Doreen's Column

Hi there~~~

*****Last month our guest speaker was Cayle Pearson. He spoke about frog husbandry and breeding and had a lot of cool pictures. See Carries recap.

*****This month our guest speaker will be Richard Del Bono and he will be speaking on boas. John Soto gave me his name from one of the reptile shows and I am sure that this talk will be interesting. Don't miss it.

*****The National Breeders Association Reptile show will be held on August 21 through 23, 2009 in Daytona. I know John Soto is will have a table there.

*****The Tampa Reptile Show put on by Gila Productions will be September 26 and 27, 2009. We always get a table there and this is a good way to get dry goods for our auction and to get names for guest speakers. I plan on being there and hope you are too.

*****Please make sure you update my email to iguanadoreen@hotmail.com Thanks.

*****I know there has been a lot of hoopla about the python situation in the Everglades. Baynews 9 said that Bill Nelson was going to give permits to certain people to go and hunt the pythons. I have been pretty busy traveling around lately and have not kept up with the news. I know Carrie has a lot of good information on that. I sent a $100 check to USARK for our club to become a member.

*****I haven't done much in checking this trip to the Everglades the third weekend in September 18-20. I checked the price of a van and it will cost $250 from Thursday to Sunday. Melissa was going to check the area where hotels are and I will see if I can get a hotel in the area around Homestead. If you are interested in this trip, please let me know. We will talk more about it at the meting.

*****We will have our Scavenger Hunt in September at Moccasin Lake so we will be doing a lot of exploring that month.

*****Please note that there are a lot of people who owe dues. If you see your label that says last issue, or you have not been receiving the newsletter, please pay your dues. It is only $15 per year and this fee helps with the cost of printing and postage, which just happened to go up again last month. Thanks for that.

*****I want to continually thank Carrie for doing all she does for the club. She keeps up with the newsletter and website. I also want to thank Alice for keeping up with the member list and my monthly reminder call.

Happy Birthday to:
August 6 ~~ Laura Vandervoort
September 16 ~~ Claudia Gunther

*****If your name is not on the birthday list, let me know and I will add it. (Either I forgot or don't have it).

*****Thank you to all who do their part for this club. That is what makes our society the GREATEST in the league.

*****Have a herpy day!! Doreen~~

Speaker Recap by Carrie

July's speaker was Cayle Pearson on the husbandry and breeding of captive frogs. Before beginning on captive individuals, he talked briefly about golden frogs. In the past, we have had Dustin Smith talk about his trips to Panama in order to help the golden frog. Sadly, the last wild population was pulled out because of habitat destruction (in this case a road being built). However, chytrid, a fungus that grows on the amphibians, killing their skin and preventing oxygen and water from absorbing properly, killing the animal, has also spread.

Chytrid is a cold weather disease. Amphibians found in the mountains or higher ground, where it is colder, have been affected. In the United States, starting in Wyoming. From Wyoming it has moved south. In South America, it moved north, where it seemed to have met in Panama. Warm weather amphibians, like those found here in Florida, may carry chytrid, but it never causes the disease that kills them. Chytrid is easy to kill on captive animals, however, coming up with a way to treat wild populations is next too impossible.

Now onto captive frogs. The most important parts of husbandry are obvious: housing, water, and food.

Housing: a basic set-up has a gravel base, building up . . . where you can hollow out an area to create a pool or water feature. You can also add branches, rocks, moss, coconut substrate, plants, and if you want, a hide. However, if you have enough of the rocks, branches, rocks, moss, etc., then you have plenty of places for the frogs to hide in. The best plant to use is the pothos plant. You can just throw in a chunk or a leaf, and it will take off until you have to tear it out. Some people use saltwater tank lighting, but it's best to research to find out what's best for your particular species of frog. As far as water goes, you should have a pool and/or water features, and should clean it out every so often to keep ammonia levels down (which is not often since frogs like to defecate out of water). If you filtrate your water, you have to be careful of evaporation or the filter will be burned out. For small pools you can either do the water changes by taking water out, or have a sand pipe (I think that's what he called it), where you would just add water and the other would drain off. Sandy pools are very nice and look very natural, or you can be boring and get a water bowl that you should change out and clean every day. For solid bottomed tanks, buy intake filters and run lines off of them using a fish tank power head. For large tanks, using a canister filter with intake and outake valves work well. Water features like waterfalls are also really nice.

