooses to wait for Emeril to get one for her every time. I took some videos of them doing this. It is in 3 parts because every time I would get close, Jade would try to come out.

The first one they are already eating together and I missed Emeril getting it.

The second one I missed him getting it again and they are already eating. Then he gets another superworm and she takes half of it from him but then sees me and tries to come out again.

The third one I back up and catch them sharing again a few times.

I wonder why they do this? There is really no aggression or fighting. I have never seen this in any reptiles before where they deliberately share food with each other. Oh, well in any case, it's extremely cute!

These monitors are very fascinating!

Baby Cuban Knight anole!

This little baby just hatched out yesterday!

This is when I found him hatched out in the incubator


After I got him out and opened the lid


Sitting on me with Hatchrite all over him and yolk still attached


After I cleaned him off and after he ate the yolk off his belly

In his cage

It's been a long wait for me in getting this new baby. It is so hard getting eggs in time to incubate them. Most times the eggs are laid and buried in the soil and I cannot find them in time to get them out(they have a large cage). Either the eggs get too cold or feeder insects find the eggs before I do and eat them. I feed insects in a bowl but every now and then a cricket will escape and munch on the eggs:( This egg that hatched I actually saw being laid. I watched the female lay the egg and start to bury it so I reached in and scooped the egg on to a spoon and took it out before it was buried all the way. The female did not mind, she just sat there and looked at me like "What are you doing with my egg?" I put the egg in the incubator set at 80 degrees and waited for it to hatch! I candled it every week and watched it grow and move inside which was really cool:) I really love this species, partly because of their personalities but also because I grew up catching them in the wild as a kid. I have many fond childhood memories of them. In the future I would really like to acquire and breed other large anoles such as the Ornate Knight anole (A. smallwoodi palardis) and A. baracoae (also a type of Knight anole). These anoles are beautiful, they look like Cuban Knight anoles but have yellow markings all over the body and sometimes some blue color too.

Here are links to pics of these other Knight anole species

A. smallwoodi palardis

http://images.google.com/imgres?imgurl=http://calphotos.berkeley.edu/imgs/128x192/0000_0000/1004/0652.jpeg&imgrefurl=http://calphotos.berkeley.edu/cgi/img_query%3Fstat%3DBROWSE%26query_src%3Dphotos_fauna_sci-Reptile%26where-lifeform%3DReptile%26where-taxon%3DAnolis%2Bsmallwoodi%2Bpalardis%26title_tag%3DAnolis%2Bsmallwoodi%2Bpalardis&usg=__dr2Ks9CTY9dGz77ro9MHIkSj4dQ=&h=192&w=125&sz=53&hl=en&start=7&um=1&tbnid=dT3_Er99u5SPxM:&tbnh=103&tbnw=67&prev=/images%3Fq%3Danolis%2Bsmallwoodi%26hl%3Den%26rlz%3D1T4LENL_enUS214US214%26sa%3DN%26um%3D1

A. baracoae

http://www.biolib.cz/IMG/GAL/38733.jpg

Just gorgeous anoles! I might be getting A. baracoae soon but we will see, cross your fingers and wish me luck!

House full of reptiles!

This is a tour of my house full of reptiles! We will start at the top of my house and work our way down.

This is my bedroom where I keep Rex (rescued Oustalet's chameleon). Below his cage is a towel/area where I administer medication and clean his skin with Betadine. You will see his carrier is the container with the turquoise lid which I put him in to take him to the vet. Next to this is his spray bottle that I use to mist him and on the towel is a measuring cup I fill with water to hand water him with a syringe. He is kept here with the door closed away from all my other reptiles because he has multiple fungal infections.


Next is my son's bedroom with his pet reptiles. First is Master Toledo (rescued Corn snake). He is kept in very sterile/easy to clean conditions until he is recovered. My son can't wait till then because he really wants to decorate his cage:)



Next in my son's room is Chad (Grays tree frog). I caught Chad 2 1/2 years ago outside my in-laws house in Ohio.


Last in my son's room is Necrid (White Lined gecko). Necrid is also 2 1/2 years old and the first baby White Lined gecko I ever hatched out from my pair of White Lined geckos( Mr& Mrs Stripe).

This is my upstairs hallway where Michelangelo (Midland painted turtle) is kept. Michelangelo was caught in Virginia as a baby and is 10 years old.

This is my living room where Emeril & Jade (Emerald tree monitors) are kept. They are both under a year old and soon will need a custom built cage at least 6 ft tall(one of my current projects). Below them is their spray bottle and one of my incubators filled with eggs! Sitting on the couch next to them is my daughter. Above and on their cage is 2 digital temp gages and a digital humidity gage. They also have foil across the top to trap in heat and humidity and 2 basking and 2 UV lights.

