Issue #22 - August 2021

Herpetoculturemagazine.com

erpetoculture agazine Issue #22 - August 2021

Setting a New Standard with VivTech!

The Emerald Horned Pit Viper

How Herps Navigate Keeping Centipedes

& More!

-- On the Cover --

Rene Avalos Vela instagram.com/rene.vela.09

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Page 17 Copyright © 2021 by Herpetoculture Magazine all rights reserved.

This publication or any portion thereof may not be reproduced or used in any manner whatsoever without the express written permission of the publisher except for the use of brief quotations in a book review.

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From The Publishers’ Desk Issue # 22 is here! We are quickly coming up on two years for the magazine. We've had a lot of great articles from knowledgeable contributors. Thank you to everyone that hascontributed and helps makes this magazine possible. This month is also the National Reptile Breeders Expo in Daytona, FL. We will have a table setup so be sure to stop by and say hey if you are going to be at the show! This is our first time doing a public event with the magazine so we are excited to meet everyone. As always, be sure you are supporting USARK and USARK FL. They are the reason we still have a hobby and can have the magazine and expos like the NRBE. Now enjoy issue number 22 of Herpetoculture Magazine!

Justin Smith & Billy Hunt -Publishers-

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Contributors Justin Smith - Publisher -

Billy Hunt - Publisher -

Derek Dykstra - Contributor -

Phil Wolf - Executive Contributor -

Ryan Cox - Contributor -

Nipper Read - Executive Contributor -

Bill Bradley - Contributor -

Paul Donovan - Executive Contributor -

Ryan & Erica McVeigh - Contributors -

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Do you offer your animals a varied diet?

Birds, eggs, frog legs, chicken hearts, etc?

Why or why not?

"I offer my dwarf boas rodents and quail Reptilinks, but my hognoses and bullsnake no longer want the links. I successfully switched my blood python from live rats to f/t quail but he has refused everything that isn't the latter for more than a year now. So my attempts at varying diets have largely just resulted in changing diets."

- Joel Patenaude "I give my colubrids a mix of frogs, fish, rodents, and occasionally some little geckos just to switch it up. I wish I had a very scientific explanation, but it’s honestly because I think eating the same meal every time must be boring as hell."

- Elijah Day

"I just started my ‘crew’ on quail. Started with my Sand Boa (who thinks she’s a Ball Python) who’s a picky eater.

She won’t eat a frozen/thawed rat but she ate the quail. The BPs are a mixed group. Some like quail, others don’t want anything to do with them. My carpet and bredli are next to be fed, so I’ll find out whether they’re going to eat them."

- Claudia Gunther

"I feed the majority of my snakes on pigeons , quail or chicks, the lizard feeders get lizards, the amphibian feeders get frogs legs and the mammal feeders, rats, multis and mice."

- Nipper Read "I feed rats, mice, chicks, quail(all sizes), chicken necks, chicken hearts, turkey necks, frog legs. What I feed depends on species. I give more of the obscure stuff to the colubrids. I mainly feed rodents and birds as my staple but a few times a year I'll give them different stuff."

- Billy Hunt

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How Herps Navigate

By Paul Donovan

There are some questions you get asked which, at face value, you give an answer to. But upon reflection later, make you wonder if you gave the correct answer. A good example I am often asked is “Will the snake you have just removed from my yard find its way back into my yard?” My instinct is to say “no, it shouldn’t”. But is that the correct answer? Bearing in mind many reptiles and amphibians have homing instincts, breeding grounds, denning sites, or just preferred places of habitation.

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A Sense of Direction & ​​ a Case of Magnetism For an animal to return to the place from which it was removed, it must have the ability to navigate back there.

In order to do this, it must be able to determine direction.

Physically removing a snake from someone’s yard and then relocating it several miles away, it would not have that sense of direction because it was being physically moved.

It would, therefore, not be aware of the surroundings from point A to point B.

wildebeest takes place. The crocodiles do not remain in this area year-round waiting for the migration, but roam wide and far.

Even the humble tortoise has been known to find its way back home, albeit slowly, after being moved. However, other than migratory birds, the group which has the most sophisticated of navigation systems are the sea turtles. For a long time we have marvelled at the ability of a female turtle to travel thousands of miles across the oceans, back to the same beach it was born, to lay its own eggs there. It has to be one of nature’s most amazing spectacles.

However, if it were moving by itself, then it would have a sense of direction, because as it moved it would be building up a visual/chemical/olfactory picture of its surroundings.

It may also be orienting itself using magnetic cues. So, theoretically, it is perfectly feasible that it could return.

Migratory birds navigate an annual course over thousands of miles each year. They have something in common with homing herps. That one feature is that they have a builtin “compass” of some description which is affected by the earth’s magnetic field. Crocodilians have been found to have this, and can find their way back home when relocated several miles away. We should also not forget how they can navigate back to precise areas where annual migration of

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"When that little sea turtle hatches, it has the innate knowledge (some people call this instinct) to make its way straight to the ocean. "

When that little sea turtle hatches, it has the innate knowledge (some people call this instinct) to make its way straight to the ocean. As it digs its way to the surface, it immediately orientates itself using celestial navigation.

Using light from the moon and stars as it reflects off the ocean’s surface, this is the cue the little turtle uses to move towards the water. As it takes its first steps into the ocean, it aligns itself perpendicular to the waves which carries it out into the vastness of the expanse beyond. While in the ocean, research has found that turtles do not just swim around haphazardly, but navigate using magnetic cues.

By taking DNA samples, and placing tracking devices on these turtles, researchers have found that sexually mature female sea turtles can navigate back to their nesting sites, while covering distances in excess of 1200 miles. Although some visual cues may play a part in navigation in some parts of the ocean, in the vast waters of the open ocean, the most important clues are the earth’s magnetic fields and celestial navigation.

