Home Herpetarium

It has always been my intention to breed my bearded dragons. They moved in together last summer and have spent the ensuing months sleeping on top of each other, fighting over crickets, and performing arm-waving and head-bobbing behaviors at each other. This spring they were supposed to go through a period of cooling off for about a month, followed by a period of warming up, which would emulate natural springtime and get them in the mood to breed. But my beardies decided to do things in their own way, and on their own timetable, instead. Last week I had just sat down to dinner with M.P. when he gestured with surprise at the beardie enclosure. I turned to look as well and after a moment realized what I was seeing was two very brightly colored bearded dragons mating with each other. The male’s beard was full black and the area around his eyes had turned a bright orange color. The female was also dark in the beard area, and seemed completely willing to go along with his amorous intentions.

Since the initial mating attempt, the male (Mushu) has tried every day to repeat the experience, but my female (Elliot) has not let him. After doing some research into the habits of breeding bearded dragons, M.P. and I have discovered that she may be denying him because she thinks she is already pregnant. She may also not be entirely in the mood, and it was an accident that mating happened in the first place. We also are not sure entirely why they decided to start breeding now, when nothing about their environment has been changed in months. They have had consistent light, consistent heat, and consistent feeding for the past several months, so it couldn’t have been an environmental change that triggered their mating instincts. Sometimes, it seems, they get in the mood all on their own.

In a few more weeks we will be able to tell if their one successful breeding attempt (that we know of) has resulted in eggs. And then a few weeks after that we may get to start the process of incubating and hatching some baby beardies. That will certainly be an exciting and interesting experience, and I’m looking forward to it - even if we end up with 20 or 30 new additions to the family!

When you have a cat or a dog, you can be pretty sure that you won’t have people over visiting your house on a regular basis that will be afraid of your pet.  Most people can handle interacting with cats and dogs, even if they don’t particularly like animals.  But when it comes to reptiles and other exotic pets, it can be harder to find people who are comfortable being in close vicinity to them.  Some people actually have severe phobias to snakes and spiders, and won’t be able to even set foot in your house if they know that you have them inside. 

Some visitors to your “home herpetarium” will be the complete opposite.  They will want to touch and hold everything they can, and may stick their heads into enclosures and pick up animals before you can tell them not too.  These types of people may seem like they would be better to have as visitors, but in reality they can be alot of trouble.  If you have snakes that are prone to biting, or tarantulas that do not like to be handled, you could wind up with a wounded visitor before you know it.  

It is a good idea to always keep in mind that just because you love your scaly or 8-legged or hard-shelled friends, other people might not.  Make sure any visitors you have to your home are aware that the animals are there, but also ask them up front if they have any fears in regards to them.  If they do, make sure everyone is placed within their enclosures during “guest” time, and don’t make a point of showing them off if your visitor isn’t up to it.  If you have a visitor who is very into seeing your reptiles and exotics, let them know the rules for touching and handling before you bring them over.  Telling them they will get bitten before it happens is alot better than trying to explain afterward. 

Yesterday my partner and I were at one of our local pet stores, and I saw a tank with “Starburst Baboon” written across it in dark marker.  A Starburst Baboon is a species of tarantula that I have so far steered away from because many of them are known to be aggressive.  I did ask the sales person what the temperament on their spider was, and he said it was pretty hostile, so I wandered off to look at other things.  But when we swung back around for a last look at the animals before heading out a few minutes later, there were two other sales people moving the tarantula from one tank to another.  This was actually the first chance I’d gotten to really see him (as he’d been hidden in a hide box before) and he turned out to be a rather pretty spider.  And while the sales girls didn’t take a chance of getting bitten and moved him by urging him into box with the help of a stick, he didn’t jump up and try to bite them as I had been led to believe he might.  Which got me to thinking that maybe he wasn’t all that bad.  