This is my basement where I keep most of my reptiles. This is one end.

This is the other end.

On the top shelf are 5 chameleon cages. From left to right: Anastasia, 1 year old(female Oustalet's chameleon), Mystique, had for 1 year(rescued Veiled chameleon), Wolverine, had for over a year (rescued Veiled chameleon), Smeagol, had for 6 months(rescued Veiled chameleon), 1 1/2 month old baby Veiled chameleons. Bottom row from left to right: Baby(hatchling) rescued alligators, Mrs Stripe, had for 4 years(White Lined gecko), Daisy, had for 4 months(Axolotl), Andy, 5 months old(rescued baby Savannah monitor).

This is my corner/work station:) All my supplements, crested gecko diet, shed ease, water conditioner, fruit fly cultures and bottled water are on the window sill. On the desk is a rescued baby Chinese Fire bellied Newt (had for 3 months) and a picture of my Cuban Knight anoles. On the wall is a dry erase board with all my reptiles and what they eat and how much they eat weekly. The other is a dry erase calendar with dates of hatching, laying, vet appointments, start and finish of medications, supplementation dates and when I check reptile eggs. I also put on there any important dates relating to reptiles or events I have scheduled about reptiles. Below the calendar is a bag full of my daughter's snake's sheds to keep track of his growth. In my desk and on the side shelves are reptile magazines and books. I also keep records of my reptiles, rescued reptiles and research in my notebook and any other paper work related to reptiles. On the side that you cannot see is where I keep UV lights, basking bulbs and hatchrite. In the closet next to the desk(not pictured) is where I keep spare cages, reptile supplies and my egg laying bin/trashcan for the chameleons.

On this wall are my Crested gecko bins. Some are rescues and some are not, ages ranging from 9 years to 8 months old. Each bin has 1 adult/juvie crested gecko in it. These are the equivalent of a 15-20 gallon tank. They have holes drilled all the way around the top, a cave/shelf, egg laying box(for the females), leafy vines and lined with newspaper for easy clean up. Each lid is marked with that geckos name. On top of these bins are their babies kept in small kritter keepers. In each kritter keeper are leafy vines and lined with paper towel or newspaper. Usually there are 2 baby crested geckos in each one as there are 2 babies in a clutch. Next to this is my Cuban Knight anole cage, ages 4 1/2 years. This tank is decorated with live plants and a lighted waterfall. Above their cage is my lizard playground:) This vine and plant are hung from my ceiling and all the aboreal lizards I have love to climb on it. Next to the Cuban Knight anole cage is a plastic container full of Crested gecko eggs in Hatchrite. Next to them is the bag I use to dust insects and feeding tongs. On the floor next to this is my cricket bin where I store live crickets and gut load them tons of good fruit and veggies. Under the table is first my lobster roach tank and then my superworm kritter keeper where these are also gut loaded before feeding. The full bathroom(next to this on the right not pictured) is where I clean cages and keep medications that can be kept at room temps. I also keep my reptile scale, syringes and extra feeding bowls in there.

From left to right on the top: Ariel & Sebastian (Tokay geckos) one was rescued, over a year old and the other I've had for 6 months, Mr Stripe, had for 4 years (White Lined gecko), Gambit & Rogue, had for 1 year(Giant day geckos). On the bottom is Blue, had for 5 months (rescued Blue Tongue skink). On the floor to the left is my sprayer I use to water the reptiles in the basement.

On this wall is a small tank with a rescued baby(hatchling) Yellow Bellied slider turtle. Under his tank is a heated kritter keeper I had to dry dock him in because he had shell rot. Next to it is the silver sulfa ointment I had to use on his shell. In the corner is a young male Oustalet's chameleon, 1 year old I haven't named yet. Behind the dark leather chair is a room humidifier I keep running down there for all my humid loving herps!

I always get in new rescues so my collection is always changing as new ones come and old ones get adopted out.

And that concludes the tour, come again!

Breeding Veiled chameleons

I hatched out a clutch of Veiled chameleons a little over a month ago. They are so cute and tiny and they are growing like weeds!

The whole experience has been truly rewarding. This clutch of eggs, half of them ended up being laid in my hand. This is the story of the first time I bred my Veiled chameleons and how this ended up happening.

When I decided to breed my pair of chameleons I put them together and was totally unprepared for the rough mating I witnessed! I didn't know how forceful it was going to be and was amazed. The male (Wolverine) practically jumped on my female (Mystique) and they fell through the branches and foliage in the cage. Mystique was trying to hold on to the branches as Wolverine was holding on to her doing his "thing". She managed to get away from his grip and he just grabbed her by the tail and pulled her back to him! When they were done she had little claw marks on her body from the male grabbing her. I kept them together for about 24 hours until she turned her gravid/unreceptive coloration.

