Creature Comforts

 

If you've clicked onto this page then I assume you've at least looked herpetology up in the dictionary & discovered its got nothing to do with unmentionable sexual diseases but is in fact all to do with the study, keeping &/or breeding of our reptilian cousins.

What follows isn't profound, its simply a few bits & bobs about the reptiles & their like that are slowly taking over my bastion at the top of the house following a rekindled interest in all things scaly.

When I was a kid of six or so I can remember my big brother having a glass tank in the shed. I was occasionally allowed to peep into its depths whereupon I, & my friends, would squeal in delight at the sight of a wall lizard or a slow worm. I was never allowed, much to my chagrin, to hold any of these mysterious creatures by my brother as I was "just a little kid" so it was with some degree of satisfaction that I returned home from school one day to see my brother berating an empty tank on the bench containing one very sleepy, but fat & happy, green snake.

Whilst this marked the end of my brothers brief encounter with natural history it struck a chord with me that never really went away, it just lurked in the back of my head only to raise its self about eighteen months back, March 2004, when a strange man offered to show me his snake, actually it was the dad of one of my kids school friends & it wasn't a snake but a dozen or so assorted lizards from around the world. He, Mark that is (Doctor, ecologist & reptile expert), was pretty enthusiastic about his collection & pretty soon, without much persuasion, I found myself the carer of a female Australian Blue Tongue Skink, the rest is history.

I must at this point offer a big, an I do mean big apology to my better half, I'm sorry about the (more than) occasional escapee, & particularly the crickets under the bed, on the stairs, in the toilet, etc., etc., etc. I don't let them out on purpose, honest injun', their just cunning little blighters with no sense of humour.

So then, what currently inhabits the confines of my ever expanding menagerie, read on:

Firstly there's Skunky, a slightly stupid Blue Tongue Skink - Tiliqua scincoides - Skunky really hates it if you talk to the others first or don't pay her enough attention, she/he (see below) soon lets you know when its her turn by headbutting the glass, favourite saying "Look at me, look at me"

Skunky was sharing her tank, 6' x 2' x 2', with a close relative, a slightly haughty second female Blue Tongue - Tiliqua gigas - Atila, as she's come to be called, is about six months younger than Skunky & about two thirds the size, however it has to be said that, how shall we put it, Skunky's apparent lack of anything resembling a brain cell, meant that they were getting along quite comfortably together eating anything you threw at them, snails, worms, crickets, mice, dog food, mealworm, waxworm, etc. & occasionally my sons nose. Anyway, to cut a long storey short it turned out that Miss Skunky was actually Mr Skunky & he proceeded to "get it on" with Atila, having done his business they cooled to each other & Atila was moved to the top of the waiting list & subsequently rehoused awaiting the big day.

(March 06) Gravid as she was all was going well, good appetite putting on plenty of weight etc for the expectant mother until, well things took a decided turn for the worse, despite best efforts she was unable to birth successfully & two perfectly formed but dead baby blue tongues resulted, I'd like to say better look next time Atila but I can't, things didn't get any better when a few days later she herself expired, perhaps it was the effort, I'm not to sure, still trying to find out what went wrong.

July 06 - Well Skunky seemes to have got used to being on his own & continues to have a veracious appetite, I'm keeping an eye out for a new mate for him so if you've got an unwanted girlie then Skunky would like to hear from her, fnarr, fnarr.

Next door is a 4' x4' tank housing one male & three female Cuban or Knight Anolis - Anolis equestris - until recently I only had one Cuban, a male called Diago, who shared this tank with Larry, Mo & Curly, see below, there was a second male & two more females however they've moved on to pastures new.

Their taking a mix of mealworms, crickets & pinkies with mashed fruit for dessert, supposedly they are particularly partial to fresh figs, I know I am, come to think of it I love fig biscuits as well, anyway, I keep trying them on figs but they don't seem particularly bothered (July 06 - still don't seem bothered about figs, think I'll eat the figs in future & let the Cuban's keep the pinkies)

July 06 - Despite best efforts the eggs produced by this trio of ladies are few & far between, when they do produce regretably they just don't cut the mustard, me thinks Diago might just be firing blanks.

