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From the Editor

It was one crazy summer. While most of the south seems to have settled back in place, one thing that was very constant in our lives was the chaos after both Katrina and Rita tore through the south. It does bring to mind disaster preparedness in herps. For those of us in the north; Snow, Ice and below freezing temps are in store very shortly. Are you prepared? We are gathering suggestions from our members on how to best prepare for emergencies. What do you do? Email me and tell us! We will compile all the suggestions and share in next issue.

One thing we hear regularly on the forums and in the chats is "It's so great to talk to other people who like herps!" We hate to suggest anything that might take you away from the computer and time spent on kingsnake.com, but we can't deny, there are other outlets for you (if you're willing to actually get out of those jammies). So to help you find some offline herp community, we've created our Herp Society resources page. You don't have to be the most advanced keeper, you just need a love for herps and a desire to find like-minded folks. Some societies offer special programs that you can participate in such as great behind the scenes trips to zoos. You can learn about other species of reptiles that may interest you. Check out our kingsnake.com Clubs & Organizations page to find a herp society in your area, and if you belong to a club or organization that has a website and is not listed, be sure to let us know. However, that doesn't mean you can skip coming to kingsnake.com's chats and forums. Unlike offline resources, we are open for business 24/7/365. And on the internet, no one knows you're in your jammies.

There are several guest chats in the works for the next few months, culminating with our Eighth Annual Chat Week in February, 2006. If there is someone you think would make a great guest, please let me know.

All of us here at Kingsnake.com would like to thank those who came out and said hello at Anaheim, Daytona, and Tinley Park. Hope you got there early enough for the free T-shirt, but if not, we still loved seeing you and hearing what you think of our site! See you next year at the shows.

I would like to take a moment to thank one of our members (you may know him from chats or on the forums as Pacman) for sharing a care article with us. Do you have something you would like to share? It can be anything from a quick care write up to a story about how you got into reptiles to sharing a really cool tale of that wild siting of a favorite herp. If you are interested drop me a line!

Cindy Rampacek
Editor, Cold Blooded Chronicles
PHFaust

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Herp Book News

The lines at the bookstore getting you down? Don't have time to drive to the bookstore? Then check out the kingsnake.com Bookstore! There is a wide variety of books to chose from, all hand selected by our editors, including calendars and magazines, a weekly featured book, and a monthly listing of the top ten books in the kingsnake.com bookstore.

This month's top ten:

1: 2006 Herpetarium Calendar Collection Snakes
2: 277 Secrets Your Snake Wants You To Know
3: Australian Snakes: A Natural History
4: Kingsnakes & Milk Snakes: A Question & Answer Yearbook
5: Vipers: A Guide for the Advanced Hobbyist
6: Texas Snakes: A Field Guide
7: Essential Ca re of Chameleons
8: Tales of Giant Snakes: A Historical Natural History of Anacondas and Pythons
9: Monitors: The Biology of Varanid Lizards
10: Lizards 2006 Calendar

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Nationwide Diamondback Terrapin Survey Needs Your Help
By Amanda Widrig
Department of Biology, 114 Hofstra University
Hempstead, New York 11549
bioalw@Hofstra.edu

To save Diamondback Terrapins (Malaclemys terrapin) we need to know where they now are and where they were. You can help us. If you have ever seen Diamondback Terrapins in the wild and/or have experience in the salt marshes or mangrove swamps of the eastern United States, you have useful information. Whether or not you fill out this survey, please spread news about it far and wide to any one else that might be able to fill it out. The survey can be found at:

http://www.people.hofstra.edu/terrapin

Some Background on Diamondback Terrapins

The Diamondback Terrapin inhabits brackish and salt marshes and bays and mangrove swamps throughout its range. In most of their range, terrapins are unlikely to be confused with any other turtle because they are usually the only turtle that lives in the salt marshes. Historically the Diamondback Terrapin has been reported as far north as Cape Cod, Massachusetts, and as far south as Corpus Christi, Texas. They are most commonly seen basking or crossing roads to nest.

Field observations are necessary in order to determine the Diamondback Terrapin's past and current distribution. Along with distribution we would like to know the status of Diamondback Terrapins throughout their range, whether the populations are stable, increasing or decreasing. Your help is requested.

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Herp Diets:
Food For Thought, or For Convenience?
By Bonnie J. Keller
Virginia Reptile Rescue

When it comes to feeding your pets, most people have it easy. Most folks with cats and dogs simply find a good quality dry or canned commercial food, and feed the recommended amounts. But what about your herps? You've seen those pellets that look like children's cereals at the pet store, and they are awfully tempting.... And it would be nice to be able to leave a can or jar of food for the pet sitter, rather than having to interview a dozen before you find one willing to count out crickets to your hungry bearded dragon. So why not go for the convenience? After all, they must be OK nutritionally, right?? Before you go racing to 7-11 and asking the manager to start carrying "Beardie Food," read on.