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Not Random We are all familiar with the denning habit of rattlesnakes and garter snakes. Leading up to winter, hundreds of individuals make their way back to the same denning site, year after year. As spring approaches, these individuals vacate the denning site to embark on another year of feeding and breeding.

But how do they find their way back?

You could be forgiven in thinking that as they exit these denning sites, they do so in a random manner. But this is not so. They actually disperse using predictable pathways which they orientate using visual/chemical/olfactory and magnetic cues.

But this begs another question “how do they know where these denning sites are in the first place?”

“How does a newborn rattlesnake or garter snake know the location of a denning site, if it were not born in it to gain some sort of cue where to return to?” They do not all meet up by a boulder on a particular day, and make their way there in convoy.

Though they do arrive within a short time frame of one another. From a simple question the answer could be very complex.

Landmarks Just as we use landmarks to find our way around so do, as it appears, most reptiles and amphibians.

These landmarks are used to find their way around their home range/territory, locate preferred basking rocks, and secure shelter at night. This can be for short term or long term gain. What this indicates, is that an individual not only has the capacity to learn about its surroundings, but navigate around it using specific features it has come to identify. Depending on the species, it also seems likely that an individual will use elevated positions to navigate towards preferred habitat choices. This is particularly the case with lizards.

Navigating using landmarks may explain how denning reptiles find their denning sites year after year, but have difficulty in locating them if certain features are removed or obstacles built in their way. As many amphibians and reptiles have restrictive home ranges, it becomes easy for them to find their way around it.

The Third Eye You may have read about some reptiles, particularly lizards (and some amphibians), having what is called a third “eye”. The correct name is the parietal organ, and is situated on top of the head between the eyes. It is far more evident in some lizard species, than others. For example in monitor lizards and the Green Iguana it is clearly visible as a small raised “lump” in the centre of the head. It is often opaque in colour.

It is not an “eye” as such (they are not freaks of nature), but a functioning light receptor which contains a cornea, lens and retina, which is connected to the pineal complex in the brain. It is believed that this structure “sees” polarised light, and therefore functions as a polarised light receptor. Although a primitive structure, the parietal organ plays an important role in navigation, as it allows the individual to set its internal compass based on the angle of polarised light.

As light radiating from the sun hits the earth’s atmosphere, some of it is deflected into a plane perpendicular to its original plane of entry. This deflection of light is called polarisation. The scattered proportion of this light, polarised light, travels in a straight line following a path called the e-vector.

Because the e-vector remains perpendicular to the sun's entry plane, and not to the earth surface, its orientation changes as the earth rotates (if there are any physics teachers out there and I’ve got that wrong, please let me know; I failed A-level physics convincingly). This changing orientation allows the individual to determine direction.

In many experiments, if the parietal organ is covered over, the individual is unable to orientate properly, leading us to believe that its function is to detect polarised light and set a directional compass allowing for orientation. From the limited amount of research carried out so far, it would appear that in some species of lizards, greater reliance is placed on using the parietal organ for navigation, than their visual, or even olfactory system. Until more research is undertaken, we do not know how widespread this phenomenon is.

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"When displaced, a salamander can navigate back over distances of several hundred feet."

Reflection Leading on from polarisation, we now have a phenomenon whereby those reptiles and amphibians which can detect polarized light, are able to navigate using the inverse relationship between reflection and polarisation. In other words, how light reacts on its contact with the earth’s surface. On dry surfaces, reflectance is high and polarization is low, while on water and wet surfaces, reflectance is low and polarisation is high.

The effects of the polarised light on wet and dry surfaces, allow semi-aquatic reptiles and amphibians to differentiate between the texture of the surface, and navigate towards the habitat of preferred choice. For example, a turtle moved some distance from its pond will be able to navigate back using polarisation, even though it may not be able to physically see the pond. Of course, all is subject to the level of polarised light. On a bright clear day, polarised light levels will be high, whereas on a cloudy day, they will be low because the clouds prevent the polarised light from filtering through.

Navigation using reflectance/polarisation, would be a bit like us seeing a mirage in the middle of a desert and walking towards it. We see the shimmering light of reflectance on the sand's surface, even though there is no water there. The turtle, frog or salamander is seeing the same effect on the water's surface, but of polarised light.

Chemical Cues Considering that many pond dwelling reptiles and amphibians live in water sources with a less than favourable odour on the nostrils, it is not inconceivable that odour may also be used as a form of navigation. Quite a significant amount of research has been undertaken with navigation in toads and salamanders, which has proven to be quite interesting.

For much of the year, many toads and salamanders are terrestrial, living in the damp undergrowth. However, during the breeding

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season, they will migrate back to regular breeding ponds. On a clear night, the toads and salamanders can navigate back to these breeding ponds with some degree of accuracy over distances of several hundred feet. If the night is cloudy, they can still navigate back, but with less accuracy.

When removed from a pond, displaced toads and salamanders can also navigate back over distances of several hundred feet.

As I have said, on a clear night navigation is precise, but on a cloudy evening, not quite so. If the toads were rendered blind, they could still navigate on a clear night, but only to the same level as if it were cloudy. In other words, not very accurately.

It is possible there exists some sort of auxiliary light receptors somewhere on the body which allows for celestial navigation, even on a cloudy night.

Orientation takes on an entirely different approach, though, if the same toad’s sense of smell is removed. On a clear night they can still orientate themselves, but in a rather less precise manner. This points to the toads placing a greater reliance on chemical cues to navigate back to breeding ponds, than celestial navigation. However, it seems plausible that the toad locks on to chemical cues which sets an internal compass.

Once the compass is locked onto a direction, the toad then uses celestial navigation to find its way back to the pond.

