If enacted the new regulations would have required:

1. Cages would not be allowed to be stacked.
2. 24/7 staffing if have more than 50 animals in the facility. See proposed Section 10.40.010(Z). If less than 50 animals, you must have adequate staffing for at least 8 hours a day. If you have more than 50 fish, reptiles, birds, etc., or any combination thereof, you must staff the facility 24/7.
3. Records must be kept on each “Animal”. “Animals” defined in Section 10.08.020 any animal, bird, reptile or fish.
4. Proprietary business information will be available to the public (that could mean Animal Rights groups).
5. The Department may also impose “reasonable conditions” on a breeding license for any non dog or cat breeder.

Click here to read LA County Regulatory Proposal:

http://www.usark.org/uploads/LAcountyRegs.pdf

USARK engaged on this issue at all levels with staff and leadership at LA County Animal Care & Control and Board of Supervisors prior to hearings that were held March 9th & 10th. On March 9th Christine Roscher testified on behalf of USARK. Christine asked that the ordinance be limited to dogs and cats only. As a result The proposed ordinance was removed from the agenda for the LA County Board of Supervisors for March 16, 2010. The ordinance will be re-evaluated by LA County to ensure that animals “other than dogs and cats” are excluded from the requirements, as appropriate.

This information is from Patricia Learned, Executive Assistant to the Director, Department of Animal Care and Control, Marcia Mayeda.

Click here to read USARK testimony in LA County:

http://www.usark.org/uploads/LA%20County%20Testimony.pdf

California Department of Fish & Game: Turtles, Frogs & Heloderma

There will be a hearing to discuss agenda items on April 7th & 8th in Monterey.

Item 21. DISCUSSION AND POSSIBLE ADOPTION OF PROPOSED CHANGES TO
SECTIONS 671, 671.1, 671.7 AND 703, TITLE 14, CCR, RE: NEW RESTRICTED
SPECIES PERMITS AND REQUIREMENTS. (Helodermas)

Item 25. POSSIBLE ADOPTION OF COMMISSION POLICY, RE: NON-NATIVE FROGS AND
TURTLES (Will not effect Herpetoculture or pets)

USARK has continued to be engaged with the Commission and the Department on these issues. Our Senior California Adviser George Osborn has arranged two high level meetings with the DFG since the hearing last month. We have established USARK as a resource to the Department and have offered our expertise in addressing issues. USARK Director Doug Price will give testimony on both agenda items for the Reptile Nation.

There Is Strength in Numbers… Protect Your Rights! We can win this fight!!

Link to Original Article

In my experience, radiant heat is great. It creates an almost perfect heating gradient. My panels are mounted to the top of one side of the cage. The probe from the Johnson Controls thermostat is mounted about four inches up the opposite sidewall. By mounting the probe this way, I can better control the ambient temperatures in the cage. During the day, the cool side of the cage is set to be around 82 degrees. This creates a hot spot that fluctuates between 88 and 94 degrees. It fluctuates because the heating panel is not always on. I feel that this is more natural and mimics what happens in nature.

The problem I have had with RHPs is humidity. I like to keep the cage humidity around 60%. However, I have had the hardest time keeping the humidity at this level. The cage and water bowls dry extremely fast. The cages needed misting almost daily. I really feel this has affected my boa breeding season this year too. The animals were just too dry.

In the thread on RHPs, I mentioned my struggle with keeping up the humidity; but others said they have never had this issue. If that was the case, I figured I must have been doing something wrong and emailed Pro Products. Instead of writing back, Bob from Pro Products called me. To make a long story short, my problem is ventilation. Even though the cages I use are sealed well, they still have a lot of ventilation causing heat and humidity to escape. As Bob mentioned, we cannot fight nature. The amount of humidity in the room is going to affect the humidity in the cage. The more ventilation, the quicker the equalization will be. Since we live in Florida, room humidity is fairly low. During the summer, the air conditioner pulls the humidity from the house. During the winter, there is not much humidity in the air.

So what is the solution? Bob suggested a test. The Boaphile provides ventilation via a small gap around the door. The first thing I did was refill the water bowls and mist down the cage. Next, I took blue painters tape and covered about 75% of the gap. This should stop excessive loss of heat and humidity, but still allow adequate ventilation for the animal. Now it was time to wait and see what happened.

Bingo. The next morning the cage doors were slightly fogged up, so I knew the humidity was high with just a glance. Unless I was using moist cypress mulch as the cage substrate, the cage doors never fogged. The actual humidity was unknown, as the digital thermostat with humidity just displayed “high”.

The next step is to adjust the tape to see what is needed to maintain proper humidity. Once I figure this out, I can use black weather stripping in place of the tape.

I still have not tested the Animal Plastics cages, as they were not as bad as the Boaphiles. The AP cages provide ventilation via slots in the upper back corners of the cages. These can easily be covered and adjusted with the tape.

In all actuality, my issues had nothing to do with the heat source used. It is all about room humidity and cage ventilation. I would have had the same problem no matter my heating source. In the past, my cages were in a temperature-controlled room, where humidity was not a problem. I used flexwatt heat tape to create the needed hotspot.

So if you are having humidity problems in your reptile cages, try the tape test. I think you will be happily surprised.

She is a beautiful Pastel Orangetail Hypo Boa or as some call pastel hypo’s, a Scarlet Hypo Boa. This boa has given me two amazing litters and the babies tuned out incredible. That is the main reason I am selling her. I kept some of her arabesque, hypo arabesque and possible super salmon jungle babies.

I did not breed her this season or last so she is more than ready to breed this fall. She is about 7ft or so and weighs around 20lbs. I feed her one or two F/T jumbo rats every three to four weeks and she never refuses a meal.

Here is Marge when she was gravid last:

Marge - 03' Orangetail Hypo Boa

Look at the links below to see pictures from her two litters. She produced some amazing babies!

• Arabesque Litter

• Hypo from Arab Litter

• Jungle Litter

I will be sorry to see this boa go. However, she will be a great addition to someone’s boa collection!

Visit our Available Animals page to see what we have!

Once the babies start moving around, I will pull them and get a count. