Reptile & Amphibian Forums

I saw a similar thread at dendroboard.com and found it entertaining and very insightful to hear of other people's mistakes. Mistakes are made in order that we learn from them. Here are some of mine, what are some of yours?

10. Housing a tokay gecko with an anole thinking their activity patterns and the heavily planted vivarium would prevent them from fighting... (May that anole rest in peace.)

9. Assuming a space heater thermostat will work. NOW I sleep overnight in any new reptile room to make sure it doesn't get too cold. (A min/max thermometer would work too I guess.)

8. Letting juvenile iguanas walk on carpet... A month later and all his front toes were gone. (Carpet fibers can wrap around digits, eventually amputating them.)

7. Having someone watch my pythons for a few months without a written agreement clearly stating what's mine. (The first time I didn't get two fiberglass heating pads back. The second time the "snake-sitter" gave away my 6ft. vision cage!)

6. Not clearly stating what I want/didn't want when I went to the vet. (He tested my burm for IBD even though there were no signs or symptoms-or request from me-and charged me an additional $100.)

5. Housing dominant animals with non-dominant ones. (Poor green iguana.)

4. Assuming that because an egg-laying box is provided, it will be used. (And a week later finding dried up eggs in another part of the enclosure.)

3. Not properly researching an animal before buying it. (Poor, poor, green iguanas.)

2. I didn't take enough pictures of pets when they were young. (It's so hard to believe my 15 ft Burmese was ever 24" long.)

1. Incubating eggs without a thermostat. (I needed much more heat in February than I did in April and ended up cooking them.)

Terry

1. Not locking my shed with my animals in it which resulted in a neighborhood kid putting a chair in front of a space heater to get something he wanted.
This resulted in a fire. Luckily, I had a water house at the shed and my neighbor put the fire out but the heat was too much for the animals on shelves.
2-10 number 1 was enough!

Well stated!!

I would personally add to my own list:

Thinking that calci sand was safe for leopard geckos and bearded dragons

Thinking that keeping red eared sliders in an unfiltered tank would be a good plan (years and years ago)

purchasing animals at a reptile show as an impulse and trying to find a place to put the enclosures at a later date (once i came home with a tegu, a russian tortoise, and a jungle carpet python..without forethought...)

and: Not having the understanding of 'less is more' when it comes to over feeding and supplements (hard lesson learned over the past 2 years)

good post! Thanks for your insight!
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"Brains for dinner, brains for lunch. Brains for breakfast, brains for brunch. Brains for every single meal; why can't we have some GUTS?"-Misfits

1.0 ball python- Azazel
1.0 Yellow phase ATB- Devilin Hisseyes
0.4 leos- Boji, Sanjae, Fae, Azra
3.2.2 crested geckos- Jubeh and Inari, Avalon, Vajra, Pheonix, Mochi, and one other hatchling unnamed
1.1.3 gargoyle geckos- Acacia,Osiris, and Enoki the hatchlings
0.1 flying gecko- Malarchy
1.0 leucistic texas ratsnake-Ojo
0.1 albino kenyan sand boa- Akasha
1.0 xanthic kenyan sand boa- Ashoka
1.1 whites tree frogs- Sifaka and Eikon
0.1 Transpecos ratsnake- Cleo
0.1 Senegal chameleon- Ambaji
1.0 Ruthven's X Thaeri king- Kemushi
0.2 pacific parrolets- Mishka and Kya
1.1 cats- Cairo and Oberon
1.0 crown tail betta- Lazarus
1.0 Husband (hes my favorite, but i dont let the 'kids' know that. )

ooh man where to start...
Putting a garter snake in with green anoles (RIP lizards)

Buying an imported boa constrictor as a newbie, rather than spending the extra 30 bucks on a CB. Rectified with the next 2 boas (one of which passed last year, one of which is still alive and kicking years later).

Buying a sav as a 12 year old kid.

Selling a particular BP when I went to college...I still miss Fonz If any of you live in/near Denver and got a gigantic ball python from a kid who lived in Evergreen and was going away to college back in 2001 or 2...PM me.

thinking that working with more species was better than focusing on a few species until I really have them down.

Not shutting the bedroom window...thus letting a raccoon in, which ate some of my snakes. and got chased out by my dog, which made a further mess of my room.

Not warning my wife to be before introducing her to my boa (one of the two above).

expanding too fast, and burning out.

not thinking how much freezer space a feeder order would take up.

Underestimating the escape ability of roaches (that I was breeding for the sav).

Using heating elements without thermostats...ooops.

incubating gecko eggs in situ rather than removing them.

Ha Ha we all made mistakes thats the learning process. their is no true geniuses the pass 30 years was the pioneering years of herpetolculture In this time herpers open their eyes and lots of questions got answered about many herps. A friend of mine was answered many questions and even gave herpetolculture species like argentine tegus , AWDs and more Mr Bert Langerwerf RIP my friend.
JDhartzel

Great idea.

1.Letting someone take care of my snakes while on vacation..Lost a ball python.

2.Finding the ball python 4 mnths later and dunking him in "warm" water because I thought he was dehydrated and cold..He promptly had a seizure from the too hot of water.But came out of it all fine in the end.

3.Opening an iquana enclosure with a cat in the room.Poor little bugger ran up my arm, across the floor and his life ended there.

4. repositioning a FT rat in the ball pythons enclosure with my hand.Got tagged.

5. selling off all my reptiles/enclosures and equipment when my hubby got sick..I should have just toughed it out.

6.Hand feeding my sons bearded dragon.He missed and it hurt.

7. I once caught a wild garter snake by the tail and hurt him, felt real bad about that.

Thats about it.