The use of chemical cues for navigation is an interesting field of research, as it could open the door to understanding how other reptiles find their way around. There is a theory that rattlesnakes, and garter snakes may use chemical cues to find their way back to their denning sites each year. However, denning activity is a sophisticated behaviour and involves travelling over great distances, similar to those experienced by the sea turtles, so it seems probable that all elements of navigation are involved.

While the ability to navigate has been widely studied in birds for many years, in the reptile and amphibian world it is less well understood. From what we understand so far, is that light and magnetism play a big part in the way some members of these two groups get about. The use of landmarks can explain how hibernating snakes find their way back to denning sites each year. And the most astonishing of all, how a female sea turtle will remember where it was born, and 50-odd year’s later return to exactly the same beach to lay her eggs. It also shows that reptiles and amphibians have the capacity to learn, and build up a sensory picture of their surroundings which they can use on a day to day basis, or over the long term.

And who said we humans were the more advanced species, considering many people find it difficult to navigate out of their front garden without a GPS!

Herp Book Review Reticulated Pythons

By Sid James Review by Ryan Cox

When we get into keeping, we are often ignorant as keepers. We shouldn't take offense to this as it is a new world with A LOT of information which can lead to information overload. When I got back into the hobby two years ago I ran into this a lot. I realized there were some subjects which didn't have good literature to accompany it.

This made me so thankful for books like Reticulated Pythons by Sid James. This book is a good source of information but in a simple, easy to digest format. It's a fantastic fix for the ignorance of new and old keepers.

I won't lie. I often found myself scanning pages before reading them because Sid didn’t hold back on the pictures. Almost every single page has a great photo. Many of which come from familiar faces and names of the reticulated python keeper community. You can appreciate the book more when you see genetic stripes from people like Travis Warren or locality stuff from Rodney Boalich.

The way James writes is straightforward but never overly complicated. This makes retaining the 37 pages of husbandry very easy. The husbandry information is also fantastic and a different perspective is offered with Sid, himself, being a newer keeper.

He presents all manners of keeping, whether it is the more sterile 8x4 vision cage with paper and a large water dish or a large planted bioactive room of sorts. There are never absolutes and he presents the options with pros and cons for the reader to decide what option may work best for them.

One of my favorite parts of this book is the morph and localities section. It's broken down in two simple sections of recessives and incomplete dominant genes. This is where I find my main problem and it's with the pictures to accompany the genes which I love. If you read you'll see an awesome comparison of the Clark albino strains. As well as a breakdown of the different strains of T+ albino. Unfortunately the literature is lacking pictures of homozygous expression of incomplete dominant genes. We have amazing photos of sunfires, marbles, and motleys. But not a single picture of a homozygous form of motley so a reader can’t visualize it. We don't get to see what an awesome homozygous tiger looks like with it being all striped out. But that is my lone complaint with this book.

This book is a great tool for anyone who is wanting to keep reticulated pythons whether they be mainlands or insular subspecies. I can also see where it would be useful for even a veteran keeper as some outside the box information.

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Bill Bradley's Herp Room Must-Haves S

o, you’ve made the leap. You’ve gotten “serious” about herpetoculture. You’re going to make yourself a herp room. A dedicated space for you to indulge in your scaly pastime. Yet, moving animals and enclosures into a space and plugging everything in does not a herp room make. Many of us would love to have a room with a comfortable recliner where we just enjoy our reptiles quietly. That is not the reality of a herp room. A herp room is a place where urates are cleaned up that's often hotter and more humid than the rest of your home.

And, depending on your collection, it can be full of things that want to bite you and then musk on you.

My herp room is actually a facility with a main floor and a full basement. It has a nice couch that I don’t even know when I last sat on it. Herp rooms are functional spaces. Our collections don’t sit on shelves and collect dust. They lead intricate and varied lives, for which we are entirely responsible. Herp rooms can be beautifully curated spaces but they are spaces where work is done nonetheless. So, let’s get started on what one guy in Illinois, with a bunch of reptiles, thinks you need in your herp room. As advised by his wife.

1.

Cleaning Supplies

This one seems obvious but even if your herp room is just a spare bedroom in your home, you should still have dedicated cleaning supplies. If you can dedicate a sink to your space then you’re ten steps ahead of the rest. The key to any sink is depth.

Having a shop sink or commercial style sink is invaluable when cleaning oddly shaped pieces of décor, filling buckets or scrubbing a small mountain of tubs.

Most folks won’t have the option of a dedicated sink as herp rooms are typically a spare bedroom at home and can be as small as a spare closet. No matter where the sink is situated, HOT water is key to cleaning and sanitizing items in your room.

Bleach can be used when trying to sanitize items used between animals while something as simple as Dawn dish soap works for general cleaning. Any and all cleaning takes a bit of elbow work and a good scrub pad will help that along.

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Moving that water means a herp room bucket or two. I have several large enclosures and turtle tubs so I have a small stack of 5 gal buckets as well as a hose connection for my sink. A smaller room could get by with one of those cleaning buckets that comes in a kit with a mop. They also make good storage for scrub pads and rags. Buy paper towels in bulk and stack them right alongside.

Depending on your collection inhabitants, I would also include a spray bottle or bottles in this section. Be sure to mark spray bottles if they’re used for cleaning as opposed to just water for your animals! Teresa and I have been using a Rescue Spray product that is a hydrogen peroxide mixture for cleaning and sanitizing. We’ve had success including it in our cleaning and sanitizing routine. For my fellow monitor keepers out there with deep substrate composed of mulch and dirt, consider a Shop-Vac!

2.Meters

These types of equipment are a bit more specialized and can add some expense to your herp room outlay but can be vital dependent on your choice of animals.

Measuring and regulating temperature, humidity, UV, light cycle, etc. is paramount to the health of many species and can be of special importance to those folks trying to breed their animals. Any single parameter or all of those parameters, and how they change throughout the year, could be the key to your animals cycling properly.

