Reptile Show in the Works!

So on March 5th and 6th we have the Emerald City Reptile Expo coming up! I plan to only attend and not actually pick up any animals this time, unless these side jobs work out better than I planned and I get some extra money for heat and husbandry supplies on top of the cost of an animal. I'd LOVE to get a Mexican black king snake, or a blue tongue skink. The skink is less likely for now due to the fact that I don't have money (or a job) to support feeding it, whereas I have a years worth of frozen rodents in my freezer for snakes.

Anyway, here is a picture with info, hope I'll meet lots of people there! Will do my best to snap a few pictures

Cages

This isn't a reptile specific topic, but it definitely applies! As a kid my mother let us have all sorts of pets in the form of dogs, cats, rabbits, and horses. However, with every trip to the pet store or after a visit to the zoo I would ask earnestly about getting a pet bird or other small animal. She absolutely would not allow it, and when I asked her why she'd always say "I don't want to have something in a cage that should be free"

After a conversation with a friend of mine the other day it occurred to me that I don't really consider my current pets "caged." With reptiles in particular, the goal of the enclosure is as much about replicating their natural environment so they can be healthy as it is about keeping the reptile in one place. Especially with the geckos, space is a very serious consideration, but these aren't animals that will go miles every day romping to and fro. From what I've read, the crested geckos are fairly still creatures that come out at dusk/night to find food, mate, and do their best not to get eaten. Providing them with a 30 gallon space of plants, optimal temperatures, and endless food, I don't think that they feel the wistful desire of freedom from their terrible prison. 

When people have larger, more active reptiles like iguanas, or animals like birds, I consider it a basic husbandry issue to make sure you have enough room! People often buy tortoises and various turtles thinking they can keep them in 20 gallon aquariums, when in reality these animals often need a pen type of enclosure with as much square footage as possible. Winged creatures are another issue altogether due to the fact that you have to consider how much air space that animal needs. These problems are too fixable for me to be against cages in general though. With enough research I am confident I can make a home for my animal that is more than comfortable and healthy for them.

Not really a burning issue with everyone, and I suppose it's an ethical question for some people. I was telling my friend about how I'd probably end up giving the normal balls I won't keep to friends who wanted them, and I offered to keep in touch with him if he was interested. He simply said he didn't want to keep anything that would have to stay in a cage. Fantastic guy, and he wasn't judgmental of the fact that I already had animals that were in cages (and planned to get more), but it was an interesting objection to getting reptiles that I hadn't come across yet now that I am a keeper. 

My Pets!

I figure I should put up a few pictures of the ball pythons so people can be familiar with them when I use names. Sadly, the most recent pictures I have of them are both from attempts to come up with a good facebook profile photo, so I look like an absolute narcissist by being in both of them (I just wanted to clarify before this post looks too much like a mini gallery of myspace bathroom photo wonders :P)

Ember and I (Female '10 Pastel)

Baby photos of Ember

Monty and I (Male '10 Mojave)

Snake kisses!!

Body shot of Monty

Explanation of a Reptile Geek

It isn't a huge wonder that the majority of people don't like snakes. A legless scaly animal with unblinking eyes and a forked tongue probably isn't what you'd think to get when you look between that and the kittens in the next section of the pet store. My biggest challenge in keeping these animals and loving them as my pets is trying to explain to people exactly why I like them so much, and I've yet to really come up with a clear, straightforward answer.

To clarify, I don't just like snakes exclusively. My love for snakes (and reptiles in general) is a facet of my love for animals of all kinds. As a kid going to the zoo was better than any candy store, and was a close first in front of going to video game stores. Reptiles caught my interest late in high school after I met a friend of a friend who had ball pythons. Snakes weren't creatures that had crossed my mind as pets, but holding this scaly thing that wrapped itself around my arms and was satisfied to sit and watch the world go by as I marveled over it was amazing! The woman mentioned that after lots of research she had decided to get them, so as soon as I got home I hit the internet and started reading. Lo and behold, I was sucked into a world full of colors, information, and very varied people!

Reptile care comes down to a few basic elements: a thermal gradient, figuring out lighting, having a properly sized/equipped enclosure, keeping it clean, and working out a diet. What makes animals more or less difficult is how hard it is to replicate the conditions from it's natural habitat, and how forgiving a species is in how far off you are from that. I'd love to have an iguana someday, but the large enclosure along with the light requirements, varied daily diet, messiness, and again, LARGE ENCLOSURE makes it so that I know I wouldn't be able to handle it now. Sadly, lots of these more complicated species are sold in chain pet stores with little or no information, and it causes the death of many animals and many people give up thinking that reptiles aren't a possibility for them. 

As a college student, the ball pythons and crested geckos I have are just awesome! The most complicated thing about them is checking the ball pythons' temperatures once in a while to make sure that they're in the accepted range. The geckos are fantastic because they don't need any special heating or lighting as long as they're at room temperature (I keep a red lamp on one side of their cages in my case due to the room avg being around 60 degrees F). The only things I need to do aside from that are feed the snakes once a week, change the gecko food three times a week, and spot clean if I see any feces. All their cages get washed out and disinfected once a month, but considering they all live in plastic storage boxes it's a relatively easy chore (certainly easier than cleaning out a fish tank!). Did I mention that they don't make any noise? 

Having had furry critters, I know that the fact reptiles aren't terribly "personable" turns a lot of people off of them, but that doesn't mean you can't have a pet you can take out and handle! You can often find me with one of the pythons wrapped around my shoulders, in my lap, or hanging out somewhere nearby while I'm doing homework or watching a movie, and as soon as it gets warmer around here I'll probably take them with me when I go to draw out in the yard or nearby park. The geckos are less travel friendly, but I still get them out while I'm home to watch them run up and down my arms and torso. They're also fun to simply watch while they explore their homes and hunt down the odd bug or two I'll drop in. It is most definitely different from having a rat, ferret, bird, or other small animals with a strong sense of "bonding," but I almost prefer it in this time of my life where I don't have a lot of extra hours to dedicate to training and enrichment. Someday when I do have the time I have the world's largest list of animals I want to have as pets. For now, I'm happy that my scaly friends are comfortable in my company while also being comfortable for weeks at a time during real grinds at college or work. 

I still don't have a straightforward answer to why I like reptiles, but the ease of care and general docility are definitely the two largest reasons. Not all reptiles are easy, but with a little research you can steer clear of critters that would give you a hard time. And when you're ready for them, they also make fantastic pets! I'm trying to step it up and get myself a carpet python (a snake that gets a bit larger than a ball python) or a bearded dragon (a leap into the world of lizards! I've been avoiding them myself because I don't have the money for the mounds of insects they devour). Everyone has their own starting places and preferences, and there is more than enough information and willing people out there to help out. I'll go into the specifics of issues in later posts (venomous reptiles, large constrictors, legal issues, misinformation, media, specific animal care, etc.) but for now I think this is a good start

Happy herping everyone!