My partner and I left the store and wandered on to another, but I couldn’t get my mind off the Starburst tarantula.  It isn’t often I get to see species besides Guyana Pinktoes and Chilean Rosehairs in my neck of the woods, and I wanted to expand my small collection.  So when we left the second store we headed straight back to the pet store and I bought the spider.  When we got home a short while later I went directly online to find out what kind of care my Starburst Baboon (now named Quaid (from “Total Recall”) as I name all of my spiders after SciFi characters) would need.  The problem, as I soon discovered, was that there was more than one kind of Starburst Baboon tarantula.  And while both were known to be somewhat aggressive, one was also known to be rather shy while the other was nicknamed “the orange bitey thing” among tarantula enthusiasts.  They had not given me the scientific name for my new spider when I bought him, so I couldn’t determine that way which kind he might be.  And he didn’t look much like any of the pictures I could find.  But later that night he came out of hiding for a while and I got a close look at his markings.  It looked like I had bought a “orange bitey thing.”   

This isn’t the end of the world, of course.  My partner and I know how to be careful.  I don’t make a habit of handling my tarantulas anyway, so it isn’t like I’ll be missing out on anything.  And really the literature I read made it sound like Starburst Baboon tarantulas only bite when they are feeling harassed and threatened.  I have no intention of harassing or threatening my spiders.  So it will be okay that I fell into ownership of a tarantula that is a bit out of my experience level. But next time I will be looking up details on something I’m not sure about BEFORE I buy it and bring it home.  

It seems to be shedding season in our Reptile Room right now.  The other day I walked in to check on things and Mittens, our veiled chameleon, looked like a creature right out of a nightmare.  She was a mess of flaky white skin, and in no mood to let anyone try and help her peel it off.  We misted her and that seemed to help a bit, but it still took the rest of the day before she wasn’t quite so creepy looking (and I mean that in the most affectionate way possible.)

While Mittens was doing her thing, our female Ball python Esper was doing her own.  She is the snake that recently got over a respiratory infection, and while she hasn’t been eating since then she seems to be growing just fine.  She began to shed and managed to get crispy old skin off her face, before giving up and letting the rest of her old skin just sit there.  About this time my partner decided to go in and help out.  First he gave her a soak in warm water, and then he began the lengthy process of peeling the softened skin away.  

In the wild reptiles can have problems shedding by themselves, even after soaking in puddles and ponds or scratching themselves against rocks and trees.  They can end up with retained eye caps or layers of hard skin on top of other skin.  So with our captive herps we take extra care to make sure each shed goes as well as possible.  My partner will pick loose skin off the toes of the geckos, and peel it off the backs of the snakes, and sometimes even assist in removing it from eyecaps.  This is the hardest one, as it takes a very skillful hand and either tape (rolling the sticky part gently over the eyecaps to lift them away) or tweezers (though we don’t recommend this as you can accidentally injure them by poking them in the eye.) 

Since we got our Russian tortoise group (or the Russian tord - tortoise herd) they have been spending most of their time running free range in our livingroom.  We set up a basking light for them in one corner where they can get warm - the “tortoise warming station,” and we feed them in a group on a slate tile in the kitchen.  They spend their days sleeping near the wall heaters, searching around the floor for veggie niblets to eat, wandering up and down the hallway trying to get into rooms where they aren’t allowed, and chasing the cat.  

Cats might not seem like the kind of animal a tortoise would be interested in following around, but there is something about ours that they all seem to find fascinating.  They have to nose up to his dish when he’s eating, just in case he has something better for dinner then they do.  They have to follow him into the utility room when he goes to use the litterbox, just to see what he might be up to.  And when he lies down under their basking light (because he’s a cat and he loves to bask), they have to wander over and nibble on his fur and lay down with him. The cat, for his part, is rather patient with his little shelled groupies.  He has never hissed, snarled, or taken a swipe at any of them.  He backs off when they act the least aggressive, and knows to jump up on a chair or table when they start to pester him too much.  In fact he actually seems to like the tortoises.  

The other day I caught him trying to initiate play with Yuri, our larger male.  He pounced around the tortoise, ran up and down the hallway to instigate chasing, and even turned upside and purred.  Unfortunately Yuri was less than impressed with this behavior and just sat there watching.   Not all animals will get along with tortoises like our cat does. Dogs have been known to chew on them because they are attracted to the material the shell is made out of.  Some cats will swat smaller tortoises around like toys, especially on hardwood or linoleum floors.  So making the decision to integrate different species always has to be made with careful consideration and care.  Watch your animals together for long periods to see how they interact with each other.  If you are allowing them to mingle when you aren’t home to watch them, check everyone when you get back to look for scratches, bite marks, or other injuries.  And if you see any type of negative behaviors between your different kinds of animals, it probably isn’t a good idea to let them interact with each other any longer. 