This is my Mystique displaying gravid/unreceptive colors.

After she was bred I started supplementing her with liquid calcium instead of powdered calcium to insure she was getting enough for egg production. About a month later she was very full of eggs and had started looking around for a nest site.

This is her right before laying eggs and looking VERY gravid:)

I put a large container filled with dirt in with her and she started to dig. She dug for 3 days but did not lay eggs. I was getting worried so I bought a huge trashcan and filled it over half way with dirt, a big branch with vines wrapped around it and fitted screen over the top. I placed her inside and placed her UV and basking lamp over the top. She went to digging right away and after 4 more days and 3 tunnels later she finally laid her eggs.

This is her trashcan set up.

The 7 days she was digging she did not eat or drink and seemed to be obsessed with digging. At night before lights out she would climb out of whatever tunnel she was in and come to the top branches to sleep. In the morning she would resume digging. After 4 days she started to show signs of dehydration as her eyes were always looking sunken in and she looked worn out. I started to hand feed and water her so that I knew she was getting something because I was worried she might die of exhaustion. On the 7th evening I went down to feed and water her but she was busy digging in a tunnel. So I waited another hour but she was still in the tunnel. I decided I'd give her more time as she usually comes to the top at night and I went to do my night time water and feedings of my other reptiles. I came back after I was done and she was sitting in the opening of a tunnel and looked like she was sleeping. I was upset because I thought this meant she was too tired to come up to the top. I knew I had to feed and water her so I decided I was going to wake her up, feed, water and then put her in the branches where she usually sleeps. I took her out and only carried her a few feet when she looked like she was going to poop. I stuck out my hand to catch it before it went on my carpet and out popped an egg! I was freaking out! I was so nervous because the egg was slimy and I didn't want it to slip off my hand. She then laid 30 eggs in my hand before stopping. Only one egg fell off my hand during the whole time. I was shaking I was so nervous! I didn't know how I was going to get her off my hand and put the eggs in the incubation medium by myself while still holding 30 slimy, slippery eggs in my other hand. I slowly climbed 2 flights of stairs in my house, went to my bedroom where my husband was sleeping and asked him to help me with Mystique in one hand and the eggs in the other! He woke up very surprised! He took Mystique and followed me back down and held her until I put all the eggs in deli cups and dug up the rest she had laid in the tunnel before I picked her up. All together there was 59 eggs. The whole time my husband is telling me to hurry up because Mystique needed me. It was taking a long time because I was so nervous I was shaking and afraid the eggs would slip from my hand or that the eggs I was digging up might get broken. After I was done I fed and watered Mystique and put her back in her normal screen cage. The next day she still looked tired/worn out and I ended up hand feeding and watering her again. The day after that she ate a few insects on her own and started drinking water without me taking her out and offering it to her. After a week she was back to her normal self. Since this clutch she has laid 2 other clutches with no problems. I put her in her trashcan and she digs and lays eggs within 24 hours. She goes back to eating and drinking on her own and bounces back to her normal self very quickly. I often speculate that she had such a hard time the first time because it was her first clutch and because she had been digging for so long without eating or drinking. Now it seems she knows what she is doing, does not waste time and goes right to it.

Here is Mystique the last time she laid a clutch of eggs.

The eggs incubated for 190 days till they started hatching out. I candled them once a week and checked the dampness of the incubation medium to make sure it wasn't drying out.

Here is a picture of me candling the eggs a week before they hatched.

Here is when the eggs started to hatch. Look close and see the green noses of the babies as they are starting to come out:)

It took about a week for all the eggs to hatch out. Each one took about 24 hours after pipping to come fully out of the egg. There were a few babies that died before hatching, about 5 pipped but then died in the egg never hatching out all the way. The babies that did hatch started eating fruit flies after a couple days and drank water every time I misted them. I mist the babies about 5 times a day to make sure they are staying hydrated. I also use a dripper. They are set up just like the adults except they do not have branches. They just have a whole bunch of vines everywhere to walk around on hanging from the top of the cage. I also supplement them with calcium more often than the adults since they are growing babies. They all seem to be active and healthy eating and drinking everyday. So far I have found homes for all the babies except for 4 that I am keeping until they are older. I want to watch them grow up into adults and I will probably end up keeping a pair for myself. Well, not really for me but for my husband:) He told me before Mystique even laid eggs that I HAD to keep a pair for him:)

I hope you enjoyed this story and I will post updates on the babies as they grow.

Here is a random picture of Wolverine I took the other day. It was first thing in the morning when I was turning on all the lights. I thought he looked like a sleeping beauty and felt compelled to take a picture of him:)