The reptile industry has seen a huge boom over the last fifteen years. I can remember a time when the thought of having a reptile-oriented pet show was a nice dream, rather than the reality today in some areas of having a monthly event. To have ONE reptile magazine to read every couple of months was great, but then came the others.... Now I was in heaven! The pet industry has taken notice of us, and we are no longer just a fringe element of "those weirdos and their lizards." We are becoming mainstream. But this may well be a double-edged sword. Along with the popularity of such pets comes the barrage of products aimed at them that may or may not be worth their price tag. And when it comes to the issue of what to feed your favorite scaley pal, most folks do want the best. But they also want a life. (And many of us would like to be able to dig through our freezer again without things staring back at us.)

As a result, several companies are now marketing commercial reptile foods. Lizards such as Bearded Dragons, Tegus, Monitors, and geckoes (non-specific) all have foods geared towards them available at many pet shops. Turtles have long had the dry sticks available; now that has expanded to not just water turtles but also box turtles and tortoises. Even carnivores such as snakes have various sausage-shaped meat rolls available, allowing squeamish folks who cringe at the thought of having to watch their snake eat a mouse to actually own their own legless friend. Most of us who own herps bellowed a huge, "Hurrah!" when we first saw these products, as they signaled an acceptance into the "real" pet world. Most of us, though, upon trying them, have become somewhat more sceptical.

The real problem lies in the research behind the production of these foods. Most of us would like to think that our pets' foods are the result of years of research into the nutritional needs of our companions of choice. We think of laboratories that purée mice and analyze their contents, and then set about finding a way to re-create that composition in some non-oppressive way. (OK, at least some of us have felt at least a tiny pang of compassion for the little prey items that our pets consume, right?) Or, for our omnivorous lizards, we imagine a team of Steve Irwin-esque researchers happily stalking bearded dragons all over Australia, tracking them with radio receivers and making copious notes on everything that the little beasties consume.

Ah, then there's reality. The truth is few companies have the money, time, or interest to do such mega-studies into reptilian nutrition. Even academic research into the dietary needs of our ectothermic critters is dismal in its scope. Face it: most academic herpetologists are not worried about the diets of certain pet animals, they are looking into those animals which are not well known. So, who decides what goes into these foods, then?

Good question.

I had the opportunity to visit one of the best-known herp product companies last summer. I was led on a tour of their "research" facilities in the beautiful mountains of Virginia. I was wide-eyed and honored to be "allowed" to view what I expected to be a vast area of white-coated lab assistants and spacious, well-kept reptile cages. I had been arranging this visit all summer long, and had expected to be discussing my concerns with the head of their reptile division. Right up until a week or so before my arrival, I was e-mailed with more information about who I would be meeting with, etc., so when I arrived and found that the whole meeting had been forgotten, I was more than disappointed. Still, they found someone who used to work in the reptile area to show me around, and he assured me he would pass on my concerns to the manager. When they got one. (Seems they had just lost their reptile manager, and were looking for a replacement.) Annoyed, but vowing to make the best of it , I relayed my questions to my tour guide. After all, I was there to offer a truce, let's say. Rather than having the hobbyist industry attack and criticize their products, I was offering to give them an inside edge into what we hobbyists were thinking. A consultant, more or less. My background with reptiles and with the hobby groups had made me well aware of the gaping chasm between companies and keepers, and I felt I was more than qualified to be a go-between. So, there I was. My questions were mainly focused on diet.

"What kinds of research does your company do before you offer these foods to the public?" I queried. "Why are you offering products that apparently have no relation to what these animals would eat in the wild? Why does your website on iguanas have such dismally poor information, when there are tomes of information available both online and off?"

My questions were pointed, but courteous. Obviously caught somewhat off guard, he stumbled to find the right responses, but finally found his feet. It seems that he had been the chief author of those web pages, and took great offense that I didn't feel his pages were up to par. After all, he'd kept an iguana once. Insofar as the research went, he bragged about the veterinarians at the local vet college who had researched them for "months" on their own animals. And, he pointed out, the animals there at their facility were doing fine, having been raised on nothing but these processed foods. But, he cautioned, they were, after all, a company that was in business to make money, and their stockholders came first. They were proud to be able to market foods that had been tested on their own animals, but they would never be able to do the extensive testing that I was inquiring about. After all, the reptile division didn't make enough money to warrant putting that kind of effort into it, anyway. And, he said, the other companies that were their major competition didn't see the need to research their products, so why should they?

At that point he began leading me on the tour of the animal area itself. It was not vast, there were no white coats. In fact, what I saw would have normally made me demand to speak to the pet store owner as I calmly but firmly offered my assistance in cleaning the cages and getting proper nutrition to the animals. A tegu (one featured prominently in their ads) was in a 55 gallon cage with newspaper, a hot rock, and a water bowl. The leopard tortoise who had been raised solely on the tortoise food that he promoted was so pyramided that I'd have sworn he was being kept by a high school beginner. The iguana was in a cage that was only able to accommodate his tail by having him climb on the diagonally placed limb. At least he had a heat lamp and a flourescent lamp. (No, I didn't check to see if it was UVB or not, that would only have infuriated me more.)

