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Senior Member
 
Group: Banned Members
Last Login: 2/6/2008 10:29:46 AM
Posts: 1,150,
Visits: 2,352
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A lot of people use these forums for getting advice on their sick herps. That's fine; in fact, despite me being a jerk for much of the time, its really the only reason I stick around here; I do genuinely enjoy trying to help people with their pet problems if I can. But there's a few things a lot of you should keep in mind when it comes to your sick reptiles...
1.) Always research your animals (preferably before obtaining them).
- Among other things, this can make you aware of common ailments the animal in question may get and you can better prepare to prevent those ailments from occurring.
- Also, never rely on a single source of information, especially regarding animal care. That includes whatever advice you receive from this site. Not everything out there is correct, and everyone complains that they keep finding conflicting info about their pet and they don't know what to believe. This is true, but once you've read 7-8 sources, you should be able to shift thru it all and average stuff out; i.e. if 3 or more sites say the same thing, then its probably right.
- the Internet is only one avenue of getting info. Pick up a book at your local petstore or library. However, there's still a lot of out-of-date and conflicting info out there. If a book is more than 10 yrs old, then its almost always obsolete. Books 5 yrs old or younger are more reliable.
- with few exceptions (like myself), most petstore employees don't know squat about the animals they sell. So don't take their word for anything. This goes back to the second point of not relying on a single source of info.
3.) In my opinion, the vast majority of health issues people have with their herps are caused by improper care. If more people did research (see #1), their pets would have fewer problems.
2.) None of us on here (not to my knowledge, anyway) are actual vets. Our advice comes only from years of experience and from whatever literature we've read. Our diagnosis of whatever problem you may have is by no means an adequate substitute for taking your pet to the vet (there may be rare exceptions, depending on what the issue is). Having said that...
3.) You should always be prepared to take your reptile to the vet if its necessary. True, many issues can easily be solved at home, but things like broken bones, bacterial infections, respiratory ailments usually can't be fixed with home remedies. It sucks, but as Z-trip often states, if you can't afford the vet, you really can't afford the animal. Pets shouldn't suffer because we're too cheap.
4.) Whenever you post a question about an ailing reptile, try to be as descriptive as possible about everything, including his set-up, temps, diet, how long you owned it, when it started acting sick, etc. The more we know about it, the better we can determine what's wrong. This is also important because I know many of you don't have Hi-speed 'net and/or don't get online as often as others, and it may be days before you reply again. For example, someone may post a question like, "My leopard is acting funny...why?" Well, what kind is it, etc, etc. It may be a few hours before someone replies asking all the questions I listed above, and then the first person may not check the thread until the following night. Likewise, it may be close to a week before some useful advice can be implemented, and a lot can happen in a week for a sick herp.
Hope this helps everyone. And I would really like for this topic to be pinned.
P.S. Some of you complain that you can't find anything on the internet. Try harder; not everything is going to show up on the first results page of a google search. Try different search engines (yahoo, etc), names, phrases, taxonomic names, etc. Trust me...the information is out there.
Ophiuchus' "hot' topics: one's failure to do research before getting a pet herp (and the improper care methods that often ensue), savannah monitor diet, almost anything regarding green iguanas, wild herps taken from the wild to be pets, redundant & meaningless threads posted over & over, and the resurrection of dead threads!
Current Pets
1.0 ball python "Jasper"
0.0.1.hybrid milksnake "Tortilla"
Experience with: Pantherophis genus, Candoia genus, ball pythons, giant hognose snakes, US pond sliders, African sideneck turtles, most gecko species, frilled dragons, glass lizards, blue-tongued skinks, green iguanas ------------
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New Member
Group: Forum Members
Last Login: 2/16/2010 5:17:54 PM
Posts: 91,
Visits: 127
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| I agree that research should be done hopefully before purchase. I aslo believe it should never stop being done after purchase. New facts are found all the time.
