Dubia Roaches

I recently bought a starting colony of Dubias. I did some research and found that Dubias are one of the best feeder insects and there's are a lot of reasons why. Let me make a quick list for you.

Advantages:
1. Dubias do not stink! Crickets do.

2. They are very easy to breed, I saw babies crawling around the first week I got them.

3. Easy to house: Tupperware container.

4. They can eat cereal.

5. Way more nutritious than your average cricket

6. Very clean, yes roaches can be clean.

7. Reptiles love'em.

8. If you have an abundance you can sell them and make some nice money, they sell for like 50 cents a piece. This doesn't sound like much but if you only sell 12 you get six bucks. That just gives you an idea

9. They can't hop around like crickets, so it's a lot harder for them to escape.

Disadvantages:

1. They are shy creatures.

2. They have the word roach in their name, this makes people think of dirty, gross, insects. Trust me they are not, their the cleanest feeder insects I have worked with.

I highly recommend Dubia Roaches, they are awesome!!!

Step by step directions to breeding crested geckos

How to breed crested geckos.

Here I will show you step by step instructions on breeding crested geckos.

1. Buy a male and female crested gecko. The male should be at least 35 grams and the female should be around 45 grams to 60 grams, any heavier than that would make them overweight.

2. Make sure you have two enclosures, one a bit bigger than the other for a breeding tank.

3. Introduce the male to the female or vice versa depending on who lives in the larger enclosure. It would be best to introduce them in the spring so the temperature isn't too cold.

4. Keep them in the same enclosure for up to a week, in that time they will most likely breed. On some occasions they would immediately start to breed the first ten minutes they were together!

5. Make a lay box. A lay box is a container filled with a substance that the female crested gecko can dig in to lay her eggs. I make my lay box out of a tupperware container. It has to be big enough to allow her to dig. My substrate for the lay box is Eco earth, I find this easy and highly effective. Ex.

6. Separate the crested geckos and put the lay box in the females enclosure. After a few weeks check the egg box every other day. You will soon find eggs. It will usually be a clutch of two. She will lay a clutch almost every month.

7. Now that you have eggs it is time to incubate them. This does not require a fancy incubator. This is how I incubate my eggs:

How to make a cheap incubator for crested geckos.

1. Buy a plastic container with a lid.

2. Buy perlite. You can find this at the garden section of most stores.

                                                      

3. fill the container with perlite, then add water make sure the perlite is thoroughly moist. drain the excess water.

4. Add a thermometer and humidity gauge. Store at room temperature 72-76 f. IMPORTANT: the incubator should be at around 72-78 F and the humidity should be around 70-100 %.


5. Once your ready to transport the eggs from the egg box to the incubator carefully mark the side that was facing up in the egg box with a sharpie. Make sure that side is also facing up in the incubator. Bury the eggs half way into the perlite. it will take around 60-80 days for the eggs to hatch.


6. Your crested gecko will lay about a clutch of two eggs every month or so. after around 3 clutches, lower the temperature in your female crested's cage to around the high 60's (or wait until winter when the temperature change is natural). This will make her stop laying eggs for the season and ensure that she can restore all the calcium she lost from laying the eggs. Be sure to add extra calcium supplement to her food.

I hope this helped!!!

Written by: Alex van Alphen
I do not own any of these pictures

The setup of my bearded dragon tank

Bearded Dragons And Their Third Eye

Some people might not know this but Bearded Dragons actually have a third eye on top of their head!
They use this to look for oncoming predators in the sky like hawks. This eye can only determine the difference between light and dark, but this is enough to escape because of the shadow a bird or hawk creates when they swoop down.
                           
                                 The black dot in the middle of the beardie's head is his third eye

Humidity control

            Having a low humidity for tropical reptiles is a common dilemma. Many people resort to spraying their cage. This is unhandy and you have to spray it constantly. One thing that I do to keep up the humidity is by putting a bucket of  water by the heater, the heater will evaporate the water causing the humidity to rise. With this I also use a pressurized sprayer, this is easier and more efficient to use.

Crested Gecko Morphs

                                           Morph= Pinstripe

                                           Morph= Furry

                                             Morph= red harlequin

                                           Morph= Super Dalmation

                                               Morph= Tiger

Crested Gecko calcium deficiency

            Sometimes crested geckos get a lack of calcium or a calcium deficiency. This generally happens when the crested gecko doesn't get enough calcium intake. For example, if you feed your crested gecko baby food, which you should never do because it doesn't give the right nutrition, your crested gecko could get calcium deficiency. It could also happen because of stress. Calcium deficiency is not generally deadly, there are only a few cases of death. If your crested gecko has a curvy tail it is a sign of calcium deficiency. To get rid of calcium deficiency you should switch to Rapashi's super foods, this is a mixture of fruits and gives a full balanced diet, they don't even have to eat anything else. Once you've done that you can add extra calcium to the food (which you could buy at any pet store) just make sure D3 isn't added. You can make sure that your crested gecko has enough calcium by gently opening it's mouth, look for two "calcium sacks" on each side, if they are not present this means it doesn't have enough calcium. If they are present there will be two white sacks.