I left my tour of the facility with a knot in my stomach that felt like I was the one who had just swallowed a whole rat. My summer of anticipating all the great things for reptiles that I would be able to do as a resource for this company was for nothing. What I realized was that this company was like many others in the pet industry. They are businessesfirst and foremost, and do need to make a profit. That is what businessesdo. The research and care that most of us expect a company to put into the products that it advertises for us to use on our loved ones is apparently NOT the reality. Unfortunately, these companies are doing a very good job leading us to believe otherwise.

Well, obviously, I wasn't able to interview every company that offers reptile foods. But in reading the ingredients and comparing them with what I know about reptiles, I haven't found a commercial food yet that I would try. Even the free samples that were sent to me as a good-will gesture after my visit were promptly disposed of. I care far too much about my pets to place their health in the hands of a group that had such obvious disregard for the health of their own animals.

So, what is the bottom line when it comes to commercial pet food? My advice is this: contact the companies yourself and ask for a copy of any research they used in formulating their foods. If they send you anything, read it. If you need help deciphering the science jargon, feel free to write me, or ask your local chemistry or biology teachers. Ask your doctor. Put as much effort into finding the truth as YOU feel comfortable with. Then make your decision. What was mine? Well, I'm a science teacher by trade.... I tend to think that Mother Nature provides the best research there is into pet foods. I'll place my bet on her any day. Oops, gotta run.... I have an order of crickets arriving.......

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Tiger Salamanders
By Pacman

Description:

Tiger salamanders (Ambystoma Tigrinum) are largely terrestrial,but spend most of their time underground, only surfacing to breed. There are six types of tiger salamander.

Eastern tiger salamanders are brown with yellow to olive colored spots. They are found from southern New York to Florida and west to Nebraska, Kansas,and eastern Texas.

Barred tiger salamanders are black with tan to yellow stripes across the back and tail. They are found from central Nebraska to Texas.

Arizona tiger salamanders are dark brown with yellow spots or markings.The markings are smaller and fewer then those of the barred tiger salamander. They are found from central Colorado and New Mexico westward to Utah and Arizona.

Blotched tiger salamanders have thin netlike patterns on a light ground color such as olive or grey. They are slightly smaller on average than barred tiger salamanders. They are found from Alberta and southwest Saskatchewan south to northwest Colorado and Nebraska.

Grey tiger salamanders are olive to brown colored with many spots on its back and side.they rang from South Dakota and extreme western Minnesota.

Sonoran tiger salamanders are found only in the southeast range of Arizona's mountains and are highly variable in color. They resemble the barred tiger and the Arizona tiger. Sonoran tigers are protected throughout their range.

Housing:

Adult tiger salamanders can be maintained in a variety of enclosures. They are mostly kept in aquariums for ease of viewing. They can also be housed in sweater boxes as long as all care standards are met.

Substrate for tiger salamaders can be a number different things. I use non-fertilized dirt so the salamander can burrow if he/she feels like it. You can also use unbleached paper towels. They are easy to clean and keep humidity up, but don't look very good. Coconut fiber bedding is good too. All soil substrate should be changed every month, and feces should be removed daily.

If your substrate does not allow the tiger salamander to burrow,it will have no place to retreat when it's scared. Add a couple of hides so the salamander does not get stressed.I have soil as bedding for my tiger and he hardly ever burrows in it but I also have a hide. He stays in the hide a lot but goes out at night.

A water bowl may or may not be used depending on the humidity of the enclosure. Mist the cage two times a day for the right humidity and you will not need a water bowl.I put a water dish in my tigers enclosure when I go away for a couple of days and am not there to mist.

Temperatures over 78 degrees F for extended periods of time are life threatning. Temps should stay in the range of 68-72 degrees F.

Feeding:

The temps in the enclosure will determine the frequency of the feeding. If temps are 65 degrees are cooler, feed once a week. If temps are over 65 degrees, feed at least twice a week. The warmer the enclosure, the more it will eat.

Adult tiger salamanders will rapidly eat crickets, mealworms, earthworms, caterpillars, waxworms, and pinkie mice. Other than pinkie mice and waxworms, offer as much food as the salamander will eat overnight. Pinkies and waxworms should be offered as an occasional treat or to fatten a thin salamander.Pinkie mice and waxworms are high in fat and may cause obesity or death. Remove any food items left in the cage after 24 hours as they will bite and harm your salamander if left in the enclosure too long.

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Kingsnake.com Chat Schedule

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Cold Blooded Chat 9-11 ET

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Cold Blooded Chronicles is copyright 2005 by OnlineHobbyist.com unless otherwise specified. All rights reserved.

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