I have a lot of exotic animals AMA

[Newnamefor2021]

Reptiles mostly, including snakes, lizards etc. I have rabbits, guinea pigs, quails, parrots, inverts, fish etc too. I "run" an animal education and experience business. Still very early days of the business and not Covid friendly hence why it's not actually running. I'm pretty busy most days, I have a licence from the council, that included inspections and questions etc. I mostly go into schools, but my business started early 2020 so I've had very little paid work at all. Prior to this I had lots of bookings and/or interest though.

We had 2 bearded dragons. Our dcat and ddog were fascinated!! We put crickets in a pop up paddling pool and the dragons caught them with us all sat round!!

@Santaiscovidfree

We had 2 bearded dragons. Our dcat and ddog were fascinated!! We put crickets in a pop up paddling pool and the dragons caught them with us all sat round!!

What happened to them? Did you house them together?

Together - had 1 fight after 6 years so split them up.. Just put a divide in the big tank and added an extra light. They loved sleeping on dh's moobs!! They were from the same batch... Males I think.

How big is your house and do you have close neighbors? Are they affected by the animals? Do you have any that live outside?

Our leopard gecko is brilliant. She is the most spoiled member of our household!! I'm most envious of her lifestyle.

@Santaiscovidfree

Together - had 1 fight after 6 years so split them up.. Just put a divide in the big tank and added an extra light. They loved sleeping on dh's moobs!! They were from the same batch... Males I think.

I actively discourage cohabiting of breaded dragons, it can be fine for years but when it goes wrong it can be awful dividing the viv is actually a bigger problem because you have them in a smaller enclosure and the heat distribution will be wrong. They need a hot and a cool end. I think bearded dragons and the most neglected and most rehired reptile in the trade.

While I do seem to take in reptiles, I wouldn't open myself up and I know I would be floor to ceiling in them.

The viv was previously a wardrobe - they luckily had plenty of room!!
Can't imagine using a shop bought cage for any animal tbh.. My df kept snakes and used a converted old school huge desk! As a dc he recycled it into a rabbit hutch for my first drabbit!!

@ShesMadeATwatOfMePam

How big is your house and do you have close neighbors? Are they affected by the animals? Do you have any that live outside?

I definitely need a bigger house 😆 we are looking to build a reptile house/shed outside but how and where that goes keeps changing.

I'm a detached 4 bed bungalow, our plan is to convert the attic for the kids. I do have neighbours but they aren't directly next to me or that very near me. We own a piece of land where the three of us have our own separately build houses (we didn't build, we bought the house "second hand".

Rabbits and quail live onside. Rabbits are in a 8x4 shed. No one had looks into my garden as my house is at an angle to the other houses, so we don't bother anyone. I do wonder what my neighbour thinks though.

@GuyFawkesDay

Our leopard gecko is brilliant. She is the most spoiled member of our household!! I'm most envious of her lifestyle.

Haha ... it's the fact like look like their smiling that gets me. Such fun creatures.

@Santaiscovidfree

The viv was previously a wardrobe - they luckily had plenty of room!! Can't imagine using a shop bought cage for any animal tbh.. My df kept snakes and used a converted old school huge desk! As a dc he recycled it into a rabbit hutch for my first drabbit!!

I love it when people find creative ways to recycle old furniture, I so not creative myself 😆

I'm not here to critique or comment on peoples husbandry, just noting in general that they are poorly cared for and that for effective heat distribution they need a minimum of 4ft wide to achieve that.

I think we all anthropomorphise our pets, we think we know what's best but we are still learning so much. The "care guides" are very conflicting and constantly evolving. A lot of research goes into understanding how best to care for these animals. We still get it wrong though, exotic animals are very dependent on us for everything from light, heat, food, so we need to learning and evolving.

I've had tropical fish all my life and still make mistakes. 10 years I used a tiny about of silicon on the lid, but the evaporation must have touched it and dropped (water not silicon) into the tank and I killed off the majority of my fish, I'm certainly not perfect.

I only went into when people started asking me if I would be willing to come to their play group, brownies group or school. So set about getting all the necessary licence, insurance, checks etc.

Do you have any zoology or animal management qualifications? What, other than having a lot of pets and access to google, qualifies you to educate others on these animals?

