Reptile Stores Abroad- House of Reptiles in Tigard Oregon

I just returned from a harrowing 10-minute journey over to Tigard, Oregon (I currently live in Portland), to take stock of House of Reptiles, easily one of the best reptile-centric stores in the area. They have a large assortment of reptiles for sale and on display, many of which were rescues or adoptions, and the selection of specimens available for sale alone rivals all of the pet stores I have been to in Oregon thus far easily.

A selection of monitors, geckos (including the expensive and difficult to acquire Leachies- Rhacodactylus Leachianus- or New Caledonian Giant Geckos), corn snakes, ball pythons, and even caiman lizards are all available at this store, and more beyond. For display only, either due to rescue or otherwise, they have three small American Alligators (in the 3 ft range or so), as well as a full grown Argentine Black and White Tegu and an adult Black Throated Monitor, a massive albino Burmese Python, and a full grown King Cobra! This selection alone rivals even the local Zoo in terms of sheer variety and exotic range.

In addition to these many animals available, the shop breeds some of their own, namely Leachies from what I saw. They also, of course, stock the normal care products, many varieties of glass and mesh cages, turtle tubs (massive, fairly inexpensive open-air enclosures for aquatic turtles or tortoises), and the necessary cage furniture to provide a proper environment for your animals.

The staff seemed more knowledgable on the subject of snakes than any other reptile unfortunately, but what they did know was very helpful, and they certainly know the business well. Pricing for most of the animals is somewhat above the norm, which seems to happen a lot with retail stores. For example, they had a Sumatran Water Monitor for $250, whereas online you can find one for roughly $120 plus shipping (figure about $175 shipped). However, considering that they keep their animals exceptionally healthy and well-cared-for, and considering that I love to support local shops to help keep the businesses afloat, the price seems worth it, especially since you can buy the animals outright, and not have to wait for delivery.

All in all this is easily one of the most impressive reptile shops I've seen thus far, although I've only been to stores in Oregon for the most part. The selection is superb, the employees knowledgable, and the atmosphere is one of care and overall knowledge about the trade and the animals involved. An A+ in my book any time.

Care Sheet: Eumeces Schneideri- The Schneider's Skink

So here we go, the first care sheet in this blog. It is a prestigious day indeed, for this care sheet article details the care and husbandry of the Schneider Skink (Eumeces Schneideri) or Berber Skink (though this moniker only applies to a specific sub-species). This mid-sized, hardy reptile of the skink family is an active and interesting addition to any herp enthusiast's collection, although they do require a relatively large cage.

Genus: Eumeces

Species: Schneideri

Subspecies: Algeriensis (Berber Skink), Princeps, and Zarudnyi

Range: Middle East and Northern Africa- ranging from Egypt and Libia to Turkey, Lebanon, Iran and Saudi Arabia and Western Asia Minor.

Maximum Size: Sources report the species size at 14-16 inches, although my personal specimen, "Nuzzle" is approaching 20 inches in length.

Life Span: Approx. 20 years in captivity

Behaviour: An avid digger, oftentimes this reptile is difficult to observe in the wild or captivity, as it burrows through loose soil, oftentimes sleeping or spending large quantities of the day hidden from sight. In the mornings or at feeding time, it will emerge from the sand to bask or look around. They are also intelligent for reptiles, prone to escaping their enclosures if given the chance, and quite happy to explore new areas in and out of their cages. If your skink manages to escape, it is likely to climb up book shelves or take shelter beneath furniture. When I first obtained my Schneider's Skink from a local pet store in Ashland, Oregon, she was a bit nippy, though the biting and mouth-gaping threats ceased after only a few days.

Husbandry: Schneider's Skinks are semi-communal, enjoying interaction and companionship with others of either the same species or different lizards. They require a rather large environment to be housed properly, and their cage size should be increased appropriately to house multiple specimens. As with many reptile species, males should not be kept with other males, as territorial fights for dominance can happen between them. Housing one male with between one and three females can be perfect, and is ideal for a breeding arrangement. An appropriate tank for a communal setup should contain enough hide boxes and basking sites for all lizards. Although parasite contamination can be a problem in wild-caught animals, it is much rarer in captive bred specimens. Still, a 30 day isolation and quarantine period should be maintained whenever you wish to introduce a new animal to an already-established colony of reptiles (even if you only have one skink and intend to add a second). Despite this concern, I maintain a three-lizard setup with a single Schneider's Skink, a Mali Uromastyx (Uromastux Maliensis; which has somewhat similiar requirements and is found in the same geographic range), and a Bearded Dragon (Pogona Vitticeps). Though this is only a temporary housing setup and I intend to get them each individual enclosures once I have the funds and space, all three reptiles cohabitate very well, and no fights or stress seems to occur with them. All three readily eat crickets or mealworms, and the skink refuses to touch the greens fed to the Dragon and Uro, so the arrangement works out very well.

