Burmese Python at the Staten Island Zoo

As many of you already know, last week the Fish and Wildlife (“FWS”) service added 4 snakes to the Lacey Act: the Yellow Anaconda, Burmese Python, and two species of Rock Python.  This means that these snakes have been labeled as “injurious” and can no longer be traded interstate or imported into the country.  I don’t agree with this ban for several reasons, but maybe not all of the same reasons as those who profit off the reptile trade do, or maybe reasons that include those but that hit at a more personal level.  I am not going to get into detail of all the reasons that are obvious from everything that is being voiced within the reptile industry about how and why this this law is flawed (unless you guys tell me that you want that).  I just want to tell you about my feelings as an individual because you have heard all the other comments before.  –but first, here’s some background.

Background: The FWS service enacted this ban citing that it was for the protection of native species in the Everglades due to what they refer to as a “burmese python invasion.”  They have cited that they believe that burmese pythons were released into the wild by former owners.  Further, they noted that the ban is also for the purpose of preventing the spread of the species into other regions of the USA.  You can read the full FWS press release here: http://www.fws.gov/invasives/news.html

You can read the Lacey Act here: http://www.fws.gov/le/pdffiles/Lacey.pdf

The original bill contained nine species, including boas!  Five of the species were removed thanks to the efforts of the reptile industry, the public comment period, and USARK which represents the reptile industry.  However, FWS has made it clear that they intend to still add the other five species.

General Reptile Industry Reasons for Adding These Snakes to the Lacey Act is Flawed:

Okay, okay, I know I said I am not going to discuss the general consensus out there as to why adding these snakes to the injurious species list is flawed.  I thought I should at least point it out, however, and direct you to the right resources to read these viewpoints.  General reasons as to why the reptile industry is against this:

1. The reptile industry is a multi-billion dollar industry and it would wipe out the livelihood of those whose who lives are entangled in this industry.  See commentary from the United States Association of Reptile Keepers’s (USARK) website about the industry: http://www.usark.org/ . Also look at the facebook pages and blogs of industry leaders like Brian Barcyzk (BHB Enterprises owner, Snakebyte’s Tv Creater, and Creater of Snake Awareness Day) and Ben Siegel (owner of Ben Siegel Reptiles):

http://snakebytes.tumblr.com/post/16010829987/r-i-p-big-snakes

http://www.facebook.com/#!/SnakeBytesTV

http://www.facebook.com/#!/snakeawarenessday

http://www.facebook.com/#!/reptileshop

2. The FWS based their findings on the USGS study that has known fallacies and manipulation of data in it.  Further, there is evidence that the burmese python “stronghold” in the everglades is not quite as strong as it appears.  See USARK’s website for more information: http://www.usark.org/

3. The Humane Society (HSUS) is spending enormous amounts of money to push for these snakes to be banned as its agenda is motivated primarily around not allowing anyone to have any pets.  The HSUS has tried to use television ads that play to the animal-lover’s heartstrings in that they show abused animals and how people should donate their money to help such animals.  However, less than 1% of the money donated goes towards helping animals in shelters.  They spend a large portion of money lobbying against pet-keeper’s rights.  (Go to http://humanewatch.org/ for more information).  Here is a good article about the donation thing too: http://humanewatch.org/index.php/site/post/hsus_hypocrisy/

4. Many more reasons…but I am not going to name them all!

The Problems with Adding these Snakes to the Lacey Act:

I want to point out that anything that limits my rights upsets me.  Maybe that’s childish, but I am afraid that this government is quickly heading into the territory of a Brave New World-type control of humans.  I believe if you give them an inch, they will take even more than a mile!  I envy those who grew up in the 60s and 70s.  They truly had more freedoms back then (some of which I will not mention even though I think you know what they are).  Things were different.  You didn’t have to have a fancy zooology or biology degree to apprentice under someone with experience in certain types of animals, and therefore you could rely on your intelligence as a human rather than a piece of paper.  I have 3 pieces of paper: a B.A, M.B.A, and a CPA.  –but these pieces of paper are the wrong pieces of paper if I want to pursue my passion and work with, protect (through a wildlife rehabilitation program), and proliferate the rattlesnake species.

However, I believe that my rights to keep animals stop if they infringe on the animal’s rights.  Therefore, if I am keeping them in a situation of bad husbandry, not providing them with their every need so that they can thrive, and overall don’t have the competency to handle them, then I don’t have a right to keep them.  –but, if John Doe decides to poorly keep his burmese python, I don’t see how that should have any bearing on whether or not I can keep one.  The fundamentals behind adding these animals to the Lacey Act are that the FWS does not think that there are responsible pet owners out there.  Instead, they lump us into one category of irresponsible, animal-releasing, idiots that will destroy the ecosystem.

At this point in my life, I don’t intend to acquire a snake that can grow to be as large as a burmese python.  For me, I don’t have the amount of space they require, or the type of facility that they require, to keep this type of animal.  Therefore, I don’t.  I don’t think that many people do, quite frankly.  Suppose I had a gigantic house with a better-than-zoo quality setup, however.  I have the know how to take care of this type of animal, the financial ability, and an extra set of hands or two in my family to help me hold the massive snake if needed.  If this is the case, then why shouldn’t I be allowed to keep one?