                                                                 Curvy tails=bad sign

                                                     There are the two calcium sacks

The Western hognose snake

              The western hognose snake is a fun and exciting creature. It is a great beginner/intermediate reptile that is easy to take care of and doesn't require a lot of room. Western hognose snakes grow generally to about 1 to 2 feet depending on the sex, a female usually grows larger. One benefit is that the hognose snake only eats once a week, usually a small mouse or when babies a pinky (a newborn mouse). The cage size should be a 10 gallon or higher. Because western hognose snakes are burrowing creatures make sure the substrate allows them to burrow. I would recommend aspen bedding because it holds well for the tunnels they make. A hognose snake should have a heat pad for warmth and the humidity should be around 30%. The western hognose is called the hognose because of the rising of their nose in the front, they use this as a shovel to burrow. One cool fact is that the hognose is actually venomous but it's venom could only hurt a small mouse or insect, plus they rarely bite. Another cool thing about hognoses is that they play dead when threatened severely.

Abused gecko

This poor little Leopard Gecko was living with another male and was very close to being killed by it. They were constantly fighting (which males will do) and the owner would not separate them. She contacted me, wanting me to take him but I said I couldn't make it up for another few weeks and told them to just separate them until I get there. I told her that they would eventually kill each other if this was not done. For some reason, she refused to separate them even after calling me again, saying that they were killing each other and that I had to come get them. Finally, I got a friend of mine to pick him up and keep it until I arrived. This was an OBVIOUS act of animal cruelty and this person, in my opinion, should never own another pet if this is how much she cares about her pets

Once he is rehabilitated, he will be adopted out to a GOOD home. Click the pictures to see a larger version.

http://www.thereptileguy.info/reptile-news.php

SAN FRANCISCO — Authorities in Northern California made a snappy discovery during a routine probation check: An alligator-like reptile named “Mr. Teeth,” who was apparently protecting a stash of marijuana.

http://www.salon.com/2013/01/10/weird_news_reptile_called_mr_teeth_discovered_guarding_stash_of_marijuana/

Worlds smallest reptile

A dwarf chameleon species has been discovered in Madagascar that is so tiny that a juvenile Brookesia micra can walk on the nail of an adult human fingertip. Scientific researchers Frank Glaw, Jörn Köhler, Ted M. Townsend, and Miguel Vences discovered the chameleon, (Brookesia micra), while searching through leaf litter on the islet of Nosy Hara. In all, four species of leaf chameleon were detailed in the paper "Rivaling the World's Smallest Reptiles: Discovery of Miniaturized and Microendemic New Species of Leaf Chameleons (Brookesia) from Northern Madagascar" published by PLoS One; Brookesia tristis, Brookesia confidens, Brookesia micra, and Brookesia desperata.


 http://www.reptilechannel.com/reptile-news/2012/02/16/new-species-dwarf-chameleon-brookesia-micra.aspx

Mexican Mole Lizard

                      

the Mexican Mole Lizard lives mainly underground eating worms and other insects. This reptile can be found only in the Baja California peninsula in Mexico. It has two little claw like arms thats used for digging.

New species: Blind Snake

                                          Blind Snake

Scientist recently discovered a new species of blind snake in a Brazilian river. It actually is more related to a frog or salamander and looks a little like a part of the human anatomy. Its scientific name is atretochoana eiselti and it reaches up to a meter long.

Armadillo lizard

 

      Armadillo lizard

The armadillo lizard or the "typical girdled lizard" lives in Southern Africa. Wondering why its called the armadillo lizard? When threatened it rolls up in a spiky ball, by putting it's tail in its mouth. They usually grow up to 9 inches. 

Recently Found Species

               A new species of skink was recently discovered in Australia Trying to survive among the sand dunes. Its called the Coastal Plains Skink or "Ctenotus ora". It is only two inches long!

Bearded dragon

                                             The Bearded Dragon

 

 

      The bearded dragon is one of the most common reptiles to own. They are easy to take care of and very interesting to observe. Here are a few tips for the new bearded dragon owners.

1. Make sure you tank size is at least 40 gallons when your bearded dragon is fully grown. Its ok for your tank size to be smaller when your beardie is not an adult, just remember to upgrade your tank size when its older.

2. Bearded Dragons like to eat a variety of foods. Make sure you feed them a variety of veggies like collard greens, chard, and more, just no iceberg lettuce. Also provide him with a variety of insects like crickets and mealworms make sure theyre dusted in calcium.

3. Spray the cage once a day. Bearded dragons only drink running water.  

Welcome

    

 Welcome!! This blog will talk about reptiles, how to care for certain species, and cool topics/ newly discovered species.