Ten Pygmy Chameleon Facts

June 24, 2015November 19, 2015 ~ BackwaterReptiles

Unique in many ways, and we’re going to list the top ten Pygmy chameleon facts. When most people think of a chameleon, the animal that comes to their mind is a bright, color-changing lizard with a curlicue tail and eyes that can move in opposite directions. However, at Backwater Reptiles, we have some pygmy chameleons that don’t adhere to the chameleon “stereotype.” This blog entry is dedicated to shedding light on these unique little chameleons by providing readers with ten quick facts about them.

1. Unlike their more colorful, larger cousins, pygmy chameleons tend to be shades of brown with various blotches, spots, and stripes. While they can still adjust their color depending on their surroundings, they do not turn shades of bright green, blue, or orange.

2. Pygmy chameleons are also known as Stump-tail chameleons because they have short, truncated tails. Because they live on leaf litter on the ground, they don’t require curly, long tails that allow them to grasp tree branches like their arboreal cousins.

rhampholean brevicaudatus — Pygmy Chameleons don’t generally exceed three inches long, making them the smallest species of chameleon in the world.

3. As their name suggests, pygmies get no larger than three and a half inches and some species will stay as small as an inch long. They also have relatively short lifespans averaging from one to three years.

4. Pygmy chameleons can be housed communally. Provided they live in an enclosure with enough space, food, and humidity, they will coexist happily.

5. When keeping pygmies in captivity, horizontal space is more important than vertical space. These little guys are not big on climbing like most arboreal chameleons. It’s also a great idea to have lots of floor roaming space if you have more than one male in a single enclosure because it gives them territory to “claim” and less chance to encounter each other and engage in aggressive behavior.

6. Pygmies are avid breeders and because they can be housed together, you’ll need to watch out for gravid females. You can tell when a female is gravid because, like a pregnant human, she will swell up really large in the tummy region. Make sure you watch gravid females closely as it’s not necessary to move pygmies to a separate laying bin when it’s time to lay eggs. The substrate kept year-round in a pygmies’ enclosure should be moist enough and provide enough digging depth for a female to deposit her eggs.

7. Juvenile and baby pygmy chameleons should be fed as many pinhead crickets a they can consume daily. Adults should be consuming approximately four to six small crickets every other day.

bearded pygmy cham — The tiniest chameleon we bet you’ll ever see! They require tiny food items such as 1/8″ crickets and hydei fruit flies.

8. When frightened, pygmies can vibrate or buzz in order to attempt to intimidate other chameleons or predators. They definitely aren’t lacking in the personality department.

9. Because they live in leaf litter, pygmies do everything they can to camouflage in with the leaves. Interestingly enough, they can compress their bodies and flatten out to resemble a dead leaf and believe us when we say that if they don’t want to be found, sometimes it’s hard to see them even when they’re right in front of your face!

10. Pygmy chameleons make great pets! Pygmies are usually pretty docile and don’t mind being handled by people. Just be aware of the animal’s posture and behavior while handling because like most chameleons, stress is dangerous to their health.

Pygmy Chameleon - Rhampholeon sp. — This pygmy chameleon thinks he’s a jewel thief! :)

If you are interested in owning a tiny, unique, and quirky animal, Backwater Reptiles has pygmy chameleons for sale. We bet you’re going to want multiples. ;-)

Eight California King Snake Morphs

June 22, 2015November 19, 2015 ~ BackwaterReptiles

California King Snakes (Lampropeltis g. californiae) are extremely popular pet snakes not only because they are very easy to care for and have pleasant personalities, but also because they are available in a seemingly endless variety of different morphs.

In this blog entry, we will describe and detail eight different Cal king snake morphs.

1. “Normal” California Kingsnake

popular california kingsnake morphs — Standard or normal California King Snake

Normal king snakes can exhibit a wide array of stripes, bands, speckles, and colorations. They can stay in the black and white color spectrum or roll into the brown and red spectrum depending on where in the country the king snake originates from.

normal california kingsnake - Lampropeltis californiae — Notice the perfectly shaped “T” on the top of this normal California King Snake’s head.