This applies to ALL animals, in my opinion.  Take green iguanas.  You can buy them at any pet store for $20 when they are cute, tiny little things.  Any kid can get their hands on them and convince their parents to get it for them.  Why?  -because any parent that knows nothing about reptiles does not know what that animal requires.  The space, the expense, the food, proper lighting, etc.  Well you know what? That person should not be entitled to have that animal then!  It is going to end up abused or with something bad like MBD.

This is where distributors need to take more of an effort to put money second and the animal’s well-being first.  We are creating our own problems in that there are people who will sell any type of any animal to the first buyer.  That’s not right!  Why not take the time at the next reptile expo to make sure the buyer has the experience necessary and the know-how to take care of the animal?  -because if we won’t do it, the government is just going to outright ban them!

A Suggestion:

Okay, instead of banning ownership and trade of any species of reptile, let’s focus on the heart of the problem.  That is, John Doe is not taking care of his animal properly.  He didn’t research the animal, or doesn’t have the want to properly provide for the animal.  The state contends that he is a threat to the ecosystem as he may release his pet into the wild.

Why can’t we allow ordinary people the chance to obtain a permit to deal with such species that would otherwise be banned (like the burmese python or anaconda) or to keep one as a pet provided that they have the know-how, ability, and willingness to properly take care of it?  Let it be an exam on the husbandry of the species for something like a big, non-venomous snake.  The state could administer it in such a way that they receive revenue as a result (i.e. test fees) and could mix it in with existing fish and wildlife department functions.  Or if that’s too extreme, just have one prove that they have the correct setup and means of taking care of the animal.  For something more dangerous, like a venomous snake, establish some sort of system where one could take a series of classes and get a certificate of completion.  For example, there is an October 2012 venomous workshop in New Mexico (as an aside, I wish that my work schedule would permit me to attend!). You can read more about it here http://www.facebook.com/pages/Venomous-Workshop-2012/276081932412247. A series of in-depth courses like these should be enough to let you get your foot in the door or at least an apprenticeship to learn more.

To change the system to this extent may be unrealistic because it would require many parties to take the effort to make things right.  I entertain other ideas as well, but I think that an outright ban of nonvenomous species is not the best option.

Also a consumer alert from HumaneWatch on HSUS: http://humanewatch.org/index.php/site/post/consumer_alert/

Should People Be Allowed to Keep Exotic Animals As Household Pets?

Stuck eyecaps are serious issues if they are not removed in time.  The snake can end up blind!

As such, I took to removing it.  This one was a bit finicky.  At first I used a damp Q-tip and gently rubbed it over the eye, but it wouldn’t come off.  Then, I tried the tweezer tactic.  I sanitized, cleaned, and dried the tweezers.  Then I gently tried to coax the eyecap off but it was still stuck enough where it would be dangerous if I tried to force it.  Next, I put her in a nice bath with Shed-Ease Reptile Bath and let her soak for about thirty minutes.  When I removed her from the bath, I tried the Q-tip again and it wiggled off enough.  I followed up with the tweezer to pluck it out now that it was loose.

Here is the eyecap (sorry for the cell phone quality!):

We used a variety of method to get this one stuck eyecap off, including tweezers, Q-tips, and a soak in Shed-Ease

Different angle of the stuck eyecap

There are many ways to remove an eyecap.  Over at the Reptile-Parrots Forum (yes, you should join!) we had a discussion here on how to remove eyecaps.  Here are some of the many methods that we came up with (note: you may have to use a combination of methods):

-Using a damp Q-tip and gently rubbing it off.

-Using a tweezer to gently pull it off (very risky if you are inexperienced).

-Putting the snake in a slightly damp pillow case so that while he moves inside of the pillow case he will rub up against the material (suggestion courtesy of Wildheart at Reptile-Parrots).

-Soaking in warm water with Shed-Ease.  For smaller snakes, I use a critter keeper with a top to keep the snake in the container.  They are very useful.  For larger snake, like my jungle carpet python, I will use a large Rubbermaid 50 gallon or higher with holes in the top for airflow.

If you have more suggestion please contribute them in the comment section below.  I’d love to hear them.  Also, you can join the discussion at Reptile-Parrots here .

Please note that only experienced caretakers should attempt to remove difficult severely stuck eyecaps.  If you are having trouble removing one, seek the assistance of an experienced herp vet.

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Ren the Ferret

The following is a reprint from an article a friend of mine recently posted on Facebook. For the sake of simplicity I have left a link to the original post “How Doctors Die” by Ken Murray.  The subject may or may not be controversial to pet owners but I think it is something that must be broached, especially for Ash and myself as we take care of so many pets.

Case in point is Magic, my stray cat whom I saved from imminent death from a shelter over a decade ago when I saw an ad to save her – even though I already knew that she was an older cat and not a “cute as a button kitten” that so many people go for.  In the past few years, the doctors had been treating Magic who came down with hyperthyroidism.  The suggested treatment for Magic was a one time radiation (radio iodine) treatment or oral medications for the rest of Magic’s life. Not being able to afford the $2,000 for radiation treatment we opted to go for the Methimazole (tapazole) pill which was a lifelong treatment in which a pet owner has to administer a tiny pill to their cat twice a day everyday forever.

We did so for almost two years, but I really question if it was the right choice or not. At that point Magic had already lived well beyond the life that she was supposed to and she lived in a grand fashion.  Meaning the first half of Magic’s life from when she entered mine, I happened to be single and she was  my only pet. That said I spoiled her rotten, she ate what I ate and the whole nine yards. And when Ash came into my life none of that changed.

