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Terrifying? What even..

Terrifying Baby Quokka Born at Sydney Zoo

A Taronga Zoo keeper has begun the round-the-clock task of caring for a six-month-old Quokka, one of three joeys born at the Zoo this breeding season.

Keeper Bec Russell-Cook has spent the past week carrying a makeshift pouch and waking at 2am for one of five daily bottle feeds, as she helps with the female joey’s weaning process.

The joey, who Bec has named ‘Meeuk Mia’ or ‘Mia’ for short, will grow up to have an important role at Taronga’s Education Centre, meeting and helping children learn about the importance of looking after native wildlife.Bec said the joey, whose name means “halo of the moon” in the language of the Noongar people from Western Australia, is already growing in confidence.

Photos:Paul Fahy/Taronga Zoo

Learn more and see more pics: ZooBorns

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Why you should breed insects for your reptile

This is a very quick little blurb on why it's better to breed your own rather than buying them all the time from petstores or online. Be sure to do your research on specific insect needs!

1. It's cheaper: Obviously breeding your own food would be cheaper and can be really helpful if you have a baby that eats a ton. It might take a few months to set everything up and getting breeding proper but after that, you're golden.

2. It's easy: Breeding a variety of insects is extremely easy. They don't require much care and some even breed just from proper care. I really recommend dubia roaches, mealworms and superworms due to their simplicity to breed and maintain.

3. It's healthier: It's so much healthier for your reptile if you breed the insects yourself, that way you know exactly what went into the bugs instead of guessing with dehydrated store bought insects. You can even make your own gut load formulas that are perfect for your specific reptile by grinding up fortified pellets, freeze dried veggies, calcium powder and vitamins!

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Youtube channel!

Check it out for video reviews and more! https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCfTCE_UFD4lFjrRA3SoXtsQ

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Crickets vs Dubia Roaches

Just some information on insects to feed to beardies, how to breed them and how to keep them.

1. Crickets - These extremely available staple feeders can be found in most pet stores for cheap. Don't be fooled though, these guys aren't hardy at all and can be a pain to breed. They also aren't as nutritious as other feeders can be. For protein they are alright but they are high in phosphorus. To breed you need a proper temperature (a heat pad on the container you're keeping them in works fine), a moist soil container and luck. To keep them is fairly simple, all you need is; a container to keep them, shredded newspaper, egg crate or toilet paper rolls or coin tubes for them to hide, food, and gel water or wet paper towels for drinking. If they get even a little bit too warm, cold or humid they will die.

Pros: Easy to find, easy to dust, easy to keep, cheap

Cons: Smelly, die easily, hard to breed, noisy, jump

2. Dubia Roaches - Personally I recommend these little guys highly. They are easy to breed and keep. They're really nutritious for your beardeds as well since they have a longer digestive track than crickets, more meat and less shell. They are an excellent sources of protein, at least double that of crickets. To breed them simply keep them in a clean enclosure, feed them well and keep them warm; it's best to have more females (wingless) than males (have wings but can't fly) as the males may eat the other males babies. Keeping them is extremely easy as well, you just need a 10 gallon tank or 40 qt tub, no substrate or solid newspaper, a heating pad, egg crate or toilet paper rolls or coin tubes, food, gel water or wet paper towels. Also the best part is they don't smell at all, unlike crickets. Additionally they live for 1+ years and females can breed their entire lives (30 babies a time every month!)

Pros: Easy to breed, easy to keep, easy to dust, have longer digestion track for more gutloading, don't smell, quiet, don't jump

Cons: Expensive, harder to find, need temperatures of low to mid 90s

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Tiny update

I ordered some dubia roaches on Monday and I'm hoping to get them today or by the end of the week. I'll be starting a colony and reporting on my findings with keeping them, feeding them, breeding them and feeding them off to my lizard. Posts have been delayed as I've been busy but there's tons more coming, plus I'm starting a youtube channel for my reviews and projects. Hope you guys will stay tuned for that!

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Bearded Dragon Stress

I've just seen too many of these cases lately.. highly stressed dragons with dark stress marks on their bellies and throats. If your dragon is waving and is housed by itself, that's stress also. I'll give you some tips I've learned to keep stress down in your animal.

1. New dragon? Quarantine - Don't touch or bother your dragon for a few days when you first get it. Just let it settle and get used to it's new environment. Then maybe let it have a nice meal and mist it down. Then every day just put your hand in the tank and let them come to you and investigate. Or you can put an old shirt or sock in their tank for them to get used to your scent. I think after about a week of that, then start handling them and giving them weekly baths.

2. Cover up reflective surfaces - The biggest cause of stress for dragons in aquarium set ups seem to be from reflections on the glass, making the poor thing think it's housed with at least 4 other dragons! It's best to cover it from the inside on at least 3 sides so they don't see themselves and stress about imaginary dragons.

