Reptile & Amphibian Forums

I disagree with the cypress suggestion by First Choice Reptiles in their Kingsnake Lizard ad on Tanzanian legless skinks (Acontis percevili). Also, I disagree that they are "UGLY! UGLY! UGLY!". I'd like to see how the individual that posted that looks (Hmmmm. On second thought, maybe I don't LOL).

Liz

Acontias Genus not Acontis -OOPS!

Liz

At least not if you care about the environment. Cypress trees grow only in freshwater wetlands, and are not farmed like many other trees are. Most harvesters of Cypress clearcut, which is resulting in lots of environmental damage to and even destruction of our nations wetlands. If you must use mulch, use mulch from a hardwood that was sustainably harvested. Even better - use something like Care Fresh bedding, which is from recycled materials!

But, since that wasn't really the point of your post Liz, what bedding would you recommend for Acontias percivalis? Clean dirt?

-Z

There are many suitable substrates for this species. My point concerned the toxic effects of cedar of which to most I'm sure was obvious and didn't need to be elaborated on than the mere mention of the word.

Why, Z, does your letter seem to be so cold and derogatory? Are you trying to drive me off the Forum as well?

Have you become the moderator of this forum?

Sorry, I didn't think this post would be an issue except concerning poor choice of substrate.

Liz

Liz

>Why, Z, does your letter seem to be so cold and derogatory?

Yowza! I have no idea why my post sounded cold and derogatory to you, other than the fact that it is extremely hard to convey sentiment over the internet. I was asking because I am unfamiliar with this species and wanted to get more information! I do know that they are a grassland species, so thought dirt would be a good choice. I merely wanted to know if you felt the same, or if you had other options that you thought were preferable. I had no intention whatsoever of implying anything other than what the words say: "What bedding would you recommend?"

>Are you trying to drive me off the Forum as well?

My intention has never been to drive anyone off the forum. Believe it or not I am very much a "live and let live" kind of person. However, I'm also a person who asks alot of questions. 99.9% of the time I ask because I want to know more about something. Period. No other reason. Even when I ask someone where they got a bit of information from (which seems to be a big problem around here for some reason), I am usually asking not because I doubt them, but because I'd like to learn more about whatever the topic is. I find that any source material that has one useful tidbit of information usually has more useful information that I'm not hearing about. And yes, I also ask questions because someone has said something that seems dubious to me and I want to check it out for myself. I find that there are quite a few old wives tales in this hobby. Someone may have heard something from somewhere and it gets repeated over and over again until it takes on the quality of "unquestionable truth", when there's actually no truth in it whatsoever.
I have much more that I'd like to say on the subject of "facts" like that in our hobby, but I fear this post will already be very long without getting into that subject here. Let me just sum it up by saying that when something trips my bull[bleep]-o-meter I tend to follow up to see if my instruments need calibration or if it is exactly what it smells like. I would hope that we all do this instead of unquestionably accepting whatever we hear.

>Sorry, I didn't think this post would be an issue except >concerning poor choice of substrate.

I didn't think your post was an issue. I just noticed you mentioned Cypress and I thought I would take the opportunity to mention that Cypress in general is a bad idea because of the environmental implications. It was more of an "ooh, and also..." addition to your post instead of a ...well, whatever you thought it was. Then I realized that you mentioned that cypress was bad, and didn't say why or what was a good alternative, so I thought I would ask.

Ah, I think this is what is causing the problem:

>My point concerned the toxic effects of cedar of which to most >I'm sure was obvious and didn't need to be elaborated on than >the mere mention of the word.

In my defense - you didn't mention Cedar, you mentioned Cypress, and I don't think that many people know that they are in the same family (Cupressaceae). In fact, I knew it, but it didn't even occur to me until I re-read what you wrote above that you were making a connection between Cypress and Cedar.

And at the risk of looking like a condescending know-it-all: Cypress mulch (which usually comes from the bald Cypress, Taxodium distichum) doesn't have the same phenols that most cedars do. Phenols are what give pine and cedar that distinctive smell that cypress lacks. In fact, a quick Google shows that Zoo Med, Radical Reptiles and ProExotics all recommend Cypress mulch as a suitable substrate for herps. I imagine that there are other species in the Cupressaceae family that would also make good reptile bedding choices, but I don't know enough about them to know which ones.

Hmmm. Maybe what it comes down to is that while I am a nice person (or so I'd like to think) and I truly do mean no offense to anyone when I post, I really do care more about getting the facts and sharing the few facts that I know, than about what people here think of me personally. You can choose to read my posts as hostile, cold or condescending, or you can take them as they are meant -- honestly. But that's not really up to me.

-Z

I misfired in misreading Cypress/Cedar and stand corrected.

If you say you meant no slight, Then I take that as your word and sorry this happened. However, In the way you wrote it, it sure seemed like a direct assault.

You bring good informative commentary to this forum to your credit and I don't wish to be at odds with you.

I hope we can put this behind us now.

Liz

np

Z,

Yes, Wood products used across the board (no pun intended) Leave one to wonder what was the source? A tree cut down purposely for the product or obtained another way. On this note, I concur. Restricted use of wood and recycling are paramount when possible.

Liz