Fast forward ten years and being diagnosed with hyperthyroidism and constantly being treated with medication: her personality changed and she preferred to be alone in some dark corner most of the time, Magic’s heart was still beating at a rapid rate, she was still skinny and overate, she was both lethargic and hyperactive at the same time seemingly, she farted more often, had constant diahrrea and peed excessively. Yet we kept her treatment up to keep her a live longer because she was a beloved pet and the doctors SAID that she could live many more years. However in contrast I think her last few years sucked and she didn’t live very well. She seemed uncomfortable and upset all the time.

This is where I think its most cruel and potentially inhumane to treat a gravely ill animal is it worth it all to extend their life a few years?  I never anticipated owning so many pets after we bought our house, but I also didn’t realize how quickly time flies and that inevitably our animals will get old like us and die as well. For animals like ferrets and cats who have fairly short lives sometimes their natural life can come to an end rather quickly much like one’s teens or twenties or thirties even.

We as caretakers of our animals really need to think hard and long about what our actions will be when its time or near time for our pet to pass. Will we have the courage to think about the animal and not ourselves?

Are we really keeping this animal alive via treatment to improve and extend the animal’s life or are we doing so because we aren’t prepared for the consequence of not having this pet anymore in our life.

IN REALITY DOES THEIR LIFE WITH TREATMENT STILL SUCK? as compared to when they weren’t sick at all? In the latter case are we making our pet needlessly suffer because we can’t let go or think we are doing the right thing?

Its something that I have asked myself often the past two years as I watched Magic waste away. One of our ferrets died this year as well as our Mean Snake. Our other ferret is inevitably going to pass in the next years and I question whether or not he is living a good life right now. His adrenal diseases which you can thank Marshall’s for seems like a crappy disease to have even with treatment.

In either case of our first ferret and the Mean Snake the decision to put them down were clear-cut.  Ren, our ferret was already very old as far as ferrets go and even with proper shots and daily oral meds she went quickly. She became paralyzed from the waist down and could not walk.  Our King Rat (Mean Snake) lost its battle to septicemia and the disease had opened up her skin right to the stomach cavity. The last month of treatments and injections were all for nought, we felt better that we fought so hard to save his life but I don’t know if we should have now that we have 20/20 hindsight.

With these losses this year in 2011, it has forced me to ask myself if the time comes again for another one of our beloved pets to pass what will we do and which of us (Ash and/or myself), if at all, will  champion for the animal that is sick or dying. I ask myself if we will do the right thing and just let the animal pass. For

Ash and myself sometimes I ask if we are cowards? The reason being is that we have provided clear instructions to one another for if we somehow ended up in a vegetative state or some other fatal or unfathomable condition we have instructed one another to not seek further medical attention to keep us alive.  Very similar to what the doctors in this article wanted for themselves. But I ask myself, why we didn’t or couldn’t grant that same amount of humanity and grace to our animals and forced them to fight for their lives. Maybe it’s because we didn’t and can’t know for certain what they desire and I’m afraid I’m not able to read their minds and make a decision without inputting my own feelings into the equation.  I know that looking back in all three cases it would have been better for the animals if we had put them down immediately yet we didn’t.  If I had done that to Ash if she were gravely ill, it would have been against her instructions to me and unconscionable so why is it ok for us to seek treatments for our animals that only prolong the inevitable to extend their lives for an arguably short period time? I don’t have an answer for this yet, but I hope that at least you will think about this subject as well. Euthanasia whether in humans or animals can be a hard subject to talk about but I feel that we need to.

With our animals, we are very much their caretakers, they did not choose a life in captivity and cannot tell us what they desire.  If we say oh look he looks like he has a will to live, I can’t say for certain if we are humanizing and expressing a part of our own feelings and injecting that into the equation for seeking treatment for a gravely ill animal. Each of us must make the hard decisionwhen the time comes to see one of our pets go and it must be dealt with in a mature and humane manner.

http://zocalopublicsquare.org/thepublicsquare/2011/11/30/how-doctors-die/read/nexus/

How Doctors Die

It’s Not Like the Rest of Us, But It Should Be

Years ago, Charlie, a highly respected orthopedist and a mentor of mine, found a lump in his stomach. He had a surgeon explore the area, and the diagnosis was pancreatic cancer. This surgeon was one of the best in the country. He had even invented a new procedure for this exact cancer that could triple a patient’s five-year-survival odds—from 5 percent to 15 percent—albeit with a poor quality of life. Charlie was uninterested. He went home the next day, closed his practice, and never set foot in a hospital again. He focused on spending time with family and feeling as good as possible. Several months later, he died at home. He got no chemotherapy, radiation, or surgical treatment. Medicare didn’t spend much on him.

It’s not a frequent topic of discussion, but doctors die, too. And they don’t die like the rest of us. What’s unusual about them is not how much treatment they get compared to most Americans, but how little. For all the time they spend fending off the deaths of others, they tend to be fairly serene when faced with death themselves. They know exactly what is going to happen, they know the choices, and they generally have access to any sort of medical care they could want. But they go gently.

Of course, doctors don’t want to die; they want to live. But they know enough about modern medicine to know its limits. And they know enough about death to know what all people fear most: dying in pain, and dying alone. They’ve talked about this with their families. They want to be sure, when the time comes, that no heroic measures will happen—that they will never experience, during their last moments on earth, someone breaking their ribs in an attempt to resuscitate them with CPR (that’s what happens if CPR is done right).

