Power Outages and Cold Weather Emergencies

 I know it is almost June and most of us won't have to worry about winter storms for awhile. This post is super late but I wanted to share it anyway. Last January, Western Washington got hit by a massive ice and snow storm. This storm caused power outages and seriously dangerous conditions.

As you can imagine, winter storms can cause problems for reptile keepers. They make it difficult to maintain temperatures. If the power goes out and you don't have a generator, reptile lights and heat pads do not work. So how do you keep your critters safe during an emergency or power outage? Here are a few tips.

 Stock up on hand warmers

Hand warmers can serve as emergency heat pads. They can be placed under tanks or under carriers. Be careful when using them because they can get very hot. Monitor cage and surface temps carefully. Keep in mind that most hand warmers get hotter when exposed to more air. DO NOT PLACE DIRECTLY IN TANK!

Stock up on snake bags, critter keepers, and other animal totes

If you have to move your animals to a warmer location or a place with power, you want to make sure you have enough totes to carry all of them safely. This picture shows some of my feed containers and critter keepers. Plastic totes that are not clear are better (darkness reduces stress and thicker, "weather resistant" totes may hold heat better), but clear totes can be used. It may be handy to keep some extra substrate around so that you can easily add some to the totes. Snake bags are great for transporting snakes. Pillow cases can also be used (just make sure you tie them up well)! Cat/dog crates and carriers are another possible way to transport your bigger herps. I brought home Gary the ball in a soft-sided animal carrier (much to the amusement of my coworker). Just a side note: I would strongly caution against adding anything (like cage furniture) to the totes because they can move during transport and hurt your critters.

Try to keep the room warm

Keep all windows and doors shut. Keep blinds and curtains closed. If you are preparing for a storm well ahead of time, you will want to check for and fix any drafts. We were very fortunate because at the beginning of winter, we bought a kit to fix our drafty window in our reptile room (this helped all winter long, not just during the storm)! If you have a "reptile room" or a warmer room, you can use objects (like pillows and blankets) at the base of the door to block it from larger or colder rooms. I highly suggest moving all of your herps into the warmest room in the house. Another thing you can do is blast the heater when the power comes back on. If the power comes back, don't assume it will stay. Turn the heater up as soon as possible.

Try to stay with your animals

Keep an eye on your critters! A local zoo lost all but one of their giant salamanders because no one was there to monitor the aquarium temperature. When the power came back on, the chiller failed to turn on with the pump, and the water was accidentally heated to over 80 degrees! The poor salamanders (which would have happily survived the extreme cold of the winter storm had the power outage continued) overheated. You can avoid problems like this by monitoring your animals and their cage temperatures closely. Don't assume that because you have an animal that can tolerate cold, that he does not require monitoring. Power outages can cause all sorts of problems.

Have a Plan

The most important thing is to have a plan. I talked with a few of my friends after the power outage and many of them were very panicked about their animals during the storm. One of my coworkers had to sleep with her bearded dragon to keep him warm because she had no power and no emergency plan! Decide what you would do in the event of an emergency. Where would you go if your home gets too cold? I have a friend with a powerful generator, but not everyone does. Do you have enough totes to transport all animals safely? Where are your emergency supplies? Keep in mind that while many herps are hardy and can go a very long time without food and water, very few of them can tolerate extreme cold. And if you have multiple animals, some of the may tolerate cold better than others. Decide which animals will need to be moved and when.

So there is my post about cold weather emergencies. It may be a really long time before the next winter storm, but you can use all that time to prepare :)

10 Must-Have Items for Reptile Care and Maintenance

Over my many years of keeping reptiles and amphibians, I have decided that certain objects are necessary for their care and maintenance. Here are 10 items that I cannot live without. 

 Detachable Shower head

This is one of the most important items on the list. Since we live in an apartment, I can't just take the cages outside to hose them down. We have no hose or backyard! So we have a detachable shower head instead. It makes cleaning cages and cage furniture a snap. Plus, we don't have to worry about dumping bleach water on the lawn. It just goes down the drain! And the high pressure setting really helps wash off stubborn bits of eco earth. In my opinion, this is a must have for anyone with caged animals.

 Huge Mister

This is pretty self-explanatory. Reptiles and amphibians (even desert species) need the occasional misting. This monster of a mister makes it very easy.

  Probe Thermometer

Let's face it: most of those sticky cage thermometers suck. They aren't very accurate and they constantly fall off. Heaven help you if one of the adhesive-backed cage thermometers falls into eco earth. It will never stick to the glass again! While I do use sticky cage thermometers to get a general read of the cage temps, I prefer probe thermometers because they can move and they are much more accurate. I have hung this one on a tack stuck into a cork board. I can remove the thermometer easily to test cage and water temps. When I am not using it to test cage temps, it measures the room temperature for me. Very handy!