Diet: Many care sheets online state that these lizards are omnivorous, eating meat products as well as a small amount of vegetable matter. However, in my experience, these observations may have been from seeing a skink accidentally consume plant material while actually trying to catch a prey animal or insect. My skink has never voluntarily eaten any plant matter, always preferring the meat even when it was mixed in with small amounts of lettuce like some care sheet have instructed. As a whole, Schneider's skinks appear to be insectivorous and carnivorous entirely. They readily eat crickets and mealworms, although they appear to be somewhat slower than other insectivorous lizards, not catching fast-hopping crickets or roaches as easily. They do enjoy live prey, a variety of insects as mentioned above; as well as the occassional pinky mouse. Pinky mice should only make for an occassional treat however, as they are very high in fat and too many can lead to obesity and lethargy. Eumeces Schneideri will also accept dog food, sprinkled with D3 Calcium powder (as should be your insects on a weekly basis). If you choose to feed your skink dog food, make sure it is of a high quality and low fat content, as this can lead to the same problems as pinky mice. If you wish to feed your skink this kind of diet, and it refuses to eat it, try microwaving the dog food for about 20 seconds, just enough to make it hot, more like living prey to the skink and more odorous for them to pick up the scent. A varied diet is an important thing with most reptiles, and it seems the same is true for Schneider's Skinks. Try multiple food types in order to get a well-rounded meal for these animals, and feed them approximately every other day.

Caging: A minimum setup for a juvenile or adult Schneider's Skink should be a 20-gallon long, although they really do enjoy a much larger setup. They are a desert species, loving loose soil and sand through which they burrow. They are rarely seen basking, but they will use an appropriate basking area which should be provided. Interestingly, of the reptiles I have observed in captivity, the Schneider's Skink is one of the few that willingly and naturally will drink standing water, so a water dish really benefits the animal. Provide a Eumeces Schneideri with 3-5 inches of loose, sandy soil or smooth-grain sand (not the sharp, pointy silica sand). A hide box can be a simple as a stacked "cave" of slate rocks or perhaps a generic hiding cave-style box found at your local pet store. An odd assortment of clean branches or rocks for the animal to climb on are also greatly appreciated, as once a skink gets over its usual "hide in the sand all day" shyness, you may observe it eagerly exploring its enclosure. The cage I use for my skink uses a 4 inch layer of ground walnut-shell sand which is fully digestable and safe for animals should they accidentally consume some. There is a fake rock-outcropping cave that she occassionally seeks refuge in, and a large water dish from which to drink. There is also a large, flat rock beneath a basking light, which the skink uses to bask, oftentimes ontop of the other two lizards. A feeding dish is usually needed for reptiles as well, but I keep this out of the cage until feeding time, which acclimates the animals so that they learn where they need to go for food. The setup works rather well. Schneider's Skinks need temperature gradients just like most lizards do. On average the tank should be around 80 degrees (F) on the cool side, and around 85-90 degrees (F) on the hot side, with a basking spot of 95-100 degrees (F). At night, temperatures can drop to 70 degrees (F) or so. Keep your reptile on a 12 hours heat/light- 12 hours dark/night cycle during spring and summer, with about 10 hours light, 14 hours dark cycle in the fall and winter time. Light and heat are essential to any reptile's well-being, as they require the appropriate temperatures to keep a proper metabolic rate for digesting food and maintaining daily activities; as well as Ultraviolet B light in order to process calcium (the D3 calcium dusting on their food is meant to supplement, not replace, this natural UVB requirement).

Maintanence: Keep this animal well supplied with food and water, and it should prove to be a hardy and trouble-free species. Keep cage tops secured and latched, as Eumeces Schneideri is prone to escape attempts and can be quite fast and elusive should it get out. Spot clean the cage daily, and every 2-3 months the sand should be entirely changed out to keep it fresh.

Conclusion: A unique and beautifully patterned species that is fairly uncommon in the pet trade thus far, Schneider's Skinks can make an interesting addition to any herpetoculturist's collection. Once tamed down suitably, they can be quite calm and easy to handle, oftentimes clinging to their owners or sitting on their shoulder placidly. Luckily for anyone willing to provide the space and care necessary to house such an animal, they can be very affordable when found in pet stores, usually around $19.99 for a single specimen.

Well, there you have it, a semi-full profile for Eumeces Schneideri, the Schneider's Skink. I hope you've enjoyed this and found it useful, and I look forward to adding and updating this care sheet, and creating many more like it in the future.

