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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Jan312021 by KevinNo Comments

Gadgets and Goodies for Natural Terraria

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So, you are planning a natural terrarium? Here is our run down of the must have electrical gadgets and goodies available that can be used in a naturally planted eco-terrarium. Lights with spectrum suited for plant growth – a critical area for every terrarium that is often overlooked or skimped on. Every reptile keeper understands the relationship with light for their pets, but when it comes to natural terraria some keepers hope they will get away with an unsuitable product! Don’t! Plants need the correct spectrum of light to thrive. Plants lights also have the added benefit of being bright and bringing out the best colours – best of both worlds, plants thrive, and the display looks its best. There are many brands, all based on LED lights – one…
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Jan312021 by KevinNo Comments

Pssst! Want to know how to build an eco-terrarium?

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There are many ways to build a natural terrarium, it can be jungle – or it could be desert. It could have a soil drainage system in levels – or it could have a false floor and be a paludarium style for fish as well as reptiles and amphibians. There are manufacturers that provide even more variety in methods, BioPod for example provided a full and complete system – Zoo Med provide a range of products to make paludarium building much easier. Further confusion – do you want an automated rain system? Or are you planning on spraying manually? What about light choices? It’s an almost mind boggling array of options and paths for the hobbyist to take. Here is just one option, starting at the basics – actually constructing…
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Jan12021 by KevinNo Comments

Brrr! Winter and the challenges of livefood!

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During the winter months it can be difficult for the keeper of lizards, frogs, spiders and other livefood eaters. Just keeping the locusts, crickest, waxworms, mealworms etc alive and nutritional can be quite a challenge. It has to be said the cold weather isn’t livefood friendly. The best option is to collect your livefood from your local store. You can inspect it before purchase to ensure the livefood is good quality – but that’s not the main reason. Ultimately at this time of the year a period of a couple of days in the postal service will not be very helpful at all in keeping your livefood in good condition – or even alive. Most mail order livefood suppliers, like ourselves, will pack with extra layers to insulate the insects…
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Jan12021 by KevinNo Comments

Probably the least comprehensive guide to supplements ever.

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If you are reading this expecting an in-depth review of all the supplements that are on the market nowadays aimed at reptile nutrition – you are in for a shock! No, this will give you some home truths about the basics. Armed with this basic knowledge you can then decide for yourself which you feel best suits your reptiles needs. Not that long ago there were no supplements that were balanced for reptiles. Commercially we had SA-37 and Vionate for the general pet market. From there we had keepers experimenting with human supplements for their reptiles – Vitamin D and calcium (ground) tablets were popular, along with liquid additives such as Abidec (for human babies). It really was not acceptable at all, and we all sighed a huge sigh of…
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Dec12020 by KevinNo Comments

MistKing systems

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I've used MistKing systems for several years now, long before they had a UK importer and distributor. As a fan of eco-natural planted terraria and frog keeping I first started with the more "off the shelf" beginner misting systems provided by the more "mainstream manufacturers". However I was quick to realise that these were not up to my needs, and really only suitable for home use with a low use environment. I noticed the various misting systems that plant nurseries were using over in Holland, and then saw similar systems for sale at European shows such as at Houten and Hamm.  I took the plunge and never looked back. I have also installed systems in colleges and elsewhere that have very heavy use - they are still working well and…
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