Reptile & Amphibian Forums

n/p
-----
Edward
Carpe diem

I find it strange that Flavia is not even trying to justify why she keeps that BTS in a cage like that or why she isn't addressing our concerns. Flavia just doesn't seem to be acting responsibly when she's not responding to our replies. I hope Flavia responds soon so I can hear the reasoning behind all this. But, then again, maybe Flavia hasn't seen our posts yet though I kinda doubt it.

Flavia, are you a he or a she? I'm guessing she. This was not meant to sound offensive. I just didn't know what to refer to you as, which is why I kept using your name instead of he or she. I never heard of the name Flavia before.

n/p
-----
Edward
Carpe diem

You have a right to be angry, just as I do. But if you're offensive, Flavia will be less likely to listen to any advice that you would give to her to make the enclosure for her BTS better. After all, we're all acting for the benefit of the BTS in her care.

SOUTHERN FLORIDA CORUCIA RESEARCH CENTER (SFCRC)

Location: LEE/1.

Flavia is a girl from Malaysia. Her name is Latin derived with a feminine ending. It means Yellow or golden.

Brian
SFCRC

But i am Brazilian, not Malaysian! Although im living in Malaysia now, im Brazilian.
My name is derivated from Latin.The old Rome emperors used to be named Flavius.It means red/gold color.The word "flame" comes from that too. So Flavia means flame in Latin.In several latin languages the A on the end of a name most frequently indicates gender feminine.
As you are a very polite and nice person, a person with whom we can talk in a nice way and to keep a dialoge, im ready to answer your questions about my BTS set up

SOUTHERN FLORIDA CORUCIA RESEARCH CENTER (SFCRC)

Location: LEE/1.

Hi Flavia,

First and foremost, I LOVE your name. I think it's very beautiful. In fact, Many of the common names of the SFCRC Corucia's have Latin names.

AH!, A room with a view! Your guys I see get the benefit of natural UV. That's a good thing.

Now, To clarify. I will critique your set-up. I may tell you things you know already, you may have a reason things are as they are right now , I don't know. I didn't start out to dicuss your BTS cage but since other's did and you give me the honor to reply, I will be glad to help.

SOUTHERN FLORIDA CORUCIA RESEARCH CENTER (SFCRC)

Location: LEE/1.

As Rich pointed out. Blue-tongues should have a solid substrate to walk on and deep enough to burrow in. They shouldn't be barred from it with a wire bottom. It is so hard to walk on etc. I saw you have pvc tubing for them to crawl in. EXCELLENT. we use the same, they love it!. You probably, can change it, but consider a different color than white. It is a bright and restrictive color psychologically. Also, for climbing (The Ig's and Corucia, Hardware cloth would work better. For the Iguana's, Some solid platforms of wood or plastic are needed to keep their claws in check and to sleep on a solid surface. The Ig's should have branches to climb and hanging vines to make them feel more secure.

My associate from Location: LEE/2, commented that you were housing BTS and Ig's together. Although they are at different Trophic levels, and it's possible with a VERY large enclosure to do this, it isn't advisable. These two species can be unpredicable; not necessarily with humans, but with each other. The changes are, you could see some nasty injuries or possibly have a death occur. I would definately, recommend keeping them separate.

The size on your enclosures are good, for Corucia and Iguana's anyway.
As you probably know, height is not necessarily with BTS, they a strictly, a Fossoral Genus.

I hope you take this as constructive criticism. I am forever in your debit for your kind assistance to the SFCRC, CCA, and The Green Iquana Society last Spring. You went out of your way, and.. at great personal risk to your life.. to help animals in trouble. You have my highest commendation and respect madam.

Most Sincerely,
Brian
SFCRC

Dear Brian
Thank you for your nice words and i consider you my friend.Dont hesitate to contact me each time you need something from Malaysia.
About my BTSs, thanks again for your concern! As i said in my previous messages i dont keep my iguanas and BTSs in the same cage anymore because my iguanas outgrew the cages you see in that photo.That photo was taken more than an year ago (July 2002)and now my igs are more than 5F and cannot live in cages that are only 3 F wide!But i still keep my BTSs in those cages because i think its large and ventilated.
By the way, i kept my igs and my BTS in the same cage for more than one year since when they were babies and never had any problem! Mega loved to bask on my igs back and was not afraid of them!But i completely agree with you that both reptiles should not be kept in such a small cage.The main problem is that the male iguana during the breeding season can try to mate the BTS and hurt the poor BTS during the process. But i was lucky and this didnt happen to Mega.She has her full tail and all her fingers and toes!lol!
About the bottom i agree with you that the floor should be solid.To compensate the bars i put on the floor 2 larges bowls, one of water and the other one with sponges on the bottom. Besides the 2 larges bowls i put a few tubes as hiding boxes and besides that i put rocks because my BTSs love to climb. So the bottom of the cage is full, the bars are pratically covered! But i wanted you to know that both my iguanas and my BTSs learned very quickly how to walk on bars! Only the 1st day was difficult for them to move! That was before i bought the large bowls and put the rocks and the tubes. But as i said before i dont keep my iguanas there anymore so you dont need to worry about that!
About the color of the tube i agree that white is not a good color! The tube that i used before was green but it became too dirty and when i went to the shop i could only buy white ones.They didnt have other color!
I think its very nice of you to worry about my BTSs well being!Thanks again for your nice words!

