this is why ppl know S@#$ about herps

[peterm15]

sorry but this pissed me off..

last night at the petstore ( i dont work there i just hold the animals and stuff lol.. ) i was holding a few snakes.. some baby balls and stuff..... i love doing it cause ppl who are scared usually start asking questions like " will he bite", " is he venemous" ect ect... some ppl get close to tears and 5 min later after a few questions there holding them.. i love it,.. its like my own little educational show.. lol... but there was a few saying im an idiot, why would i want to hold a snake.. so i open up the bci cage and take out the 5' VERY TAME male and start holding him.. ok im kinda newer to snakes but i know some basic stuff.. well ppl got very interested and such and the snake was like a baby.. its the largest snake ive ever held.. but back to the orginal topic..

so i just fell in love with the columbian ted tail boa.. and may have found one this mornin for free that comes with custom cage and everything as long as the guy can visit him once in a while ( hes having a baby and needs to get rid of a 8' extreemly tame female boa and a gecko for health reasons so i may take both,hes one of my sises friends)i KNOW there taken care of properly cause there his babies.. but either way i started lookin at some care sheets and the first one that came up is this one....

http://www.exotictropicals.com/encyclo/reptiles/snakes/columbianredtailboa.htm

now it sounds good in the bigining and even a quick scan it looks alright but then there quotes like this..

this one starts out good but imo is completely rong

These snakes are best kept singly except when they are being bred, but you may be able to keep them with other snakes the same size as long as you feed them separately.

ok one bad info.. i can let that slide no biggie afterall some do keep snakes together.. but then this

Full spectrum lighting is important for your snakes well being and its long-term maintenance. You can use a hotrock or an undertank heater for basic heating.

ok im pretty sure NO snake needs uv light but for sake of arguement ill let it slide but a hot rock.. does ANYONE use these for anything...

now am i being to critical or something the rest of the sheet seemed ok but theres just a few MAJOR mistakes that can kill 1 or possibly 2 snakes... now imo this is why there is so many harmed animals.. it wouldnt be so bad if it was the 20th page or something but the very first.. thats just bad..

so can somone tell me what to type in a search so i can come up with better info i typed columbian red tail boa care into yahoo...

[peterm15]

oh and p.s i make sure the snakes are calm and not stressin out so... and no one was aloud within 3 feet of the boa just in case i missed something.. and the formar owner was right beside me while i was holding the boa ( he works there )

[mykee]

There is no law that keeps stoopid people who have bad information to share from having a website. The onus is on you (and congraTs for doing so) to weed through all the crap; there's lots of it out there.

[peterm15]

thats my point exactly.... so there is the some ppl that dont know about herps that will follow a site like that

[peterm15]

well after my rant yesterday i did get happier to find this care sheet.. great imo

http://www.redtailboas.com/general_care/general_care.html

[Linds]

Originally posted by peterm15
thats my point exactly.... so there is the some ppl that dont know about herps that will follow a site like that

Welcome to the internet :) Where anyone can claim to be knowledgable or whatnot, and if you don't already know yourself, you may not be able to tell otherwise. It is virtually littered with misinformation written by self-proclaimed 'experts'.

For this reason it is so important to read as much as you possibly can from as many possible sources, talk to people firsthand, and ask a lot of questions.

Though most of the info on the last sheet had a lot of good info, even it has at least one thing in it that is a bit misleading...
Your actual size will be directly proportional to the amount of feeding. For example, you could feed your boa a smaller sized rodent every two weeks, and the boa may never grow larger than 4 1/2 to 5 feet. On the other hand, if you were to feed aggressively, then your boa may achieve a size of 10 feet or longer
Proper feeding has *some* influence on size, as with any creature. To say it is the sole control factor is false. You have to seriously deprive the snake of food to stunt the growth, and even underfed snakes may still have a chance at catching up eventually once properly cared for. You cannot make your snake grow larger than it is genetically predetermined to be by feeding it more. Feeding a smallish item every 2 weeks is also not underfeeding by any means. I feed all my boas roughly on a bi-monthly schedule, and they are growing machines. My one Bci exceeded 6 feet by her second birthday being fed every 2 weeks or so.

[zero&stich]

Actually some snakes should be exposed to UVB tubes. Not all snakes have a diet of rodents, where they can receive their calcium supplement. Garters, green and ribbon snakes have a much different diet and would, imo, benifit from the exposure to UVB rays, even though you can dust with supplements. With these colubrids the expososure wouldn't hurt at all.

On a side note, anyone that suggests hotrocks now for herps eaither hasn't kept reptiles very long or is still living in the dino era.

[peterm15]

well in every care sheet you will find one or 2 peices of misleading info.. but i the same token he/she said that they dont suggest powerfeeding ect ect.. and that a uv light isnt really needed but it wouldnt hurt either. but ive read up on ALOT of different herps, the basics of almost every python ( from a book i have) all sorts of geckos, beardies uros, water dragons frillies ect ect.. and this had to have been the MOST extensive care sheet that i have ever seen... it really amazed me...

and as a second ? are hot rocks good for ANYTHING.. like maybe burried under substrate or something ( dont have one, will NEVER get one, im just curious)

[Linds]

Rip off the cord and you have a piece of decoration :)

[peterm15]

lol.. thats what i thought..

[sc00t]

yea look at the two boa cages doesn't look to safe
http://www.leosreptileworld.com/page5.html
on the larger boa cage im pretty sure that that is a strip of heat tape

[boas_and_such]

Linds : thats what i did for my baby turtle...i had on old heat rock i got with something , and just yanked the cord of and used it as beach support... :) i think that's the best use for 'em...

[zero&stich]

and as a second ? are hot rocks good for ANYTHING.. like maybe burried under substrate or something ( dont have one, will NEVER get one, im just curious) Maybe hermit crabs, but don't quote me on that. ;)

[peterm15]

lol... hermit crabs.. maybe next time i get something