@BalladOfBarryAndFreda

Do you have any zoology or animal management qualifications? What, other than having a lot of pets and access to google, qualifies you to educate others on these animals?

Absolutely nothing. I was just asked a lot to come into schools, brownie groups etc and when I looked into the legalities of that I needed insurance and licences. So once I went down that route I advertised and it became a thing.

I'm not teaching expert knowledge here. I do sessions on what is a reptile which doesn't need someone who a degree in zoology or herpetology to outline. I can do sessions on things like genetics or as simple as "what home do I live in?". You don't need to have a degree in that subject to teach it to others. In the same way my children's teachers don't need a specific degree to teach about volcanos or dinosaurs.

My goal isn't to educate people expertly on a specific animal. It's to make people aware of the commitment level and the requirements of that animal.

A lot of the time it's telling people that there is conflicting opinions on certain aspects of husbandry and they should understand both sides of that argument before making up their minds. I don't tell people that one way is better than another. Most people ask what I do and I will then share my own opinion.

My personal background is I have a levels in biology, chemistry physics and psychology and a nursing degree and a psychology degree (because I was bored), I have experience in nursing and teaching assistant/admin/guidance, I have worked in community development and lots of volunteer roles. So nothing specific to animal care. Most of my experience is with children, and children/adults with ALNs.

Thanks, it sounds like it’s something you sort of fell into, @Newnamefor2021

I agree with you about the husbandry. We have a chameleon, which I resisted getting for 5 years - but the kids had kept geckos and a snake and had shown they were responsible. The chameleon was a nightmare to get set up, an absolute nightmare.

Eventually we got everything automated and that keeps him happy - but it is an expensive set of kit, for an animal that doesn't want to be LOOKED at, never mind handled. And the vet fees if it goes wrong are eye watering, the local exotic vet isn't very local, either.

Most of their pets aren't actually pets, they are a living display.

@BalladOfBarryAndFreda

Thanks, it sounds like it’s something you sort of fell into, *@Newnamefor2021*

Yeah, I think most people are the same. I know some herpetologists but they don't tend to do this sort of thing, as if they work in their field they actually need to earn money whereas this doesn't really make money.

Qualifications like animal management are NVQs and while I know people with those qualifications they don't tend to be useful for exotics. Plus, their knowledge seems to be outdated as we discover things all the time.

A few years ago people used red bulbs and they said it was because reptile eyes don't have the spectrum to be able to see red light, we now know that's not true and that red light at night disturbed their sleep patterns. There are lots of herpetology research and journals, as well as groups etc so it's really great that so much research is invested in reptile keeping.

@vivariumvivariumsvivaria

I agree with you about the husbandry. We have a chameleon, which I resisted getting for 5 years - but the kids had kept geckos and a snake and had shown they were responsible. The chameleon was a nightmare to get set up, an absolute nightmare.

Eventually we got everything automated and that keeps him happy - but it is an expensive set of kit, for an animal that doesn't want to be LOOKED at, never mind handled. And the vet fees if it goes wrong are eye watering, the local exotic vet isn't very local, either.

Most of their pets aren't actually pets, they are a living display.

Totally with you there. We were asked to rescue a chameleon very recently and we had avoided them for the reasons you mentioned. It is probably the most asked about pet, people want them and I just say no, it's not a beginner pet at all. It's another example of a exotic animal that isn't that expensive to buy but the set up and ongoing costs and skills needed at very expensive. He is looking way better, he had stuck shed all over him and was very underweight. The person hadn't used a dripper at all, so I suspect he was very dehydrated too.

Yes, the kids (teens) joined various chameleon groups to read up before we got it, which was bought from someone who'd looked after it with supplements etc so it was healthy, but it needed a bigger viv and they didn't have the space.

Even with a 5' mesh enclosure, separate UVB and heat lights, regular spraying, a supplement routine and lots of cover, it was miserable and cold.

Turned out we had too much cover, the UVB wasn't getting far enough down the enclosure. That took three vet trips to figure out - totally fine at the vets but when we brought him home he'd stop feeding and go dark.

We bought a mist-king too - the constant monitoring of humidity was too hard to keep on top of. And they went bioactive, having plants growing in the soil really helped - there's still a lot of plastic plants in there but we're gradually taking it out as the gaps fill.

