HerpTime

Would you feed these micro super worms to your pets? I’ve been doing some more tests with these tiny worms from Timberline and my micro geckos love them! They’re wondering what other types of creatures would enjoy these micro worms. What would you feed them to? With enough interest these worms could become available for online order. And hope you enjoyed watching my geckos enjoy themselves! #microgecko #gecko

Setting up my golden mantellas for breeding in this low boy 36x18x12 @Zoo Med Laboratories, Inc. terrarium. These endangered frogs are one of my favorites to keep and I’ve had great success with them. I use the short 12” ZooMed enclosures as these frogs don’t climb much and are terrestrial by nature. Keeping it simple aids in the process of being able to find eggs when they’re laid, as that’s one of the most important parts of the process! I found that tradescantia has been a fantastic plant to use for them and spreads quickly in their terrarium, taking over and turning it into a lush jungle floor. I’m sure this makes the frogs feel more comfortable and likely to lay eggs. To learn more about the process once the eggs are laid I’ve made videos all about that on my page as well! My hope is that continuing to breed this species in captivity makes them more accessible in the hobby and guarantees we get to keep enjoying them in captivity sustainably. I have babies out of the water and starting to get size and I’m sure this batch will make their way to some fellow mantella lovers soon!

Speed run making a baby gecko with me! These are ashy geckos (sphaerodactylus elegans), a very easy to keep species of micro gecko. The babies pop out looking like little highlighters and are adorable, but I think the even more incredible feat of nature is how the females lay eggs. This female will go thru this process of laying one large egg (in relation to her body size) at a time. Sometimes once a month, sometimes in even shorter intervals! All species of sphaerodactylus lay one egg at a time just like this, and I find it amazing what their little bodies are able to accomplish. Just the amount of space in the body the egg takes up, and the energy and nutrients it takes to create such a proportionately large egg. Extremely taxing on their bodies, yet they can lay several in a breeding season! Just another reason to be amazed by these little geckos. A fun video I couldn’t help but share again!

Night crawlers for breakfast 🪱 my Chinese crocodile lizards (Shinisaurus crocodilurus) have been in brumation for a couple months and they're officially awake and eating. Brumation is the reptile version of hibernation, where metabolism greatly slows and they enter a state of dormancy. Once awake for a few days, food is definitely on their minds! Earthworms are an absolute favorite food of theirs and an important part of their diet. Finding clean night crawlers has worried me in the past, but thankfully I can get all my feeder crickets, super worms, roaches, and even these night crawlers from Timberline and don't have to worry about that anymore. The crocodile lizards definitely approve! #HerpTime #reptile #lizards

Shipping some lizards across the world 🌎 everyday thousands of reptiles, amphibians, fish, invertebrates, and even birds are getting shipped through the mail and this is how I do it too. These lizards will get dropped off and arrive at their destination in less than 24 hours! This is the most effective and safest way to get reptiles from point A to B and is extremely effective with near zero mishaps. It’s always an amazing feeling to hear from the recipient how happy they are with the animals they unpacked. So fortunate that I get to share this passion with others and that I'm able to send them across the country with such ease. And even if I don't ship you a lizard, sharing the passion on here thru video counts too!

Time to season some crickets with some ZooMed Repti Calcium and Reptivite 🧂 It’s inevitable that the comments always ask, “whats the white stuff?” when I post a feeding video. They’re vitamin supplements, specifically from @Zoo Med Laboratories, Inc. — I use these to enhance and enrich the feeder insects I give to my lizards. This is because the insects we feed in captivity don’t always contain all the vitamins and minerals our lizards would be eating in the wild, so adding it makes sure they get everything they need for healthy growth, bodily function, and successful reproduction. (Though these are Timberline vitabugs, which come with a lot of extra vitamins and omegas pre-loaded in them, but that’s for another video!) I prefer the ZooMed supplements not only because they fulfill the nutritional needs for my animals, and l’ve produced multiple healthy generation of lizard using almost exclusively these two products, but because it’s the best product I’ve found to stick to the feeders! Effortlessly, the calcium and vitamins will attach to crickets or other feeders when shaken well, and will not come off for hours. Other brands don’t adhere well or eventually start to fall off after a short period of time. I haven’t found that problem with this product! And I don’t think the lizards mind it one bit. I always get a kick out of watching my lizards eat, and I hope you will too. Enjoy!

Tiny living works of art 🦎 showing off some of the adult pairs of micro geckos that have begun (or should start) breeding this year. The amount of color and patterns that can be on such a tiny animal is just so cool. You can also see that in many species the males and females are “dimorphic”. This means that the two sexes are visually different. Usually, the males have more vibrant color, but that doesn’t make the females any less attractive; they still have some of the most amazing naturally occurring patterns of the animal world. Most of the pairs in this video are full grown. You can see why they make great terrarium subjects as they are small and beautiful. But please remember, they are best for watching, as handling really isn’t an option: they’re very fast and very fragile. I only have them out as I was relocating pairs to new enclosures and figured it was the perfect time to share how beautiful they are. #microgecko #sphaerodactylus #gecko

Testing out a new product my friends @Zoo Med Laboratories, Inc. sent me… the Reptitemp Dimming Thermostat! This gadget solved 1 problem I knew I had and also solved another problem I didn’t even think I had! I’ve always fought the battle of keeping my reptile rooms warm enough without them getting too hot for the animals. I have the whole space HVAC on thermostat (which gets expensive). And I never wanted to use a normal thermostat to have the lights turn on and off at designated temps because the lights would be flashing all day and really disrupt the animals’ day/night cycle. With this dimming thermostat, the lights can dim up and down depending on the temp of where the probe is! Genius! And I didn’t even think to offer my lizards sunrise and sunset… but this thermostat can be programmed go dim up in the morning and down in evening, giving them that gradual wind up and wind down. Rather than immediate on and off. I’m going to have to tinker with this device a little more to best fit my needs for so many herps, but this is a new piece of technology that is so worth investing in! Now to convince ZooMed to send me some more! Lol! #reptile #terrarium #lizard

Experimenting with keeping my golden mantellas cool for the summer with a Repti Cooler from Zoo Med. In my most recent video on the mantellas, I created a new habitat for them. This time, I’m trying to make the habitat perfect, template wise. Most of the species I keep are warm and tropical, and love when my facility hits 80-85f… the golden mantellas, not so much. They prefer cooler temps, and are the odd ones out. I can’t turn AC on for my whole place, because majority of my critters wouldn’t be happy. That’s where this Repti Cooler comes super handy. It isn’t just a fan pushing air, it’s actually pushing cool and humid air, which is great for the frogs and won’t dry them out. This gadget is a solution I never thought of, as I’ve tried normal computer fans before but they can lower humidity a lot. I’m going to keep experimenting with it to see how they do long term, but so far, I’m happy with it and so are the frogs!