Category: Care Sheets

A stunningly beautiful Old World communal tarantula species, electric blue legs and a rich sandy orange body contrast beautifully. An average adult size makes them a mid-sized tarantula species at around 4-5 inches. In the wild they occur, as their name suggests, on one Island off the coast of Africa, Socotra island.   The Island is relatively dry, however in captivity it is necessary to create a microclimate in an area that is quite high humidity, around 70-85{cb5d0a8cf0c44aef2db327d9ab0dba08dd09aed1126b509e5fa01d3aaa87fe47} - this can be achieved by spraying their webs with water.  The rest of the enclosure can be kept at around 60-70{cb5d0a8cf0c44aef2db327d9ab0dba08dd09aed1126b509e5fa01d3aaa87fe47} humidity. They will create quite an intricate system of webbing, especially when kept in communal groups. Provide a relatively large vivarium for groups, so they have room to go about…

Jungle Carpet pythons are a smaller, more brighter coloured variety of the Carpet python that occurs through many regions in Australia, Solomon Islands, and Papua New Guinea. Jungle Carpet pythons are found in the rainforest areas of Queensland in North Eastern Australia. Although a relatively easy species to maintain in captivity, they are best kept by those with some experience of keeping snakes. They are a medium sized snake (six to seven feet long) that is often a little bad tempered and many bite frequently in defence. However, for those that have the ability and tolerance they are a truly beautiful snake. Keep this species in tall vivaria as they are an arboreal species – they like to climb on branches and vines. We would suggest a minimum of three…

Brown Basilisks are an overlooked species of Iguanid lizard, generally the flashier Plumed Basilisk with its bright green colouration and bigger crests take the attention of most potential keepers. That’s a shame, as given the chance the Brown Basilisk is a great vivarium subject and has the added bonus of being smaller than the Plumed. In the wild they occur in the tropical and sub-tropical regions of Mexico, Central America and into Columbia and are relatively commonly found. They share the well-known ability to run over water on their hindlegs, their rear feet have developed skin between their toes that aids this – along with the superfast speed they can achieve. Along with the Plumed Basilisk they are not a commonly kept species in captivity, the large vivarium they will…

Over the last few years here has been a revival of natural planted terraria – I say revival as the keeping of planted terraria has been very popular in the past too. Some people keep the terraria reptile or amphibian free and aim to just create a slice of natural terrain with plants and mosses only. However, that would just go against the grain for us, and of course we would add some nice frogs or light climbing lizards to complete the picture! Once there are animals added it becomes a true eco-system, that of course needs balancing – we need a clean up crew to deal with the mess the animals make. This is where we can take advantage of mother nature as there are already natural feeders of…