The number of reptiles each individual herp owner will want to bring into their homes will be different then other herp owners.  Some people get one or two snakes, or maybe a pair of turtles, or a breeding group of Bearded dragons, and then call it quits.  Other people dedicate whole sections of their homes and lives to reptile ownership, collecting dozens of types of snakes and tortoises and always looking for more.  While there is nothing wrong with owning many snakes or lizards, it is important to take into account what each animal needs to be healthy and properly cared for before adding more, and more, and more to your menagerie.  

Tortoises may not need regular affection like a dog or cat might, but they do need to be feed regularly and properly every day.  They also need a suitably sized enclosure with a heat lamp, a water dish, and substrate that they can dig around in and burrow in.  And each time you add a tortoise to your group, you have to factor in that they will need more space, more food, more water, and more room to bask under their heat lamp.  Plus different sized tortoises can’t necessarily be housed together, as larger ones will run over the top of smaller ones and possibly hurt them.  It can also be necessary to house males and females separately, and desert tortoise species will need to be kept somewhere warm and dry, while tropical tortoise species need to be kept more humid.  

As you can see, the more tortoises you want to keep, the more difficult it can be to accommodate them all.  The same can be said for multiple snakes, multiple lizards, and multiple amphibians.  So if you have a room in your home that you can devote to your reptiles (we call ours the Reptile Room), and you have the money and space and time to devote to them, go ahead and gather your personal herpetarium.  Otherwise you should stick to one or two of your favorite herp pets. 

Most snake owners will find themselves faced with the all important question at some point:  should they feed their reptile live prey or already dead prey?  If you have gotten your snake from a previous owner who only fed frozen mice or live mice, the choice could be made for you.  Ball Pythons are notoriously picky eaters, and if they were raised on live prey they may refuse to eat anything else.  Choosing what to feed based on price may not always help, as live mice from a pet store can cost about the same or even a little less than frozen mice from the same place.  If you are purchasing from a company that deals in feeder mice, you may find the price difference a little more helpful, as oftentimes dead rodents are quite a bit cheaper then the live ones.  

Some people have no problem with the idea of their pet snake killing another animal that has been handed directly to them, while other snake owners can’t stomach the idea of being an accessory to any animal’s demise.  It can be a brutal and sometimes messy experience when a snake kills its prey, and it isn’t surprising that some people just can’t handle it.  In many cases the choice to feed frozen mice over live mice comes down to the personal preference of the owner of the snake.  If a person can’t handle watching their snake kill prey every few weeks, going the frozen route is a much better option.   

At my house it is frozen all the way.  When it was just me and my Ball Python, Eva, I was a live feeder.  She only eats every three weeks so it was not too expensive or difficult to procure her a live mouse when necessary.  But now that I have a whole herpetarium in my house, with 16 snakes all needing to be fed on a regular basis, live mice are not the most cost effective option.  My partner and I choose to buy frozen rodents in bulk, and in several different sizes, to meet the needs of all of our animals.  Feeding frozen mice also cuts down on the risk of any of our snakes getting injured.  The larger the prey animal, or the smaller the snake, the more chance there is that a struggling rodent could scratch or bite your reptile.  By feeding our snakes mice and rats that are already dead, we take this possibility out of the equation.

Everyone loves to find a great deal, especially when it comes to buying reptiles that can be expensive.  But just because you find an animal in the newspaper or online classifieds for an unbelievable price doesn’t mean you’ve hit the herp lovers jackpot.  There is a chance that the sweet deal on an adult Russian tortoise or Spider Ball Python really is too good to be true.  Before you hand over your money and start patting yourself on the back for getting the deal of the century, only to wind up with a sickly or genetically inferior animal, make sure to ask some important questions first.

1)  How long have the current owners had the reptile?  Where did they get it from?  Why are they getting rid of it?

2) Has the reptile had any health problems in the time that they had it?  Has it ever been checked out by a veterinarian?  Has it been housed with any other animals since they’ve had it?  Did any of them have health problems?