Flavia

SOUTHERN FLORIDA CORUCIA RESEARCH CENTER (SFCRC)

Location: LEE/1

Your most welcome Flavia. Your Friendship is highly valued by me. I know sometimes space and funds are such we can't always get where we want to be right away. Let me know if I can help you with any other advice.

Most Sincerely,
Brian

Since you're talking about debt, wouldn't that be credit? lol, just kidding, I know you just typed that by mistake, but it was so funny to me when I read that. Take care.

My other concern from the original photo was the colored/scented pine shavings as a substrate below the bars. I commented about this below already, but I think plain paper would be a better choice if possible. Best BTS wishes, Jess b

SOUTHERN FLORIDA CORUCIA RESEARCH CENTER (SFCRC)

Location: LEE/1.

Jessica,

What is your opinion of Aspen as a substrate?

Brian
SFCRC

It seems to work well for many pets traditionally kept on wood shavings, without the eye irritation and allergies asscociated with pine and cedar. It's a bit more expensive. It has a nice wood odor. I tried it with my x-BTS and with my rosies- and didn't have any specific problems, I switched away from it but not due to any problems. I think James or Edward that said they worried about splinters in noses. I have not personally seen a problem with aspen and reptiles, unlike pine, cedar, tanbark, gravel and sand.
jess b

SOUTHERN FLORIDA CORUCIA RESEARCH CENTER (SFCRC)

Location: LEE/1

Jessica,

Thanks for your opinion. I am also concerned with the sharpness of Aspen but have not seen any problems with it either.

Brian
SFCRC

You mentioned that BTS and iguanas are at different trophic levels and that this could be problem when housing them together. I am not an advocate of housing species from different regions together, but I have never heard this particular reason for not housing 2 species together.

Could you elaborate some on why you think the trophic level difference is a problem?

Thanks alot!

-Z

SOUTHERN FLORIDA CORUCIA RESEARCH CENTER (SFCRC)

LOcation: LEE/1

Hi Z28,

Blue-tongues are a Fossorial Species; Iguanas are arboreal. I n addition, to setting up different environments in the same enclosure, one has to consider: Iguanas love to decicate in water. Blue -tonques like to soak in water. Blue-tongues are omnivours whereas iguanas are vegetarian and never should have access to meat! Higher stress levels when mixing 2 entirely different animals

Brian
SFCRC

Igs poops are BTS prefered treat! My SKINK just loved that! So when i wanted to fatten up my Skink i used to give vitamins to my igs!When i wanted to de-worm the SKINK i gave de-worms to my igs! But there are igs and igs.Two of my igs just liked the SKINK company but my third ig didnt like my SKINK at all and was always puffing at him.That ig was the first i took away from the cage!
But as i said before i was lucky any of my male igs tryied to mate my Skink.Igs during the breeding season try to mate anything/anyone they find in their way and they can be really rough towards their mate!Im not going to repeat the experience (puting both together)again mainly because of that! About the food,in my humble opinion, igs will try to eat a SKINK food (dog food/eggs/ meat) only if they are starving! I never saw any of my very well nourished igs eating my SKINK food.To say the true one of my igs once in awhile ate my SKINK's bananas.

I heard right?

I actually can't tell from your post whether you are joking or not. If you aren't/weren't joking about the 'advantages' of coprophagy (the eating of feces), please say- and I will be happy to let you know about some of the disadvantages.

Just to clarify to anyone reading the previous post that might accidentally believe it- deworming and animal, and having a second animal eat the first's feces- does not treat the second animal. It might get to ingest partially digested dead parasites and partially metabolized drugs, but you can in no way correctly dose the second animal.

We do think young of some species may sometimes exhibit coprophagy to innoculate themselves with normal GI flora (like PTS). Tortoises are also known to occasionally eat carnivore/omnivore poop (dog), probably for the occasional protien boost- but we do try to avoid this in our captive pets.

I DO think you were joking, but just in case---
cheers, Jess b

Eating poop can NEVER be a delicacy! I was being ironic!

N/P

excellent!

though my dogs would disagree with you- they think cat leavings are quite the delicacy, as much as I hate it and try to prevent it. (The neighborhood felines like to leave presents in our yard).
Jess b

SOUTHERN FLORIDA CORUCIA RESEARCH (SFCRC)

Location: LEE/1.

And of tortoises-Redfoots (Geochelone carbonaria) have the greatest predilection for coprophagy. Doggie do-do is item #1 on their menu if allowed to roam in a yard with a DOG.

Brian
SFCRC

And my Crocodile Skink eats his own!
Well, that helps me a lot because i dont need to clean his mess!

(Jess, im being ironic again, ok?)

SOUTHERN FLORIDA CORUCIA RESEARCH CENTER (SFCRC)

Location: LEE/1.

And so may your Monkey skink from time to time.

Brian
SFCRC

SOUTHERN FLORIDA CORUCIA RESEARCH CENTER (SFCRC)

Location: LEE/1.

And so may your Monkey skink from time to time.

Brian
SFCRC

SOUTHERN FLORIDA CORUCIA RESEARCH CENTER (SFCRC)

Location: LEE/1

Jessica,

I didn't think anyone would see a double meaning, I was trying to be humorous with a critique to not offend our Kingsnake hosts.

In addition to the things mentioned, and i could bring up other things as well. Sherri made a good point some time back about transmission of pathogens that one species may be resistents to but the other not. Especially, when you dealing with species from opposite sides of the planet.

Sincerely,
Brian
SFCRC