Common Questions About HerpTracker

General Questions

Installation Questions

Using HerpTracker

What Is HerpTracker? HerpTracker is a database program designed for both the professional and hobbyist herpetoculturist. With HerpTracker, you can monitor important husbandry information such as feedings, sheddings, size, breedings, health events, and cage temperature variations. HerpTracker also has several features designed specifically for professional breeders including: inventory reports, graph generation for cage temperature and animal size changes over time, customer mailing lists, customer address label generator, and herp show label generator. Photographs of each individual animal can be scanned into the program and attached to the appropriate data for identification and insurance purposes. If you are tired of loosing those data index cards, try HerpTracker and you will never loose important husbandry data again!

There are also many new features in version 2.0!

Where Can I Get HerpTracker? The HerpTracker Demo is available at the RMH Software Page.  To order HerpTracker, you can mail $39.95 + $3.00 postage/shipping/handling shipped by U.S. Priority Mail ($10.00 UDS for Shipping and handling outside of the US) to Rocky Mountain Herpetoculture P.O. Box 272661, Fort Collins Colorado 80527. We also accept Visa, Master Card and American Express. For credit cards call (970)203-0339

Can I Get HerpTracker Through CompuServe? Yes. You can register HerpTracker through CompuServe's SWREG, using registration ID #14138.

Can I See The Manual Before I Decide? Yes. The entire manual is available on-line. This will give you a complete description of HerpTracker and all of it's features. New version alert!! The manual on the web is the manual for v1.1 and 1.0. A new version will be up soon.

What Is Missing In The Demo? The current demo version only allows you to edit existing snakes. It does not allow you to enter in new snakes, however, you can edit all of the existing snakes to match any of your herps. There also is no backup feature in the demo version. In version 1.2, the species list contains only snakes, however, the full version has more herps. Everything else is available to you in the demo including the ability to scan in photos of your herps, print labels of breeders and customers, and print out reports. 

In Version 2.0, we are releasing HerpTracker as try-before-you-buy program.  This will be the full version which you can use for 30 days.

Is There A Maximum Number Of Herps I can Enter Into HerpTracker ? No. You can enter in as many herps as your hard drive will hold. The database might complain if you try to enter in more than 65,000 animals. We haven't tried it (we only have around 100 snakes), however if you have more animals than this (>65,000) we will make a special version for you. ;)

Is HerpTracker For Snakes Only? No. HerpTracker was designed with snakes in mind, but can keep info on any species. If you wanted to keep track of your dog information you could, although the shedding fields wouldn't make much sense. If there was enough demand for a specific species, we would create a special version.

New version alert!! We changed this. HerpTracker is now for all reptiles.  We have made several improvements in version 2.0 to accomidate all reptiles and amphibians.  You can also customize the information that you wish to keep for a group of reptiles or amphibians.

Is There A Version For Macintosh Computers? No, although we have heard that it can be run by some Windows emulation programs. There is no Macintosh only version planned.

How Do I Install HerpTracker? To install HerpTracker, click Start, and the Run if you are in Windows 95/NT 4.0. Type in X:\xxx\HerpTrac.EXE, where X is the drive where the file exists, and xxx is the directory where the file exists. If you are running Windows 3.x then choose File|Run from the file manager. Type in X:\xxx\HerpTrac.EXE, where X is the drive where the file exists, and xxx is the directory where the file exists.

How Do I Uninstall HerpTracker/HerpDemo? If you are running Windows 3.x, Open the RMH's HerpTracker <Demo> window. Click on UNWISE icon. This should direct you throughout the uninstall process. If you are running Windows 95/NT click on the Start button, then Settings, then Control Panel. Click on the Install\Uninstall Programs icon. This will uninstall HerpTracker/HerpTracker Demo. If you are running any other programs that use the Borland Database Engine, be sure NOT to delete these files.

Do I Need To Uninstall HerpTracker Demo Before Installing HerpTracker? YES. The demo version is exactly the same as the real version. The only difference is that you cannot add snakes to the database in the demo version. They use the same files, and could produce unexpected results.

I've got alot of records in the old version. Do I have to retype everything in again? No. Version 1.2 will upgrade previous versions.  Version 2.0 will also be able to read version 1.2.

Where Is The PopUp Menu in version 1.2? Click on the main form of HerpTracker using the right button. This will bring up the popup menu.

How Do I Add Images To HerpTracker?  There are two ways you can add pictures of your reptiles into HerpTracker. First click on either the Add button, or the Edit button depending on what you are trying to do. Then click on the Add Image tab of the folder. Here you can either load in an image (PCX, BMP, JPG, PNG or TIF.), or scan in a photo using a TWAIN compatible device such as a scanner, digital camera, or Snappy(tm). GIF files are not supported due to new CompuServe restrictions.

I Get An Error When I try to Edit A Snake : Field `Snake_IndexNumber` must have a value. This happens when you delete all of the existing snakes in either HerpTracker, or HerpTracker Demo and then try to edit a snake. It's not too likely to happen in the full version, but in the demo version there is no Add button, so many tried to add by editing. If you want to use your own snakes in the demo version, edit the existing snakes' information. Do not delete them. Once they are gone, there is no way to add a new one, and you'll have to reinstall. The demo version holds three snakes. It doesn't have to be the three snakes we sent in the demo. All of the fields can be changed to reflect your information. Then you can have your three snakes in the demo. The only other difference is the Backup feature. This was also removed from the demo version.

Is there a database of all breeders in the US? No. You can add all the breeders you want to the database. We didn't want to add anyone who didn't want to be added.

Is "Clutch Info" really this hard to use? It does take some getting used to. However, in version 1.2 we have changed everything. You can keep breeding records without using "Clutch Info". If you liked "Clutch Info" (the rare few), it's still available in the new version.

I can't see the whole screen. I have to use the scroll bars. If you computer uses 800x600 resolution with LARGE fonts, this is a problem we are still working on. In the past, this affected all computers using LARGE fonts. HerpTracker v1.2 should work in the following resolutions. You can check your settings by going into the control panel and checking you display settings.

This problem has been fixed for all font sizes and resolutions in version 2.0.

Send mail to dspiess@frii.com with questions or comments about this web site.
Copyright © 1998 Rocky Mountain Herpetoculture
Last modified: March 15, 1998