Comments for Snakes and Sh!t

Comment on Breeding Season Has Finally Begun by Clay

Clay — Wed, 25 Feb 2009 13:07:27 +0000

Not yet lol, but their season hasn’t begun yet so I’m still hopeful.
It’ll be sometime in late March at least before they start getting paired up.

Comment on Breeding Season Has Finally Begun by Bryon

Bryon — Wed, 25 Feb 2009 05:10:46 +0000

WHAT????? NO BREDLI??????

Comment on Review of Reptile Basics radiant heat panels by Chip Bridges

Chip Bridges — Wed, 19 Nov 2008 03:39:58 +0000

Clay, excellent product review. I’ve had so many burning issues with Flexwatt in my current Boa Master rack, I’m considering investing in these.

Comment on Snakebytes.TV is coming from BHB Reptiles by Chip

Chip — Sat, 18 Oct 2008 02:43:55 +0000

I only wish I’d have caught wind of this show as soon as it started.

Comment on Pictures from Daytona by Chip

Chip — Sat, 18 Oct 2008 02:43:04 +0000

Great pictures! The tank of hognose morphs is really impressive.

Comment on Breeding Season Update by johnny

johnny — Wed, 10 Sep 2008 01:36:39 +0000

Love this blog

Comment on Second Ball Python clutch of the season by Mike

Mike — Sun, 20 Apr 2008 12:30:06 +0000

Glad to hear everything seems to be going well.
While this upcoming breeding season will be the first time I try my own breeding I’m glad to hear you are having pretty good success.

Comment on Breeding season update by Jay

Jay — Thu, 10 Apr 2008 18:46:34 +0000

Congrats on the season. What about the parents of the clown? You’d posted earlier that you might try them. Just wondering if there were going to be any more like the girl on the homepage of your website.

Comment on Columbia Herp Show by Ameer Farouq

Ameer Farouq — Sun, 10 Feb 2008 12:07:03 +0000

Hi There:

I really enjoyed surfing your valuable enriched site for my only personal interest arised out from a life dream to get involved in such activity. I beleive this have a relation to my Veterinary feild of study, which I really love but unfortunately I am not currently practicing.

Anyhow I just found myself ipressed by the considerable efforts in such a website and I have to salute you and express my appreciation and wish you all the best.

Comment on Backstabbing LA Turtle Farmers…… by Dr. Anole

Dr. Anole — Thu, 07 Feb 2008 18:21:18 +0000

Yes, this bill was poorly thought out and really the turtle-breeders knee-jerk response to an LSU veterinarian’s great study on decreasing salmonella prevalence by treating eggs.
Is it fair that turtles are singled out by the federal ban? Maybe. But remember this ban was in response to children getting salmonella and sometimes, dying from it. Let me repeat that. Dying from it. 3 week old babies and 3 year old toddlers dying. Parents losing their children for no other reason than the petstore was more interested in selling the turtles than protecting the public health. And the ban DID decrease the incidence of human salmonella from reptiles. So it worked at least partially.
Until now. The so-called “educational” loophole put a FATAL flaw into the turtle ban so that any simpleton could put a sign next to their turtles saying “For Educational Use Only” and sell them to anyone, whether they read the sign or not.
And unfortunately, the truth is that salmonella is still being spread from the OTHER herps, sold by petstores and unethical private individuals at reptile swaps, to kids. And still, the kids are still sometimes dying (do a search on CDC and reptiles, you’ll find many cases. Here’s a recent one:

>>On February 20, 2007, a female infant aged 3 weeks with a 1-day history of poor feeding and lethargy was evaluated in an emergency department at a Florida hospital. The patient was transferred immediately to a tertiary-care pediatric hospital; on arrival, she was febrile and in septic shock. Antibiotics were administered. She died on March 1. Cultures of cerebrospinal fluid and blood samples yielded Salmonella serotype Pomona.

The parents of the patient were interviewed by the Florida Department of Health. A family friend had purchased a small turtle with a carapace of 1.25 inches from a flea market in north central Florida in mid-November 2006. The turtle was purchased as a pet and given to the patient’s family in late January 2007. After the death of the infant, laboratory testing of the turtle and its environment was performed by the Florida Bureau of Laboratories. A fecal sample from the turtle yielded S. Pomona>>

I am a father and a herp lover. But if I had to choose, I would obviously choose a healthy, live daughter over any herp.

What needs to happen is the herp community needs to pull together and focus on eliminating the ignorant (or just plain stupid) herp sellers who sell unhealthy animals to anyone who’ll buy them, and don’t give them a single bit of husbandry information, let alone stress the relative SERIOUSNESS of salmonella. If I lost my child to salmonella because some pet store employee failed to mention that little fact, I don’t think there would be an apology big enough by anyone to make it better.

Yes, the turtle industry is motivated by very self-serving goals, because the Louisiana senators were SURE that the bill would pass based on the new salmonella reducing techniquest developed. But they only work if they are used, and someone makes sure they are done, and done correctly (and even then, the risk is still present, although lowered significantly). But the recent outbreak of Salmonella affecting hundreds of children in four states may derail that.

If the herp community wants to keep doing the work with the animals they love, they MUST do whatever is necessary to stop dishonest and unethical reptile dealers and petstores, educate the public and the government on the risks of salmonella and prove that they can help prevent it, and stop living in a self-motivated bubble. Because that bubble seems very likely to pop someday.

Dr. Anole