Now lets talk about water quality. This is very important to amphibians because they absorb water and oxygen through their skin. In fact, scientists use amphibians to gauge how healthy an environment is. If they are dying off or are born with mutant features, it is a sign that there is a lot of pollution. Frogs can't handle chlorine, so if you use tap water, you HAVE to treat it. You can use aged water, but that won't take out chloramines, which are also dangerous to frogs. You face the same problem with well water. Some people collect rain water, which is quite clean and others use spring water, which is very clean and has all the minerals and nutrients needed. Frogs sit in water and absorb nutrients and minerals. Then there is r/o water (an example of this would be distilled water). This water is great for misting, because there are no nutrients or minerals to leave residues when it dries on glass. However, it is not good to use drinking water or in pools because it will actually leech the minerals and nutrients out of the animals instead of them absorbing it. You can reconstitute r/o water by adding minerals and nutrients. There are plenty of products that will do this, one is called r/o water and add right to the water.

Prepping plants . . . make sure that you get plants that have no pesticides. If you're not sure, or they have fertilizer, you need to take them out of the pots, rinse, and put them in fresh dirt and let them get naturally rained on for a few months to get the pesticides or fertilizer out of the plant's systems. Most plants seem to take to gravel really well.

Now what to feed? Green insects, like grasshoppers are great for calcium. But you can also feed crickets, mealworms, waxworms (or you can try . . . they are high in calcium and the frog doesn't digest them well and doesn't receive the calcium), nightcrawlers, which are high in protein, termites, rodents for larger species like pac-man frogs, pixies, and tomato frogs, and those little bugs that develop in tanks. There are also fruit flies. If you are really hard up for them, you just need to put out a rotten piece of fruit to attract them, however, then you probably will end up with a buzzing population in your house. Flightless fruit flies are readily available, just be forewarned that they can climb up everything. However, frogs seem to love them and will eat them quickly. There are Phoenix worms, which is very high in calcium, has a good calcium to phosphorus ratio and are smaller than wax worms, but they still may have trouble digesting them. If they do digest them, then nutritionally they are very good. For smaller species of frogs, or froglets, you can use springtails. These are small specks of white that feed on yeast and will reproduce on their own. In fact, strawberry dart and golden frogs can only eat this when they first develop. For high metabolic frogs, like dart frogs and golden frogs, you should feed every day, with one fasting day. They like the temperature to be between 75-78 degrees. Keep in mind that with their high metabolism, if you don't feed them for a couple of days, they can burn off their caloric intake quickly. For the slower metabolic frogs (those that eat the larger prey), feeding three times a week is fine. It is very easy for larger frogs to become overweight. STAY AWAY FROM ANTS.

For supplementation, Cayle uses Rep-Cal calcium and multivitamins. There is also a pure calcium product called Jurasssi-Cal. A lot of people don't believe in dusting their invertebrates with powders because crickets can clean themselves off, and if the frogs don't eat them right away, there won't be any benefit. There is a myriad of products on the market now that will gut load insects. Especially for crickets and mealworms. Just make sure you gutload them for 24 hours before introducing them to the animal.

Breeding is very temperature dependent, and some species need certain conditions . . . deeper pools and rain chambers, to mimic rainy seasons, to trigger breeding. If you plan on breeding, then you should build the correct terrarium because it will make it easier. For example, tree frogs lay their eggs on leaves overhanging over deep pools. The eggs will slide off and drop into the water. So build their homes accordingly. Tadpoles for tree frogs seem to know what to do. Separate them from the adults. To feed them, you can use flakes (which can get moldy) or Sara Micron, a food for baby fish (or fry).

Dart frogs are stagnant breeders, which means they lay in shallow water. You can put a petri-dish in there for them to lay in, with less than an inch of water. Fungus tends to grow on the eggs, so you can gently rinse them, using a needless syringe, or use methylene blue . . . at various concentrations. Just make sure you remove excess water or the eggs will drown. Humidity is very important, and they can take 100% water changes, which should be done every day. The tadpoles can be fed flake foods or Sara Micron fry food. Again, separate adults from tadpoles because the adults consider tadpoles quite appetizing.

With stream-water breeders, the male will literally glue himself to the female until she is ready to produce eggs. They will do this for a month or more if necessary. They produce 200-300 eggs at a time in deep water. To feed the tadpoles, smear Sara Micron on PVC pipe and let it dry a little. Place it in the water, and the tadpoles will scrape it off. Again, separate adults from tadpoles. Do no more than 10% water changes with these guys, because they are sensitive. They also like their water at 80 degrees.