Just along from the Anolis viv live Larry, Mo & Curly, the three Tokay Gecko's, - Gecko gecko -, referred to above, one male, two females. Their cohabitation with Diago wasn't as strange as you think, Larry, Mo & Curley slept most of the day whilst Diago topped up his suntan & at night Diago disappeared into the bushes & the three amigo's kept everybody awake barking until dawn, everybody's a winner. Well not quite true, the first time they had a sing song I was woken by Kate who thought we'd got burglars. In all seriousness they got along just fine & dandy but with the arrival of Diago's harem they had to be evicted & rehoused.

Moving on I've put together a small colony of Leopard Gecko's - Eublepharis macularius - the males a very pretty high yellow whilst the females, five of them, are a mix of chocalate albino's & high yellow's, they're incredibly cute & inquisitive, probably to inquisitive for their own good sometimes. These fella's are definitely my daughter's & quite possibly my, favourite. Given that these are nocturnal chap's & their tank, as well as those of all the others, are dressed to be interesting to their residents, its not always easy to see them, however throw in a few waxworms & crickets & its a regular blood fest.

July 06 - Well, we got there in the end ,after several false starts July saw thefirst hatching of half a dozen or so Leopard Gecko eggs, by the end of July, Indie, so named because he was born on American Indepenance Day, was joined by two more siblings, see below. All three have done pretty well, have good appetites & are pretty damm fiesty. Well as the month end approached the three have been sold on to "The Jungle" our new/local retail outlet for all things creepy crawley - see below, & a new female chocolate albino has joined the party.

Sept 06 - 9/11 saw the hatching of another leopard gecko, colouration pretty similar to the one on the right, fiesty as the last trio & eating well from day 1, in a month or so it'll get sold on & the shekels raised, mmm, let me think, thats it another Leopard Gecko.

With the coming of the Eyed Lizards, see below, I decided that it was time for the Bibron Gecko's,-Pachydactylus bibroninow, now numbering four, to have a shiny new place of thier own, so they're now well settled in a arborial/high humidity residence far better suited to thier requirements, hopefully one more suited to breeding - July 06 no babys as yet but all looking exceedingly healthy & contented, maybe to contented, mmmm, things might have to change.

Several Oriental Fire Bellied Toads - Bombina orientalis - are now swimming around seemingly pretty happily, they love to watch the world go by, have voracious appetites & are producing tadpoles like its gone out of fashion. During May/June 06 we had at least five clutches with no sign of any lapse in thier nocturnal activities. The tadpoles are thriving on a mixture of Cabomba caroliniana, tropical fish food & live blood worm.


July 06 - I've now seperated off the first metamorhasised taddy's & I'm giving them a mixture of hatchling crickets & fruit flies, I've now split off the first batch of baby firebellies who seem to be doing well, the fruit flies, suposedly flightless, by the way are courtesy of a culture from Livefoods UK, not sure about the flightless but they seem pretty good, anyway toadies are doing well & hopefully babies will soon fund another male Leopard Gecko.

In April 06 we aquired a pair of Eyed Lizards - Lacerta lepida - from "Viper & Vines" in Prestwich, Manchester, with the assurance that they were a proven pair that had been aquired from a breeder in York. At first they were very nervous & hid immediately you opened the door to the room, over the last couple of months however they've noticably settled down, whilst reluctant to be handled, something I'm trying to avoid anyway, they do at least sit reasonably peacefully whilst you move about the room & will happily snatch pinkies & large locust from out stretched tweezers. They certainly enjoy basking & their colouration is fantastic under the UV light, almost iridescent. Disappointingly, July 06, the "proven" pairing hasn't turned into anything more than potential so far & with spring well & truely gone it looks like thats it for this year. The intention is to hopefully pick up a second or maybe even a third female before spring 2007 & hope the competition spurs some things along, but in the meantime they're looking fit & healthy if not very maternal.

