Welcome to our new feature, blogs about the animals that have recently arrived or given us joy in the last few weeks!
Firstly I need to start with Eric leaving us after being at the shop for around ten years. Eric was our resident Rhino Iggy that we bought as a youngster to keep long term. We miss him very much, but when the offer came in to offer him a long-term home in a breeding project we decided that it was time for him to have a new life. Good luck Eric in your new harem! We aim to have the large walk in room size vivaria that housed him providing a new home for some lucky critter very soon. The rumour is another long-term Iggy – this time a Green Iguana! For those that have known the shop they will remember the previous tenant of this enclosure was a Green Iggy, affectionately known as Old Man Iggy.
Covid is still providing a shortage of animals to be able to stock, even including hit and miss supplies of popular pets such as Leopard geckos, Bearded Dragons and even Corn snakes. We have managed to source Leo’s and Beardies all the way through, but are currently extremely in need of buying Corn snake hatchlings. Please, if you have any please contact us!
A firm favourite of ours, Blue Tongue Skinks arrived recently. These youngsters are absolutely gorgeous and are settling in and feeding well. To watch
a Blue Tongue devour a snail is something else! They can be treated in many ways much like a Bearded Dragon when supplying temperatures and lighting, and are relatively easy to keep. They can be troublesome towards each other as adults though, when I used to breed this species they would often end up with no toes on their front feet due to this.
Another delightful species to come back into stock is Asian Water Dragons with a shipment of little cuties arriving. These grow to around 60-90cm and are a beautiful green lizard. Just keep in mind that as adults they really need a large tall vivarium with branches to climb and a deep pool to bath. A 
group of this in a large naturally planted vivarium makes an awesome display that, for me, keeps me occupied watching for hours. I have a confession to make, when these youngsters arrived and I was photographing them, I was disturbed with an emergency downstairs at the shop. I had inadvertently (and stupidly) left the youngster I was photographing loose in my photography tent! Upon my return he was basking under the studio lights in exactly the same place as I had left him – looking at me as though to say I don’t think much of this photographer, I can’t hold this pose forever!
My last for this blog is the arrival of some Savigny’s Agamas (Trapelus savignii) – a fantastic small
Agamid species that occurs from Egypt through to Pakistan in arid srubland, forest and desert regions. Another cutie species that I look forward to stocking, and they desperately need a following in the hobby as they are as every bit as characterful as a Bearded Dragon. Growing to a maximum of around 25cm they are a much smaller alternative and can be kept in broadly speaking very similar habitat and conditions as Bearded Dragons. The males have a beautiful blue throat during the breeding season – which these ones have at the moment. They are so easy to work with, and although they do have moments of flightiness they are generally as easy to handle and work with as Beardies. I only wish more breeders were as intrigued with the species as I am.
Come back soon for more animal antics and updates!