This last summer in Prescott, AZ I caught a lizard - some type of whiptail (stripes and a blue tail). Maybe one of these: After we got her she laid eggs... if that matters for any help with her. She now has tremors... pretty bad. Her toes shake and as of the last couple of days it seems to be happening in her body. She does get calcium supplementation and has a UV light. She eats mostly mealworms and crickets... more crickets because she seems to prefer those. We did have a batch of "odd" mealworms that turned completely white - really weird... not sure if they were somehow exposed to a toxin that is effecting the lizard (Blue Stripeman is her name). She does not seem to be doing well... over the last few days the tremors are getting worse. Any ideas? Any hope? We have grown rather fond of her... (INSERT .SIG HERE)

Seen at a relative's home in Minneola, Florida. Photographed in a garage the other day; refuses to leave for some reason. Any reason to fear this snake? What type of snake is it? Picture at: Thanks in advance to anyone who can help.

When I was younger, so much younger than today, I had an ig, kept him for about four-and-a-half years, then left him in the care of the science teacher at school when I graduated. My ig never exhibited any of the nasty behaviors I've been reading about in this ng, which makes me think maybe it was not an iguana after all, or maybe not the green variety. Anyway, I am once again looking for an iggy pet or something of that ilk, and would recommend any advice on something that's not going to tear my hands apart or exhibit funky behaviors I need to be an expert on in order to deal with. Guess that's why I always like Guinea pigs easy to care for, no special equipment required except a vacuumm cleaner to clean out their cage kickage, and no nasty behaviors or potential behaviors to deal with. I'm an apartment dweller in a major city, so I've got space limitations. Any and all herp or rept recommendations sought. If I had my 'druthers, I'druther have a nice big house with a "reptile room" and some really serious stuff goin' on in there, but my wife, ... well ... that should say it all , she'll tolerate a herp/rep that's got the personality of a Guineapig! . TIA

Please help me with a question in regards to my Iguana, I just found an Iguana in the middle of the street dodging traffic.Poor guy almost got wiped out by a SUV, anyway I am keeping him, has a nice big cage.but he doesn't seem to be eating. How long can they go before starving to death? I've been giving him strawberries, acorn squash, cilantro,mango, etc. How big of an appetite do they have? I'm feeding him like he is an eight foot crock. I also have a heat lamp for him. I live in Florida so he is outside, at night I cover the cage up with a tarp. Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated! I named him MOZART. and I don't want him to die due to my lack of knowledge about him. Please help. And NO this is not a little kid playing around on the computer I am 54years old. Thanks for any information you can give me.

Last night I went road hunting and caught a beautiful Great Basin gopher snake, Pituophis catenifer deserticola. He was crawling across a mountain road at about 6500' elevation, and I probably saved him from getting squashed, because I almost got rear- ended as I got out of the car to retrieve him. Perfect specimen, fairly young, about 38" long and 130 grams. Incredibly docile for a wild snake - he didn't hiss or try to bite me at all, and seems content to sit on my tummy while I watch television. He should make an excellent pet, though nothing can replace my previous gopher snake, who escaped after ten wonderful years of loyal companionship, only to meet a horrible fate involving a little girl who thought he was a rattlesnake. Some photos: 5e348aced7.jpg c6a2a56818.jpg 3c3de2b64e.jpg

A Butler County man was flown to a Dayton hospital this afternoon after he was bitten by a poisonous lizard. Police in Wayne Townhsip say the man showed up at the firehouse on Jacksonburg Road this afternoon, saying he'd been bitten by his pet lizard. Officials haven't said what kind of lizard the man owned or where the animal is now. The man was exhibiting symptoms of poisoning and was flown to Miami Valley Hospital. His name and condition are not known. According to the Encyclopedia Brittanica, there are two kinds of poisonous lizards in the world; the Gila monster and the beaded lizard. Both can deliver fatal doses of poison if the bite is deep enough. [link] Q.cspx

I injured an adult Eastern Hognose snake (about 26" in length) while mowing yesterday. He's missing a patch of skin about 2" long and 1/2" wide on his back, about 6" above the vent and has a few other minor injuries, including missing part of his tail (I say 'he' but have no idea of it's sex, nor do I think it makes a difference). Perhaps the worst injury seems to be to just above the left eye. It's a very small injury but may mean a brain injury, because he tilts his head to the right and seems to have little direction or purpose when crawling. At least all of the wounds have stopped bleeding. I have him in the house now and while I have little hope of his long term survival, I will do what I can for him. I cleaned the wound and put some antiseptic cream on it and now have him in a large tub on some towels. I offered him water today but he refused it. He shows no sign of biting and only hissed when I was removing the grass clippings from the wound. Otherwise, he's very lethargic, which I would expect from an injured snake. I am not sure but I don't think I ran over him bodily with the tires of the mower, just passed over him with the blades. At least his back doesn't seem to be broken. He's not the first critter I've chunked up in the mower, unfortunately, but the first to actually survive. What I don't know is what temp should I keep him at that will offer the best chance of surviving his injuries. The cool basement (low 70's) or in the house, usually around 78 or so. Any suggestions on that, cool or warmer? I've no intention of keeping this animal as a pet, I'm well beyond that stage, but I would like to save him if possible. I don't kill offhand any of the critters around here, but I do have neighbors (and I use that term very loosely) that do, most especially snakes. These days, without dogs around, I don't even relocate the venomous ones as I did in years past. I'll try and catch a small toad for him (there are quite a few of them around under normal circumstances but I suspect they'll be scarce when I'm actually trying to find one) but I've no idea if he will take it. I will assume that he was out and about because he was hungry, since their breeding season is over by now. I've had a few notable successes with injured wild animals over the years (a hummingbird chick with a broken foot once and 3 Eastern Phoebe chicks that were infested with some kind of mites) but most have been failures. TIA, jc