Following a visit to the IHS breeders meeting, Doncaster June 06, I have aquired half shares in a pair of Gold Tree frogs (or Asian Tree Frog, Yellow Tree Frog, White-bearded Flying Frog, Golden Flying Frog, Asian Flying Frog, and the Golden Foam-nest Frog etc, etc)- Polypedates leucomystax. I say half shares as Blythe is desperate for a snake but is finding it hard to convince Kate that it won't end up under the floor boards & I think the half shares is to show how responsible she can be (don't build your hopes up Blythe) Anyway they are now ensconced amongst plenty of greenery including some live & chunky bamboo from the local greenery shop to help keep the humidity up, fingers crossed they watch the fire belly toads making hay & decide it looks like fun.

 

Over the last year or so various other residents have moved in & then moved on including several Three Lined Salamanders - Eurycea guttolineat, Chinese Fire Belly Newts - Cynops orientalis, Indianstick insects - Carausius morosus & Thai stick insects - Baculum thaii as well as a pair of Agama agama,a half dozen Chalcides ocellatus & three Great Plains Toads - Bufo cognatus, & who knows who knows who'll come to tea next.

September 2006

Well isn't it interesting how things change, for my sins I'm starting a new job next week, hurray, but, & there's a big but, I'm going to be a away from home for a bit, actually quite along bit, four to five months or so, in Antarctica, yep thats right, the big cold bit at the bottom, obviously theres a bit of a down side to this, yeap you guessed it, herpetological interests are a bit difficult to deal with when your 10,000 miles from home. With that in mind I'm, very regretably taking most of the above to the IHS breeders meeting in October -Bugger. The off spring of my loins will keep a few things ticking over, but alas most will have to go & I'll reassess things when I get back in March.

October 2006 - Post Script

Well, its the day sfter D Day (Doncaster IHS) all the Cuban Anolis, the Blue tongue, my frogs & toads, Tokay's & one of Bibron Gecko's have gone, bit sad really but life's a bitch. On the upside the Leopard colony, Eyed lizards & the Bibron trio are staying put & I've got a pocket full of crinkly notes to restock post Antarctica, until then this page will probably be pretty quiet but if anything does occur whilst I'm away I'll let you know.

May 2007 - Return from Antarctica

Well, I'm back, its been, lets just say an experience, one which is likely to be repeated for the next several years at least, but you can go read about that elsewhere on the site. Since getting back I've been pondering the return of the top floor menagerie however with a Antarctic return a definite & a house move pending I finally had to admit that it wouldn't be very sensible to restock.

So, with heavy heart, the viv's & all the other paraphanalia are being distributed, stored or sold off - BOOHOO

Until next time - HURRAH

July 2008 - Return from Antarctica

Time passes, fourteen months on & it looks like if I am away this season it'll only be for five weeks or so, mmmm, if I'm not away . . . . . . .

When I cleared everything out last year before heading South I passed various of the reptiles on to others without taking payment, anyway as a result I've just become the recipient of a reportedly breeding pair of Oscillated, Jeweled or Eurpean Eyed Lizards, dependent upon what you want to call them, they've both got excellent markings & the males head is almost as broad as his shoulders, with the potential still to spend some time overseas I don't want to start repopulating the reptile room just yet, well actually I do, but having moved house it looks like I'll be building a shed specifically for reptiles so the pair of Eyed Lizards will just have to do for now.

November 2008

Time flies like buggery as you get older doesn't it, feeling pretty old as I'm 45 next Saturday but hey ho, there's plenty of time left yet, hopefully, before they put the last nail in the coffin lid. Anyway's nothing particularly new on the herpetology front as yet, the Eyed Lizards have settled in pretty well & whilst seeming to turn their noses up to most things, I've never seen them east anything yet, they're looking remarkably iridescent & are a healthy weight.