Almost all medical professionals have seen what we call “futile care” being performed on people. That’s when doctors bring the cutting edge of technology to bear on a grievously ill person near the end of life. The patient will get cut open, perforated with tubes, hooked up to machines, and assaulted with drugs. All of this occurs in the Intensive Care Unit at a cost of tens of thousands of dollars a day. What it buys is misery we would not inflict on a terrorist. I cannot count the number of times fellow physicians have told me, in words that vary only slightly, “Promise me if you find me like this that you’ll kill me.” They mean it. Some medical personnel wear medallions stamped “NO CODE” to tell physicians not to perform CPR on them. I have even seen it as a tattoo.

To administer medical care that makes people suffer is anguishing. Physicians are trained to gather information without revealing any of their own feelings, but in private, among fellow doctors, they’ll vent. “How can anyone do that to their family members?” they’ll ask. I suspect it’s one reason physicians have higher rates of alcohol abuse and depression than professionals in most other fields. I know it’s one reason I stopped participating in hospital care for the last 10 years of my practice.

How has it come to this—that doctors administer so much care that they wouldn’t want for themselves? The simple, or not-so-simple, answer is this: patients, doctors, and the system.

To see how patients play a role, imagine a scenario in which someone has lost consciousness and been admitted to an emergency room. As is so often the case, no one has made a plan for this situation, and shocked and scared family members find themselves caught up in a maze of choices. They’re overwhelmed. When doctors ask if they want “everything” done, they answer yes. Then the nightmare begins. Sometimes, a family really means “do everything,” but often they just mean “do everything that’s reasonable.” The problem is that they may not know what’s reasonable, nor, in their confusion and sorrow, will they ask about it or hear what a physician may be telling them. For their part, doctors told to do “everything” will do it, whether it is reasonable or not.

The above scenario is a common one. Feeding into the problem are unrealistic expectations of what doctors can accomplish. Many people think of CPR as a reliable lifesaver when, in fact, the results are usually poor. I’ve had hundreds of people brought to me in the emergency room after getting CPR. Exactly one, a healthy man who’d had no heart troubles (for those who want specifics, he had a “tension pneumothorax”), walked out of the hospital. If a patient suffers from severe illness, old age, or a terminal disease, the odds of a good outcome from CPR are infinitesimal, while the odds of suffering are overwhelming. Poor knowledge and misguided expectations lead to a lot of bad decisions.

But of course it’s not just patients making these things happen. Doctors play an enabling role, too. The trouble is that even doctors who hate to administer futile care must find a way to address the wishes of patients and families. Imagine, once again, the emergency room with those grieving, possibly hysterical, family members. They do not know the doctor. Establishing trust and confidence under such circumstances is a very delicate thing. People are prepared to think the doctor is acting out of base motives, trying to save time, or money, or effort, especially if the doctor is advising against further treatment.

Some doctors are stronger communicators than others, and some doctors are more adamant, but the pressures they all face are similar. When I faced circumstances involving end-of-life choices, I adopted the approach of laying out only the options that I thought were reasonable (as I would in any situation) as early in the process as possible. When patients or families brought up unreasonable choices, I would discuss the issue in layman’s terms that portrayed the downsides clearly. If patients or families still insisted on treatments I considered pointless or harmful, I would offer to transfer their care to another doctor or hospital.

Should I have been more forceful at times? I know that some of those transfers still haunt me. One of the patients of whom I was most fond was an attorney from a famous political family. She had severe diabetes and terrible circulation, and, at one point, she developed a painful sore on her foot. Knowing the hazards of hospitals, I did everything I could to keep her from resorting to surgery. Still, she sought out outside experts with whom I had no relationship. Not knowing as much about her as I did, they decided to perform bypass surgery on her chronically clogged blood vessels in both legs. This didn’t restore her circulation, and the surgical wounds wouldn’t heal. Her feet became gangrenous, and she endured bilateral leg amputations. Two weeks later, in the famous medical center in which all this had occurred, she died.

It’s easy to find fault with both doctors and patients in such stories, but in many ways all the parties are simply victims of a larger system that encourages excessive treatment. In some unfortunate cases, doctors use the fee-for-service model to do everything they can, no matter how pointless, to make money. More commonly, though, doctors are fearful of litigation and do whatever they’re asked, with little feedback, to avoid getting in trouble.

Even when the right preparations have been made, the system can still swallow people up. One of my patients was a man named Jack, a 78-year-old who had been ill for years and undergone about 15 major surgical procedures. He explained to me that he never, under any circumstances, wanted to be placed on life support machines again. One Saturday, however, Jack suffered a massive stroke and got admitted to the emergency room unconscious, without his wife. Doctors did everything possible to resuscitate him and put him on life support in the ICU. This was Jack’s worst nightmare. When I arrived at the hospital and took over Jack’s care, I spoke to his wife and to hospital staff, bringing in my office notes with his care preferences. Then I turned off the life support machines and sat with him. He died two hours later.

Even with all his wishes documented, Jack hadn’t died as he’d hoped. The system had intervened. One of the nurses, I later found out, even reported my unplugging of Jack to the authorities as a possible homicide. Nothing came of it, of course; Jack’s wishes had been spelled out explicitly, and he’d left the paperwork to prove it. But the prospect of a police investigation is terrifying for any physician. I could far more easily have left Jack on life support against his stated wishes, prolonging his life, and his suffering, a few more weeks. I would even have made a little more money, and Medicare would have ended up with an additional $500,000 bill. It’s no wonder many doctors err on the side of overtreatment.

