[purplemuffin]

People who know me on this site know that the animals I have the most experience with are reptiles. Like bettas, these scaled beauties have a wide range of colors and personalities, but also come in a variety of sizes and care requirements. I love to talk about reptiles! Here are mine:

First, I will introduce you to the lizard who introduced me to reptiles, who I wish I had known longer!

Bobby Jack:

What a stud! This was Nathan's gecko before he met me and up until a couple months into us dating. He was the coolest lizard you could know. Tame and chill and willing to just sit by you as you watched tv or went on the computer. Sadly... He got a severe infection. We tried everything we could to help him, but neither of us were able to drive or financially independent.. Parents didn't understand..You know, a new gecko is only 30 dollars, a vet trip could cost 300! He could have lived 30 more years with us, but his life was cut short. Awful. I still miss him!

After a few months of mourning, we decided it was time to try again.

Freckle:

Freckle is a real character, but sadly one that came with problems! If you know anything about reptiles, you can see in the last photo that his face is a little..mushy looking.. He came to us with severe metabolic bone disease(dang petsmart!) as well as a host of other issues. He has a genetic disorder that causes him to have difficulty digesting his food. That means we have to monitor how fast he eats or he will likely throw up his food! poor guy. He's also got some troubles with vision. So he's our special gecko we love his goofy antics and take care of him when he needs help! We decided we wanted to have two geckos next....

Speckle:

We picked up a much younger gal this time. She started out with six dots down her back, but as she aged they went away! She's a fiesty little demon with a real drive to hunt! Always been our best eater and always been the first to catch all the crickets! We imagine her like a lioness

But then she got hurt. Somehow her lid was not put on properly... She got into our third gecko's cage(I'll talk about him next)...She may be a huntress..but he was a giant.

It might just be small scratches, but each wound was a chance for another infection like the one that took bobby's life! This time though, we were ready. Nathan had a job and a car. Nothing anyone could say would stop us from saving our girl. We took her to the vet, she had to get antibiotic shots, some of those glue stitches(the worst injury was on her belly), as well as a few other shots to prevent any infections from setting in. It was 130 dollars. I am JUST FINE with that!! Our little girl lives on stronger than before!

Here is her healed wounds. Our sweet warrior princess can take on anything! I always use this story to tell people..beware of housing geckos together.. Because this is what happened when she was only in there for a short time..imagine if we had just decided they were going to live together and left them there for days! Uhh yikes! They have the potential to harm, don't underestimate them.

Next we decided... Heck, we're doing alright with the geckos, how about a snake?

Maru:

Our ball python! Believe it or not, he also came with a heap of problems..ticks..mites.. respiratory infection(ever heard a snake sneeze and wheeze? it's the saddest thing ever) and also just straight up scared! With a lot of love and care he's gotten calm and sweet. He likes being out and held, but he is very scared when a shadow passes over his head(we think he was wild caught, so he is frightened of possible wild animals about to hunt him!)
We owned him for quite a while before seeing an add for a giant leopard gecko who reminded us of Bobby...

Bubba

Can you believe this goofball is the one who attacked Speckle? Amazing. He's actually a very sweet gecko, it's possible there was an attempt at mating that she ignored, or maybe she woke him up from a nap. Anyway, he's our giant, he's about 12 inches long! What a big boy he's very chilled out and relaxed. I love this big guy! Of course I was very peeved with him after the speckle incident, but he didn't know any better.

Nagini:

Our first snake to get as a baby. She gets a lot of pictures because she started out so small..and is getting soooo big! <3 She's a DOLL...totally goofy as well. She has a very fun and curious personality. She tends to get herself spooked though which is hilarious. Think cowardly lion "who's grabbing my tail?!" when it's her wrapping around herself. So dorky!

Guacamole:

LOL to give an idea of size..that cup guacamole came in is the size of the ketchup containers at restaurants. He was quarter sized! The pic of him trying to fit in it again (LOL) was taken 5 months ago..Now if we tried again he wouldn't be able to fit at all, haha! I love my guac, what a character! He likes to eat..if you couldn't tell... Boy was he a cute baby!!



I had planned on posting and writing about my non herp pets, but whew I'm running out of gas here. I'll just post in the thread again and continue with my zoo! :lol:

 

[GrellxUndertaker]

Woah thats a ton of reptiles....i wish i had the courage to have a snake. I think their cool...its just i freak out about being bitten >.< Nice pets though ^^

 

[Betta Slave]

Gorgeous, every one. <3 I love reptiles. Especialy leos- they always look so happy, and are so friendly, from experience of the one I've had. Must be a ton of work! o.e

 

[purplemuffin]

It's funny how many people freak out about being bitten. They may be strong, but they aren't super strong. A shot, a mouse bite, a cat scratch, getting your ears pierced...all hurt way worse than a snake bite from an average snake, lol! And don't even think about a large parrot bite, AHH!! So imagine instead of a snake, it's like..a kitten with a head that small.. You can see how it could hurt but..lol, not that bad. Heck a baby corn snake can't even break the skin, it's like someone poked you with toothpicks, haha! I think it's just how much dramatization there is on tv. But I understand fears. I used to be scared too..but they have the sweetest personalities! I've never been bitten by my own snakes though, I know them well enough to keep them calm and they've never had a reason to be frightened.

