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Information on Reptiles Please!

Slinky'sMommy

Slinky'sMommy

New member
Hello people!

I want to become a Herpetologist and want to learn as much as I can. Information about any type of reptile would be greatly appreciated! Venomous or non venomous; legs or no legs. I would like the basics and then any other notes you have on them.

Scientific name (if you could please provide)
Personality/attitude
Lifespan
Temperature
Humidity
Food
Enclosure type and size
Any extra notes

Thank you for your information!
 
I would recommend buying books on them, and trying to correspond with the reptile keepers at zoos and science academies, etc.
 
Long answer to come....
Short answer, not knowing how old you are, start with a bachelor degree and work your way to a doctorate degree. Very few people are considered herpetologists without a Ph.D. at the end of their name.
 
I know I can do all that, thanks, but I'd like to have a more direct answer from people, rather than looking at different sights and finding a different range of humidities and stuff.
 
Slinky'sMommy said:
I know I can do all that, thanks, but I'd like to have a more direct answer from people, rather than looking at different sights and finding a different range of humidities and stuff.
Click to expand...

Direct answer my not always be the answer.... Research, research, research...part of the scientific method, which is part of being a herpetologist/good scientist.
 
I love doing research, I know that, thank you. But people on here breed/keep the animals I want to learn about and they know what works. Know what I'm saying? Of course I'll continue my own research from there, but thanks for the information
 
Yes, that is just too broad a set of questions to begin to tackle. There are zillions (so it seems, anyway!) of species of herps, some of which can't be kept in most jurisdictions by hobbyists, anyway. A basic answer to your questions about every species that the info is known for would take a few big books, lol!

If you can look up enough basics to know which specific questions you have about specific species - info that was not easy to find online, then I am sure members will be happy to help if they can.

Good luck in your professional quest! It will take a lot of years of preparation, but could be a really satisfying career. Your questions will be a great way to get started on all of the research you will have to do during the next several years of university study you will be doing. Let us know if we can help along the way.
 
Slinky'sMommy said:
I know I can do all that, thanks, but I'd like to have a more direct answer from people, rather than looking at different sights and finding a different range of humidities and stuff.
Click to expand...
The answers you get from random people here might not be the correct answer(s)
HerpsOfNM said:
Direct answer my not always be the answer.... Research, research, research...part of the scientific method, which is part of being a herpetologist/good scientist.
Click to expand...
I agree with this.
Slinky'sMommy said:
I love doing research, I know that, thank you. But people on here breed/keep the animals I want to learn about and they know what works. Know what I'm saying? Of course I'll continue my own research from there, but thanks for the information
Click to expand...

Again, the answers you get on here might not be correct, just because someone breeds the animals, does not mean they are knowledgable in proper care of that animal.

**I just noticed that you posted the exact same request on Pangea Gecko forum.
 
Also, that would be why I'd do my own research but have the info I receive as a base point. I'm not exactly sure I got my point across correctly :p
 
"...But it's not working how I wanted it to haha..."

Well, now you have my curiosity up, lol! If you had gotten hundreds of pages of info about hundreds (or thousands!) of species of herps, it seems that would be pretty unwieldy! So I am not sure exactly what result you were hoping for. Maybe I didn't understand correctly, or maybe you weren't as specific as you wanted to be.

"...I'd do my own research but have the info I receive as a base point..."

That actually sounds backwards to me. To use the members' unique experiences to have them write some basic stuff about hundreds (or more!) of species that could be easily found online or in books, seems to be an inefficient way to gather basic info, especially since we probably keep a limited number of species compared to all herps.

BUT - after gathering all of the easy to find BASIC info, asking members to contribute specialized knowledge gained by their own individual experiences with particular species, would seem a much more logical, and less wasteful (of time and effort) method to glean knowledge not readily available by other means.
 
Yeah, you're right. It is backwards. I see that now haha. Let's see if I can word what I was trying to do..