But doctors still don’t over-treat themselves. They see the consequences of this constantly. Almost anyone can find a way to die in peace at home, and pain can be managed better than ever. Hospice care, which focuses on providing terminally ill patients with comfort and dignity rather than on futile cures, provides most people with much better final days. Amazingly, studies have found that people placed in hospice care often live longer than people with the same disease who are seeking active cures. I was struck to hear on the radio recently that the famous reporter Tom Wicker had “died peacefully at home, surrounded by his family.” Such stories are, thankfully, increasingly common.

Several years ago, my older cousin Torch (born at home by the light of a flashlight—or torch) had a seizure that turned out to be the result of lung cancer that had gone to his brain. I arranged for him to see various specialists, and we learned that with aggressive treatment of his condition, including three to five hospital visits a week for chemotherapy, he would live perhaps four months. Ultimately, Torch decided against any treatment and simply took pills for brain swelling. He moved in with me.

We spent the next eight months doing a bunch of things that he enjoyed, having fun together like we hadn’t had in decades. We went to Disneyland, his first time. We’d hang out at home. Torch was a sports nut, and he was very happy to watch sports and eat my cooking. He even gained a bit of weight, eating his favorite foods rather than hospital foods. He had no serious pain, and he remained high-spirited. One day, he didn’t wake up. He spent the next three days in a coma-like sleep and then died. The cost of his medical care for those eight months, for the one drug he was taking, was about $20.

Torch was no doctor, but he knew he wanted a life of quality, not just quantity. Don’t most of us? If there is a state of the art of end-of-life care, it is this: death with dignity. As for me, my physician has my choices. They were easy to make, as they are for most physicians. There will be no heroics, and I will go gentle into that good night. Like my mentor Charlie. Like my cousin Torch. Like my fellow doctors.

Ken Murray, MD, is Clinical Assistant Professor of Family Medicine at USC.

Background:

In my experience, yellow fungus disease is an aggressive, highly infectious, and flesh-eating fungal disease that has a high fatality rate.  Baby beardies appear to have less chance of recovery than their juvenile and adult counterparts as they have not built up enough strength in their bodies and immune systems yet.   I have found that symptoms of YFD can affect an entire clutch within the same week, although each individual may display symptoms at different rates during that first week.

When I purchased Flo from a well-known pet store in the USA in 2008, I noticed that several of his cage-mates appeared lethargic.  I did not know about YFD at this time.  However, when I phoned the store back and explained what was happening to Flo, I was told it affected the entire clutch and that many of them were undergoing treatment.  Further, after my vet discovered that it was YFD (even though I already knew it after some brief research), she noted that many pet stores were bringing in entire clutches that had the disease within that same month.  Because of this, I believe that conditions at large-scale breeders at this time may have been a reason why so many  pet store beardies contracted this disease.

Without the presence of symptoms, it would be very difficult to know whether or not your bearded dragon has yellow fungus.

Symptoms:

• Yellow, patchy spots on the skin (these will start to appear all over the body if left untreated)
• Lethargy
• Loss of appetite
• Necrotic or swollen appendages (such as a black-colored and swollen toe)
• Blister-like spots on the body (this is when the skin where the yellow, patchy spots are turn to dead skin and become moist and from thick and dry with adhered dead skin to moist and blister-like in appearance.)
• Blister-like spots begin to slough off or become necrotic

Unfortunately I did not have the foresight to take pictures of Flo’s yellow patches and blisters.  I did, however, get pictures of some of his necrosis.

Flo's Tail and Toe Necrosis (a Yellow Fungus Disease Symptom)

Flo's Necrotic Tail (a Symptom of Yellow Fungus Disease)

Flo's Necrotic Toe Tip (a Yellow Fungus Disease Symptom)

Treatment:

If your bearded dragon ever exhibits any symptoms of YFD, take him or her to the vet immediately.  As mentioned above, this is a highly contagious and aggressive condition that often results in fatality.  It can be treated in a vet’s care with oral medicine such as itraconazole (this medicine can cause liver toxicity so be cautious while using it) and applying topical antifungals to blisters and necrotic or swollen spots.  Furthermore, given that your beardie will likely be lethargic and have loss of appetite by this time, you will need to feed Oxbow Critical Care/Carnivore Care as prescribed by your vet.

Be sure that your vet has the proper experience with bearded dragons to diagnose YFD.  Antibiotics are known to exacerbate the condition.  In my experience with my bearded dragon, Flo, the vet thought that he had an infection despite my suggestions that it was YFD.  She prescribed an oral antibiotic and admitted when she realized, later, that it was YFD that it actually worsened Flo’s condition. 