Fully aquatic frog females carry their eggs on their back. Their pools need to increase from four inches and twelve inches, and slowly cool off their water. And again, you can feed them Sara Micron or flakes. I believe the Puerto Rica's coqui is an example of a fully aquatic frog. People find them annoying because of their loud calls, but there is a captive breeding program at Central Florida Zoo. Each year they have a Coqui Festival, and it is very popular.

In general, eggs turn into tadpoles within 1-2 weeks. Tadpoles turn into froglets within three months. When the tadpoles develop their front and back legs, they can be moved into a terrarium. The tail is used to nourish the tadpoles as it is reduced.

Thanks Cayle, for the great talk and the great information!

Michele's Musings

Lighting - What Bulb Do I Use?

Which artificial light source is capable of providing visual light, UV light and infrared light or heat?

The only light source today that is capable of providing the three important aspects of light (UV, visual and infrared light) in a somewhat balanced way is a mercury vapor bulb. Unfortunately these bulbs are not suitable for the smaller terrariums because of their high wattage.

If heat is infrared light, how do I create heat gradients?

In heat you have conduction, convection and radiation. Heat gradients are automatically created when a light source is used as a heat source on top of the terrarium. The first energy to strike the ambient air and the objects therein is the radiation. The heated air will then result in convection whereas the heated objects will provide conduction of the heat. The nature of different matters (air, wood, glass, plants, sand, etc.) will result automatically in heat gradients. A well-decorated terrarium increases these heat gradients by preventing the radiation to reach the substrate or underlying dimensions.

It is said that nocturnal and carnivorous reptiles do not need Ultraviolet light, in which case is an incandescent light bulb sufficient?

Not necessarily. Incandescent bulbs are suitable light sources for nocturnal reptiles in some cases. However, we have to take into account that many nocturnal reptiles are exposed to direct or scattered sun light during the day. Some reptiles rest/sleep on tree trunks or outcrops during the day, some deliberately bask during daytime hours while feeding at night, and others start their activity before sunset. This means that some form of photosynthesis takes place with these species.

Also many carnivorous reptiles still need UV light for photosynthesis purposes, correct environment, food and signaling perception. Not all carnivorous prey is capable of supplying the necessary vitamin D3 levels. If the prey's liver is not consumed, vitamin D3 intake is inadequate.

We can thus state that many nocturnal and carnivorous still require balanced lighting systems and that several more factors, other than just day and night cycle or infrared exposure have to be taken into account.

What are the pros and cons of fluorescent lights?

Fluorescents are the most economical light source, both in energy consumption and price. They are capable of emitting high levels of UV combined with acceptable levels of visual light. The higher the amount of visual light the lower the UV emission and vice versa. A combination of two fluorescents (visual + UV) and a basking light (incandescent) is recommended since fluorescent lights fail to produce sufficient heat.

Compact fluorescents have the same spectrum characteristics and emission as linear fluorescents. Due to their compact size, and because they are self ballasted, they are often easier to install than linear bulbs that still require a ballast.

What are the pros and cons of Mercury vapor lights?

These bulbs have it all: UV, high visual light output and sufficient infrared radiation. However, the disadvantage is that they consume a lot of energy (100 watt and plus) in order to operate properly. The lower the wattage, the less stable the bulb is. They are thus only suitable for very big terrariums.

What are the pros and cons of Incandescent lights?

Incandescent lights are inexpensive but are not very energy efficient when it comes to visual light. They are excellent as an infrared source to increase the ambient air temperature or as basking light. This type of light source also fails to produce any UVB radiation.

What are the pros and cons of Metal halide?

Metal halides are one of the best possible light sources around; the drawback is that they are very expensive. They have a very high light output, are capable of producing sufficient UV levels, and have a high infrared radiation. The installation is very expensive since a ballast is needed plus a special fixture. The new HCI (Osram) or CDM (Philips) fits any HQI (Metal halide) fixture but has a greater visual light production with the same energy consumption. The advantages are the same then as those of metal halide.

What are the pros and cons of Halogen lights?

Halogen lights are somewhat more energy efficient than regular incandescent lights since they produce more visual light.

How much Ultraviolet light do reptiles receive in nature?

Ultraviolet radiation is expressed in microwatt per square centimeter (mW/cm2) and varies tremendously from the poles (low), towards the equator (high). The amount of UVB radiation received on the equator on a clear day at noon is around 270 mW/cm2. However, this high amount of radiation decreases as the day passes, in the same way that it had increased since sunrise and taking into consideration that not all days are clear. In the wild, basking activities of most reptiles are limited to the early morning and later afternoon. The rest of the day is spent in the shade, in burrows, crevices or other shaded places, or at various places in leafy bushes, shrubs or trees. In tropical forests, home to many types of reptiles and amphibians, only a little direct sun penetrates the forest canopy and underlying layers to reach the ground.

