Beautiful Early Spring Day in Massachusetts

It was a beautiful early spring day in Massachusetts to be out hiking. First let's take a look at some roadside hawks. I've always been a huge fan of birds of prey.

While looking for turtles I saw some hooded mergansers

This turkey googled at me after he crossed the road

I saw my first snake of the season, a Northern Watersnake

And the day ended with a spotted turtle but unfortunately the angle of the sun made for a very bad photo.

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Keeping and Breeding Oreocryptophis porphyraceus coxi (Thai red mountain ratsnake)

I have been keeping and breeding Oreocryptophis porphyraceus coxi for several years now. It is often listed as the Thai red mountain ratsnake or the Thai Bamboo ratsnake. This is one of the easiest species of snake to keep and breed provided you have an air conditioned house. They have great colors and are very hardy snakes but they really are heat sensitive and probably shouldn't be kept by people looking for a shoulder pet. I keep mine in 28 quart tubs in a rack without any supplemental heat. The colubrid room they stay in is between 75-78F year round. At these temperatures they will digest food without any additional heat. If you have an especially cold house, you may want to use some backheat to create a small spot in the upper 70s. Although I've never kept them warm enough to find out, it is reported that they may die if the temperature bumps into the 80s. I can confidently say they will do fine in the 70s. I use cypress as a substrate and keep the back half of the...

Dubia versus red runner roaches

With the rise of roaches as feeders, it can be confusing to know which roach species is best for your situation. Should you use dubia roaches or turkistan roaches? The species I am discussing here are Blatta lateralis and Blaptica dubia. Will roaches infest your house? The first and most common question I get on these roaches is of course whether or not they will invest one's home. Unless your house is hot and covered in rotting food, I do not think the dubia roach poses any risk of infestation. Their life cycles are too long, they breed too slowly, and they are too poor at escaping to ever establish any kind of a infestation in a normal household. The Turkistan roach poses more of a question. They breed much faster, grow faster, and if there are places that they can get food and moisture, there is a chance they could infest your home. My gut instinct is that they also will not infest the average home but if your house is not kept clean, the odds probably go up that egg case...

Saving Money on Reptile Supplies

Keeping reptiles can be an expensive hobby, particularly if you have a large collection. I will do my best here to show you how to get reptiles supplies for good prices and save you some time from searching. UVB Lights: This is one area you need to be very careful with. There are products out there which do not actually produce UVB. I could only recommend you purchase these lights from a reputable source. LLLReptile usually has better than average pricing and is reliable and trusted as a source. Another good source is light your reptiles . Now, I know I said this post was to save you money, but I put UVB at the top of list with places you probably already heard of because this is not the area to try saving a few bucks and these products need a proven track record and known fakes are out there. Ceramic Heat Bulbs: If you do not need them quickly, you can save about 50% or more by picking these items up direct from China. These are 25 to 100 W models . When you click wher...

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