(By Ash on behalf of Reptile-Parrots Forum and Chris and Ash’s Explorations of Exotic Species and Average House Cats wordpress blog )

]]> http://chrisandash.wordpress.com/2011/10/12/yellow-fungus-disease-yfdnannizziopsiosis/feed/ 1 Flo's Tail and Toe Necrosis (a Yellow Fungus Disease Symptom) ashesc212 Flo's Tail and Toe Necrosis (a Yellow Fungus Disease Symptom) Flo's Necrotic Tail (a Symptom of Yellow Fungus Disease) Flo's Necrotic Toe Tip (a Yellow Fungus Disease Symptom) http://chrisandash.wordpress.com/2011/10/05/pro-exotics-reptile-shop-burned-down-please-help/ http://chrisandash.wordpress.com/2011/10/05/pro-exotics-reptile-shop-burned-down-please-help/#comments Wed, 05 Oct 2011 20:01:25 +0000 Chris http://chrisandash.wordpress.com/?p=442 Continue reading »]]>

Pro Exotics Reptiles Tree Monitor

Link to website:
http://www.proexotics.com/
Link to Facebook Page:
https://www.facebook.com/PEReptiles

Hi Everyone,

If you are unaware and reading this post Pro Exotics Reptiles store burned down recently. They need help rebuilding as they lost 97% of their inventory (including the snakes). If you didn’t know not only was PE a fine breeder but they also were the folks who promoted and sold really inexpensive digital spot temp guns that we discussed here. These are the handy little gadgets that allows one to measure spot temps anywhere. Its a product that we use ourselves and vital to keeping any herp environment at optimal temps ensuring that your animals husbandry is the best for that animal.

Right now they are raising funds to rebuild their business please help out if you can, United Herps is running a donation page or you can buy a TShirt from Pro Exotics.

Here are the links and its for a good cause! These are standup folks in the reptile industry.

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http://www.proexotics.com/

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Iggy, Our Cuban Rock Iguana, Taking a Peek Outside

This is my Iggie. I know. I know. Not the most creative name out there for a Cuban Rock Iguana I’m sure. There may be many Iggies like him, but this one is mine…homage to FMJ!!!

Spider Igs, Spider Igs! Doing what a Spider Igs does. Can he fly, no he can’t!!!

Admittedly, our Igs is a cute little bastard. Only the thing is, he is not that little. The cage that you see him in is a custom built 7X3 foot cage.  Right now we are trying to figure out how to muster up an extra grand to put our Igs into a proper size as he grows into the 30lb adult giant that he will become in the next few years.

We say this as we are 3 years into living in and owning our very own starter home.  That said we have very normal things happening in our life right now that all requires money.  Getting married, honeymoon, new fridge to go with the granite counter top we just put in, new roof, new furnace etc…etc…

Add to that our Iggie who is a destructive force all on his own.  Iguanas truly do make bad pets, they are not for the average pet owner because the average pet owner will likely not be able to handle him or tolerate his wild animal behavior. *Iguanas cannot be tamed. They are one of God’s creatures and not meant to be domesticated.  They have millions of years of evolution built into them, and being tamed by humans was not part of the programming that God or nature put into this creature.

Case in point.  We have a Martha Stewart couch and loveseat combo.  I f*****ing hate it.  When we bought our house we sold off our motorcycles (a Suzuki GSXR 750 for Ash and a Kawasaki ZR7 for me) to pay for some extra upgrades to the house including this very expensive couch set that I absolutely hated. Ash loved it since it was highly fashionable, but with that said it is the most uncoomfortable couch to sit on as compared to one of those big fluffy microfiber couches that everyone else has.

So….snicker here is Ashes couch which she loves so dearly and for which we got into a huge shouting match in the middle of the Macy’s showroom making a spectacle of ourselves.  I wanted a fluffy comfy couch she wanted this angular high style monstrosity.

That said we have to keep the couch under cover 99% of the time because things like this happen…..

Bagel and a hazelnut smear?

What you are seeing is Iggie poop.  Ash is going to be horrified that I’m showing this. But alas, I have to do this to dissuade the average person from thinking that Iguanas are good pets. You see, Iguanas in all honestly are horrible pets. They take up tons of room. They poop mounds of poop that you swore came from your bulldog and they have razor-sharp talons. I know in general that an Iguana is usually an impulse purchase not much thought goes into getting one as they cost $25 at the petshop. That said I hope that someone reads this blog and stops to think, and then decides not to buy the Iguana that they initially thought was a great idea. They take considerable amount of time, space, effort and money to keep. Its not something that most people are willing to do day in and day out for the number of years that Iguanas live for which can be 20 years or more.

Our Igs since he is so big has to have a large cage. In our starter home that means that his cage is in the living room, it also means that we keep the door open so long as we are in the room so that our Iguana has the option to roam around and stretch his legs if he wants to. This also means that we can be in the middle of watching Glee and our Iguana will casually walk someplace random take a crap, drag his giant tail through it, but then out of curiosity use his talons to climb up the couch to see what we are doing smearing his poop EVERYWHERE en route to his destination.

It’s why we keep our couch covered up.  Another thing, I’m going to ask Ash to take photos of her forearms. She’s got like the German/Irish white girl no melanin thing going on and people often ask her if she has a cat and why her arms are so cut up? And then they look at me, they look at me as if I beat Ash at home and if they don’t think that then they think that Ash is some Goth white trash Emo chick who likes to cut herself out of depression.

Here is a pic of one of my scars that came from our Iguana almost healed up which looks a lot better now than the bloody mess that it was when he first cut me.

Being tan it’s a lot harder to catch some of these images on my camera phone. The cuts and scratches will show up a lot better on Ashes skin especially since she thinks that its ok to try to cradle a Cuban Rock Iguana like a widdy baby…. But trust me his little claws are sharp.

These animals are wild.  Period. They should not be sold at big box pet stores. The same way that ferrets and chinchillas should not be sold at big box pet stores. These pets are the pet industries dirty untalked about secret.  The baby chinchillas are adorable, the tiny Iguanas are adorable and look easy to keep, the ferrets look adorable and thus the pet industry appeals to the average stupid American consumer who doesn’t think and just buys on impulse.