I went road hunting tonight and caught a beautiful kingsnake. It was lying in the middle of the road and I picked it up and put it in a container. It was fairly docile compared to other wild snakes I've caught in the past. It seems to be 2-3 feet long, and I would have preferred a baby as a pet, but this one will make a good breeding specimen, assuming I can catch another one of the opposite sex. What I really wanted to catch was a few gopher snakes to breed. I once caught a baby gopher and had him for ten years and he was the nicest pet I've ever had. Kingsnake Photo #1 [link] 45a80e40be.jpg Kingsnake Photo #2 [link] 7a522bd636.jpg

I have an adult corn snake. He has always been a good eater. He has never regurgitated, and only once refused food. Tonight he ate a medium rat. He's fat so the rat didn't make a dent. After eating he came back to the bowl looking for more, and if I approach the cage, he comes out looking at me to feed him. Could he possibly want two medium rats? It seems like more than the care sheets call for.

My tortoise (Scooter) is probably about 50 years old. I have had her for 24 years. She has not eaten for three weeks. Is she knackered? Or can a vet actually do anything? Steve

I saw that post- well I have 2 FBt's and they are only slightly poisoness. If you plan on having them share a tank, BAD IDEA!! The Toad will try to eat the snails and fish. and, the toads will drownd in too much water. Plus, it's not safe to do that because the other animals in the tank will be harmed. A LOT! -thanx, love UR group~

had him or her for about 7 years. Always been healthy and actively pursue meal worms and crickets. For last 3 week he has not eaten. He will leave his den when he hears me remove the cover and look around, but isnt interested in the wiggling meal worms at all. He might flick his tongue on them once and move on. His tail is still fairly fat. This behavior has not happened before in the prior 7 years. any thoughts on what the cause or what to do? thanks

I've just had a pretty upsetting incident with my corn snake. I've owned him about a year, and he hatched about six months before I got him. For the entire time I've owned him, he has been as tame as can be. If he was ever afraid, he simply tried to get away, but he has never, ever* even *attempted to strike at anything besides a frozen-thawed mouse. =85 Tonight I took him out of his cage to handle him a bit. I had been handling him about 10=9615 minutes, when he was crawling off of me onto the floor, which is not unusual. So, I obviously needed to pick him back up before he disappeared under some debris in my room. While reaching for him with one hand, the other hand pushed a box that was on my floor, because it was in my way. The box was about 1.5=962 feet from the snake. Suddenly, the snake tensed up into striking position. Again, never ever seen him do this unless he was being fed (and I have a separate container for feeding). Then he began striking at absolutely any movement! I was completely surprised. I decided that he was obviously too stressed to stay outside his cage any longer, so there was an empty shoebox that I sometimes keep him inside when I want to carry him around the house. I placed the shoebox next to him, with him striking at the movement as I did so. A second later, he seemed to recognize the shoebox's smell, and started exploring its outsides, but he was not entering it. So I got a nearby hanger=97he struck again, even though my reaching for the hanger was nowhere NEAR him=97and attempted to help him into the shoebox. He continued to strike, and was now rattling his tail for much of the time. Eventually I managed to get him into the shoebox using the hanger, but not before he had escaped into a pile of debris in my room. I quickly uncovered him because the last thing I wanted was for him to be lost in my house (which thankfully did not happen). Starting from when he first started striking to when I finally got him into the shoebox must have been at least 15=9620 minutes! Towards the end of the incident his posture continued to get more aggressive, raising his bent S-shaped neck off the ground to make himself appear larger. At that point I was absolutely puzzled by this behavior and oddly, even though I know he couldn't hurt me even if I got bit, I found myself retreating from his strikes because I was so absolutely unused to having the snake strike at *me*. Once back in his cage, he stopped striking at movement=85but he was still clearly tensed, and moved only in short, twitchy bursts. I waited a few minutes to see if he would return to his hide, but he just sat motionless, or twitched away from me if I moved. At the time this happened my room had low lighting and was admittedly pretty warm. However, he's been in my room many times before, without incident. Do you know what could possibly have explained this? What should I do if it continues?

My leopard gecko seems to have had a shedding malfunction, most of it has come off but there is an area around one of his eyes, actually the whole side of his face that apparently refuses to come off. This seems to be hampering him greatly, there is a crusty film over one eye and it interfers with his mouth, and it generally seems to be getting his spirits down, he has not eaten in weeks. Hes nice and plump, but I don't know how long he can last without eating. I tried peeling a bit of it off for him, I did get some but the area around his eye still remains, and I'd hate to break out the tweezers in such a sensitive area if any other option remains. Any ideas how to help the little fella rid himself of this unwanted skin ?

I'm considering buying my first snake, most likely a Children's Python since they're pretty small, and would like some advice on setting up a suitable enclosure. I was thinking of buying a second hand aquarium tank, are there any problems with using that? What size would I need? I would probably need a heat lamp as well, what wattage? What type of bedding should I use? Dave Australia