Heat is the most obvious one that we’re all concerned with in keeping animals that can’t produce their own. I still use the old school temp gun from Pro Exotics to check my temps and have a variety of brands for my thermostats. These products will be highly dependent on your captives and your style of keeping. Are you running tubs and heat tape? Enclosures with radiant heat panels? Heat lamps?

Ceramic heat emitters? The temp gun is a vital tool in ensuring that your temps are correct, no matter the system you choose.

Humidity is usually next on the list for most keepers. Hygrometers are fairly simple tools that can be purchased from many manufacturers. Modern herpetoculture is very fortunate in that many thermostats will measure humidity along with temperature or they have add-ons that make this possible. Again, this is dependent on your chosen species but given how varied relative humidity is in all of our homes it is a necessity that we measure it in our room and the enclosures therein.

A hot button topic as of late is UV and its use. The arguments for and against are meant for another article but should you choose to use this type of lighting in your herp room then you certainly need a way to measure the output of your bulbs.

UV is one of those parameters where we absolutely can give too much or too little, depending on species. Your bulb placement, timing and use will determine many factors in your enclosure creation and how your species utilize that enclosure. For that reason, it is absolutely required that you measure UV with a meter of some kind should you choose to use the lights.

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3. Hooks & Tongs

Finally, the cool equipment we all wanted to buy in the first place! The industry side of herpetoculture has several companies coming out with awesome new tools at each reptile show I go to. These pieces of equipment are cool and fun but are also very functional and can be a necessity dependent on the species comprising your collection.

Venomous folks are their own niche in the hobby and have a serious need for the multitude of tools available to them. Hooks, tongs, forceps and the like are useful in our everyday lives when dealing with animals but are safety necessities for those folks working with venomous collections.

As with all herp room must-haves, your tool collection will be dependent on your animal collection. I think everyone needs a pair of tongs for feeding and at least one hook for moving snakes that don’t want to move. The size, type and style of these will depend entirely on your use of them and on the animals themselves. I have everything from a hatchling hook to a home defender hook which could probably double as a hockey stick. I also move snakes ranging in size from Boiga to Burmese pythons. Hooks are also very versatile tools and not just snake movers. Today, my wife used a 36” hook to lift a Mangrove Monitor out from behind an enclosure and into my hands.

I absolutely love feeding with tongs and recommend it to all keepers so they’re listed here as a must-have. 24” tongs are great for those Monitors and Tegus that like to jump for their food. 6-10” tongs work just fine for holding that pinkie out and wiggling to get the attention of a hatchling colubrid.

First Aid

4.

My wife and I discussed these last two sections and first aid came up immediately. We use our animals in educational demonstrations and so thought of first aid for ourselves first. If you keep monitors or animals with large claws then cuts and scrapes are naturally going to happen. Peroxide, cleaning wipes, and a few sizes of band-aids are usually all you’ll need.

Hand sanitizer or antibacterial soap is another must have. You’re going to get dirty when cleaning and you don’t want to carry that with you outside of the room. Our kids help us clean and sanitize and they have sensitive skin so when using bleach or peroxide they wear cleaning gloves. Simple rubber gloves that you can get from the hardware or grocery store.

First aid for your animals is a slightly different story. All reptile keepers should have a way to control mites. Frontline spray is a great product that you can have on hand. Nix is a lice treatment that works for mites and can be stored easily in the home herp room. There are also several brands of commercial mite spray. Actual medications from your veterinarian will occasionally require refrigeration so that is something to consider. Triple antibiotic ointment is another versatile tool for those small injuries that animals sometimes sustain.

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5.

The Herp Room Cart

If you’ve listened to herp podcasts for any length of time then you’ve probably heard folks talk about how awesome it is to have a little cart in their herp rooms.

It seems like such a simple thing but the ease of putting all those supplies we just listed on a cart and then going about your work cannot be understated. It’s also a great way to store those supplies.

A variant of this idea came from my wife and that is a stool or chair, especially a chair that rolls. This is, of course, dependent on the size of your room and the layout of your enclosures. My wife is quite a bit shorter than me so working on a handful of arboreal setups requires a stool and makes things significantly easier for her. Conversely, I can sit in a rolling chair and work in our hatchling rack quite easily as opposed to staying bent over for however long it takes me to change waters or feed babies.

I’ve also become a proponent of having a place to sit in your herp room in an effort to convince some keepers to spend more time there. Keeping reptiles and watching them live their lives was the fascination that got most of us into this hobby. If we’ve advanced now to the point of having an entire room of these animals then we should make it easier for ourselves to spend time with them. This also includes the people in your life that you want to share your herps with. Having a place for that friend or relative to sit while you bore them to death with frog facts and show them every new monster you bought will make them much more likely to smile and nod long enough for dinner to be done.

So, pack your cleaning supplies away on your cart and park it in the corner. Wash your hands and take a seat on your rolling chair. Your hooks and tongs are put away and your parameters are set according to your meters. Now, enjoy your herp room and the awesome collection within!

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Specializing in Morelia & Old World Ratsnakes.

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By Derek Dykstra

Ophry a Smara cus gdinu s

The Emerald Horned Pit Viper AKA One of the most difficult questions we can be asked as reptile enthusiasts, in my opinion, is “What is your favorite species?” or more specifically to me, “What is your favorite snake?”

Some people may be able to answer that question very easily but I think, for most of us, it is hard to pick just one. For the longest time I gave the nonanswer of “rattlesnakes'' since they have a special place in my heart and because it is a group of snakes that is more than just a “favorite snake.”

However, I have finally found that species, the one that I cannot get enough of, Ophryacus smaragdinus or the Emerald Horned Pit Viper.

This is the species that has captured my complete fascination and that I can’t stop thinking about, reading about and obsessing over.