3) What have they been feeding the reptile?  Have they had any problems with it refusing food?  Has it ever gone a prolonged period of time without eating?  Has it ever shown signs of sickness from something that it ate?

4) If you are seeing the listing for this animal online or in the newspaper, can the current owners send you some pictures so that you can get an idea of what it looks like?  Can they give you pictures from several sides and angles, including the head, back, tail, and underbelly?  It is important for you to take a good look at the reptile to see if it has any problems with its scales, limbs, eyes, ears, or mouth.

5) Can the current owners tell you how old the reptile is?  Can they give you an approximate size for it?  While tortoises can live up to 80  years, lizards such as Bearded Dragons live a considerably shorter amount of time.  It can be difficult to pay for a reptile after being told it is a young adult, only to have it die of old age shortly afterward.

6) Do the owners know if the reptile was captive bred or wild caught?  Wild caught animals are more likely to carry internal parasites then ones that were bred in captivity, and knowing their background can help you decide if it is a good idea to bring them into your home.    

If the current owners of the reptile you are interested in won’t answer your questions or show you pictures up front, or if you find the animal very different upon meeting it as you were expecting because of the current owners’ answers, you should seriously rethink purchasing it. 

Around March of last year I noticed a funny whistling sound coming from the tank where my Ball Python Eva lived.  It didn’t happen all the time, but seemed to occur most often in the early morning or late at night.  I had never experienced this problem with my first Ball Python, Apophis, and wasn’t sure it if was a cold or a respiratory problem or had to do with the environment.  When I discussed it with my partner, he said it could be a humidity issue and I should remove Eva’s water dish for most of the day so that it wouldn’t cause more moisture in the tank.  I began trying this immediately, taking the water bowl out except for an hour or so a day, and within a few weeks the whistling seemed to disappear. 

This winter we had a new Ball Python, Esper, come up with some whistling, which quickly progressed into actually runny sniffling.  We moved her into a tank that did not hold in humidity to see if a drier climate would help but she just worsened.  When nothing we tried worked, and when her problem progressed to the point that she couldn’t eat or breathe without releasing a large amount of snot, we took her in to the vet. There we learned that Esper had a respiratory infection and the only way to get her better would be to inject her on a daily basis with antibiotics.  This was not an easy task, or a particularly pleasant one, but we managed to make it through all eight of the at-home injection treatments.  And now I’m happy to say that Esper is no longer sniffling, wheezing, or whistling.  

All reptiles are very different in their requirements for habitat, temperature, and humidity level.  If you have just one of these things off you could end up with a sick animal.  Be sure to keep track of the habitat your herp lives in, and if you see any signs of illness you need to speak with a reptile expert or a vet as soon as possible.    

Size means alot in the reptile world.  You will need animals that are the right size in order to breed them, or keep them housed together, or to keep them in certain types of enclosures.  You will also need to know what size your reptiles are so you can keep track of their growth (especially when they are still babies and juveniles) and in case you need to medicate them.  If you take one of your pets to the vet they will probably be weighed there, but it is also a good idea to purchase a scale for your home where you can weigh your animals whenever you feel it is necessary.  In most cases a gram scale will be best, as many reptiles such as geckos, baby tortoises, small snake, and lizards will not weigh more than a couple of pounds at the most.  My partner and I bought a relatively cheap scale from Bed, Bath, and Beyond that weighs items up to 6.6 lbs, weighs in gram measurements, and figures out how much an animal weighs even if we have to put them in something to get them to stay on the scale.  For some of our critters we weighed them on the first day we had the scale and haven’t weighed them since, as they are older reptiles and don’t seem to be having any troubles growing.  Others, such as our baby Sulcata Oliver, we are weighing at least once a month (and sometimes more.)  We are curious to see just how fast he is growing, so we keep careful track of his weight each time we take it.  We also measure his length along his bottom shell, to make sure he is growing properly that way as well.  To keep track of each weight taken as well as lengths measured, we keep a notebook with a page for each animal and their stats.  I also have marked down their species, gender, latin name, and the date they joined our “family.”  This way we have information that we can easily refer back to if needed.  Keeping this size information will come in handy when it is time to breed some of our snakes and tortoises, and will also be useful if we ever have a sick reptile and need to give details to our vet.  I highly recommend that every herp owner keep a log for their animals as well.