| Is a reptile really the choice pet? | | Posted Thursday, January 26, 2006 9:36:03 PM by Rose Martins | Caring for your pet reptile might appear to be an easy task, but is it really. You need to have the correct cage, terrarium or tank for your pet reptile, the necessary food and supplies and ensure that the habitat is suitable for your reptile of choice. 
An exotic reptile on show in a pet store, might seem as if it is flourishing, but that might not be the case. And the cute chameleon that hangs around your garden at home, should probably be left in the garden. Exotic reptiles are also known to harbour disease that can cause fever, diarrhea, and meningitis in humans.
Reptile art is popular amongst exotic animal lovers, but most prefer to see their reptile whole and healthy, rather than as a pair of shoes or a handbag. Ancient civilizations spent many hours drawing pictures of reptiles in the wild. Many of these reptile images have been replicated, and decorate our homes and offices.
For people looking for an exotic reptile as a pet, you are probably better off filling your room with pictures of reptiles, or the fluffy, soft and cuddly variety.
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| | | Offering a little help for nature's oddballs | | Posted Wednesday, January 17, 2007 3:15:54 PM by Blog57 Team | | LONDON It isn't often that the northern hairy-nosed wombat, the finger-size slender loris and the mountain pygmy possum share the spotlight. But these creatures are the focus of a conservation program launched Tuesday to safeguard some of the world's rarest mammals. The Zoological Society of London's program highlights 100 species selected because of the peculiarity of their genetic backgrounds and the degree of danger they face. The species' lack of close relatives makes their preservation particularly urgent, society scientist Jonathan Baillie said. He described them as natural masterpieces. .... | |
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| | | And the flute plays on | | Posted Friday, January 05, 2007 1:13:06 PM by Blog57 Team | | Out-of-work Indian snake charmers are playing their flutes at weddings and world festivals after pressure from animal rights groups led to their prized reptiles being impounded. "We now have accepted the fact that we cannot perform with snakes," said Hawa Singh Nath, a wiry, bearded 68-year-old charmer who lives in the suburbs of New Delhi. Nath performed his 300-year-old music at the Dubai film festival in 2005, while others have travelled to the U.K. and West Asia or at special wedding or birthday party shows. Other charmers have swapped roles and now work at animal centres and forestry offices, educating visitors about their beloved reptiles. The earliest Indian snake charmers were healers who learned the art of treating snakebites and were called on to remove snakes from homes. The practice blossomed in the 20th century as it was promoted as a practice to draw tourists.... | |
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| | | Alligator goes from Fla. icon to neighborhood nuisance | | Posted Saturday, November 11, 2006 3:29:37 PM by Blog57 Team | | MIAMI -- More than 18,000 times last year, Florida wildlife biologists heard a complaint about an alligator. There's a gator swimming in our lake. There's a gator sunning itself in my back yard. There's a gator that ate my dog. Now, as more and more of the reptiles once prized as endangered are being tagged by Floridians as nuisances, the state wildlife commission is considering rules that would make it easier to trap and kill the scaly creatures slumbering on suburban patios. Some proposals might allow homeowners to trap the critters themselves, rather than calling in state-hired trappers. Other ideas include altering the animal's legal status from "species of special concern" to "game," and allowing more extensive hunting. The state population of alligators is estimated at more than 1 million.... | |
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| | | Namibia: Quick! What Does a Grasshopper Look Like? | | Posted Monday, November 06, 2006 3:19:57 AM by Blog57 Team | | FIVE young deaf and hard-of-hearing students at the Namibian Institute for Special Education (NISE) have invented 24 new sign-language signs so that deaf and hearing-impaired people can also take part in discussions about insects, spiders and reptiles. 'Words' for insects such as grasshoppers or dragonflies have until recently not existed in the sign language vocabulary. The five students took part in an EduVenture excursion to the Langer Heinrich Mountain in March, where they collected and identified a number of insects, spiders and reptiles. It was during this excursion that the students noticed the linguistic gap in the sign language and they invented the 24 new signs. The animals' typical characteristics served as reference points. For instance, the sign for "grasshopper" mimics the powerful hind legs of the grasshopper, and the "praying" front legs of the praying mantis gave shape to the sign for this insect.... | |