In 2015, this new species of pit viper was first described to science after being discovered by the Herp.MX team in Eastern Mexico. Emerald Horned pit viper habitat is restricted to montane cloud forest, humid pine-oak woodland, and pine forests in the eastern slopes of the Sierra Madre Oriental from Hidalgo and northern Veracruz, south to the Sierra Madre del Sur in Guerrero and Oaxaca. Although this beautiful mountain range has survived millennia of human pressure due to the dense and unique climate, it is now in danger of deforestation for agriculture. This means the clock is ticking for this newly discovered species.

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Photo >> Myles Masterson

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This is one of the many reasons I am so fascinated with figuring out how to get these animals to thrive in captivity.

The mystique and the fact that they could disappear in nature before we even get the chance to learn more about them.

My first introduction to this species was as an intern at Reptile Preservation Institute. I had the opportunity to work with a couple juveniles in the off display room. It was nothing romantic, removing the snakes from tubs to clean and change out water bowls, but out of all the species I worked with, I was captivated by these little horned snakes.

Naturally, I asked Cody Bartolini (RPI founder) about them and started researching more about the species. At the time, my knowledge and experience working with montane snakes was very limited, so I was constantly picking Cody’s brain about how he kept this species and about the “Montane Room” at RPI. I was very fortunate to have a friend and mentor like Cody to help answer my questions and teach me more about the ins and outs of keeping montane species.

However, I quickly realized that even after I acquired my venomous reptile permit, the odds of me being able to track down an available Ophryacus smaragdinus were almost nonexistent. I planned on just keeping my fingers crossed and hoped that the RPI team would figure out how to successfully reproduce them and then possibly convince the facility to allow me to house a couple. However, this was a stretch. Most of the individuals at RPI are likely years away from sexual maturity, the sex ratios at the time of their group were unknown and even then, who is to say the animals would even successfully reproduce?

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Despite all this, I still had hope. Then, much to my surprise, I found one. Of course I was completely unprepared from a financial standpoint; I still struggle with keeping a reptile budget. But I felt like if I passed up this opportunity, I may never get the chance again so I made it happen. It wasn’t as simple as making the payment though as it rarely is. I paid for the snake and then waited for shipment which, unfortunately, never came. The seller told me that the animal was acting lethargic and he didn’t want to send me a potentially ill animal that may perish from the stress of shipping. I was devastated to say the least. I explained that I appreciated their concern and to keep me in mind as this was a species that I couldn’t let go. This was the dream snake.

Thankfully, by some luck, the seller was able to track down an adult female for me and we were back in business. I finally got my all-time collection goal!

I feel it is important to note that even though I have only been keeping reptiles for a few years, and keeping my own venomous collection for less than a year, I have gotten quite a bit of quality exposure. Working at an AZA zoo, wildlife preserve, The Rattlesnake Conservancy and Reptile Preservation Institute; I feel like I have been very fortunate to be brought up under some amazing people in the reptile industry. This being said, I also feel like I can give a fair comparison of what it’s like keeping Ophryacus smaragdinus to other species.

Honestly, these aren’t terribly difficult to keep. I will say, if you want to keep Ophrys, you have to commit to them.

If you are the type of enthusiast who loves to keep a large diversity of snakes from different parts of the world and different climates, your Ophry will not do well.

As I mentioned, this species is habitat specific and prefers a certain microclimate. From my experience thus far, if you keep Ophrys at an ambient temperature in the range of 67-72 degrees Fahrenheit, the snake will do great and exhibit naturalistic behaviors. They are also semi-arboreal, in fact they are the most arboreal species in the Ophryacus complex, so make sure to provide plenty of perching for them to drape across (think more like an amazon tree boa and not emerald tree boa for perching). The cloud forests of the Sierra Madre are also very damp, so you want to provide a humid environment but with enough ventilation to prevent the enclosure from getting stagnant. This species also seems to do better with regular, fresh, clean water, much like white lipped pythons. If you can meet these requirements, your Ophry will do just fine.

Of course, you can always go above and beyond when it comes to keeping your animals; it all comes down to your specific situation. I have played around with my Ophryacus husbandry and I am always looking for more ways to improve. Currently, my female is in a PVC enclosure with a glass door that drops down, the dimensions are 24 inches wide, 18 inches deep and 24 inches tall. My substrate is a mix of peat moss, sphagnum moss, organic topsoil and play sand, in which I have planted small rabbit’s foot ferns, and deer moss.

I provide branches and driftwood for perching, spanish moss as a visual barrier, a water dish and stones to provide different textures, temperature gradients and humidity zones for the snake. I spent a lot of time looking at photos of the environment and photos of Ophryacus smaragdinus from the Herp.MX team.

I used this as inspiration for how I set up my snake. My hope is that if I set her up as naturally as possible, in the future if I can track down a male to introduce, the odds of successful copulation will increase. After talking to other venomous keepers online, it appears they are far more commonly kept and easier to get ahold of in Mexico. Unfortunately, as we know, there is no legal exportation out of Mexico so I will continue to keep my fingers crossed and stay on the hunt!

I truly hope that this species isn’t wiped out in the wild but the future for wild Ophryacus isn’t looking bright. Cloud forests and the incredible biodiversity within them need our help. Together, we can all make a difference by supporting conservation efforts in Mexico, supporting Reptile Preservation Institute, Cloud Forest Alliance, Herp.MX, Highlands & Islands, Ranchitos Del Quetzal, and more!

Photo >> Myles Masterson

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Resetting the Bar

With Ryan & Erica McVeigh of

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Ryan & Erica McVeigh, formerly of the Zilla brand, are looking to reset the bar with new husbandry products from their new brand Vivtech!

HM: What is your background and how did you get to where you are currently in the industry?

RM: I’ve always loved reptiles and even through college kept them as a hobby. I worked at a pet store while attending the Milwaukee School of Engineering, and that’s where I really found the rest of the industry. After graduating with my Masters, I moved to Madison, WI for a new job and shortly after started the Madison Area Herpetological Society (MAHS).