If you've read all of this page you'll have seen mention of my good friend & herpetologist, Dr W, well his lordship has been busy over the last few months what with building new & replacement vivarium as well as running a growing ecology & environmental consultancy, Peak Ecology, in the last couple of weeks he's also taken delivery of twenty plus CITES registered & captive bred turtles from the US, jealous, me, bloody right I am.

May 2009

As you'll have gathered, or least you would if you've been here before, its been a tad quiet herpatogically of late however in the words of Mr Dylan 'times they are a changing' Simply put I've just stud walled, wired & insulated the rear half of the garage, the plan, on paper at least, is to fit fifteen or so four foot tanks or the equivalent in there, this weekend I'll make a start on building the first six viv's, two towers of three.

Goth the younger (Blythe) & I popped over the Sheffield this weekend to have a shufty at Sheffield Exotica, Sheffield Snakes & the relocated Snakes'N'Adders, mainly with the intention of browsing this years corn snake hatchlings, Pantherophis guttatus as its now known rather than Elaphe guttata guttata, still a bit early maybe but there were several of interest, well the upshot was that we didn't come away with a hatchling but a lovely male 2007 CB Caramel, Blythe was absolutely over the moon & I was more than just a little pleased myself.

With the IHS breeders meeting at The Dome, Doncaster on the horizon, Sunday 28th June, we'll possibly see the new herpatorium with a few new inhabitants. I'm still considering just what I want to put in there at the moment but as soon as I know be sure I'll tell you all about it.

Well, one week later & I'm well on with the build, by tomorrow, the carcasses of the first six viv's should be complete, might even get a start on the nest six. This last week I finally signed up to the RFUK website, all ways been a bit reticent of chat room type things, upshot, should have done it ages ago, courtesy of its classifieds I picked up a two year old male Amelantistic Corn this morning, duly named Satsuma, hopefully collecting a female Blue Tongue up next weekend, bloody fantastic.

June 2009

Early June & things are progressing, as I mentioned above I did indeed collect a magnificent CB07 Tiliqua gigas , he's an absolute beauty & he, Skunky Too, as he's been named, has settled in to his shiny new viv & is eating well, pictures no doubt will follow, anyway whilst making this collection I'd also arranged to have a look with a view to buying a male CB ? 08 Desert Kingsnake, Lampropeltis getula splendida, well, Blythe& I took one look &, well, needless to say its joined the menagerie, in fairness its previous carer had reported that it was a bit viv defensive however I have to say, to date, its been an absolute kitten too handle, again photo's to follow.

The month didn't end there either, oops, I popped out one lunch hour from work to pick up some frozen mice however I was greeted by several tanks of Plated Lizards, now I've had a wanting for a couple of these for some considerable time. After a chat to lads in the shop & a good once over I left minus the lizards but with a promise to think it over & give them a call over the following days. I did quite well actually , I managed to get half way down the stairs before returning having "thought about it" & departed with a trio, two female, one male, they were a bit scatty in the shop viv & not a little overcrowded however they're calming down considerably & will sit patiently on your lap whilst you tidy up their home, unfortunately they're wild farmed & not captive bred & from their size are likely 2007 born, fingers crossed we'll see eggs in 2010, it was only after having a better look over the next week or so & spoken with a friend that we both came to the conclusion that what they were selling was not Gerrhosaurus nigrolineatus, Black Lined Plated lizard, but were in fact Gerrhosaurus Major, the Great Plated Lizard, & having poked through several books agreed they were Major major, the Eastern variant.