The pet industry doesn’t care about the animals they are a multi-billion dollar industry, they just want to make money.  Case in point are ferrets. If not another ferret was sold at a big box store and the ferret pet industry collapsed, ferrets would be better for it. These are animals that should only be sold by professional breeders.  Instead the majority of pet store ferrets comes from ABSOLUTE EVIL.  Marshall’s is the largest ferret breeder in the WORLD. They produce ferrets and de-sex them at so young of an age that their hormone regulating system doesn’t have time to develop.  The result is that up to half of all ferrets by the age of 5 develop adrenal disease.  The option then for the ferret owner is to let the ferret die a slow horrible death or invest in a treatment that costs $300 a month which involves a very expensive shot and a see through by the vet who will gouge you with a $100 checkup that he doesnt really have to do.  That’s over $3,600 a year for a ferret that costs $119 at the pet store.  This is not including the high protein food that ferrets have to eat and other supplies that Marshall’s also churns out.

Yet they keep producing them.  Because it’s a multi-billion dollar industry.  I’m no PETA person mind you. I would hunt and shoot and eat a deer in a heart beat if Ash wouldn’t make such a big deal about it. I would toss a a bunch of live lobster in boiling water to their demise if it meant that I could smother their tasty selves in some drawn butter.

I once… to my great amusement asked Ash to come with me to feed stale bread and crackers to the ducks over by the pond across the street from our house which is something that I’ve always enjoyed and that Ash appreciates as something that I like to do.

***Then later on, we went out to dinner at our favorite Thai restaurant where I ordered the crispy skinned duck fro dinner while Ash looked at me….confused, asking me if I was aware that I just fed a bunch of ducks not more than two hours ago and that I just now ordered duck for dinner.

And with that said I’m accepting of the fact that we as human beings are the alpha predators on this earth.  But also as we have a higher brain function….well at least some of us do we should also accept responsibility and take guardianship over industries involving creatures.  I’m okay with shooting a deer (even though Ash won’t let me) so long as I get to skin and eat that deer.  I’m not okay though with folks who buy Iguanas and then casually toss them when they get too big for their liking. The same goes with Burmese pythons. I see tons of ghetto people from NYC buying these huge animals as babies and then when they get too big usually around the 9 foot mark try to get rid of them in any way possible or try to trade them like playing cards.

I only say ghetto people in NYC because I’m from NYC and if you take issue with me outing a section of people who typically cannot afford to own an exotic pet you can go cry about it somewhere else.  These are the same people who I see using WIC cards and then taking their groceries and putting them in the trunk of their Cadillac Escalades for which they have the keys to.

And don’t get me wrong, you can be WASPY too and still be a piece of ghetto trash. I label the act of buying an animal and then tossing an animal when you get bored with said animal or your kid gets bored with some animal as being ghetto no different then ripping off tax payers and the system with a typical food stamp scheme while owning $70,000 SUVs with $4K chromed out 24″ rims. And no I’m not stereotyping because I have witnessed this multiple times.

Anyhow, in Bryan Christy’s awesome book “The Lizard King,”  http://thelizardkingbook.com/  You can read all about why the Iguana is so prolific in the pet trade.  And if you don’t want to read about it here’s a synopsis from a NYTimes book reviewer that will hopefully change your mind.  http://www.nytimes.com/2008/08/07/books/07maslin.html  In short though, Americans have an infinitesimal affliction of having to HAVE to have something that their neighbor Joe doesn’t have and then showing off what they do have for the world to see, so that they can say hey I have something special that you don’t got….

Americans are also about making a buck on the flip side. The Iguana industry as we know it was created by Mike Van Nostrand via his legitimate business Strictly Reptiles http://strictlyreptiles.tv/  which is a wholesale distributor of exotic reptiles.  Mike I would say after reading Christy’s book which is an excellent book created the demand for Iguanas single-handedly.  Mike would say publicly that out of all the exotic pets that he deals with Iguanas will always be his bread and butter animal.

This is a double-edged sword for me. I love exotic animals. I love having my pet Iggie. i’m one of those douche bag Americans who have a genuine affliction for wanting something that someone else “don’t got”. I grew up in the ghetto even though I’m Chinese and while being from Brooklyn, have no perceivable accent that could give away my ghetto roots. That said I’m only pseudo ghetto. I drive a Rav-4. Lol. And its like that rap song lyric…”What you think i f*** rap for?  To push a Rav4?” no balla actively wants to drive a Rav4. That said its an awesome utlitarian vehicle. But I digress….

My Cuban Rock Iguana, my Cyclura Nubila of which there are less than 60,000 left living wild in Cuba as told to me by the keeper at the Blue Iguana Recovery Program  during our visit to the Cayman Islands.  And the answer is yes ( me and Ash are both nerds we actually pick our vacation spots to include geeky herp related things such as visiting the Blue Iguana recovery program when planning vacations).   http://www.blueiguana.ky/  More information here – its a must go to if you ever visit the Cayman Islands.   That said, we’re professed reptile nuts!  However most people aren’t.

So people like Mike Van Nostrand and Petco are double-edged swords. Without these “evil” entities I would not have had the opportunity to afford to buy my Iguana. He would have costed thousands if an original stock of them weren’t imported (sometimes illegally) into the US and then bred for the purpose of the pet trade.  Instead I paid $250 for him and not thousands.  And Petco or Petsmart has supplies like antifungal cage cleaner that I need to clean out my iggie’s cage and supplying me with a whole host of other supplies like cage accessories for this purported wild and exotic animal.