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New Member
Group: Forum Members
Last Login: 6/4/2007 7:19:00 AM
Posts: 9,
Visits: 14
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i agree. i too feel that mis handling/care is the #1 cause of health issues!!!!
Zero
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Average Member
Group: Forum Members
Last Login: 5/10/2010 2:23:29 PM
Posts: 733,
Visits: 735
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| i read up to the internet part and wanted to say that reptild database has a great selection of herps, but all by the scientific names so be prepared
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Starting Member
Group: Forum Members
Last Login: 9/5/2009 12:36:24 PM
Posts: 198,
Visits: 505
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I agree. The more knowledge you have, the better off you are, the better off your pets are. I spend a lot of time at the book & pet stores looking for more books on my herps. I like to have the books on hand so I can refer back to them.
My pets...1 green tree frogs, 1 brown anole, 1 fire belly toad, 1 Cuban tree frog, 3 veiled chameleons, 3 dogs, 3 cats , 7 leopard geckos, 1 house gecko,1 love bird ,2 parakeets, 1 water dragon, 1 bearded dragon, 1 blue throated agama, a bunch of fish , 2 beautiful children & it keeps growing!!!
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Junior Member
Group: Forum Members
Last Login: 3/4/2010 10:03:30 PM
Posts: 334,
Visits: 269
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im on the same boat as everyone else
=============================================:>~
1.1.0 nicaraguan boas0.1.0 amazon tree boa0.1.0 jungle carpet python1.2.1 corn snakes0.0.1 ball python1.0.0 rose hair T0.0.1 pinktoe T (A. avicularia)along with 31 other herps at work 13-14 years for meJustin Smith
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Junior Member
Group: Banned Members
Last Login: 5/19/2008 8:49:29 PM
Posts: 429,
Visits: 489
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Annyone notice that the original post is over a year old?
1 Sandiego Gophersnake (Loki}
1 western hognose{Lilith}
1 everglades ratsnake{Gypsy)
1 Children's python {Delilah}
1 Mexican black kingsnake ( Corona)
1 Bull snake (Toro) 2 Crested geckos (Merlin and Jezebell)
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Senior Member
Group: Banned Members
Last Login: 5/19/2008 8:20:44 PM
Posts: 1,026,
Visits: 1,479
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sb1127 (4/1/2008)
Annyone notice that the original post is over a year old? Yes, but its pinned...so people can post on it as much as they want. Now...if someone suddenly started a new thread saying the same thing, that would be different.
Make your posts count...don't count your posts.
----------------
15 yrs working with reptiles, 9 yrs petstore experience. Always learning...the journey never ends!
--------------
Current Collection:
1.0 ball python
1.0 Dumerils boa
1.4 dotted house snakes
0.0.1 cape house snake
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Junior Member
Group: Banned Members
Last Login: 5/19/2008 8:49:29 PM
Posts: 429,
Visits: 489
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Hmmm... Ok, it's pinned. I didn't notice. A thousand pardons.
1 Sandiego Gophersnake (Loki}
1 western hognose{Lilith}
1 everglades ratsnake{Gypsy)
1 Children's python {Delilah}
1 Mexican black kingsnake ( Corona)
1 Bull snake (Toro) 2 Crested geckos (Merlin and Jezebell)
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Starting Member
Group: Forum Members
Last Login: 2/4/2009 10:05:59 AM
Posts: 213,
Visits: 439
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| I disagree. You should impulse buy every animal and then do whatever you want with them. Keep all of them together in one really big cage with no heating or water for a month and scream at them whenever you walk by their really big cage! Dont ever look up anything about them on the net, and never purchase a book for your pets. Thats unfortunately what some people do. Thank goodness we have these forums to help those who want to help themselves and their herps! I was just kidding before btw (its april fools)! Please do everything the guy up there said, there really is no alternative to proper reptile veteranarian care.
Bite that! -D&L Boyer
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