It should have ended there, should have but . . . . .didn't, about a week later I spoke with Diane at the Reptile Rescue Den in Bolton, long storey shortways, she had two CB08 Royal or Ball Pythons, Python regius, available that had come in as not eating but eaten well under her care, well I nipped over on the Thursday night & having had a look came away with the smaller of the two, Diane reported him as being CB hatched in 2008 & putting weight on nicely, now I've offered him a nice fat juicy mouse once & after a bit of investigation he ignored. From reading the various postings on RFUK & the like I'm well aware of the reported difficulties that Royals give in respect of feeding so we'll see how things go over the next couple of weeks or so, maybe buy him a gerbil or two as they're supposed to be irresistible to Royals, oh well, we'll watch & wait.

I nearly forgot, how remiss of me, I've also aquired a young wood turtle,Rhinoclemmys pulcherrima, care of Dr Webb, they're something that Mark seems to be able to breed with his eyes closed, saying that in the last week or so he's had a beautiful handful of young Blue tongues as well as a batch of Cunningham's, with a second gravid female there's a high likelyhood a couple might just find their way round to my place.

Bloody, bloody hell, I thought I'd bought a CB07 Crimson female corn, turns out she's CB08, my own fault really, obviously I read the advert incorrectly & a chap at work collected her for me from Liverpool so I didn't realise my error until I collected her the next day at work, bugger, notwithstanding she's a pretty one & will probably make a fine mother in a year or so. So far she's not yet been named & she very nearly wasn't having "disappeared" for a couple of days, fortunately she fell for my home made snake trap & is again safely curled up in her rub.

It's nearly the end of the month which means its only 3 days until Doncaster, I don't know if or what I'll be coming back with , well, not strictly true, I've arranged to collect a couple of female corn hatchlings from a lass from the North, so I won't be totally empty handed, lastly before I forget the Royal has now decided that eating isn't such a bad idea afterall.

Doncaster 28th June 2009

OK, Sunday morning came around & clutching a fist full of cash & accompanied by Dr Webb & respective daughters we headed off to sunny Doncaster, the last IHS show I attended here was nearly three years ago & I guess it had only half the breeders that were selling at this one & only a fraction of the punters that visited this one, partly I suppose as they are now admitting non IHS members, in short the place was absolutely heaving & just a tad on the warm side. Anyways once in side we did a quick circuit as Mark had arranged to meet a exhibitor/breeder who had agreed to sell us a clutch of CB Pink Tongued Skinks, the short of it was that he hadn't shown, bugger, not an auspicious start to the day.

Several circuits & a couple of hours later I, well, to be honest was a bit disappointed, if you discount the endless Leo's & Beardies then apart from a fist full of Crested Gecko's there wasn't much left with legs to drool over, sure there was plenty of Corn Snakes & Royal's & a smattering of other ectothermic amniote vertebrates, sorry, snakes, as well as few amphibia & Insecta.

As arranged I collected two hatchling female Corn Snake's, Anery Het Amel's as well as picking up a female CB08 Royal that in time will hopefully get it on with the my male, Blythe also had me purchase a couple of Common African clawed frog's, Xenopus laevis, & a pair of Giant prickly Stick Insects, Extatosoma tiaratum, but with definitely no Pink Tongues in sight we made a sharp exit although that wasn't quite the end of the day, on route home we'd arranged to call at Sheffield as Mark was selling various of his recent hatchlings on to John, the chap who owns Sheffield Snake's, now I called in there when passing a couple of days earlier & had managed to avoid buying a gorgeous but feisty male Mexican Black King Snake, doh, twice in one week was a bad idea so an hour later Lampropeltis getula nagrita was on his way home with me, as I said, doh.

Bugger, the chap with the Pink Tongues has been in contact, apologies for missunderstandings all round, unfortunate uoshot however is he'd only got three left & as they'd been promised to Mark I lost out, as I said, bugger.

July 2009

With Doncaster out of the way & the reptile room pretty much fitted out both myself & Dr Webb got itchy feet & so without further ado tickets & ferry have been booked for the Hamm Reptile fair in September, hurrah.