The Dangers of Irresponsible Roommates

So it's just recently come to my attention that my roommate somehow managed to "lose" my 3 ft long corn snake. I know it may have seemed a bad idea to leave my animals with her while I was gone for Christmas Break, but rest assured, I am not nearly that bad of a pet owner. I had planned to pack up my reptiles and bring them home with me for the month I was off, which I know causes animals some stress, but I had thought it would be better than leaving them. However, I was assured time and again by my roomie that she could handle their feeding and upkeep, and that I shouldn't worry, so me being the nice person that I am took her word, got the necessary food and supplies for them, and left them in her care. Not two weeks after I had left did I get the phone call...with her first words "now don't freak out but..." failing to reassure me that she had done the job she'd promised she could do. My 3 ft long corn snake "Shae" had dissappeared. The roommate didn't waste any time in telling me that she had accidentally let it out while feeding it, and it had gotten away to the far reaches of my bedroom. Now, you would think one could find such an animal in a relatively minimalistic bedroom as I maintain, although the poor-quality apartment I live in does have several decently-sized holes and cracks in various corners of every room, which I reckon a snake of that size could slip through. Now my roommate is tasked with checking daily at dusk and dawn (Corn Snakes are crepescular, meaning that these are the times they are most active), and has yet to find it.

Morale of the story? Take personal care and responsibility for your animals, don't let inexperienced family members, roommates, or friends take care of your pets no matter what assurances they give you. I wish I could say otherwise, but my christmas season has been slightly marred by this ill-fortune.

Holiday Hiatus

Forgive the lack of posting, I'm on a slight holiday hiatus since I'm working and dealing with various things at the current time, since college is off. 

Happy Holidays and Merry Christmas everybody. 

About the Author

Samuel W. Nolton, a.k.a. "Lucidum," is a beginning reptile breeder, owner of the soon-to-be company Lucidum Exotics and long time herpetocultural enthusiast. I, being him, currently own a total of five reptiles, and have had years of experience dealing with reptiles both in the wild and as pets. My first "pet" reptile was a garter snake that I caught when I was a child and kept for a few days. I've loved pretty much all animals with scales since I was very young, and still love them today. 

My current cavalcade of herps includes three desert reptiles- A Mali Uromastyx (Uromastyx Maliensis) named "Scute;" a Schneider's Skink (Eumeces Schneideri) named "Nuzzle;" and a Bearded Dragon (Pogona Vitticeps) named "Sola." The skink is about 2 years old, the uro is 15 months, and the beardie is 8 months old.

In addition to the lizards, I've recently acquired two Corn Snakes (Elaphe Guttata). The first, "Oro," is an Anerythristic morph and is less than 3 months old. The newest, "Shae," is just about a year old (born 11/08) and is a Flourescent Orange morph I believe. 

I care greatly about all of my animals, providing them ample space and large enclosures (not too large for the hatchling corn, as too large a cage stresses them out). All of them I feed regularly, the beardie and uro eat crickets every other day and vegetables (a mix of red and green lettuce, carrots, etc.) the days they don't eat insects. The skink eats pinkie mice (baby, newborn mice that are still pink and furless) every week or two, depending on her shedding cycle (often animals refuse to eat when shedding). Both of the Corn Snakes eat mice (pinkies for the baby, hoppers and fuzzies for the yearling), and eat regularly and well. I'll be providing care and husbandry articles for each animal presented here, and many others as well. 

In the future, once my business has taken off, I intend to breed the corn snakes, as well as the beardie and uro. Someday soon i'm going to add several other animals to my collection- most importantly an American Alligator and a monitor lizard of some kind, preferably a Nile or Water. I also wild-catch some animals from time to time on my herping (outdoor collecting) outings, come this summer I'll focus on captive-breeding Western Fence Lizards (Sceloporus Occidentalis), as well as, if I can locate any, Western Rattlesnakes (Crotalus Oreganus) and Common and Western Terrestrial Garter Snakes (Thamnophis Elegans and T. Sirtalis). While I don't normally recommend wild catching animals for conservation reasons (or, in the case of the rattlesnake, venom and aggressiveness reasons), I wild catch the animals only if they aren't vulnerable, endangered, or protected, and I always release my animals once they have laid eggs and the eggs have hatched. 

Keep a look out for new posts soon, we'll begin with our reptile care articles late this week or early next!

Knowing is Half the Battle!

