Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Hello All,

Does anyone know of a good scale to use? And I'm also looking for a disinfectant that can be used more frequently than bleach, any ideas. Thanks a bunch

I use Nolvasan (chlorohexidine ??diacetate??) Also works as a great wound cleaner/disinfectant and can be used for oral swabbing. Diane
-----

dianedfisher@yahoo.com

My 3 CWD-Avanyu, Tripod and Drago
Valentino, Veiled Chameleon
Chyam, Nosy Be Panther Chameleon

I use the cheap Nolvasan (chlorohexidine gluconate), too and found it cheapest at link below.

As for scale I got a digital kitchen scale by "Good Cook" for about $25. Goes up to 5 lbs and use it for chams and dragon (If any of them get up to 5 lbs - well, I'll be runnin'! lol!)
chlorohexidine gluconate

-----
Chameleon Help & Resource Info
1.0 Nosy Be Panther Chameleon - Cyrus
0.1 Veiled Chameleon - Luna. She's now hanging from her big jungle gym in the sky
1.0 Beardie - Darwin
1.1 Side-blotched lizards - swifty and blotcha for now
0.2 felines - Kyndra and Lita
0.1 African Clawed Frog - Skipper
0.1 Chilean Rose Hair Tarantula - Rosa Leigh Died 4/21/06
0.1 Goliath Bird-Eater Tarantula - Natasha donated to science 4/4/06
?.? Pinktoe Tarantula - no name yet

btw, it weighs in grams and ounces - you DEFINITELY want one that weighs in grams

-----
Chameleon Help & Resource Info
1.0 Nosy Be Panther Chameleon - Cyrus
0.1 Veiled Chameleon - Luna. She's now hanging from her big jungle gym in the sky
1.0 Beardie - Darwin
1.1 Side-blotched lizards - swifty and blotcha for now
0.2 felines - Kyndra and Lita
0.1 African Clawed Frog - Skipper
0.1 Chilean Rose Hair Tarantula - Rosa Leigh Died 4/21/06
0.1 Goliath Bird-Eater Tarantula - Natasha donated to science 4/4/06
?.? Pinktoe Tarantula - no name yet

That looks great, but how do you keep them in there? My vet uses hat looks like a collander with a lid. I thought about a bag, but they don't like that too much. Thanks for the ideas, I'll be looking for one.

I put her on a stick and lay it across the tray, then weigh just the stick and deduct that from total weight. It is all very quick: turn it on, set to grams place animal in tray. I use it for my beardie, too.
-----
Chameleon Help & Resource Info
1.0 Nosy Be Panther Chameleon - Cyrus
0.1 Veiled Chameleon - Luna. She's now hanging from her big jungle gym in the sky
1.0 Beardie - Darwin
1.1 Side-blotched lizards - swifty and blotcha for now
0.2 felines - Kyndra and Lita
0.1 African Clawed Frog - Skipper
0.1 Chilean Rose Hair Tarantula - Rosa Leigh Died 4/21/06
0.1 Goliath Bird-Eater Tarantula - Natasha donated to science 4/4/06
?.? Pinktoe Tarantula - no name yet

that tray is removable, so you could set her/him in some other container. just deduct as I said before or you can place "bowl" onto scale, zero it out then put her/him in for weight.
-----
Chameleon Help & Resource Info
1.0 Nosy Be Panther Chameleon - Cyrus
0.1 Veiled Chameleon - Luna. She's now hanging from her big jungle gym in the sky
1.0 Beardie - Darwin
1.1 Side-blotched lizards - swifty and blotcha for now
0.2 felines - Kyndra and Lita
0.1 African Clawed Frog - Skipper
0.1 Chilean Rose Hair Tarantula - Rosa Leigh Died 4/21/06
0.1 Goliath Bird-Eater Tarantula - Natasha donated to science 4/4/06
?.? Pinktoe Tarantula - no name yet

Another simple scale that's easy to weigh small squirmy things with is a Pesola LightLine Spring scale. It is a small hanging scale used to weigh birds and other small animals in the field (and nothing squirms as much as a mist netted bird!). Pesola scales can weigh down to about 2 grams, are inexpensive (like 30-40 bucks), use no batteries and you don't have to figure out how to program or read them. The scale is an aluminum tube marked in increments with a calibrated spring loaded post that moves vertically inside the tube. There is a clip on the end of the post. You put your critter on a twig, in a bag or hanging onto a piece of cloth and clip it to the post. Hold the scale vertically. The weight of the critter and perch moves the post down inside the tube and you read the weight off the tube. Sounds complicated, but it is so simple it's foolproof. I find that having my cham cling to a bandanna or somesuch works really well. Just subtract the weight of the bandanna and you've got your cham's weight. I use it to weigh birds I band, my chams and my frogs...just use a baggie. I've had the same scales for decades and they always work!

You can get them from Forestry Suppliers Inc. or other biological and scientific instrument suppliers. Here's a link:

http://www.forestry-suppliers.com

I have a really good scale. I REALLY like it. I like it so much that in 367 days when I get my DVM I'm going to make sure we have one like it in my clinic.Great for small lizards and snakes and is accurate to 1 gram. It's the 7001dx... it's a digital mail scale. Nice thing it has is this clear box thing you can put on it to keep in the smaller creatures or snakes that don't fit well on the scale.

http://www.rightonscales.com/web/7001.htm
There's a link to where I got mine. Looks like they are sold out for the moment.