My work to build that group and dealing with local legislation got me involved with USARK and many other organizations and people across the U.S. In 2014, I got a message from a friend that worked for Central Aquatics and she told me that Zilla was looking for someone. They reached out to me and after a quick interview I took the job as the Marketing Brand Manager. Over the next six years I worked to improve husbandry using Zilla to help spread better information and create better products for reptile keepers. In the Fall of 2020, I was speaking with Erica about all the ideas I had for husbandry products that would be great, but just didn’t fit what Zilla did. With the success of MAHS and Zilla, we decided to take the dive and I left my position with Zilla in January of this year and started working on VivTech in order to bring those ideas and products to life.

EM: My first job was at a historic landmark that had a natural history museum attached to it and a living animal collection that was focused on native reptiles, amphibians, and fish primarily. It served to really nurture my love of these animals! While I worked here I became involved in wildlife rehabilitation. I became enamored with the medical side of things and understanding disease processes, parasites, and how normal physiological needs can be overlooked with minimal immediate impact but profound long term impact. It was here that I discovered the opportunity of becoming a certified veterinary technician.

My Assistant Director at the time called me up to her desk and showed me how I could enroll. From there it was a whirl wind adventure of working at Chicago Exotics Animal Hospital for a decade (an incredible experience!) where I worked with only exotic animals; a short time at Brookfield Zoo in their veterinary department to fill in for a few team members; creation of a reptile rescue; and involving myself in every opportunity that became available for lecturing on reptile medicine, reptile care, and advancing awareness.

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HM: What was the motivation to start VivTech?

RM: Over the past 15 years, we’ve watched the hobby and industry from many different viewpoints. We have had incredible opportunities to see nearly all aspects of the lives and work of people who love reptiles from zoo keepers to veterinarians, biologists and herpetologists to kids with one corn snake. These people all have one thing in common, a deep love for these animals.

There are some major weaknesses and opportunities within our hobby though that our combined 30 years of experience has highlighted. One of them being the need for better husbandry products for the intermediate to expert keeper. Once keepers have outgrown the big box store and are attending reptile shows not to look around but to network about advanced husbandry, you begin to run out of products that will allow you to achieve those husbandry goals without some SERIOUS engineering and a little bit of luck. Occasionally, a fire extinguisher. This is where VivTech Products can be a driver for change.

Aside from the product aspect, VivTech is dedicated to being a beacon of positivity and refreshed communal information sharing by reaching across all aspects of reptile keeping, not just the hobby keepers but also zoos, museums, conservation facilities, and so much more. To put our pledge of positivity into action, a percentage of all purchases is donated to USARK and USARK FL as well as multiple wildlife conservation organizations specializing in herptile conservation.

Overall, we just saw many ways our hobby and industry could be better and do better. We decided to be the change we wanted to see and make those goals the foundation of VivTech.

"There are some major weaknesses and opportunities within our hobby though that our combined 30 years of experience has highlighted."

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HM: What is the goal behind the brand and what sets it apart from other brands in the same market?

RM: The goal of VivTech is simple. Create innovative and advanced husbandry products that are designed by knowledgeable experts but low enough cost and simple enough for beginners to use and be successful. Beyond that we’re hoping to bring scientific research to people in a digestible format so keepers have the best and most up to date knowledge and can better their husbandry, break down the barriers of information created by gatekeeping and herper lore, promote equality within the hobby, and end the incredible misogyny we see all while bringing the industry together on a path for a better future for us, the animals, and the wild ancestors of the pets we keep at home. What will distinguish VivTech right off the bat is the incredible team of people supporting and working with us along with a deep passion for knowledge and education.

We want to create real change for our pets, our lives, and the lives of the animals in the wild that we love. That drive has been seen from us both throughout our careers and time in this hobby but now we have a platform to do it the way we know it needs to be done. VivTech won’t launch the same thing a competitor launches in a different colored box. We aren’t looking to compete against the other brands selling the same bulb Thomas Edison invented over 150 years ago. We’re looking to bring the hobby forward into the future and hopefully help improve husbandry and support the organizations fighting for our ability to keep these pets so we have a future to fight for.

HM: What aspects of husbandry and hardware have been missing before you decided to bring VivTech to the hobby?

RM: Our hobby has spent so much time selling reptiles as “easy” to keep pets. While reptiles are in some cases less daily work than a dog, they do have a substantial amount of species specific information that a new owner needs to know. Without it, they won’t have a good experience, the animal will perish and they will leave the hobby.

Unfortunately, in an attempt to promote the low maintenance aspect of keeping reptiles, we made it seem so simple that all you need is a kit from a big box store and some crickets and you can keep anything, including herbivores that don’t even eat crickets!

Now we’re fighting to improve husbandry and get people to learn more and research more. It’s an uphill battle. One of the major things missing is clear and digestible information that is written in a way that allows the keeper to feel like they have a good grasp on husbandry without overwhelming them and products that can perform to our needs when trying to replicate natural environments. When the standard for keeping a popular burrowing arid lizard is to put it on tile its whole life to avoid impaction, there is a palpable gap in the knowledge and understanding of those animals and their biology.

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HM: Are there plans or ideas for advancing husbandry in rack systems?

RM: Rack systems are imperative to large commercial breeding operations. They are also important to many rescue operations for quarantine. While they do remove some of the natural behaviors available to the animals, racks also have positives to them in their ability to create manageable and secure housing for many animals.

One thing all racks are missing though is UV lighting without some creative engineering or sacrificing usable housing space.

All living creatures should have access to UVA and UVB lighting.

End of story. UVA and UVB affects the immune system strength, circadian rhythm, eating habits, breeding habits, calcium synthesis, and even serotonin production. UVA is a needed light spectrum for so many natural behaviors in animals, including humans. We are working on some potential lighting options for rack systems and other enclosed habitats, but that will all come in the future as we grow.

