Reptile & Amphibian Forums

This embryo was nested 2006-12-05 and today 2007-01-10 it looks more then half grown, vigorous and perfect development, I am confident this clutch will hatch in the 50 days range. This time I really think I nailed incubation.

I hear some of you have eggs, if interested hers my recipe, 100% hydration NTL76f DTH 87f in sealed container opened once every few days for air exchange.

Also sins some of you have egg binding problems, I am presently working on emergency solutions that will help saving your female and eggs, without medication or vet.
Will let you know ASAP.

Steve, Thank you for all of your efforts. We truly do appretiate you. I'm hoping in the spring I will be able to try with the armata again.

Like Marcia I have been very busy. As of this Sunday I am losing the bulk of my income. The company I earn 90% of my income from is shutting down. I am taking multiple part time jobs as I can find them untill something better is found. (The curse of not getting a better education) I'm a bit worried but I am also sure that I will get through it. Times will just be tough for awhile. I have been in this position before.
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BONNIE

Sorry about your misfortune, I am familiar with these hard times.
This is why my lizards are such a good Exodus, they allow me time off my everyday worries.

The most interesting part is when I start working with a new specie, setting them up, raising them and breeding them, is really the basic, learning how to improve there husbandry until I feel I cant do any better is most fulfilling.
Then I start with a new specie, this is what iv been doing for 28 years.

I have worked mostly with endangered reptiles, my ethic has prevented me to share most of my work, however when I did share most keepers didn’t have a clue of what I was saying, in fact they did not understand a word, maybe my husbandry was way to different then all that’s been available.

In general the pet trade primer function is to sale products, they import disposable reptiles that sales products, a multitude of useless gimmicks.

Economically this is excellent, for the average keeper this is terrible as the money flows out of there pockets, and when the pet shops have made there $$ then its time for the keeper to feed the veterinarian $$.

Iv been exporting 99% of my babies to Japan, because they paid more, Canadian dealers are not interested in my babies, at least not if they are available wild at a lower coast, offering baby reptiles to private is a sure way to get a lot of problems, most peoples do not understand reptiles and eventually kill them (why armata-gonos are no good), to counter this I tried to offer young adults, this proved equally problematic, and most sold them as wild imports even though Iv given my word I hatched and grew them, I guess our word is not enough now days.

All this to say, I am not very keen on sharing my husbandry, especially when kids who don’t know what they say are trolling my threads, or arguing me on subjects they don’t understand in anyway, I am sharing for the few who are Serious about the animals they keep, I am sharing for guys like you so that you know and understand theirs no need to spend money on futile materials, I am sharing things even you and Marcia don’t understand (parasite control without drugs)

I don’t need to share, but doing so keeps me busy and helps you think out of the box. herpetoculture has raised keepers to stay in the damn box because it’s profitable.

I am willing to bet Reptile mag will never publish any story of mine if it doesn’t involve any commercial products, no matter how good the husbandry.

Even academic guru’s will not support anything in contradiction to there own studies, example Marcia hatched capra’s at 158 days, this is much faster then what’s documented, academics do not comprehend this as normal, how in the world can they understand me when I say mine hatch at 50 days? This is the twilight zone for them.
What’s important is the pleasure we get from our animals, this pleasure reside in simple things like obtaining free rocks and logs, leaf litter and sand, raising your own foods and enjoying watching your lizards thrive, achieving all this free is even more enjoyable.

rgds

jobi,
Though I know you've gone over this before, and probably don't want to again, could you give your opinions on the parasite issue? I think you had that thread before I joined here, so I didn't really get to see it.

How you have managed to keep your animals healthy without eliminating endoparasites has mystified me for a long time now. I would be greatly appreciative and very interested to know your thoughts and experiences on this matter. I realize that you possess a wealth of knowledge and I appreciate that you are willing to share it with us.

There is a possibility that I might be acquiring a group of coronata in the near future, and I would like to go by what you say, and not treat them, just to see what happens. Though, before I go against all I've heard, I would like some more input from you here, I will be flying blind if I do that and I would really like your guidance of how to do this. This really has been a matter that has been a recurring wonder in my thoughts, please let me know, and I thank you in advance.

Regards, Evan

Parasites are not a problem with captive reptiles, they never have been a problem.
The first and foremost problem is husbandry, this is why you can’t fix a husbandry problem by treating reptiles for parasites. 100% keepers doing this are failing at one point or another.

An other myth of herpetoculture involves the use of UV bulbs, many keepers are now having success without them.