I was trying to have people list those basics of a species from their knowledge and know what works for that species, instead of what the internet gave me because it has given me many different answers. I'm not looking to house these pets, sadly, but I wanted to start a journal on the information I would first receive on an animal and then research that animal further and add in more information as I went. I suppose I wanted advice from people have housed these pets because my ball python was not shedding well, even though I did a year of research on them and the vet who had owned some let me know some information that has his shedding normally now.

I don't really know if that helped any on trying to understand what I was hoping to gain from this. I'm not going to a university or anything yet, still a few years off from that, but I would like to have a broad range of knowledge or, at least, a journal of knowledge, since I don't have the best memory.

Sorry if that just confused you further!
 
I guess you could say, in short, I've found in my own experience that getting the simplest information directly from someone who has housed a specific species has worked better than doing the amount of research I did to find out it was still incorrect.

I must admit, I have not tried reading books ....yet haha

Once again, I'm sorry if I've only confused you further.
 
The reason that you often find conflicting info is because often, more than one thing will work. And not all things will work for all individuals of that species. And what works for one collector in his collection may work differently from your situation because of the individuals he keeps, or his cage setup, or environment, climate, etc. So the more articles and the more authors you read, the more you can sift out what seems reasonable in your circumstances. It is often trial and error, but the books and articles are a starting point. Also, once you have done some fairly extensive reading, you will be surprised to find out that, because of that new knowledge, you will have questions you never thought to ask previously. And THAT is where members with lots of experience can help you.

A great place to start for corns is on the FAQ sections at the top of many of the husbandry subforums here. They were written by myself and other members over the years. So if we answered your questions on this thread, we could probably cut and paste from the FAQs, lol! I bet a number of forums for other species might have similar "stickies" written by the members. it would seem silly to cut and paste those general questions and answers over and over again, so that is why the common questions are answered at the top of the forums.

Now, if you told us your ball python (or corn, etc) had trouble shedding, eating, or whatever, then we might be able to offer suggestions based on our experience. That would seem a much better use of time than just rewriting, or copy and pasting what we have already written earlier in the FAQs.

I hope that makes sense.
 
Slinky'sMommy said:
Hello people!

I want to become a Herpetologist and want to learn as much as I can. Information about any type of reptile would be greatly appreciated! Venomous or non venomous; legs or no legs. I would like the basics and then any other notes you have on them.

Scientific name (if you could please provide)
Personality/attitude
Lifespan
Temperature
Humidity
Food
Enclosure type and size
Any extra notes

Thank you for your information!
Click to expand...

Some of us on here (myself included) do keep some rather odd species of snakes and reptiles there's not a whole lot of information about. However, because of that, we still don't know everything, and there is a real learning curve to deal with.

Everything the people on this forum know is stuff that we've spent a good deal of time researching ourselves. Given some of the species I keep, I've scoured the internet and books for weeks, months, and even years trying to find all of the information that I could. I, personally, don't like doing research for people, especially when all of the information is out there. I love doing it for myself, but I don't like doing other people's work for them.


That being said, here's a quick little diddy on one of the several species of Asian colubrids I keep. It is by no means comprehensive, and is just what I can remember off the top of my head at work (without any extra googling).

Scientific name - Coelognathus flavolineatus
Common name - Yellow-striped rat snake, Malayan black tailed racer
Personality/attitude - Depends on the animal.
Lifespan - IF I remember correctly, upwards of 20 years, but they haven't really been in captivity long enough to get an accurate estimate.
Temperature - Mine prefer it around 75*.
Humidity - I keep it around 75% with a humid hide (moistened sphagnum moss), but it depends on the specific animal and it's needs. Some like it dry, some like it humid.
Food - Depends on the animal. Wild diet is primarily rodents and birds.
Enclosure type and size - Depends on the animal. I say this because some can be more shy than others, and prefer small, dark tubs with several hides, and others prefer big, open spaces with room to climb.
Any extra notes - Limited specimens are in captivity, so most of the information that would be available for a more readily available species is quite lacking. However, google can be a wonderful thing if you're looking for basic information.



My female:

 
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