3. Hides and foliage - This might mean sacrificing an easy to clean viv but will dramatically lessen their stress levels. Personally my vivarium is full of fake plants and places to hide and burrow into. Often I find my girl napping contently in or under plants. In my experience, the more hides the better. Also try adding shredded newspaper to your hides, it will really promote natural digging behavior at bed time. Which in turn makes them feel safer, since they are "buried".

4. Never leave prey in the tank - I can't stress this enough. Never, ever leave live insects in your tank. It will only make your beardie stress out. They prey can climb on them, bite them or even completely disrupt their sleep. Remember to remove anything uneaten or feed in a separate tank.

5. Avoid disrupting sleep - Sleep is very important for your reptile. Interrupting that for any reason at all is a big no-no, especially if they're young. So avoid turning on light at night and don't move them unless it's absolutely necessary.

6. Routine - Having a schedule of how you do things really helps bring down stress, since the dragons eventually learn how things will be going down through out their day and they will know what to expect. Especially in the lighting department, remember to turn off and on the lights at the same times every day or get a timer set up to do it for you. Feeding them at the same times every day also seems to help.

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Just some pictures of my healthy baby. Every juvie should have a chunky belly like this chubber.

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Bearded Dragon Adult by Exo-terra

As far as nutrition goes for pellets, these are pretty excellent. I'm a huge fan of exo-terra products. They always seem super high quality and made with your herp in mind. The price is a huge drawback.. as well as the strange fish food smell. But they are made with ingredients your reptile can digest easily and are fortified with vitamins and the like. Unfortunately my girl doesn't eat them on their own, but I leave them in her tank for over night.. incase I don't get up at the right time to feed her. Overall this product gets a 4 out of 5, the price and smell cost it a perfect score.

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Gourmet-style Mealworms by Fluker's

These are excellent! One of the first canned foods my beardie actually enjoys. She gobbled them up excitedly when I introduced them to her. I'm not sure if they're as nutritious as live but they certainly are convenient for those who don't want to deal with live insects or to use as an emergency food when you can't get to the petstore. Be sure to drain off the liquid, they last longer in the fridge that way. All in all, this product gets a 5 out of 5! 

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Bad reptiles/invertibrates for beginners

These are my top 5 reptiles that beginner hobbyists shouldn't own, they might not be the most popular choices but I firmly believe they shouldn't be geared toward beginners.

1. Bearded Dragons - While it's true they're very tame, easy to handle and feed well in captivity, I feel they aren't suited for beginners. These reptiles should be given to someone after they owned something simple like a Leopard Gecko or similar reptile. Their set up requirements are expensive and can be a pain to monitor, such as UVB and temperatures. Since they like it hot, the cost of lights and heating implements can really end up being a lot if you don't know what you're doing. Another issue is preparing their food daily, chopping up and providing a variety of vegetation. These guys prefer fresh food to prepared foods. They also require bathing to avoid dehydration.

2. Iguanas in general - Iguanas tend to have bad attitudes and grow very large in a short amount of time. They might be cheap, cute and little as babies but in a year or so they become big, mean lizards with expensive care requirements. They need huge cages when they get to be adults, not to mention you must provide UVB and heat for them as well as places to climb. Once they get very large some species feed on rodents and other reptiles. All in all they're expensive, aggressive and not a good choice for beginners regardless of their inexpensive cost in a petstore.

3. Hermit crabs - Yes they are inexpensive to own and maintain but since they are sold in places like malls, shopping centers and otherwise for extremely cheap.. most parents and children buy them on a whim. These impulse buyers have zero clue how to take care of these animals and end up killing them with their inexperience. If you have the proper knowledge before picking one up, they make excellent pets.

4. Tarantulas/scorpions - These poor invertebrates are often purchased by younger children or teens who have no idea what they're getting into. I've seen so many of these beautiful animals perish under the ownership of the aforementioned. They have relatively inexpensive living requirements and food costs which makes them popular. Plus what boy doesn't want a big bad spider or bug to scare his sister or other girls with? Unfortunately most don't know these pets don't enjoy handling and do tend to bite or sting, which usually ends up with the creature being killed by a parent or abandoned outside or worse, defanged/destinged. 

5. Red eared slider - These turtles are adorable as babies and they're inexpensive... but don't be fooled. They get very large and need a lot of care. Firstly they need a very large tank for their adult life (upwards of 75 gallons) and enjoy heated water as well as a basking spot and area to get out of the water. They also require intense UVB when young for proper shell formation and cuddle bone to chew on for proper bone formation. They need a filter to keep their water from becoming stagnant as well, which is another costly sum of money with cartridges and what not. They also don't do well with tank mates like fish or smaller turtles, they often end up eating them even. All in all, not a beginner pet, regardless of how cheap or cute they are in the petshop.