HM: Without unveiling too much, what else can we expect to see from the brand in terms of offerings?

RM: VivTech will continue to bring innovation to the equipment we use. If we launch a product that exists already in the market, then it will either be improved or substantially more cost effective, but most products will be new and invoke new ways of thinking about how we keep these animals. Our goal is to catch husbandry practices and knowledge up to the same level we see the rest of our world advancing and improve the experiences for the animal and the keepers. Our next big launch will all be around wifi connectivity and controls to help monitor your animals and get notified when any parameters are out of range. Hopefully this will help to reduce deaths from equipment failures and allow for more precise habitat controls. Beyond that, you’ll have to wait and see but I promise it’s going to be worth the wait.

HM: Will the brand encompass more than just caging and husbandry products?

RM: Starting out, VivTech Products is focusing on husbandry products and creating better environments or at least the tools to create them. However, our passion for education and conservation is HUGE and we also plan on creating some great content to help people understand their pets on a deeper level and hopefully build a great resource of information for keepers. We are also working with 10-15 conservation organizations and are excited to be able to help fund some of their initiatives to save the wild counterparts of the incredible animals we keep as we continue to grow. When it comes to enclosures, that isn’t really our focus.

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"...we also plan on creating some great content to help people understand their pets on a deeper level and hopefully build a great resource of information for keepers."

HM: The slogan of the brand is Innovation. Husbandry. Conservation, how will conservation be tied into the company?

RM: Conservation as a pillar is cyclic, there is no beginning or end. The conservation of our hobby through legislation and supporting USARK allows us to continue keeping and even importing these amazing animals we love responsibly and ethically. This feeds into the conservation of those in the wild through awareness, creation of better husbandry products to mimic natural environments for propagation endeavors, and in the case of VivTech, funding wild conservation. As a hobby we’ve gotten so much from these animals and as a hobby, we have the opportunity to enjoy them in our daily lives. It only makes sense that we help keep them around in the wild too. While pet reptiles are amazing and incredible to keep, if you love reptiles you have to love the wild ones too and many of them need help.

This is one pillar we’re incredibly excited for as we grow and increase the funds for these endeavors.

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So Many A guide to Keeping Centipedes With Paul Donovan

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Although I have worked with reptiles for the past 30+ years and it is always exciting to stumble across a species you have only ever seen pictures of while walking in the bush, one of my most memorable finds was actually a creature almost 20cm in length and had 20 pairs of legs. Yes, you’ve guessed it, it was a Giant Centipede.

I can remember many years ago buying a large Scolopendra, and during the process of transferring it from its tiny incarcerated container into a more suitable housing, I said to my friend “these things move darn quick”, just as I finished the sentence, this Scolopendra shot out of the box and scurried across the floor towards my friend. Well, my friend was a big guy, but that day he moved with the speed and grace of a sprinter!

y Legs...

What are They?

If it’s not an insect or an arachnid, then what is a centipede? Well, centipedes are distant relatives of crustaceans (lobsters, crayfish and shrimps etc.) and belong to a class called Chilopoda. The reason they are neither insect or arachnid, is that they have multisegmented bodies, (more than the three seen with insects, and two with arachnids) and, depending on the species, can have between 15 and 177 pairs of legs; one for each body segment. This compares to the 6 pairs of legs for an insect, and 8 pairs for an arachnid. So, although it may be easy to refer to a centipede as an insect or arachnid, it is actually neither.

In the class Chilopoda, there are some 3000 species set within five orders, and fifteen families. Of these, Scolopendra (order Scolopendromorpha) which account for some thirty species, are the most frequently available in the pet trade due to their truly impressive sizes. For an animal which spends most of its time hidden beneath rocks or fallen logs, and is nocturnal by nature, they can be surprisingly colourful, ranging from subdued browns to green, orange, purple, and even dual coloured; though classifying them is exceedingly difficult.

Typically, they are long spindly bodied arthropods whose legs on the first body segment are modified into a pair of large claws (maxillipeds) and are associated with a pair of venom glands. The venom varies from species to species but is powerful enough in the larger species to kill small rodents.

There are 4 single eyes on either side of the head, though one would assume these to be quite primitive in structure, and play significantly less of a role in prey detection than the very tactile antennae would.

Respiration is via a tracheal system, this is where a small hole on each body segment called a ‘spiracle’ leads to a network of tubes within the body which transports oxygen to the various systems and takes carbon dioxide away.

As arthropods go, centipedes can be quite long-lived.

Although it is difficult to give life expectancy figures for the smaller species, certainly the large Scolopendra could live for around eight years give or take.

Centipedes occur in biotypes ranging from moist, to dry ground, though it is never bone dry. They occur beneath stones, logs and cracks in rocks where humidity and temperature remain pretty consistent.

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As Captives Providing that you can give them the correct conditions, centipedes are relatively easy to maintain in captivity. At the outset, before I get on the specifics of husbandry, let’s talk about caging them. A conventional glass aquarium can be used for housing which should be twice the length of the body and as wide as they are long.

Bear in mind, centipedes may spend their time hidden away, but when they are active they will put a mountaineer to shame. So, when considering the height of the aquarium, this should be at least one-and-a-half to two times the length of the centipede.

Remember, they will stand vertically in the corner of a cage and can even gain a foothold on the silicon holding the glass together. This then leads us to a lid; this should be tight fitting. Be under no illusion, if there is the slightest gap, no matter how small it is, even the largest centipede will squeeze through it. So, when I say ‘tight fitting’, I mean just that. Also, be aware that if the roof has any form of zinc or mesh for ventilation, if they can reach it, they will hang from it.

