Reptile & Amphibian Forums

I'm unable to go to the meetings during the week, because of school. What's been going on? I hope I didn't sound like a total fool for one of my posts about catching a rattlesnake with a stick. I wasn't expecting to see anything, plus I never even kept it. I did remember that most bites come from trying to pin them. I've never done it and I don't think I ever will. Anyway, just wanted to say I went to the last IRBA show,and picked up a couple of adult female crested geckos. One is a red phase and the other is yellow. I'm very happy with them,(much safer than a rattler) . Does anyone have any experience with them that won't mind shareing? I have two males and I keep them in screen cages, one pair in each. The females seem to like to hide in the substrate under their nestbox during the day. Not sure why. Hope all is well from the wild fires and all, unbelievable. Dave

Anyhow, you should have been at the Oct. meeting. Tashjian's viper photos were stunning. Don't miss the Dec. 2 meeting if you can help it. Jay Savage will be speaking on Costa Rica and signing books. This will be a great presentation.

Congrats on the crested geckos. I've never kept them. Read the care sheets and forums on Kingsnake. Post any specific questions you have. The forums are a valuable tool. What a great website Kingsnake is for people like us. Cheers to Kingsnake!

Take care. I hope to see you at the Dec 2 meeting.

Mike

Thanks for the invite. Nice to hear for you. How did your breeding go this year, did you end up many babies. Took your advice and bought a gentle giant tong. I can't believe the difference, can't believe I went this long without it. I sure could have used it about a month ago. My other post about catching a rattler with a grade stake..what a fool. Gotta go. Dave

Breeding wen't o.k. this year. Ended up with 6 San Felipes, 5 Catavinas, and 6 San Ignacio Rosies. Just enough to pay for mice for another year or so. How 'bout you? Didn't you say you had some grayband eggs? How did they do?

Glad to hear you got some sturdy tongs. It definately makes a big difference. I've also winged my share with sticks and whatnot, and had a few close calls as a result. I hooked a fer de lance off the trail in Belize this past June.

Come to the meeting if you can. It's gonna be a good one.

Mike

WOW, hooked a Fer de lance, must of been exciting to say the least. Sounds like the chance of a lifetime, that's so cool!!!! Yes, I did have five grayband eggs. They all went bad, it's weird though, they stayed white, got alittle shriveled looking but never hatched. I talked to someone they said graybands are very hard to hatch. OH WELL I'm sure the meeting will be good,but my car situation doesn't allow me to get out there on tuesdays or thursdays. If I don't hear from you have a nice thanksgiving. Dave

Actually, that was the second time I've hooked a fer de lance. The first time was in Costa Rica in 2000. I used a stick for that one too. They are wirey, high strung, agressive and fast moving. Both were small (~24-30 inches). I would never mess with a larger one! I also got the good fortune to see a rainforest hog-nosed viper coiled on a trail in Costa Rica. It was sleeping so peacefully I didn't have the heart to disturb it. Made for some nice photos though!

Sorry to hear of the grayband eggs. I guess I was pretty lucky back in the 80's, when I was breeding them. I'd get two clutches every year from my two females. For me, hatching wasn't the challenge, feeding the neonates was.

Also sorry to hear that you won't make it in Dec. I can hardly wait to meet Savage and have him sign my book. But then again, I'm really into Central American herps/wildlife, especially Costa Rica!

Later,

Mike