 Hand Sanitizer, Paper Towels, and Enzymes

Paper towels are an obvious must-have. Same thing with hand sanitizer. The enzyme cleaner is a little unusual, but it is one of those things I cannot live without. Unlike many reptile cleaners, it is completely harmless to the animals. And while I would never spray it on an animal or in their water bowl (duh), I can use it while the critter is in the cage. It doesn't sanitize the cage (I use a small amount of bleach and a lot of water for that), but it is very good at reducing odors! It works very well with care fresh. When combined with a paper towel, it also helps remove stuck-on snake poo.

 Spare Light Bulbs

Because you never know when a light will go out. And most pet stores aren't open 24-hours.

Feed Tongs, Sand Scoop, and Scrub Brush

Feed tongs are useful for more than just feeding. They can be used to move objects in cages (like when you are feeding your pacman frog and accidentally drop the cricket cardboard in his cage and don't feel like losing a finger) or as an "emergency" snake hook for rowdy snakes after feeding (or whenever). You may think, 'who owns a reptile and not a pair of feed tongs'? But trust me, I have met plenty of people who own snakes and not feed tongs. Sand scoops can be used to scoop up all kinds of substrate. They can also be used to separate meal worms from the material they are packaged in (especially when you are down to your last few). Scrub brushes are awesome for cleaning water dishes (don't use cleaners, though)! As a side note, you can also see a thing of calcium supplement in the drawer. I didn't include that in the list because then I would have to include reptile food in the list.


So there you have it. 10 must-have items for reptile care and maintenance.

Petpalooza

I know it has been a really long time since I last posted. My laptop decided awhile back that it wouldn't read SD cards so getting pictures on to the internet from my camera required the use of my husband's laptop. Since he uses his laptop for work and my free time comes when he is at work, that meant I had little opportunity to upload photos. And what is a blog without photos? So I kind of gave up. But my husband went on a trip for the week and left me his laptop. And now I am back :)

I will start with a quick post about Petpalooza. A few days ago, I went to a pet festival with my little sister. The free entertainment included two reptile shows. I had pretty low expectations. A lot of "reptile guys" in zoos and pet stores seem to know very little about the animals they care for (I had a guy at Petco once tell me that I should feed my corn snake crickets). Why would a traveling reptile show be any different? But I was actually very impressed. The first guy made no obvious mistakes and only failed to mention the species name of one of his animals. The guy in the second show did fail to mention the species name of a few of his animals. That is a little pet peeve of mine. Don't give a bunch of facts about a species without telling your audience what the species is.

Impressive...but it would have been more impressive if you had remembered to tell us what you were carrying.

 The other thing that really bugged me about the second show was that the guy kept saying poisonous snakes. Snakes use fangs to inject venom. I will not be affected by eating or touching the snake. I have to be bitten to be affected. So that means snakes are venomous, not poisonous. Same thing goes for bees, spiders, and any other creature that uses a delivery system for their toxin. Anyway...rant over. Here are some pictures

Massive Corn Snake

Beautiful Mexican Black Kingsnake

Later the Gator

 After watching both shows, I realized that I would love to do a reptile show. Not as my career, but as a hobby. I am going back to school to get a teaching degree. How cool would it be to do reptile shows in the summer? And how even more awesome would it be to have a reptile show performed by a woman? I have mentioned before how men seem to dominate the world of reptile keeping. I think it would be awesome to show little girls that women can love reptiles, too! After all, isn't that what this blog is all about?

To The Zoo! Plus: Photos of our New Animals!

I had a crappy week at work, so my husband took me to the zoo yesterday! We bought a year-long combo membership to two local zoos. So we can go as many times as we like this year :) I know there is quite a bit of controversy surrounding zoos, but the two zoos in our area are very good. One of the zoos (Northwest Trek) contains local animals only. I love going on the tram and watching the moose and elk! All of their animals are in excellent, realistic habitats.

But yesterday, we visited Point Defiance Zoo. Here are some of my favorite pictures.

This is a red wolf. He doesn't look like much (I listened to numerous tourists complain that he looked "just like a big dog") but believe me, he is really cool. Red Wolves would be extinct if not for the breeding program at Point Defiance Zoo. They established the first captive breeding program for theses amazing animals. They were also the first zoo to successfully breed them. I told you this zoo was awesome :)

 This little guy was camera shy. He turned his head every time a camera came out! I think he doesn't like the flash, and he turns his head to avoid the light, even if the camera's flash isn't on (I think he may be smart enough to recognize what a camera looks like).

Happy Polar Bear playing with his jug :)

An aardvark named Tilly eating yogurt out of a tube.