It's a grumpy, aggressive, ungrateful animal. It's nothing like Pascale at all, and I worry that most have miserable short lives - we got it wrong and the kids had experience with reptiles and really did the work, research and bought the kit before getting the animal.

He is rubbish, but, they love him. I think of it as a very expensive and very large, lamp for the dark corner which disapproves of me (good grief, it can throw some shade when I come in the room!).

One of my children is a zoologist . Like most scientific fields (inc nursing) the knowledge and skills are constantly evolving and updating as the scientific evidence base changes and expands so lots of the baseline stuff remains but some of the other things change. It’s definitely an area for lifelong learning though and I would agree that the qualifications aren’t the be all and end all (but also aren’t worthless).

That made me chuckle Ballad (singing that in my head now) - our eldest is off to study zoology in September.

She'll love it, she's definitely found the right path for her means I have to learn how to look after all the weirdo animals though

@vivariumvivariumsvivaria

Yes, the kids (teens) joined various chameleon groups to read up before we got it, which was bought from someone who'd looked after it with supplements etc so it was healthy, but it needed a bigger viv and they didn't have the space.

Even with a 5' mesh enclosure, separate UVB and heat lights, regular spraying, a supplement routine and lots of cover, it was miserable and cold.

Turned out we had too much cover, the UVB wasn't getting far enough down the enclosure. That took three vet trips to figure out - totally fine at the vets but when we brought him home he'd stop feeding and go dark.

We bought a mist-king too - the constant monitoring of humidity was too hard to keep on top of. And they went bioactive, having plants growing in the soil really helped - there's still a lot of plastic plants in there but we're gradually taking it out as the gaps fill.

It's a grumpy, aggressive, ungrateful animal. It's nothing like Pascale at all, and I worry that most have miserable short lives - we got it wrong and the kids had experience with reptiles and really did the work, research and bought the kit before getting the animal.

He is rubbish, but, they love him. I think of it as a very expensive and very large, lamp for the dark corner which disapproves of me (good grief, it can throw some shade when I come in the room!).

Haha, yes you have described it perfectly! 😆 sounds perfect now. Even with all the research in the world it's a lot of trail and error hence why being able to ask someone helps so much.

I think their really short lives was one of the things that put us off, so much effort for a relatively short time. It's not letting me upload a photo of him for some reason.

Mistkings are awesome. I have several of the exo terra ones, but mist kings are the best in the business.

@BalladOfBarryAndFreda

One of my children is a zoologist . Like most scientific fields (inc nursing) the knowledge and skills are constantly evolving and updating as the scientific evidence base changes and expands so lots of the baseline stuff remains but some of the other things change. It’s definitely an area for lifelong learning though and I would agree that the qualifications aren’t the be all and end all (but also aren’t worthless).

Totally agree. I'd love to study Herpetology, it's just not something that is offered as distance learning or locally to me. Just meaning that those with specific degrees tend to work in specific fields rather than doing something like I do, which isn't very profitable.

Most people I know work in conservation, research, teaching, zoos etc or a combination. It's definitely where my heart was years ago but I was too scared to leave home at the time and my parents were very much pushing me to do teaching or nursing. I chose nursing as a my A-levels were all science based.

@vivariumvivariumsvivaria

That made me chuckle Ballad (singing that in my head now) - our eldest is off to study zoology in September.

She'll love it, she's definitely found the right path for her means I have to learn how to look after all the weirdo animals though

Haha love it. I secretly hope my daughter goes into some animal field. She is so fearless with animals and so gentle and kind. She is the one who take the spiders outside and has since we was tiny. She only 6 now 😂 so will see. My boys are more like we have cool animals but don't think they want to work with them. 😆

It's great, animals as fascinating.

Have any of your animals ever escaped?

Do you handle them often?

@Ccccchanges

Have any of your animals ever escaped?

Do you handle them often?

One snake did once, years ago, she was new and she apparently knew how to open her vivarium lol. We found her straight away, lesson leant quickly. 😆 she wouldn't have gotten far, the room was closed, no gaps etc.

Oh and we found a morning gecko on the wall once, they are super tiny though so he had just squeezed out. Extra sealant and job done.

We have, surprisingly, had fish escape over the years, they don't survive though. We had rope/Reed fish who are know for escaping, we had a sealed tank by the escaped via the filter pipes.