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Post by mark68 on Oct 30, 2007 6:51:46 GMT
There are simple solutions to your problems in the past.
1 feed the insects used as food plenty of dandelion, clover tomatoes, carrots and other good veg to provide natural vitamins for your lizards. They also should maintain nice bright colours too. Use a little calcium powder too. Say one feed out of 5.
2 Use insects such as cockroaches and giant mealworms that can be fed from a sunken bowl in the enclosure. This avoids all the problems of escaped insects. Most of those crickets never get eaten ! It costs you alot of money. There are cockroach species available now that are very easy to breed and use like "red runners"
3 For Lacerta lepida (now Timon lepidus ) get some UV transmiting plastic to create more warmth for them without losing the UV light they need. The Lacerta viridis (western populations of this species now Lacerta bilineata) probably will not need covering other than with mesh. The walls of the enclosure should provide a sheltered spot as long as you place the enclosure in a sunny spot in the garden.
I know plenty of keepers who do this including myself and it works !
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Post by mark68 on Apr 19, 2007 16:43:29 GMT
Thanks Rob for your advice.
Mark
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Post by mark68 on Apr 14, 2007 16:37:43 GMT
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Post by mark68 on Oct 24, 2006 5:57:54 GMT
Thanks for the advice. My enclosures are large (3x3 metre), fully open air with chicken wire cover. They slope towards the south and are well drained, as they have a gritty/sandy soil. I sunk 4 metal sheets into the centre to form a square into which I made up a mix which would be easy for them to dig and would hold moisture. I thought because of the extremely sunny location, that the soil would dry quickly. I checked the centre area weekly and moistened it as appropriate. But I found very few eggs. We had a dry spring generally, but late heavy rains which didn't help. I know the animals are healthy, I had Eyed and Sand lizard young hatching naturally also Australian water dragons> I suspect the adults found most of the babies first !
Anybody noticed whether Females prefer raised areas?
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Post by mark68 on Oct 23, 2006 9:53:36 GMT
Anybody got any advice on finding eggs in outdoor enclosures or how to design enclosure to maximise the chance of finding them?
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Post by mark68 on Oct 23, 2006 18:41:58 GMT
Yes, very nice indeed. I was abroad at the time and I got a text message saying "guess what I found today".....
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Post by mark68 on Oct 23, 2006 7:17:44 GMT
And another pic...
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Post by mark68 on Oct 23, 2006 7:15:34 GMT
Thought i'd show you pic of baby tortoise. I didn't know eggs had been laid. 4 babies appeared in the enclosure over 2 weeks.
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Post by mark68 on Feb 14, 2007 19:42:44 GMT
I feel rather stupid because I forgot that the website existed !! I looked at it yesterday, and of course that is the proper place for the promotion of keeping reptiles/ amphibians outdoors (keep up the good work Killian !!).
Its a good idea to try to promote the site in reptile shops.
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Post by mark68 on Feb 11, 2007 15:52:09 GMT
I believe that is done with tortoises. I know of one keeper with spur thighs who does it, and I have read of it being used for Geochelone sulcata (african spurred tortoise). Its easy to provide a heated shed with insulation and a large pen outside that they can use when the weather is good !!
I have made some mesh rolling cages that are used for basilisks and baby water dragons mainly. I will take some pics and put them up when my wife returns from hols with the camera. The amount of uv the animals get outside is mucher higher than indoors with the most expensive bulbs. You can also grow plants well in them as well. I made these because I wasn't happy with the mesh cages like the Exoterra ones. I have had lizards make hols in them and escape. They also cut out a lot of light (UV reduced by 40 % !!)
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Post by mark68 on Feb 11, 2007 11:35:37 GMT
Thanks John I don't expect the average Burmese Python keeper to trade them in for Alpine newts !! But there are plenty of tortoises and Terrapins that should enjoy the sun on their shells that are not at the moment. Also plenty of people who could keep bearded dragons/ Yemenese chameleons etc outdoors for the warmer months of the year.
I have not seen mentioned on this site the possiblity of having indoor/outdoor cages like the ones often used for Chameleons and these can suit many species that would normally not be thought of as surviving outside such as basilisks/ chamelions
If you already knowlegdeable about reptiles you will not necessarily know why it is a good idea to keep them outdoors. Most reptiles are bought I'd imagine at pet shops and they have a vested interest in selling vivs UV lighting etc. So it would be good if the site sold the idea more in my view.
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Post by mark68 on Feb 10, 2007 14:03:21 GMT
Of those people that visit the forum some will be those like myself that have been keeping Reptiles and Amphibians outdoors for a long time, others will be be new to the idea, or may need convincing why its a good idea. For example a lot of first time tortoise keepers assume its best to keep there babies indoors with often poor diets, dehydration and bone problems due to insufficient calcium and ultraviolet lighting. How much better to have them in outdoor vivs with wild plants available fresh (dandelions, clover etc planted in the enclosures), high levels of Uv Light etc I don't need to convince many of the members of why its good to keep our animals outdoors. But would it be a good idea to have space to explain the benefits to new potential forum members.
How many reptile keepers have large collections in basic lab animal type cages. Should we not point out how liberating for the animal and for the owners outdoor vivs are. Maybe if we point out that you do longer have to clean out the cages that all the lighting including high levels of UV are free !! No more replacing uv bulbs every six months etc
We really should be evangelical about it !!! What does everybody else think??
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Post by mark68 on Oct 23, 2006 9:51:06 GMT
Maybe this this would be a good place for breeding advice/experience/tips
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Post by mark68 on Jun 4, 2007 15:23:15 GMT
Hi Alex there should be plenty of eyeds to go around !
Hi Miqe It would be great to share a beer or two, what a great idea !! I hope to see other members of this forum there too hopefully ?
Regards
Mark
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Post by mark68 on Jun 4, 2007 6:16:46 GMT
Hi Miqe when they are captive bred several generations the original locality tends to get lost as unfortunately in this case. But he was bought originally in Hamm as a captive bred youngster so I guess full cycle. I have a Portuguese vet who says of one of our four dogs "he does not like to be limitated" and I know exactly what she means. But "bad luck thinking" I will have to work that one out ! See you in Sept.
regards
Mark
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