If it's one thing I can't stress enough before you buy your reptiles (and, I imagine, all pets in general), is know before you buy. You absolutely must be prepared for what you are getting yourself into before you purchase or recieve your animal. Too many pets are dumped in the wild or forced upon zoos and pet shops because they've gotten too big, too mean, or too expensive for their ill-informed owners to handle. Unfortunately for the reptile industry, some of the aforementioned largest, meanest, or most expensive (to care for and house) herps on the market are the cutest and cheapest to buy when they're young. Green Iguanas, Savannah Monitors, and in some states American Alligators, are harvested in the wild or bred in captivity by the hundreds and thousands, where they are sold to pet shops at wholesale prices and then sold to tourists and children who are not remotely prepared to care for them. 

Take for instance the Green Iguana (Iguana Iguana): a typical hatchling is adorable at 8-12 inches long, with a bright green, blue and brown/black patterning, a big head with adorably bulging eyes, and a friendly (albeit flighty) demeanor. These active, exciting reptiles may be small and affordable at first (my local pet shop charges $29.99 for one), and require a relatively small enclosure; but in the space of a year or two, with proper care and regular feeding, these creatures can grow to 2 ft or more, and once fully grown will reach a length of 4-6 ft and weigh near 20 lbs, requiring a substantially larger enclosure, which is a costly investment in itself, and require much more food daily than it did as a baby. 

The same is true for many reptiles in the trade today, most snakes begin as tiny little 8-12" long hatchlings, but within a year or two can reach lengths of 4-6 ft, and many of the boid species reach anywhere from 9-25 ft by the time they're fully grown! Thus, it is of extreme importance that prospective buyers do their homework, read care sheets, buy supplies, and assure themselves that they are fully capable and financially secure enough to maintain their pets before purchasing them. 

Of another note is temperament. Many animals are not dog or cat-tame, and many will never be. Monitor lizards and Alligators, which can be prone to hissing and biting even when babies, can only tame down with frequent, regular handling. If you are going to own a Monitor or Alligator, and don't want it to see you as a threat or as food, then you must be willing to spend an hour or two every day gently handling them, or sitting near them (such as with them on your lap), so that they acclimate themselves to you, and begin to see you as a constant in their lives, rather than a larger creature that can be a threat to them. Don't get discouraged, it can take many, many weeks and months of this for an animal to get used to your presence and see you as something other than a predator. 

To help with prospective buyers, here is a basic list of all you will need to take care of a hatchling Green Iguana, as an example of the cost and time you must spend to care for one properly- this includes the animal itself, it's enclosure, cage furniture, food, etc. 

Baby Green Iguana: $15.99-$39.99 (prices depend on venue)

Starter 20 Gallon- Long Aquarium Tank: $40-$70

20 Gallon-Long Screen Cover: $14.99

Food (vegetable mix): $7.99 approx.

Food (Iguana Pellets): $4.99

Calcium Dust (ReptiCal or equivalent): $7.99 approx.

Cage Substrate (Coconut Bark or equivalent): $3.99-$5.99

Water Bowl: $1.99-$4.99

Water: Free/whatever your water bill is

Adhesive Cage Thermometer: $1.99

Humidity Gauge: $6.99

Basking Platform/Hide Log: $4.99

Branches: Free- collect outside, debark, and wash thoroughly

Humidifier (Zoo Med Dripper) $8.99 approx.

UVB Light Bulb: $24.99

Heat Bulb: $5.99

Lamp: $9.99 (need one for each bulb)

Fake Plants (Iguanas appreciate cover and flora): $6.99- $14.99

Basic Setup Total (Using Cheapest Options): $179 approx. 

That's your cheapest cost for a very basic Iguana enclosure, which on average will last the iguana for it's first year or two, depending on growth rate. Are you prepared for that?

Darwinism At Large- Lucidum Exotics: Your guide to pet reptile ownership and husbandry

Welcome to Darwinism At Large, Lucidum Exotics' guide to the ownership and husbandry of reptiles as pets. The humble scaled ones are not often thought of as "cuddly" or "cute," or even as being animals that can be kept as pets on par with dogs, cats, hamsters, and fish. In truth, they are quite different both in behaviour, feeding, and intelligence. With an unfortunate bad reputation based on the rare yet over-hyped venomous snake or "man eating" crocodile attacks, a negative stigma seems to be attached to reptiles, even in the 2000's era. Luckily, through people such as the late Steve Irwin and the odd Discovery Channel special, people are becoming more and more enlightened about the true nature of our cold blooded friends, and they're starting to become acceptable as a normal pet to own. We here at Lucidum Exotics hope to reinforce that, both through the sales of exotic reptile (and, occassionally, amphibian) specimens as pets and zoological curiousities; and through this comprehensive, species-by-species guide to those reptiles most commonly seen in the pet trade today. We will be updating on a semi-regular basis (hopefully weekly), and will include excrutiating detail on care, captive requirements, and special needs of various reptilian species.