In banded king snakes, the lighter color forms bands around the snake’s body, like the one pictured in this series of photos, whereas in striped snakes, a stripe (or sometimes two) runs down the length of the top of the snake’s body.

normal cal kingsnake — Normal or regular California King Snake displaying no special breeding morph patterns or coloration. This particular snake is banded and not striped.

Even though “normal” California king snakes can be found in the wild, it’s still recommended to purchase a captive bred animal as you won’t run the risk of keeping an animal with parasites or health problems.

2. High Yellow Banana California Kingsnake

As its name suggests, the High Yellow Banana Cal King Snake has more of a yellowish main color than some of its paler morphed brethren.

banana kingsnake — This High Yellow Cal King is displaying a broken stripe pattern along it’s back.

Bananas can express anywhere from a 70% to 95% yellow color, meaning that they can be 75% to 95% yellow with very little black banding or striping, depending on the heritage of the animal.

3. Albino California Kingsnake morph

Like any albino animal, albino Cal Kings lack the pigment known as melanin in their scales. This causes their eyes to appear red because the blood vessels are visible and their scales to appear pink in color because the dark pigment is missing. As they age, albino Cal Kings’ pink scales will become white.

4. Chocolate California Kingsnake morph

As you can see from these pictures, a Chocolate morph of the Cal king snake is a deep, rich brown in color. The one in these photos still possesses a bit of a pattern, but it is muddied and hard to make out. As the breeding on this morph gets purer, eventually the markings disappear altogether creating what is called a “Patternless Chocolate” morph.

The darker coloration on the chocolates is caused by hypermelanism, which is essentially the opposite of albinism. Instead of lacking dark pigment and turning pink, chocolates possess much more melanin in their scales and are therefore darker in coloration.

5. Lavender California Kingsnake morph

A Lavender Cal king is a slight variation of an albino. It is also called a “T-Positive Albino” morph because it possesses less melanin (dark pigment) in its scales than a normal snake, but still lacks enough to produce dark red eyes and a brownish-pinkish scale color.

6. Reverse Stripe California Kingsnake morph

Reverse Stripe Kingsnake - Lampropeltis californiae — Classic pose for this Reverse-striped California kingsnake

When breeders attempt to mate Cal Kings to produce a reverse striped animal, the goal is to make a white animal with a black or brown stripe running down the back. This morph can not only possess a stripe, but often they have dots, dashes, and other spots or marks on their sides, like the one we have pictured.

reverese striped california kingsnake — Reverse striping produces a white animal with black or brown stripes.

7. Black and White Striped California Kingsnake

Black and white striped Cal Kings are pretty accurately described by their morph name. As the photos show, these snakes express only black and white coloration. No yellow and no brown is present.

It should also be noted that instead of bands, black and white striped Cal Kings have a stripe or two running the length of their back.

8. High White California Kingsnake

High Whites are known for the brilliant contrast of white against black pigment in the scales. Normal Cal Kings possess a tinge of yellow, but High Whites are a true white in color. If black markings are present at all, it will be around the head and the top of the tail and the black will be a very dark, “true” black. This is a very popular morph within the reptile industry.

It’s interesting to note that High White Cal Kings are also referred to by some as “Snow” California King Snakes.

california kingsnake collage — A collage of California King Snake morphs.

This list of Cal Kings morphs is by no means all inclusive. There are many other varieties and mixtures of morphs that create “designer” king snakes. We’ve just gone over the basics and hope that it is helpful to potential Cal King owners when choosing a pet king snake.

Backwater Reptiles currently offers many different morphs of California King Snakes for sale. If you know of one you don’t see on our website, email us and we’ll try to get it for you.

What to Feed Your Bearded Dragon

June 17, 2015November 18, 2015 ~ BackwaterReptiles

What should you feed your pet Beardie? Bearded Dragons (AKA “Beardies”) are extremely popular pet lizards for several reasons. They are extremely hardy making them easy to care for, healthy lizards. They are also medium-sized animals which means that they don’t require a very large enclosure to keep them happy. They come in a variety of attractive color morphs, are very docile, tame creatures, and they also enjoy being handled and develop individual personalities.