I've also had a unexpected surprise this week, my female Eyed Lizard produced a clutch of six little eggs, one was definitely DOA, however the remaining five are now cooking happily, she did produce again a day or so later, however I think it was a tad to enthusiastic for first time around & I'm afraid they were shot from the onset, still she's feeding like a trooper again, so hopefully we'll see things at a more orderly pace next year.

On the down side one of the hatchling corns I collected at Doncaster isn't feeding at all, she's very lively & looks healthy but just doesn't seem fussed with food, I'm currently going through the various options available, braining, leaving overnight, quiet little drives in the country & Lindy, from whom they were purchased, has suggested dipping them in the water from a tuna can, try anything once rather than using a syringe, in fairness Lindy has even offered to exchange her for another which I think is being a jolly good sport however I'll persevere for the moment, watch this space.

Funny how things pan out, having lost out on the Pink Tongues in June I was perusing the RFUK classifieds & happened to spot an advert for a couple of female Pink Tongues reported as being six or seven years of age, several phone calls later I collected said ladies & settled them in to their "forest floor" home, now, & no critiscim intended, have been kept in a environment not best suited to their needs & have only ever been fed on cat food, they've now discovered the delights of burrowing through the leaf litter which doesn't make them to visible to the watcher but they should feel decidedly more at home, diet wise I'm trying to wean them away from their total reliance on catfood to a more balanced & varied diet, so far raw beef, earthworms, snail & strawberry have gone down well however they definitely turn respective noses up at meal & wax worms.

Regarding sex, whilst they've been sold as two females neither old Doc Webb or I are 100% convinced they are, Pink Tongues are relatively new to both of us however Mark has a wealth of experience with Blue tongues in general, if body shape, broadness of head & tail base width for the hemipenes can in anyway be relied upon then it's a male & female, this can't be guaranteed as Blue & Pink Tongues are notoriously difficult to sex so we'll just have to see what happens, I know you might say well why haven't they bred in the last six years or so however I think given the environment that they've been housed in was definitely not conducive to breeding, this may prove 100% wrong or maybe just wishful thinking but only time will tell.

August 2009

Not to much to say really this month the reluctant feeder is still very, very reluctant but generally seams in good health so I'll keep persevering with her, good news is I've purchased but not yet collected a female CB07 Caramel Corn so hopefully this time next year we'll be seeing Caramel Hatchlings, on the down side the Eyed Lizard egg's went bad, ho hum, better look next time, just trying to wait patiently for Hamm. currently bulding several more smaller viv's, not of course that I'm going to come home from Hamm with a box of critters . . .

Last off my mate Big Bird's better half, Pauline, has applied her arty talents to a picture using shed skin from my mexican Black Kingsnake, I think it's fantastic, particularly now its been framed, the photograph doesn't really do it justice, you lose the darkness of the piece but it should give you an idea of what it looks like.

September 2009

Finally the weekend of Hamm came around, hurrah, blew the turbo on the car, boo, work arranged hire car, hurrah, picked Mr Webb up at 3.55am Friday morning & headed for Dover, picked up the 8.10am ferry to Calais then nigh on 600 mile spin to Hamm via France, Belgium & the Netherlands, arrived Hamm 4.00pm, checked into the hotel, had a few beers, went for pizza, had a few more beers & then crashed out early doors despite anticipation over the day to follow.

Mark had done some dealing prior to heading to the Fatherland so after making are way through the masses at the entrance we delivered a box of CB09 & CB08 Cunningham Skinks, Egernia cunninghami, as well as a fistful of euro's in exchange for a pair of CB09 Gidgee Skinks, a clutch of CB09 Australian Tree skinks, & a single CB09 Northern Blue Tongue, with the deal done & money burning a hole in my pocket we began to investigate the main arena.