Can we create these conditions in a terrarium?

Yes, however, many commercial reptile lights today exceed this 270 mW/cm2 in an attempt to show the greatest UVB radiation. Some even exceed over 2000 mW/cm2, which is absolutely dangerous! Especially if you know that the 270 value of the sun is only measured at high noon on a clear day, while most light bulbs are on between 10 and 12 hours with constant values. Reptiles accumulate these UVB rays during the day (10 to 12 hours), so there is absolutely no need to even emit 270 mW/cm2 continuously.

What is the role of lighting in reptile keeping?

Light has several functions:
* Indicating night/day cycle
* Providing light to see properly
* Environment perception (visual & UV)
* Agonistic and signaling communication (visual & UV)
* Physiological well-being (UVA)
* Photosynthesis of pre-vitamin D3 (UVB)
* Coloration is light intensity dependent
* Thermo-regulation (infrared)

Is the importance of light often underestimated?

Often the importance of high levels of UVB light is overestimated; "More is not always better". In lighting there are many aspects and it is important to offer a balanced lighting system. It has to cover the simple aspects from indicating day and night cycle to more complex issues like photosynthesis. Unfortunately consumers often only use incandescent lights, which in most cases are totally inadequate.

What is the relationship between reptiles and the sun?

The sun's energy ultimately drives all life processes on earth and reptiles are no exception. If we fail to provide the important life sustaining aspects of this energy in captive conditions we will fail to maintain thriving terrarium populations, not to mention reproduction.

This article came from the Exo Terra website at www.exo-terra.com

FACTS AND MYTHS RE; INVASIVE SPECIES LEGISLATIVE PROPOSALS - SUBMITTED BY MICHELE AND BY ANDREW WYATT, PRESIDENT OF USARK

Myth: Reptiles are a significant vector of Salmonella.

Fact: Reptiles represent one of the least likely ways to contract Salmonella. Many common foods such as spinach and peanut butter are far more likely sources of Salmonella than reptiles.

Myth: Burmese pythons were established as an invasive species in Everglades National Park (ENP) through release by irresponsible reptile keepers.

Fact: There is no documentable evidence that the feral population of Burmese pythons in the Everglades can be traced to reptile keepers. To the contrary, there was a study commissioned by the South Florida Water Management District and conducted by the lead Biologist at ENP and Florida International University that suggests that all the pythons in the Everglades are closely related and therefore not likely from a slow introduction over time by reptile keepers.

Myth: Many reptiles have become invasive species through what has been termed "the pet introduction pathway" (introduction by keepers releasing their animals) as the result of what has been called "unlicensed sales" (Internet and reptile show sales).

Fact: Reptiles represent the smallest portion of invasive species in the U.S. Most invasive species in the U.S. can be traced to state fish & game departments and the federal government. The only snake ever put on the Injurious Wildlife list of the Lacey Act is the brown tree snake that was introduced to Guam by the federal government by stowing away on military aircraft. The concepts of "pet introduction pathway" and "unlicensed sales" as a high risk pathway to the establishment of invasive species can not be supported by credible evidence.

Myth: Adding animals to the Injurious Wildlife list will address problems of invasive species.

Fact: Adding the brown tree snake to the Injurious Wildlife list did nothing to change the situation in Guam created by the federal government. There is absolutely no evidence to suggest that adding any animals to the Injurious Wildlife list would change anything in the Everglades or any other place.

Myth: There is good science being used to support proposed invasive species legislation.

Fact: The science is being "cherry picked" in order to support a decided direction. Science that contradicts the "fairy tale" being created by self-serving scientists to create a media sensation is being ignored.

Myth: The environmental and animal rights organizations that are the proponents of current invasive species legislation are motivated by a concern for animals and the environment.

Fact: The proponents are driven by the prospect of using the invasive species issue as a vehicle to advance their own ideological and fund raising agendas. The opportunity created by the sensational story of Burmese pythons in the Everglades is something they think they can capitalize on. They are pushing a political agenda not a good results-oriented policy. If they were truly interested in addressing invasive species issues they would be working with all stakeholders to come up with inclusive, pragmatic solutions. Their true agenda is to play to their constituents and end all animal ownership and use.

Until Next Month,
Carrie

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