pet insurance

One of the hot topics over on our forum HerpUniverse is pet insurance for reptiles, and how to find a good provider. There's lots of companies that offer insurance for dogs,cats rabbits etc but finding a good provider for reptiles and exotic pets seems to be difficult. I still haven't managed to find one that is reasonably priced, and it leads onto another subject, good reptile vets to take your pet to when god forbid, the worst happens and a reptile becomes ill. For me, i guess i am very lucky in the fact that good friends of mine are, experts in reptile medicine so they are usually my first point of call. If a snake of mine does need vet treatment, again i am lucky in that a very good, reputable, reptile vet is only a 20 minute drive away. But with treatment so expensive finding good insurance would be wise.
on a lighter note, this post on HerpUniverse made me chuckle:
To weigh a snake:

Find large digital kitchen scales
Place bowl on top of scales
Place pillowcase in bowl
Set scales to zero
Remove snake from viv
Put snake in pillowcase
Retrieve snake from round leg and replace snake in pillowcase
Retrieve snake from hair, put band aid on bite and replace snake in pillowcase
Hurl self across room in order to catch snake
Place snake in pillowcase
Put pillowcase (with snake) in bowl on top of kitchen scales
Retrieve pillowcase from floor and snake from under wardrobe
Put snake and pillowcase in bowl, hold still for a few seconds
Take weight reading
Lose pencil
Find pencil
Retrieve snake from top of bookshelf and pillowcase from inside laundry basket
Write down weight with one hand while restraining angry snake with the other
Replace snake in viv
Treat your wounds
Prepare self for an evening of being glared at.

That's how to weigh a snake.

anyone who has ever tried to weigh a snake will I'm sure understand.

I would also like to say a big hello to all my friends over at Forum Finder if you have a blog,forum, or website FF has some great resources tips,tricks and lots of fun, its well worth joining and a great community to be a part of.
Bye for now, have a great week everyone,
H xx

Big snakes.

I was talking with a friend recently, who does a lot of work for animal welfare and reptile rescue. We got to talking about big snakes, Burmese pythons and the like, during the conversation some very interesting points were made, which i thought i would share.
He gets almost daily phone calls from people begging him to take in their unwanted large snakes, and he has to turn them away as he already has too many. Zoo's are finding it increasingly harder to take in large snake species now as they are getting full of them too.
People go to the local pet shop and coo over the "cute little baby burm" don't do their research properly or are mis- informed by the pet shop who after all is after a sale and bring home little baby, then 12 months-2 years down the line, the cute little baby is a huge and still growing rather large baby and that's when the problems start, and my friends phone starts ringing.
So who's is at fault? the pet shops for stocking these snakes and selling them to anyone with the right money??? The irresponsible owners who take on such a snake without doing their research? or a mixture of the two? and what can be done to stop the problem becoming ever worse?
There are many great owners out there who own large snakes, keep them in the proper enclosures or have dedicated rooms for them so they get enough room to move and exercise and these people should be praised, but for those who think its OK to keep a large snake species in a one bed roomed flat, because its "cool" or whatever reasons you had for buying the snake, please think twice and i hope you find someone like my friend who is willing to take them in when the time comes.
Maybe it's time new legislation was introduced, or for the d.w.a licence to be amended to include larger snakes, to ensure people know what they are taking on and shops cant sell them to just anybody.
thanks to:
http://linkbacklink.blogspot.com/

The forum is one month old!!

Wow!! what a month it has been since www.herpuniverse went live, i would personally like to thank each and every one of the 50 members who have signed up, those who have contributed to the forum and those who have made suggestions to improve it. For us it is all about the members, sharing their knowledge and love for reptiles, and you never know, maybe learning a thing or two along the way?
We are very lucky at herpuniverse, to have some of the nicest members around.Without you guys it would just be a blank canvas, your all great!!!
We have launched our " Banner contest" and are now eagerly awaiting entries, as the one i made is , well, rubbish lol.For those football (soccer) fans we also have the " forum Fantasy Football league" competition running, just for fun, so if footballs your game , check it out in the off topic section.
Theres also new caresheets and an anatomy section added to the forum, and contributors who would like to write an article for the knowledge lab sections please feel free to do so.
See you all on the boards at www.herpuniverse.com