So now on to the million dollar question – what do these guys eat?

Bearded dragons are omnivorous opportunists and eat both veggies and meat. They have very large appetites and will often eat when they are not hungry, just like some people, so make sure you are aware of what your Beardie eats on a daily basis so that he/she doesn’t get fat.

Here are some basic rules to follow when feeding your bearded dragon.

1) Because baby Beardies are growing, they will need to consume more food in general than an adult would. They will need to eat protein (i.e. insects) three times per day, whereas adults will eat once per day. An insect is of an appropriate size for your dragon if it is not longer than the space between the dragon’s eyes.

2) Each insect feeding session should last about fifteen minutes. Dust your gut-loaded insects appropriately with vitamin supplements and allow the Beardie to consume as many as possible within that fifteen minute time frame. After feeding is finished, remove leftover insects from the enclosure.

3) It’s always a good idea to have fresh vegetable and/or fruit matter available to your Beardie. Cut the veggies or fruits into small, manageable pieces and make sure to replace daily as you don’t want your Beardie to eat wilted, rotted, or otherwise harmful food.

4) Some plants, fruits, and veggies are not safe for Beardies to eat, while others are just plain not nutritious. Don’t feed your Beardie avocados as they are toxic to their systems. Avoid lettuce because its mostly water (particularly iceberg lettuce). Also don’t use wild-caught insects as food because they can carry parasites or diseases that could harm your lizard.

5) Variety is important. Make sure your dragon is getting a varied and balanced diet of both protein and vegetative matter. They will develop favorite foods, but like a human being, they need to eat different things on a regular basis to keep them healthy. In other words, switch up the type of protein and veggies weekly.

Backwater Reptiles offers multiple ages and color morphs of bearded dragons for sale as well as lots of types of feeder insects.

How to Breed Box Turtles

June 15, 2015November 18, 2015 ~ BackwaterReptiles

Breeding Box turtles isn’t all that tough, and we’ll explain how within the below article. This week at Backwater Reptiles headquarters, we witnessed a pair of our Three Toed Box Turtles (Terrapene carolina triunguis) mating, something we have seen many times here in our outdoor turtle pens. We figured since Spring/Summer is the time of year for reproductive behavior to occur, it would be a great opportunity for us to share our knowledge on how to breed these wonderful turtles.

As we all know, the first thing you need to breed any animal is a male and female of the species. While Three Toed Box Turtles are not exactly sexually dimorphic, there are some tricks you can use to identify whether or not you’ve got the correct genders to produce babies.

Males of the species tend to be more brilliantly-colored than the females, exhibiting orange, red, or white on their faces with red eyes, while females are duller in color and usually have green eyes. Males are generally smaller than females but do have larger, longer tails and rear nails. The male has a concave plastron (underside) so that he can conform better to the shape of the female’s shell as he mounts her, whereas the plastron of the females is flat.

how to breed box turtles — Here’s one of our healthy, beautiful box turtle breeders.

Once you have sexed your turtles, it is ideal to house them outdoors as it allows them to have a natural cycle to follow for breeding. If they are housed outside, after the cooler winter/fall months have passed, the females will emerge from hibernation and begin looking for a suitable area to nest and lay eggs. It is best if you create your own “suggested” areas for the female to lay her eggs as they will be buried and you want to be able to know where she has deposited them. Suggested areas are warm and moist and will have soft soil for digging.

http://https://youtu.be/hkNhj8rse10

Breeding will have occurred the previous spring/summer. Males will circle the female, butting up against her and sometimes biting her. Sometimes the males will also inflate their necks in order to promote receptivity in the female. Once the courtship ritual has been completed, the male will mount the female and she will lower her plastron letting him hook his nails beneath her carapace. She will then close up her carapace on his nails so he doesn’t slide off during the actual copulation, which can take up to an hour. It should also be noted that females can retain this sperm and lay viable eggs for up to four years after breeding, so she may not lay eggs for several years.

box-turtles-mating — The Three Toed Box Turtles at Backwater Reptiles during copulation. We keep them in very large outdoor setups, with plenty of food, water, and shelter.