This guy was playing peek-a-boo with me :)

And here are the photos of our newest additions. Both were "rescues".

Our Russian Tortoise. We still need a name for her! You can see Dib's feet in the background :)

Merlin

New Russian Tortoise!

So my mother-in-law's co-worker wanted to get rid of their female russian tortoise. We gladly accepted their offer to adopt her...about a month ago. We made arrangements to pick her up. Then they lost her. The owner fell asleep while the tortoise was wandering their home, and they couldn't find their russian for a week. When they finally did find her, it took awhile for us to make new arrangements to go get her.

We brought her home last night. I will post pictures of her later (including pictures of our "new" corn snake, Merlin). But in the meantime, we need a name for her. Any ideas?

I really hate to make depressing posts, so I started with the good. Unfortunately, in addition to our "new addition", we lost a dear furry friend last week. Millie Mouse passed away. She was over a year old. Her parents and great grandparents only lived for about a year (remember, I worked in the facility that bred her), so I wasn't surprised by her passing. I loved her as much as I could love a mouse. She was a great pet, and she will be dearly missed. RIP Millie.

Millie as a young mouse. About 1.5 months old. 

Humane Society vs. Reptiles

I know my last post was incredibly depressing, but I really feel this is important.

The Humane Society of the United States is very good at making the public believe they are about fluffy things like supporting local shelters and keeping animals off of the streets. In reality, HSUS and your local Humane Society shelter actually share very little in common. HSUS is actually very similar to PETA. They are both animal rights groups.

Now Humanewatch.org comes off a little strong for my taste. But they do have a very valid point: The HSUS is really not about animal shelters. It is about animal rights. And as we all know, while animal-rights organizations like PETA and HSUS can have good intentions, some of the things they support are a little crazy.

Take, for instance, the HSUS view on keeping reptiles. They have been trying to ban reptiles as pets for a very long time. Here is a link talking about how they want the White House to ban the keeping of constrictors. Ironically, no reptiles were involved in the Zaneville incident. But why do they bring it up? It is the same reason why they fail to bring up that more dogs kill people in this country than captive snakes. Politics, my friends. HSUS is an activist organization. They use rhetoric just like any politician or political group. Just like PETA. Remember that the next time you see one of those "for 50 cents a day, you can save an animal" commercials.

For reptile lovers, HSUS is not your friend. Here is an article from HSUS talking about the dangers of owning reptiles. One of the HSUS favorite tactic is trying to scare us by saying that reptiles are a huge salmonella risk. I have owned reptiles for a while. Guess what I have never caught from them? Salmonella. Guess what animals have made me sick? Mice, cats, and dogs. The fact is, you are way more likely to catch something from a mammal than from a reptile (we are mammals, after all). But the HSUS doesn't tell you that.

Don't get me wrong. The HSUS has some good beliefs. They are against animal abuse. A good portion of their funds go towards lobbying for animal rights laws. Sometimes that can be a very good thing. But not always. Next time you think HSUS, remember PETA. They are much closer than you think.

Owen Beach

So my husband and I took a lot of little trips this summer. One of the places we went to was Owen Beach on the Puget Sound. We found a lot of little critters on this trip.

Tacoma Narrows Bridge

A Harbor Seal out in the water. He was watching us :) 

A little crab

We also went looking for Western Fence Lizards.  You can also find them on southern-facing sandy beaches by the Puget Sound and Hood Canal. Here are some pictures of the one lizard my Husband caught.

Look at his pretty belly! I love that blue color :)

So there is my short post on our trip to Owen Beach. I can't wait to go back and find more western fence lizards :)

Link Love: Meet Medusa

Every now and then I would like to post some links about cool stuff I find on the web. Here is an article about Medusa, the 25-ft-long reticulated python.

Clicky--->Here

A zookeeper once told me that when multiple people are holding a large snake, the lucky ones get the middle :) She said, "One end has teeth, the other end poops".

Finding Animals in Unexpected Places: Disney World Part 1

I haven't posted anything on "herping" (finding reptiles and amphibians in the wild) yet. I thought I would start out with one of my favorite aspects of herping: finding herps in unexpected places. I really love finding any animal in an unexpected place. When you go out looking for an animal, or when you are in an environment where you expect to find a certain animal, it is cool enough when you spot a critter. But I think it is even cooler when you find animals in unusual or unexpected places. On our honeymoon trip to Disney World, for example, we found all sorts of interesting animals.

If I were to ask someone, "what sort of wild creatures would you expect me to find in Disney World"? Their first response would probably be seagulls and ducks (or mice, if they were trying to be cute). If they had been to Disney World before, they might say, "Egrets, Ibis, and little lizards (or anoles, if they knew about reptiles)". We found all of these animals in huge numbers on our trip without having to really look. I will start with these guys.

