Reptile & Amphibian Forums

I'm wanting to get a few new ideas on record keeping.
I have tried setting up exel programs and they are just a PITA.
Tried individual sheets for each snake--- again PITA
I am currently using 3x5 index cards and with updates to add nearly twice a week- food, poop, shed, whatever-- its also getting to be a PITA

I have a copy of the record sheet by ProExotics but its similar to how I have my index cards set up....

Whats your method?

~Beth
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Some people are like slinkies, Completely useless, but bring a smile to your face when pushed down a flight of stairs.

I have an Excel file that I print onto 5x8 index cards, from and back. E-mail me if you are interested and I'll send you the file.
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Cheers,
Jessica Gibbs
Ball Pythons; Corn Snakes; Green Tree Python; Jungle Carpet Pythons; Bci; Bcl
3.0 Crazy Dogs and 2.0 cats
Some Tropical Fish
...........and growing!

I still just use Excel. I have two column per snake, "Date" and "Event". Obviously I put the date and then I record what happened.

If it was a feeding, I put how many, status, size, and species. For example: "2 L. M. ASF" meaning two live medium ASFs.

If I notice, I'll also put in shed cycle stage, such as "pink belly", "cloudy", and "shed".

If I weighed them, and I weigh them at least after every shed, I just put the weight, "1348 g".

There are also other miscellaneous events. Using this method I can keep a pretty good record of my snakes' health and feed history. I have nine snakes per sheet right now and have started adding snakes on a second sheet.
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Lincoln, NE
0.1 Pastel, 1.0 Pastel het Pied, 0.1 Pied, 0.1 Cinn, 1.0 Black Pewter, 1.1 Normals, 1.0 Thayeri, 0.1 Thayeri X Alterna, 0.1 crazy cat, 1.0 husband

I used to keep records but I have noticed at some of the other keepers places that once your collection reaches a certain size you just dont have the time to do it. That is unless you dont have a job, kids, other animals, chores and blah blah blah.
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Damian Macioce
www.strongholdreptiles.com

I only keep feed records of my babies up until about 200-300 grams then I'm done. Once they get to a certain point they're well established and I've got no worries. Thats just me though.

Jason

I'm with Damion, I used to too, and when you have a small collection it's fun to keep those detailed records, plot data ect. and a lot can be learned from that about your animals, then at some point if your collection grows it becomes a PITA and you need to streamline. Eliminating record keeping is one way to streamline, but another option to keep bare bone records and keep track of sheds and feeding using a strip of masking tape or white lab tape. Stick a 4-5 inch stripe of tape vertically on the front of each tub and using a fine tip sharpie marker write the date and a shorthand or abbreviation of the event i.e. 8-29 SR for ate a small rat tonight, or L for lockup, ect.ect. You can keep a couple strips of tape going on the front of each tub and if you still want electronic data you can pull off the strips of tape every couple months and catch up on your computer, much more efficient than real time data entry.
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Jeff Benfer
gartersnakemorph.com

Then I take the tape off a stick in on a sheet of paper and file it in a three ring. I only keep records for some of them though but it has worked well for me so far. And you can get like 2" thick masking tape if you are really descriptive.

I use the degi program from constrictors unlimited. It works great, I keep detailed records for all my animals. Doesn't take long to update and you can do alot with it, including printing cards for your tubs. I dont have a huge collection but It is deffinetly the best way that I have found to keep records.
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1.1 Spider
0.2 Pastel
0.1 Pastel het clown
0.1 Pastel het ghost
0.1 Mojave het ghost
1.0 Mojave
0.1 Lesser
1.0 Lemon blast
0.1 Fire
1.0 Cinnamon het clown
1.0 Pin het albino
0.1 Albino

Feeders, rescues and on the babies untill they are eating great. Most of my animals eat poop shed like clockwork......if I had an assistant or didn't have a full time job I would love to keep full records on everything . . . . .ahh till then, I deff see the value for keeping a ton of data on a rescue or sick animal but on my big females and males the data collection became redundant.
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Brian Hettinger
480 Pythons
Contact us

If you want to get serious about record keeping and keeping track of the animals you are breeding or working with...consider this:
http://www.eyehit.com/degei/product.htm

Hope that link is helpful.
Harlin Wall - WALL TO WALL REPTILES!
970-245-7611
970-255-9255