Unsurprisingly it didn't take long before I was parted from a fistful of euro's with the purchase of a pair of CB09 Kenyan Sand Boa's, Gongylophis c. loveridgei, these were closely followed by a CB08 female Blue Tongue, Tiliqua gigas, she's about half the size of Skunky Too at the moment in six months or so I can maybe start to think about breeding. For those of you who haven't been to Hamm before, & remember this was my first time, it's a bit rabbit in the headlights, it would be just so easy to blow everything before you've even covered a fraction of the show, so trying to show as much restraint as I could I pushed on, it wasn't much longer however before acquired a pair of beautiful CB09 (Columbian) Arabesque Boa's, Boa constrictor imperator, these were without doubt an impulse buy but I don't regret buying them one little bit.

By know the hoardes were thinning out a bit & it was considerably easier to see what was on offer, I had been thinking for a while about purchasing a Yemen Chameleon & so it was no surprise when half an hour later I exchanged hard earned cash for a CB lovely looking three month old Chameleon calyptratus who has proved incredibly fearless & happily climbs out of his viv & onto your hand, arm or shoulder. By now everyone, me included , was looking a bit knackard, I was a tad disappointed as I'd been hoping to pick up a female Dessert King as a potential mate for my male but having done the rounds I'd lucked out so with my last few euro's I haggled for a particularly cute CB09 Desert Phase Aberrant Californian Kingsnake, Lampropeltis g. californiae, Mr Webb, having restrained himself, or maybe just in shock after his mega money deal, eventually exchanged favours for a stunning little Gargoyle Gecko, it was sods law by the way that on the last half dozen tables in a small sideroom we'd missed out I found two female Desert King's, hurrah, only problem was by now we were both skint, bugger.

So, spent up, knackard but happy we secured our purchases & hit the road, we were booked on the 9.00pm ferry from Calais, three hundred & fifty miles, & it was about 4.30pm, baring in mind you're supposed to be at the ferry twenty minutes or so before it sails, we had four & a bit hours to make it back, a tad tight you might say, still it was autobahn pretty much all the way back, unfortunately it took nearly three quarters of an hour to clear Hamm, no pressure.

With foot to the floor I got us to within hundred miles of the ferry with two hours to go when Mark decided it was his turn to fly, sorry, drive, two minutes later he missed the turning to Brugge, the dotted line on his map turned out to be an unbuilt autobahn & we found ourselves lost in rural Belgium, following our noses we headed across country & despite the locals having covered over, turned round or simply uprooted all the signs pointing towards our destination we eventually got back to the autobahn. With time running out we reluctantly realised we'd missed any chance of getting to Calais in time for the 9.00pm ferry. Pulling into Her Majesties Customs at three minutes to nine Mark announced that whilst he hadn't lost his passport he wasn't quite sure where exactly it was, minutes later it was uncovered & we pulled onto a deserted waiting zone, miraculously the chap on duty waved us through & we accelerated up onto the ferry ramp as sirens announced it was closing, both of us were absolutely gob smacked we'd made.

Back in Blighty we headed for the M25 & I phoned a chap in Orpington whom I'd purchased a CB07 female Caramel Cornsnake off a couple of weeks earlier but not had chance to collect or courier, armed with directions we got to his place just after midnight, collected said snake & made it back to Buxton at 2.30pm, tucked everything up for the night & got a good nights kip before settling everybody into their new homes the next morning.

All in all it was a fantastic if tiring weekend, saw a huge array of critters, met some interesting if not strange people, because obviously I'm as normal as they come, & am now planning next years trip.

The week after Hamm I had occasion to visit Ascension Island, see Chapter Thirteen of "Aimo's tales from the Falklands, Antarctica & Beyond", whilst there I was pleased to discover that contrary to my assumptions there was in fact a couple of introduced reptiles, the locally called Coconut Palm Gecko or more correctly called Gray's Leaf-toed gecko, Hemidactylus mercatorious, in addition there in the dryer parts of the island there is reported to be Weigmann's Tree Iguana, Liolaemus weigmanni, unfortunately however whilst I managed to get several, albeit, poor photographs of the first I didn't get time to search out the latter, on the upside however I'll be spending five or so months on Ascension in 2010 so I should get plenty of opportunity to hopefully search them out as well as checking out the land crabs, the common scorpion , the Tanzanian Blue Ringleg centipede & of course the abundant marine life including the Green Turtle, on the down side I'm going to sorely miss Kate & the kids, bugger.