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Cricket Keeping for reptile food

If you're like me you can't stand when crickets start to smell a couple days after you get them. Or worse dying off less than a week that you've had them. But I've figured out ways to keep them easier, healthier and cheaper. I don't know if anyone else does it like this but this is how I keep them.

Dry substrate - I use a thin layer of something dry like sphagnum moss, aspen, or carefresh seems to work well for these guys. It keeps the odor down and seems to make them feel less stressed.

Coin tubes - I use coin tubes/rolls for them to hide in opposed to egg crate. Egg crate is fine and all but the coin tubes are cheaper (I get mine at a dollar store) and much easier to replace. Plus crickets seem to love to hide in these tubes which make it much easier to just shake them out for feeding.

Dry reptile pellets - Anything that's a dry pellet diet for the reptile you're keeping can be fed to the feeders. It's a great way to gutload them and use up anything your critter doesn't want to eat. The crickets seem to really like to pick piece of pellets up and carry them away into their hiding places.

Water source - This is highly debated but I typically use water crystals and re-hydrate them myself. Or carrots work well, I dislike using potatoes because they smell awful after just a few days and tend to mold quickly. 

Temperature and humidity - This is a big one, crickets die so easily if it's too hot or cold. And being too humid drowns them. So keep it dry and around 70 - 75 degrees.

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Beardie bath time tips!

I just finished giving my girl a nice warm bath. I figured I'd share some of the tips and tricks I've learned to keeping beardies healthy, hydrated and clean via bathing! Assuming you know the basics of baths for beardies, here are some advanced little tid bits. Hope these help!

100% Organic Aloe Gel - It's a great bath additive, keeps their skin healthy and hydrated as well as their internals if they drink it. It's non toxic, natural and very healthy for them. I found a jug of it at my local CVS in the digestive aid section, so it may be showing up near you!

Baby toothbrushes - The softer the better! These are excellent for softly scrubbing your beardie's scales to make sure any stuck on crud will come off for sure. It also seems to help loosen stuck or general shed. I find it gets them extra clean. Alternatively you can use your fingers to rub down your beardie but I think the brush really helps.

Dedicated beardie washcloth - This doesn't help much in a bath but it saves you paper towels, complaints about "the reptile was on that towel I'm not using it", and it's kinda cute... like a mini towel all for the beardie. Just remember to never rub them dry with a towel, just let them sit on it and dry out or lightly press the towel on them to remove excess water.

Repti Shedding Aid by Zoo Med - I like to put this on my girl after her baths, it's like beardie lotion. It improves her scale sheen and keeps her skin hydrated between baths. I don't recommend it for every day use but once a week if your beardie is getting regular baths seems just fine.

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Freeze Dried Crickets by Fluker's

The quality of the crickets seem pretty high, no foul odor and very plump when re-hydrated. My girl enjoys them either way I present them to her. I recommend soaking them in warm water before serving though, less impaction risk. Even when soaked they still don't have much of a smell but apparently taste good since she gobbles them down. I think they get a 4 out of 5.

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Leopard Gecko Food by Zoo Med

Unfortunately this product wouldn't work well for a leopard gecko and I've heard only bad things about feeding them this. It's understandable since geckos really prefer live food since they are insectivores entirely, meaning the lifeless/not moving dead flies aren't going to stimulate any hunting instincts. But as a salad add on for bearded dragons it's pretty good. Honey seems to tolerate a small sprinkle in among her salad plus it's a great way to get some protein and vitamins in her diet. I'd give this a 2 out of 5 since the intended use is below sub par, it'd be higher but my girl isn't crazy about them either.

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Repti Shedding Aid by Zoo Med

Another nice product by Zoo Med. This is great when your baby is going through a bad shed or is recovering from injuries which causes shedding to stick/not come off proper. I used this on my girl's recovering tail and the shed loosened up and dried out a few hours after. It came off like nothing. It is a bit pricey but seems worth the money if your herp is having a hard time shedding. I think this product gets a 4 out of 5, the price and small amount cost it a perfect score.

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Liquid Vitamin by Fluker's

This product is an interesting one. I much prefer the spray on type of liquid vitamin as it's easier to trick beardies into eating it. This on the other hand.. once they've had it they know what it is. My girl always puts up a fight about it like a little kid not wanting cold medicine. Of course it's good for them since it really helps their color and health.. but she acts like it's the end of the world. It must taste foul.. I definitely do not enjoy the smell. Be careful with the glass dropper as well, don't want your baby biting any of it off! This product gets a 4 out of 5 simply for the lack of beardie disinterest/dislike, otherwise it's an excellent product.

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This is Pimple. I saved her from our lawnmower this morning. I've decided to keep her since there's no water or natural habitat for her around us.. not sure how she got to our yard either. But now she's in a tank with tons of mealies to eat and places to dig!