So, now you have a secure cage, how do you furnish it? The substrate should be a mixture of sandy soil and peat, or leaf mould to a depth of four or five centimetres. On top of this should be scattered rocks, logs, broken flower pots etc.

Lighting should be quite subdued as these are not lightloving arthropods. Although predominantly nocturnal, a number of the larger species can be active during daylight hours. I used to keep my centipedes in quite a dark corner of the room with a low wattage red lamp for lighting.

For temperature, this will depend largely on where the centipede originates, but as a ballpark figure, I would say between 23-30C (73.4-86F) during the day, dropping to 17C (62F) at night would suit most individuals. As for humidity, 50-70% is a good average. The substrate should be lightly sprayed as and when required to maintain acceptable humidity levels. Care must be taken to maintain correct humidity, as this is the biggest killer of centipedes.

If it is allowed to drop below 40% the centipede’s soft skin will begin to shrivel and the individual will die. Equally, a soaking wet substrate which gives a higher humidity may result in the growth of mould and mite

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Centipedes are highly carnivorous and prey upon anything which moves. So this is a good enough reason not to try keeping several together. When not eating one another, centipedes will take just about any insect as food up to the size of an adult locust. Some of the larger species will also accept dead pinkies, rat pups and adult mice. These should only be fed occasionally as if fed too often the individual will quickly become overweight. When I kept them, I fed a rat pup once a month and a few insects (crickets, grasshoppers and anything else I can find) each week.

Breeding & More If your intention is to have a go at breeding these interesting creatures, first you have to sex them. And this is not as easy as it seems. I find it amusing when people sex animals by adopting the ‘adult males are larger than adult females’ approach. How do you know that what you have are adults in the first place? They could be an adult female and sub-adult male or adult male and sub-adult female. Sexing using ‘size’ is a very haphazard approach. Although it is difficult to see sometimes, visually the male has an enlarged segment between the rear legs which functions to produce the web upon which a spermatophore (sperm capsule) is set down.

I have only attempted mating the Scolopendra I’ve found here in Botswana once, and it was a nail biting event. These things are as cannibalistic as they come. I gave my pair the best chance of survival as I could and introduced them together in a 120cm aquarium.

The female was placed in the aquarium which was well decorated with plants, and plenty of cover, for a week before the male was introduced. As mating takes place under the cover of darkness, I cannot describe the complexities of their love life from personal observations, but generally the male approaches the female, spins a web on the ground upon which he deposits a spermatophore.

This is then picked up by the female where it is transported back to her genital opening. Mating can take several hours and once complete the pair should be separated. Do not be surprised if you keep a single centipede and then one day find a load of eggs in the cage. A number of species are parthenogenic – that is they can breed without the aid of a male.

Many-Legged Moms Several weeks following mating, the female will wrap her body into a circle in a shallow depression in the ground and, depending on the species, lay up to 50 or so eggs. The female is very maternal towards her eggs, and not only protects them from predators, but lovingly cares for them as any mother would a new-born baby. She protects them from mould and infection by, among other things, licking them.

Throughout the period of incubation the female exudes a disinfectant which is used to cleanse the eggs. The importance of this can be seen if she is removed from the eggs, which will quickly develop mould. As a rough rule of thumb, incubation takes around 60 days with the offspring remaining with the female in the depression for three or four days before moving off to lead an independent life.

Whatever you do, do not disturb the female, otherwise she may eat the eggs and/or young. A number of the larger Scolopendromorpha are what are termed ‘Matriphagic’ - that is the young eat their mother. This is a common behaviour witnessed by some species of spiders, and is probably a way of the mother giving her offspring a ‘kick-start’ in life.

The young are usually creamy-white at birth and should be removed and cared for independently to avoid cannibalism.

Interestingly, when the young centipedes shed their skin they eat it, as it contains important nutrients. Sexual maturity takes place within 12 – 14 months.

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Painful Bites & Handling Be under no illusion about this, a large Scolopendra is capable of delivering a very, very painful bite which should not be underestimated. A bite can give rise to swelling of the bite site, skin discolouration, headache, nausea, and fever. Breathing difficulties and irregular heartbeat are also not unheard of.

Fortunately, most side effects are short lived, and subside within two to three days with no lasting effects. If you suffer a bite, clean the wound with soap and apply an antiseptic cream.

Care should also be taken to avoid contact with the legs as they produce a secretion which can result in allergic reactions leading to a nasty itchy rash. An antihistamine cream will alleviate itching. In exceptional cases, people who are allergic to any type of insect venom could be at risk of anaphylactic shock from a centipede bite, so be aware of that. As interesting as centipedes are, they are definitely not suitable for children.

There may come a time when it is necessary to relocate your centipede from one cage to another for whatever reason. Don’t even contemplate trying to pick it with your hands. Although there are people who are quick enough to grasp it behind the head and at the base of the tail to neutralise it, these are few and far between; if you miss, you are going to get bitten very badly. I wouldn’t attempt to pick up a large Scolopendra for love or money.

To move them, it is better to place a container or a length of piping which has been blocked off at one end, (in which the individual can crawl), in the cage. Once the centipede is inside, secure the other end off. You can also pick them up with a pair of long forceps. These should have foam wrapped around the tips, so that as you grasp the centipede it causes it no damage. Be prepared for the thing to wriggle like nobody's business, though, and listen carefully, because you can hear them chomping on the metal.

Do not be tempted to lift an individual from the cage, because if you drop it…. bye, bye, centipede! Have a container inside the cage ready to transfer it into. Even this is not easy though, because you then have to let it go while at the same time trying to secure the lid. Nevermind, a few goes may succeed!

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For all their shortcomings, centipedes make quite interesting ‘pets’ and there is still much we need to learn about their biology. I find them fascinating, if not a bit scary. Just please don’t give them to your young son or daughter as a birthday present!

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In The Incubator...

- Herp Mimicry - NRBE 2021 recap!

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And More!

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