What is HR 669?
H.R. 669 stands for House Resolution 669 and is titled "The Nonnative Wildlife Invasion Prevention Act". It is a bill currently before Congress that if passed will change the way that the US Government classifies animal species that are not native to the United States. H.R. 669 will make it illegal to breed and sell many animals that are very common in the pet trade.

Why should you care about HR 669?
Anyone with pet fish, birds, reptiles, or small mammals will be affected by this bill. Any company selling product or services for pet fish, birds, reptiles or small mammals will be affected by this bill. Would you be impacted by "The Nonnative Wildlife Invasion Prevention Act"?

• Virtually all fish in an aquarium are not native to the United States
• Most pet birds are species not native to the US
• Most reptiles kept as pets are not native to the US
• Hamsters, gerbils, guinea pigs and ferrets are not native to the US

What can you do to stop HR 669?
Pet owners support the concept of a risk based approach to non-native imports, unfortunately H.R. 669 as drafted does not provide a constructive way forward.

You can help by standing up and making your voice heard. Let your Representative know that you oppose H.R. 669 as drafted and the financial and/or emotional effect it will have on you, or your friends, or your family members if it passes. The link below will allow you to send an email to your Representative in Congress and even give you the option to follow up with a phone call.

Click Here To Say NO To H.R. 669!

The season of spring, weather seems to sing!

Well, the weather is singing for our reptiles. With the temperatures hitting mid-80's, many are enjoying a bit of natural sunshine. Although we use artificial UV producing light bulbs in our lizard enclosures, nothing compares to the real thing. So they get treated to an hour or two of natural sunlight whenever possible. Vitamin D3 is essential for proper calcium metabolism in reptiles, just as in people. Improper lighting or a deficient diet can lead to calcium deficiency and Metabolic Bone Disease. An independent group ran various tests on a multitude of lights and posted the results here: http://www.uvguide.co.uk/ An excellent resource for reptile enthusiasts!

Don't forget about your own Vitamin D needs! For fear of skin cancer or busy lifestyles, people are avoiding the sun and using sunscreen when they do venture outdoors. Doctors are finding folks deficient in Vitamin D and recommend 1,000 IU taken daily as a supplement.

Here she is...Miss America!

Well, not exactly, but she did have a run down the catwalk. This is Blizzard, our 4yo female Argentine Tegu sporting the fun T-shirt she wore when she won 2nd place in the costume contest at the Orlando Science Center's 2008 Pet Fair. Eat your heart out, Lassie!

Here's Looking at You, Baby!

Jackie is looking better and progressing nicely! Our little iggy has finished his antibiotics, eats like a horse, enjoys the sunshine, and is behind my computer chair in his cage, looking from his empty food bowl up to me. (OK, buddy, just a minute, Geez!) You can see in the pic that his skin infection has cleared up nicely. He's been shedding almost continuously since I've had him, but I'm sure that is from increased growth as well as part of the healing process. Stats: He's up to 65-70 g from 45 g.

I genuinely hope that this info can help another ig owner one day, as it was difficult for me to find info and pics of this sort of thing when I started with him.

I'm on the Road Again...

The Road to Recovery, that is! Jackie went to the vet and we have a plan of action. It appears that there is a infection going on, either bacterial, fungal, or both. For that, we were prescribed a topical cream that covers both. He also has antibiotic injections to be given at home. The black areas are likely to be thermal burns and are probably permanently scarred black. Being so weak, he may have a calcium imbalance, so he has a potent oral calcium supplement to help him on his way, along with fluids given in the office, and baby food offered by eyedropper at home. I was certain his tail had dry gangrene at the tip, but our wonderful exotics vet, Dr. Orlando Diaz, found that it is flexible and may be viable. We'll keep an eye on that tail tip! He's not out of the woods, but seems to feel better already. Don't you think he looks better, too?

His treatment plan:
Fortaz injections every three days x 5 doses
Lukewarm diluted Betadine soaks 15-20min twice daily
SSD ointment applied twice daily after mild cleaning
Calcium glubionate twice daily
Maintain hydration through soaking and feeding baby food
Provide proper temps, natural sunlight, good husbandry

Meet Jackie...

Well, Captain Jack Sparrow...or maybe Jackie O. We're not exactly sure until he gets a bit older. Jackie is a hatchling iguana, a few months old, that was given to us by an owner who was concerned about his worsening skin condition. He was dehydrated-probably from not eating, having too low humidity, and losing moisture from his damaged skin. He is 40g instead of the usual 90-100g for his length-having a systemic infection brings the appetite down. Our plan is to rehabilitate Jack and include him in our presentations at parties and school shows, but probably not until the fall after he has recovered.

These pictures show a before and after effect. Taken the first day I had him (last Saturday), the first two are before bathing, and the last one is after soaking in a warm diluted Betadine bath. Yes, he's tired, stressed, and biting that dish towel! When I searched the Internet for info about dermatitis or other skin disorders in Green Iguanas, there was very little info and no pictures. As we are an education based organization, my hope is that this journal can assist someone else in their iguana journey.

We Won! We Won!

What did we win? Well, it probably isn't exactly everyone's idea of lottery, but we won a baby Argentine Tegu. They are wonderfully delightful creatures that we use in our educational presentations. He's only 8 inches long and bright green, but soon he'll be 3-4ft and weigh over 6 pounds! We entered an essay contest sponsored by a tegu breeder. The topic was proper care of tegus and the winner would receive a new hatchling for the price of shipping. That was a savings of close to $200 for us. If you would like to read our essay and learn more about tegus, here is the link:
http://www.zoomomscience.com/teguarticle.htm

Our photos show our new hatchling, Kreacher, at three weeks of age, and Blizzard, a 4yo tegu.

Our cup runneth over!

Returning from the Keys (our home away from home), we knew we would have some baby reptiles hatching soon. Sure enough, when I peeked into the incubator, there were 6 baby bearded dragons crawling around and 3 or 4 baby corn snakes coiled around the eggs. Snakes are funny little hatchlings. They slit the egg with their egg tooth, poke their head out, then dart back inside for a day or two until they are quite sure it is safe to come out. Within three days, however, we had 11 new little serpents slithering in little homes of their own (and 19 little dragons). Unfortunately, one did not live beyond the three day mark, but sometimes that happens with animals that have many young. The others are quite healthy, and the coloration is a bright as we expected it would be!

New Projectsssss

Sssimply ssspectacular, our newest breeding project involves corn snakes. The male (left) is a Sunglow from the stock of famous breeder Kathy Love (Cornutopia) and the female (right) is a high red albino similar to the Sunglow in that she has very little white markings.

Congratulations!! It's a...lizard

Hatching day is here and we're checking the incubator a couple of times each day for new little heads popping out of eggs. The first baby bearded dragon is already out and in a new cage, but three of his friends are still deciding on the best plan of action. Here's a morning shot of the sleeping beauties as well as one shot of the early bird!

Because they are nourished so well by their yolk sac, they may not eat for a couple of days. Then they'll be offered plenty of leafy vegetables, flower petals, and small crickets appropriately named "pinheads". We'll keep them for approximately 4 weeks before finding them happy new homes.