Box Turtle Eggs

Eggs will take about 70 days to hatch and should be kept between 84 and 88 degrees Fahrenheit. If you transfer your eggs from outdoors to inside so you can keep a better watch on them, do so carefully. You want to make sure the eggs are not shifted, turned over, or jostled. It’s best to make a pencil or marker line on the top so that as you gently move them to a new container, you won’t accidentally turn them. Store the eggs in a temperature controlled room in moist vermiculite or perlite.

Once the babies start emerging from the eggs, they should not be allowed to live outside right away as they require more structured conditions as they grow. The newborns must have access to water at all times as well as a place where they can completely get out of water (i.e. a patch of dry land). They will eat appropriately-sized dusted and gut-loaded insects, plant matter, and pre-made turtle chow. It’s a personal choice what to feed your baby box turtle – just make sure that it’s varied and frequent as growing reptiles (like growing humans) need to get lots of vitamins, protein, and nutrients.

juvenile-box-turtle — Here’s one of our flawless, captive bred baby Box turtles.

We don’t currently have any hatchling Three Toed Box Turtles available (although we will in a few weeks once the eggs start hatching), but we do have adult Three Toed Box Turtles for sale that are around three to five inches in length – just the right size for if you want to start your own breeding project.

Here’s the end result: a Box turtle egg!

How to Keep Your Kenyan Sand Boa Healthy

June 10, 2015March 27, 2018 ~ BackwaterReptiles

The Backwater Reptiles staff are all huge fans of Kenyan Sand Boas (Eryx c. loveridgei) mainly because these snakes are so even-tempered, moderately-sized, and low maintenance. They are considered great additions for Beginner Reptile Keepers. kenyan sand boa care

Hobbyists have produced many interesting color varieties and morphs of Kenyan sand boas, similar to how many morphs of other popular snakes like reticulated pythons, corn snakes, and king snakes have been bred. This is why keeping Kenyan sand boas is a lot like eating potato chips – you can’t have just one! We bet you’ll end up with a breeding pair and beautiful offspring. It’s a good idea to know the gender of the snake you are receiving as Kenyan sand boas can be housed communally male-female and female-female, but it’s not advised to keep multiple males in a single cage.

When you receive your first Kenyan sand boa, you’ll want to make sure its enclosure is set up properly and that it receives everything it needs to stay healthy and live out its 20+ year lifespan. Please know that this particular species is known to grow relatively slower compared to other Boa species.

The Kenyan Sand Boa can live in a ten-galloon enclosure for quite a few years of its life however as they mature into adults, a twenty-galloon is recommended (they don’t tend to grow larger than 20 inches in length). A heating pad on the bottom of the tank is a good idea as these boas burrow. The hot side of their enclosure should be around 95 degrees during the day with the cool side staying around 80 degrees. This can generally be achieved by using an incandescent bulb set up. Temperatures dropping to the 70 degree range is acceptable at night time.

eryx loveridgei

Albino Morph

Because Kenyan sand boas are known for burrowing, they will require a substrate that supports this habit, whether that be Care Fresh, newspaper shavings, or aspen snake bedding. Some keepers/breeders keep their Kenyan Sand Boa’s on sand (as their name says) however there is always a higher risk of accidental impaction. Minimal cage decor is necessary as these boas spend a lot of time hiding in their substrate. No heavy items are advised to be kept in the tank as the snakes can accidentally injure themselves by burrowing underneath.

eryx loveridgei care

Striped Morph

Feeding a Kenyan sand boa is pretty straight forward. They strongly prefer pinkie mice and will generally constrict their prey even if it is offered to them already dead (i.e. frozen/thawed mice). As with most snakes, it’s a good idea to transfer your sand boa to a separate enclosure for feeding as it ensures communally housed snakes don’t battle one another for food. It also encourages your snake to not strike when being taken out of the cage because it trains it to recognize feeding occurs in a separate location.

kenyan sand boa

We hope you found this information on Kenyan sand boas helpful. If you’re interested in acquiring one of these beautiful snakes, we offer Kenyan sand boas for sale.

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