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| | | Trotting With Emus To Walk With Dinosaurs | | Posted Tuesday, October 31, 2006 7:08:54 PM by Blog57 Team | | One way to make sense of 165-million-year-old dino tracks may be to hang out with emus, say paleontologists studying thousands of dinosaur footprints at the Red Gulch Dinosaur Tracksite in northern Wyoming. Because they are about the same size, walk on two legs and have similar feet, emus turn out to be the best modern version of the enigmatic reptiles that once trotted along a long-lost coastline in the Middle Jurassic. .... | |
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| | | Slippery thieves get away with reptiles | | Posted Friday, October 27, 2006 1:17:43 PM by Blog57 Team | | Thieves broke into the reptile enclosure at Featherdale Wildlife Park, at Doonside in Sydney's west, about 1.30am (AEST) today, police said. Security guards found the roller shutter to the reptile house kicked in and at least four snakes taken from their enclosures. The stolen snakes include a non-venomous water python and an Arafura file. .... | |
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| | | Shedding | | Posted Wednesday, October 25, 2006 11:07:03 PM by Blog57 Team | | Do you love animals but hate the shedding most leave behind? If hair on your clothes bothers you, then stick to reptiles or fish or maybe a pet rock. Most pets shed, and even the most well-groomed pet will leave evidence of their affection for you on you and around your home from time to time. What can you do to keep this to a minimum? If you are adamant about sharing your home with a low shedding pet, check out the AKC or Cat Fancier's Association websites at www.akc.org or www.cfainc.org. They are great resources for breed information. Otherwise, daily brushing is a great start, especially for pets with thick coats, like long-haired cats and Siberian husky-type dogs. Guinea pigs and rabbits will also enjoy a daily brushing, and they too can have long fluffy hair that needs regular attention.... | |
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| | | Live Reptiles on Exhibit | | Posted Friday, October 20, 2006 11:06:23 PM by Blog57 Team | | Emily Schulte loves to grocery shop. She enjoys making fresh salads for her friends. The only thing is her friends are reptiles. "I usually buy mustard greens, kale, spaghetti squash, cilantro, carrots and sometimes mango or papaya," Schulte said. "The person at the checkout stand usually says, 'wow, you eat healthy.'" Schulte is the animal caretaker at the Monte L. Bean Life Science Museum at BYU. She is a student studying wildlife and wildland conservation and her part-time job is to feed, bath and clean the living spaces for the live reptiles at the Bean Museum. Just like a mother, Schulte doesn't like to pick favorites, but she did spend time talking about a couple: Oatis, an African spurred tortoise and Colonel Mustard, a bearded dragon who is native to Australia and New Guinea.... | |
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| | | Fence lizard surprisingly alive, well in Poconos | | Posted Monday, October 16, 2006 3:11:45 AM by Blog57 Team | | It was on a sweltering, late July day in 1999 when I saw my first fence lizard in Pennsylvania. The very thought that these sun-loving reptiles — so common in Florida, Georgia and the Pine Barrens of southern New Jersey — lived on the Pocono Plateau would never have occurred to me except for reports from two very reliable witnesses. The late Jack Lowris, owner of Pocono Snake & Animal Farm, told me of their possible existence on exposed shale outcrops at the eastern edge of the Pocono Plateau within Delaware Water Gap National Recreation Area. And Dave Coulter, good friend and professional photographer formerly for the Pocono Record and now freelance said he actually saw a lizard along such a cliff while hiking there during the previous summer. continued below .... | |
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| | | FALL FUN FEST - TRAILSIDE EVENT IS A HOOT: Owls, other critters the stars of annual museum fundraiser | | Posted Tuesday, October 10, 2006 7:07:46 PM by Blog57 Team | | CANTON - More than 50 youngsters and their parents oohed, ahhed and hooted as the great horned owl showed off his 3-foot wingspan at the Blue Hills Trailside Museum Fall Fun Fest.He wants to fly away,'' 5-year-old Bethany Miller said as she watched the owl try to escape from education coordinator Stephen Hutchinson's gloved hand.The horned owl was one of many animals that visitors had a chance to see up close this weekend during the museum's annual Fun Fest and yard sale.Proceeds from the yard sale and tickets for the indoor programs help pay for the museum's many programs.The It's a Hoot'' presentation featured the 5-pound horned owl and a smaller Eastern screech owl.The hoots from the 3 -year-old horned owl in his cage while Hutchinson showed the screech owl brought forth a ripple of hoots from the crowd of youngsters.This was just a really great day to be learning about nature,'' said Bethany's mother, Celia, who came from Roslindale for the Fun Fest.The owl program was one of many activities held throughout the weekend that included programs about bees, butterflies and reptiles, guided tours by rangers and a pumpkin painting table that ran out of pumpkins because so many people attended.... | |
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