Betta slave, actually all these together take up less work than my one betta, lol! Reptiles are easy..especially when you breed your own feeder bugs! Toss out old substrate when it gets dirty... Dump in some worms every few days, give them a fresh water bowl.. That's it really! And snakes only get fed once a week, and poop about that often as well, haha! Takes way less time than water changes

Now if I had an iguana, THAT would be a high maintenance reptile!

 

[Kytkattin]

You already know I am a fan of all your pets, but your photography skills are amazing to boot! What camera do you use? Is Guacamole easy to take care of? I have thought about getting a frog for a while, but those have always scared me.

 

[Laki]

Fantastic picture quality!! Your herps are so pretty I could never own one bc their head holes freak me out. :/ But they're cool!

 

[purplemuffin]

Guacamole is very easy! We keep him in a sterilite tub with a few air holes because it's good at retaining humidity, though occasionally spraying water in a fish tank would also be fine. When they are young they'll eat crickets every other day, and as they get older they can move up to a variety of foods..whichever you feel comfortable with. Feeder fish(NOT goldfish though), Earth worms, larger crickets, dubia roaches, and when they are large enough some people will feed small rodents(they get pretty big), though if you feed a mouse you should wait a much longer time before feeding, as the proteins are too complex to digest quickly.. We use earthworms as our staple and occasionally feed fish, roaches, or crickets. Tub is good and warm in the middle to high 80s(if you use a heat pad put it on the side of the tank, not the bottom)

So he's got a tub of eco earth with a small water dish(they can't swim)..we feed him every few days to every week now that he's larger... Keep his tub humid and warm.. make sure all water is dechlorinated..and that's it easy. Big big ones eventually only eat every 2 weeks or so, they are so big and eat so much it takes them a while to finish off their last meal! We just spot clean where he pooped and fully change substrate every month-2 months depending on how dirty it got!


You know...snakes don't have head holes! They don't even have ears! Isn't that funky?


I use a REALLY old canon rebel, but mom has a higher grade camera I borrow sometime..can't remember the name. But it's very expensive, for her professional photography work! D: So it's scary to use!

 

[diablo13]

Aw, Guacomole is so cute! I love that pic where's he's popping out of the cup, like "Hiya!" <3 where do you get his Eathwoms?

 

[purplemuffin]

We usually get them from academy in the fishing section. Sometimes petsmart has them. Other fishing stores or walmarts with fishing sections will also sometimes stock them! You gotta check and make sure they are alive though! Sometimes there will just be a box of dead ones..eww!

 

[diablo13]

So you get them from fishing stores and such? Do you know if Dick's Spoting Goods carries them?

 

[purplemuffin]

You can go ahead and check, they probably will if they carry fishing rods and such! Check for a fridge, they'll be in little white styrofoam boxes. If it looks fuzzy..or has a bad smell, they are dead worms, put 'em down! But if you see one that looks good and doesn't smell, go ahead and poke at one with the lid, it'll wiggle and you'll know it's alive! We have two frogs in our house who eat earthworms so we buy a lot of worms at a time and put them in a large styrofoam cooler with food so they will live longer and we have to go to the store less often. Though no one HAS to do that..just makes it less of a pain, lol!

If you want, go ahead and call the store and see if they carry earthworms/nightcrawlers! Though a pacman frog wouldn't be able to eat these for a few months!

 

[diablo13]

Thanks PM! aren't Nightcawles petty much the same thing?

 

[purplemuffin]

Yeah, I just mentioned it because some people will get confused "they didn't have earthworms! They only had nightcrawlers!" lol!

Now..red wigglers I wouldn't get. They release a nasty toxin which may or may not hurt frogs, but the frog for sure doesn't like it! They will spit those out!

 

[diablo13]

Ok, thanks Muffin!

 

[Romad]

Great pictures of all your babies!! And I love love love Guacomole.

Thanks for sharing these. They sure made me smile

 

[purplemuffin]

Hehehe, guacamole is really fun~ We plan on getting a few more pacman frogs. Our next one will be an Ornate pacman frog. We will name him Pico!

 

[Myates]

Amazing little ones you have there! So beautiful! My 7 year old was excited to see the pictures, she is very much into reptiles. If I decide to allow her a reptile pet one day, I'll have to ask you for some info!

 

[vaygirl]

Wow. Those pictures are wonderful. I especially love Bubba with his eyes closed, looks like he's smiling. Your snakes are GORGEOUS! They're all lucky to have you. <3

 

[purplemuffin]

I love Bubba's smile! He's got the best little grin permanently smacked on that face!

Thanks guys!! C:


Myates: That's awesome! I think it's great so many young kids are being educated in reptiles and not just falling for the typical "it's slimy, kill it!" mentality I see with so many adults. They are great fun as pets, and wonderful wild neighbors in a yard Our wild geckos eat all the bugs and mosquitos that would bite us! We provide them with food(by attracting bugs with our lights) and they provide us with a break from the buggies and we get to watch their entertaining antics!

 

[Tikibirds]

I bet you would of loved to of been in my apt when I found a random snake curled up on my fridge this summer! Not something one expects to find when living in Alaska....The guy who picked it up said it was a ball python but most people on forums told me it was a mexican rat snake? In the right light, it was metallic gold.

WHen I first moved in, there was a girl that lived here that had two HUGE snakes. Not only where they several feet long but they were fat.