June 2010

I got back from Ascension mid May, Blythe had done a pretty good job of looking after all the critters at home, it was a lot to ask of her but hats off to her she'd coped admirably, unfortunately however one of the Pink Tongues had succumbed to old age & not to long after my return the second Pink Tongue went the same way, when I first got these two, see above, we'd reckoned on them being seven years or so old however some belated digging suggests they were significantly older, I don't regret buying them really but in hindsight & in view of how they'd been kept/fed previously it wasn't the best buy, at least for the time I had them they were well fed & cared for.

July 2010

With little intention of long term working abroad again & everything in order in the reptile shack an advert on RFUK caught my eye, shortly thereafter & I'd collected a small group of Stenodactylus sthenodactylus, or as there more commonly known Israeli Sand, Litchenstein's Short Fingered, Sand Eye, Whip Tail or Elegant Gecko's, these little beauties are only some three inches or so long & live quite happily together by all accounts, I've got them set up in a a two foot viv with a couple of inches of sand & plenty of little hide holes, being truly nocturnal they don't require UV so with a heat mat under the back of the tank they're getting along just swell. I fed them every two to three days on small dusted crickets & occasionally on hatchling roaches or waxworm & mist the tank morning & night. The chap I bought them off assured me that two are gravid & it certainly looks that way so I'm watching them carefully to see if they are going to produce any eggs, fingers crossed. Incidentally whilst researching these fellas it turns out that their name is one of the more famous spelling mistakes in gecko literature - the extra “h” in “sthenodactylus” is due to a typographical error in the original description, 1823, Lichtenstein.

In July 2009, see above, Dr Webb, pick up a trio of baby Pink Tongues, twelve months on they have happily turned out to be amale & two females, the latter of which produced twenty two babies between them, I've collected four of them, the last of remainder being sold at Doncaster last week, the four are doing well on a mix of snail, catfood & earthworms.

Talking of Doncaster Doc Webb has managed to produce a multitude of offspring , Pink Tongues, Blue Tongues, Day & Leopard Gecko's as well as selling box after box of roaches, all in all it was a very successful day, pretty busy from start to finish, everything on the table sold including Wood Turtle,Rhinoclemmys pulcherrima. I managed to keep my hand in my pocket for the best of the day however I finally succumbed to temptation & picked up a pair of CB08 Connant's MIlksnake's, Lampropeltis triangulum conanti, they're beautifully coloured so hopefully come 2011 we'll see some eggs cooking.

Looking forward I should hopefully be picking up a trio of CB10 Ackies later this month so watch this space.

Responsible Bits

Now for the responsible bit (What little old me, Yes sir, you sir) If the idea of keeping a scaly, or not so scaly, friend appeals then go for it but I would add that like anything kept in a tank they don't look after themselves, they can smell, they can, & will, bite the hand that feeds them, they don't appreciate you clearing up their poo or chasing crickets around the bedroom & their not bothered that there's mice in the freezer, just below the ice cream. If changing the water in a gold fish bowl is to much trouble then buy a pet rock, its less hassle & loves you about the same.

If your not a member of the IHS by the way then go & join now, its only £20 or so for family membership & you get a very shiny magazine every quarter.

For further details go to

The International Herpetological Society

Reptile Forum UK

 

For your further reading here are some of the care sheets I've found useful

Care Sheets

Also worth a mention are the BHS & the FBH, see links below, I'm not a member of either but check them out for yourself

The British Herpetological Society

The Federation of British Herpetologists

Happy Herping

Aimo

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Breaking news, new speices discovered in hidden cave in Buxton - Kacus Fourapoundi,
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