Sep12021 by KevinNo Comments
Animal Antics – third edition

Animal Antics – third edition

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Some beautiful Cane toads (sometimes called Marine Toads) arrived with us. This is usually referred to us the largest toad in the world growing to around 20-25cm. The Marine toad name comes from the ability they have to tolerate brackish water. The more recent name, Cane toad, comes from their success in colonising cane plantations in Australia. They are easy to maintain, greedy and very hardy (ask any Australian). The Bearded Dragon is now pretty much the most popular larger pet lizard species. They are usually tame and relatively easy to maintain. Another reason why they are so popular is that they now come in a variety of colours. Various shipments of morphs arrived last month and always sell quickly. Coast to Coast Exotics always tries to stock a large…
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Sep12021 by KevinNo Comments

TARANTULAS AS PETS

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Guest Author; Lee Arden of The Spider Shop (to celebrate us becoming a distributor of TSS products) The keeping of Tarantulas is becoming more and more popular. They are noiseless, often docile and none time consuming pets. A pet Tarantula requires very little space, they are also easy to feed and care for. Unlike other smaller pets they are long lived, with some of the more popular species living 10 – 15 years. Tarantulas make a good alternative to traditional pets are a suitable for under 18’s as long as parents supervise during feeding and maintenance. PROS: Unlike Reptiles and Fish very little specialist equipment is needed to house a tarantula. Just an enclosure, furnishing and a heat source. They are noiseless creatures that do not smell. – Low Maintenance!…
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Aug182021 by KevinNo Comments

Animal Antics – 2nd Edition!

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June was a busy month for us, and slowly it does seem that normality returns on supplies of animals and equipment that were so badly affected by Covid. We even have more and more Corn snakes, Bearded Dragons and Leopard geckos now – who would have thought such popular pets would ever be in such short supply! Some simply beautiful Crested geckos arrived, including some Dalmation Cresties.  Crested geckos are a fantastic arboreal species that are easy to maintain and very characterful. They do well in natural planted terraria, just remember to keep them on the cooler side – anything higher than around 25-26C can increase the likelihood of stress and health issues. Most keepers provide UVB nowadays for this species, we always suggest Arcadia’s ShadeDweller. This species is so…
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Aug12021 by KevinNo Comments

Humidity and Rain Spray Systems for Terraria

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We love natural terraria! What makes a naturally planted terrarium so appealing? Where do we start? Would some random thoughts help, in no particular order? • The challenge of creating a slice of realistic habitat! • Knowing we have provided the best for our animals! • The planted terrarium looks great in the living room! • Observing natural behaviour from animals, plants and everything that lives in the terraria! • Fine tuning the environment, there is always improvements to be made! • Creating a balance, a total microclimate within the terrarium! There really is nothing that comes close, when considering keeping a reptile or amphibian. Wherever possible we would always choose a natural eco-terrarium over a simple more sterile bare vivarium. We have covered many aspects of building and maintaining…
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Jul12021 by KevinNo Comments

Animal antics – our first edition!

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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…
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May12021 by KevinNo Comments

Your best buddies in the eco-terrarium – the clean up crew!

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Along with plants and the correct soil mixture and forest floor litter, an important and integral part of any successful eco-terrarium are the custodians (sometimes called clean up crew). These are the various critters that forage and eat various moulds, algae, spores, excrement and decaying matter. Not only do they clean up the terrarium they also help with the fertilisation process, which in turn helps the plants flourish. It really is the perfect balance. The three commonly used clean up crew are springtails, isopods (woodlice) and earthworms.   Springtails are tiny white arthropods that live up to their name – they can jump! They are a harmless critter that will only thrive in damp conditions with the correct food – they will quickly die should they find themselves out of…
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Apr12021 by KevinNo Comments

The season of love is upon us again, for our little pals.

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Everybody deserves a bit of excitement in their lives! Including our reptiles and amphibians! The season of love is upon us again, for our little pals. Plus it’s pretty exciting for us too, there is no better feeling than getting conditions so perfect for them that they successfully have babies of their own. However, there are some key points to remember if you intend to breed reptiles or amphibians. • There are many stimuli to get reptiles and amphibians in the mood. This doesn’t mean there is a Love Honey store for them, it merely means their urges are often prompted by weather conditions and seasons. Research is the key here for each species. Sometimes for tropical species it can be the onset of the rainy season (especially for amphibians).…
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Apr12021 by KevinNo Comments

Incubating reptile eggs – a quick rundown and a useful tip or two

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There are many ways of incubating reptile eggs. By far the easiest is to use a purpose designed reptile incubator. There are several brands to choose from, virtually all the big names offer an  incubator. One of the cheapest and most popular ones is the Lucky Reptile Egg-o-bator. At first glance it looks a little novelty based with its egg-shaped design and cheerful graphics. But it does the job for a clutch or two of small species eggs, such as geckos and snakes.   Lucky Reptile Hatchboxes and of course their Hatchrite incubation medium make the incubation job easier . Hatchboxes are a moulded plastic box, specially designed for incubating reptile eggs. The Lucky Reptile Hatchrite medium is a ready mixed fool proof medium that is so easy to use.…
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Mar12021 by KevinNo Comments
Waking up tortoises after their winter sleep – yawn!

Waking up tortoises after their winter sleep – yawn!

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Yes, it’s that time of the year again when tortoise owners start to get excited at the prospect of spending time with their shelled pal again. Hibernation (many people prefer the word brumation for reptiles) is an important part of many species of tortoises life. For those species that naturally hibernate it is best to obey mother nature and allow them to hibernate – these species include Horsfields, Spur-thighed (not to be confused with the much larger African Spurred) and Hermanns tortoises. Commonly kept species that must not hibernate include Red Foot and African Spurred (commonly called Sulcata) tortoises. To not hibernate the likes of Horsefields and Hermanns tortoises will likely create health complications throughout their lives. However, hibernating a tortoise is a complex issue, and even waking them up…
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Mar12021 by KevinNo Comments

Botanical new thinking for tortoises

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There has been a lot of supplements and foods brought to the market over the years. Pellet food arrived some years ago, and eventually was developed into many varieties and flavours – and in many circles regarded with suspicion nowadays. In more modern times a flurry of natural based products have now been offered to tortoise keepers, for supplementation and foods. One of the first products to take our attention was when Komodo launched their range of leaf and petal mixes designed just for tortoises. ProRep soon followed with their own range, and it was even expanded to cover Bearded Dragons. Both ranges span many differing dried leaves and petals that can include plantain, echinacea, mulberry, dandelion leaf, red clover flowers, hibiscus petals and marigold flowers. All of these products…
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