This photo was taken just before the duck decided my husband's camera strap was food (he did attempt to eat it, but H moved away just in time).

Aww! Duckling!

This is a brown anole.
Despite the fact that they are pretty easy to find, people don't seem to notice them.

This is an Egret. They seem to hang around the turkey leg carts at Disney World.

This is an ibis

So all of these animals are pretty common in Disney World. The reason why I am including them is because people don't seem to think they will find any sort of wild creature (besides the usual ducks and seagulls) on their vacation to a theme park.

It is hard to go an entire trip to Disney World without seeing ducks, seagulls, ibis, and egrets. But I did include one animal on this list that, while abundant, can be difficult to find. The brown anole.

Brown anoles are invasive to Florida. They compete with the Carolina Anole (AKA the green anole), which is native to Florida. 

The anoles seem to like resting on concrete and stone (anything that gets warm). I always find them on concrete dividers and stone benches around Disney World. I have also spotted them on trees and on the ground. They are very fast, so don't expect to catch them without a lizard noose. My husband (who has quite a bit of experience in this area) had a difficult time catching one. 

Since I am on the subject of anoles, I will mention the green anole. We only had a few confirmed green anole sightings on the entire trip. We always found them in bushes or trees. Here are some photos of a green anole we caught on the trip. 

                           

                       

That is it for part 1. Next time, I will talk about critters that are a little harder to find. Part 2 will include the pig frog, the southern toad, the florida softshell turtle, the mediterranean gecko, and a handful of other turtle species.

There is Something Wrong with Me...

So one of my friends on facebook posted this link. It is about a 21-foot saltwater croc that got captured in the Philippines. And my first reaction was "Oh, cool! Look at this awesome animal! He is so big!" That isn't a really crazy first reaction. Maybe a little enthusiastic (and lacking in a healthy sense of fear)...but not crazy.

Then I watched a little bit of the video. And at one point during the video, someone grabs the crocodile's feet. And my reaction was "OMG! Look at his big feetsies! He is SO CUTE"! Yeah...there is something wrong with me. I think a 21-foot croc is adorable.

Awww! Who is a cute little man-eater?

Don't get me wrong, I am not going to go up to it and give it a big hug or anything. I am not a psycho who thinks that she can cuddle with crocodiles in her bed. All of my reptiles are in cages. With lids. And most of them have locks.  And the biggest reptile I own can barely eat a large rat. So no, I am not about to go "cootcie coo" and tickle a 21-foot crocodile. But I do think he is adorable in his own scaly way. Especially his feet :)

So am I the only one out there that sees this animal for a wonderfully powerful creature? Does anyone else see his picture and think he is just awesome? Maybe even a little cute? Maybe? Anybody?

Herp Nation Magazine

I can't believe I haven't mentioned this yet! One of my husband's favorite magazines is Herp Nation. He was even featured in a Herper Profile (in volume 1.2). I love Herp Nation Magazine because the articles are interesting and the photos are amazing. Here is their website <---clicky

We currently have a few of these magazines in our frog themed bathroom :)

Link Love: Women and Reptiles Article

I found a really cool article on the Reptile Channel website. It is about women and reptiles.
Here it is <---Clicky

RIP Reptar, Welcome Squeezie

So our terrestrial salamander, Reptar, passed away last week. We have had him for several years, and he was full grown when we got him, so we think he may have just died of old age. He was a really cool animal, and we will miss him dearly.

RIP my dear pet

The day after Reptar passed, we went to the pet store to buy some crickets. Well, they had a ball python up for adoption. Her owner was moving and could no longer keep her. Long story short, we took the 7-year-old python home. Her name is Squeezie (named by her old owner). She is as sweet as a snake can be :) The picture below shows her in her old cage. We switched her cage with our corn snake's after cleaning them both out and adding carefresh.

Welcome!

Meet the Animals!

So let me briefly introduce the family.

My Cat, Dib

Dib is a plain ol' domestic short hair (or DSH for short). My mom found him under the bushes in front of her home with three littermates. We hand raised them. When I moved out of my parents house, I took Dib with me. He is one of the friendliest cats I have ever met!

The Herps:

Lily the Leopard Gecko

Pig the aquatic Giant Salamander

Reptar the terrestrial Giant Salamander

Snakey the Corn Snake

Tux the California King Snake

Hypnotoad the Pacman Frog

We also have two African clawed frogs (they are tiny) but I don't have pictures.

The Mice:

Millie Mouse

Mortimer Mouse

So those are our pets. Each one has specific needs, but they are all very easy to care for once you understand the animal. I will make some animal husbandry posts later on that explain how we care for each of our exotics.