At the same time, we see ads on Craigslist all the time of people dumping their animals. There are more Iguana, Burmese Python (those are the big ones), ferret and chinchilla ads on Craigslist than I care to count. Most of the ads say something to the effect of “need to get rid of this animal soon.” Blah blah blah….  The keyword here is rid…like its some type of worn out trash that the person is done with like that walkman that plays cassettes that you no longer want sitting around the attic in a box, tossed out with the evening trash.

Then there are the infinitesimal number of people who do not take the time to read caresheets and information online who buy a $25 reptile and not give it the care that it requires and it dies, sometimes a slow and painful death. So with that said I hope someone out there is looking to buy a pet Iguana and has taken the time to research pet ownership has just read my blog, looked at the giant sh** stain on my expensive couch and has said to themselves “yuck! no way!” and that I have affectively dissuaded them from buying an Iguana.

For me its a wonderful pet, they live a long time and have crazy antics that amuse me and I’m okay with them crapping in random places most of the time. I even take photos of them smearing their poop on our couch to show the world and I do it with more amusement than emotion.  However I can’t say that this is what most people would do and in fact they would be rather horrified to see iguana poop all over their house that they would have to clean up themselves.  So please if you are in the market for an exotic animal do as many searches as you can before actually diving in and buying that pet. You and the animal that you thought was a keeper will be the better for it.

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1) Many reptiles require UVA and UVB (mostly lizards although there has been debate about whether or not snakes benefit from UVB, most notably mentioned in the xxx issue of Reptiles Magazine).  The amounts and intensity may vary among species.  Some nocturnal species do not require UVB.  When I purchased my first bearded dragon, I was told by the employee at PetSmart that they do not need UVB!  Obviously, she was incorrect and this sort of improper information is often disseminated by inexperienced pet shop employees.

• Recommended Products:
• Reptisun 10.0, 5.0, and 2.0 tube lights
• Not Recommended Without Your Own Additional Research To See If Problems Have Been Rectified:
• Mercury vapor bulbs (if you do not have a Solarmeter – see #2, below)
• Reptiglo tube lights – many believe these to provide harmful UV rays.  For example, see these accounts: RepticZone Reptiglo Thread
• Compact Lights – Same issue as Reptiglo.  See this study, for example: UV Guide Study on Compact Lights

 2) Solarmeters are well worth the investment and one of the most useful tools if you have any type of lizard that requires UVB.  I personally own this one: Solarmeter 6.2

These allow you to measure the UVB output of any light at any given distance.  After purchasing this item, I discovered that my mercury vapor bulbs (MVBs) were not putting out UVB at all!  This caused me to do additional research and I discovered that many companies that manufacture MVBs had malfunctioning lights.  This could be a very dangerous situation if you think that your MVB will last a year, never test it, and never know that your lizard is not getting the UVB it requires to flourish.  Since then (this occurred in 2009), I have purchased every brand of MVB and they have been hit or miss.  I have stopped using MVBs but have also heard that some of the problems have been rectified with certain brands such as MegaRay.  I do intend to get more and do more research into this matter.

When you own a Solarmeter, all you need to do is research the amount of UVB (in uw/cm2) that your animal receives in the wild, the duration, the hour of day, etc, and then you know the appropriate range you should be providing.  It’s a lifesaver.

3) Temp guns are extremely useful to have on hand.  They give you a more accurate reading of spot and ambient temperature than those cheapo stick-ons that you can buy at the pet store and/or any sort of digital thermometer.  I personally have the Pro-Exotics PE-1 Temp Gun.

This is our PE-1 Temp Gun

4) Now, I might get hell for this, but I’m gonna say it: most substrates sold for reptiles are BAD.  The best substrate, in my honest opinion, is paper towels.  I have never had so many problems as when I bought certain reptibark and other related substrate products formulated for reptile use.

• First, they trap bacteria and hide poop.  I had this experience with some of my snakes that would burrow into the bark substrate.  Despite spot cleaning regularly, it never failed that I would miss a
  poop or two because it matched the color of the substrate, even after digging around and doing thorough searches.  One time, I even saw mold growing in one of their cages.  Now note, this is spot cleaning but I did change the entire cage out once to twice a month.
• Second, it can be ingested.  Tegus are known to burrow as it makes them feel safe.  Well, my tegu, Lucky, became impacted twice by eating the bark substrate!  Now I provide him blankets and pillows and he seems to like them even more than he likes the natural feeling of the earthy bark.

• Third, there is a risk that if snakes are fed in their enclosures they could ingest some of the substrate and become impacted as well.  However, feeding within ones enclosure is not recommended anyway as it could cause cage aggression.

5)  Go with your gut; if you feel your animal has something, it probably does.  Vets do not know everything and they are not in tune to your animal as much as you are because they do not witness their every day behavior.  Be persistent!  Read my story about Flo, my first baby beardie, here: My First Bearded Dragon Experience: Flo the Baby Beardie

6)  Each species has their own set of high-risk diseases.  For example, beardies can have Yellow Fungus Disease that spreads like wildfire.  The fatality rate is high as well.  Therefore, please learn of these diseases and choose carefully when purchasing an animal.  Look for signs of sickness from the beginning and spare yourself the hurt later.  Again, see my story of Flo, here:  My First Bearded Dragon Experience: Flo the Baby Beardie

 …to be continued…this is going to be a running list so please check back regularly…

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