Reptiles products are evolving a lot faster then reptile husbandry, this is wrong and should be reversed, husbandry should dictate what products our animals need, its from experience that we get a better understanding of the animals we keep, then we can design products that serve a purpose.

However as we speech the entire industries is base on profits, if I make it easy for you to keep that new import without the use of drugs or products, then only you will profit from my knowledge. Seriously there would be no need for 80% of what’s available at your local shop, and your first lizard will live past its first year of import, now that’s unexpected. Can you imagine if all those disposable imports actually survived one year? Do you have any idea what this represent in $$, this would be enough for existing companies to manufacture products with a limited life, you see where I am getting at?
If you cant make a profit over animals you make it elsewhere, likely if the vets cant make profits with reptiles they stop treating them, in fact no so long ago no vets wanted to touch them in anyway, the reason was simple, animal medicine is base on mammalians, and they have a totally different metabolism.

I know for a fact and understand why-how wormers affect reptiles, they lead to organ failure, this often 1-2 years after treatment, its common for treated reptiles to never produce fertile eggs, however most pros will argue this.

But the fact is most parasites have a beneficial affect on reptiles, bad husbandry allows them to grow in numbers at the detriment of the host, however when allowed good conditions these overloads of parasites are expulsed within a few days, this naturally at no expense for the reptiles.

Normally parasite allow for a strong immune system, anything sterile is dead or dieing.
I keep babies with or in imports cages, been doing this forever and never lost an animal.

If you really what to learn how insignificant parasites are, go to your nearest shop and take whatever dieing lizards you get free, just hydrate the poor thing and give it good conditions, do this until you succeed more then you fail, you will improve every time until you see as I do.

The hard part of this hubby is to discard the crappie husbandry practise we are fed by unsuccessful keepers.
Educating others in this regard is like swimming against courant, with time you get tired and frustrated.
Seeing peoples kill your babies year after year eventually make you irritable and inpatient, I know this is my case, surly it doesn’t mean I don’t want to help, it simply means I wish keepers understood more of what I say, but then its like many things in life, I can walk a mile in your shows but you wont burn the calories.

See, me and Jobi feel the same way about parasites (despite what he might think)
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Ryan

jobi,
Thanks, I really found that interesting. I am curious though, even if husbandry conditions are perfect, does the stress the animal goes through in transit, from wherever, weaken it enough for parasites to become present in huge quantities? Then when put into captivity, does this fix itself? Or does this even actually happen, is it one of those things we are fed and told to believe?
You import your own, so you know the shipping methods better than I, so is it really that bad?

In stores like Pet Co and whatever else, their casualties are caused only by bad husbandry? (I really do plan to try this with the group of coronata, if I should get them.) Even if the animal is weakened and very thin, you think with only hydration and proper husbandry they will recover? Parasites don't weaken them further when that ill? The example of this I see most often is with green anoles. They come to stores in bags with crumpled newsprint by the hundreds. We have always kept them as best as we can, proper housing etc. and yet they sometimes drop like flies. Why do they do this if not from parasites? I didn't mean to turn this into a green anole conversation, but I think you could see the connections to the ideas being discussed.

Thanks for your post, and I am interested to see what you'll say next. This is really interesting to me, I lost my first pair of MHDs to what I accredited for so long to be a parasitic infection. I could think of nothing else that would have done it, the caging was the same as now, I still don't know.

Evan

Yes export condition are awful, reptiles have more then enough time to get parasite overload, however once in your care all it takes is water and a few feeding to flush most out of them, of course proper heat is a must, this is all your animal is asking for.

The problem with anoles is the same as MHD and all other arboreal display lizards, the reason they display is to avoid confrontation, it means stay away from me, when over crowded this is impossible and stress dose its magic.

Stress is invisible it has no flavour and cant be smelled by keepers, some lizards are highly sensitive to stress, armatas are one of them, capra’s are an easy specie by comparison.
Any disturbance with a shy specie is destructive, however captive produced aren’t as stressed and do reasonably well, I have no intent of offering armatas in the future as they make poor captive for most keepers, I have other use for such problematic species, tough I enjoy working with them.

This is all quit simple, don’t assume, don’t theorise and don’t take literature as gospel, your lizards are the best source to learn from, enjoy them and take the time to watch there behaviours.

Most anoles are fed too large preys, they should be fed ant size throughout life.

Thanks for the info, I appreciated it a lot. I've got to think it over, and see what happens as to whether or not I am going to get the coronata or not. Thanks again. The pic was, interesting.

Evan