I'm going away for a week and have "trained" one of my friends on animal maintenance. I thought some of you might get a kick out of the instructions I have left for him.
Here goes (lemme know if you think I missed something!):
Very long, but very detailed. Follow this and nothing will go wrong.
Animal Chores:
I would like you to go every day ideally, but this is in no way essential. You can go every second day, or in any frequency that you want. But at the very least, go 1x every 3 days. I will be leaving on Saturday morning, so you're first visit should be Sunday evening, then Tuesday etc.
For the lizards:
The most important thing to do is to spray the humid hides every time you go. Spray liberally, feel free to soak them a bit. I stop when there's a little extra, visible water rolling around. Just spray and look through the holes. 15 sprays or so seems right, but you can't really do any harm by spraying more. IF there's a lizard in the humid hide, gently take the lid off and scooch the animal out with a cupped hand. You can lean the hide over a bit to help them out.
For the 3 tanks on the LHS (when facing backyard) and the 2nd from the right, you can just peel off the lid, scooch the guy out , spray, put lid back on, and put the hide back in. Put the hide back in the same spot where it was. This is important b/c it must go over the heatpad. I can almost guarantee you that there will be a lizard in (from the LHS), the 2nd, 3rd (now from the RHS) and 2nd humid hide and will require scooching when you want to spray. Don't spray them when the in the hides. They hate it.
For Crooky, (far left when facing backyard), there is an over turned ceramic pot (with a hole in the side) over the humid hide. Be very careful when you pick this up as he often sits on top of the hide, but under the pot. So pick it up carefully so as not to hurt him. If he's in the hide, just remove the pot, open the hide, scooch him out, spray, put the lid back on, put the hide back in the right place (in the corner, touching the paper-towel rolls) and put the cermaic pot so that the "mouth" is over the plastic tab on the lid of the hide.
All the lizards need to be fed every time you go. Dump the previous day's remaining mealworms from all food bowls into one of the 3 mealworm tubs (make sure its not the superworm tub, which I'll show you). Take a lot of worms from a different tub (not the one you just poured yesterday's mealworms into), and dump them into one bowl. Take some calcium or vitamin powder (alternate between days) and put it on the worms. Shake it around a bit and then divide all the worms into the food bowls. Looking towards the backyard, the 3 small tanks on the LHS all get worms, lots of them. The second one from the right gets worms, and the far right gets worms, but that's Crookshank and b/c he's fully grown, he gets the least amount. No more than 10. You can also skip feeding him one day if you want.
For all animals:
Make sure all the water bowls are full. The one to look out for especially is (looking towards the backyard), 3rd one from the left. Since it is so small, it is more likely to evaporate and / or spill. I will leave you water to fill for them, but you can always refill water bottles and sprayer bottles in the bathroom. You don't need to refill any water bowls every day, as long as they have enough.
For the snakes:
Virtually nothing. The water bowls will remain full. Keep an eye out for the water bowls in Mallory's tank (looking towards backyard, she is 3rd from the right) … hers might evaporate and need to be filled up once. Also keep an eye out for Jake, the little cage, by the stairs. His bowl is small and may need one refill. For both of these you just have to open the screen lid (latches and velcro) and pour in a bit of water. For Jake you'll have to remove and replace the light, which always goes (when looking towards the garage) as far left on the screen lid as possible.
Most important thing with the snakes:
CLOSE AND LOCK THE SCREEN LIDS!!! The snakes can and will get out if their lids are not properly closed. This includes latches and velcro.
Second most important is that any lights you move (on Jake's tank, Andy's tank (near garage door) and Spike's tank, the big one 4th from left when looking towards backyard) is that the light goes back in place. This is for 2 reasons: 1) fire hazard, 2) improper temps in the tank.
Summary:
1) Water in water bowls at all times
2) Feed lizards whenever you're there
3) Ensure all lights either aren't touched or are put back
4) Any tank which can close and lock should be closed and locked
Should an animal get out, you can try looking under the fridge or in little, warm places, but you'll never find it.
Do not pick up any of the animals.
If you really want to pick one up, say to show off to a girl, the only one you can pick up is Crookshank, far right when looking towards the backyard. I'll show you how to pick him up, but just remember these things:
1) Don't go near his face
2) Don't go near his tail (this can and will break off if you touch it the right way)
3) Scoop him up under his belly and let him walk around on you, don't restrict him
4) Put him back in
Don't take out any of the animals, including Crooky
If anything goes horribly wrong, or you notice something you don't like, email me at my hotmail address. I will be checking this every once in a while and can write you back (hopefully) a solution.
Non-animal stuff:
You can hang out in my place but:
1) Don't drive the cars
2) If you sleep in my bed, you must wash the sheets
3) No smoking inside, garage ok - ensure each butt is 100% out
4) Leave every light that was on, on.
5) Leave every light that was off, off.
6) Treat it like your house - don't make a mess. If you make a mess, clean it up
Thank you tremendously.
I will give you my parking pass, so that you may use it if you ever need to park downtown.
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2.2 Leopard Geckos
1.1 Ball Pythons
0.1 Okeetee Corn Snake
1.0 Blair's Phase Gray Banded Kingsnake
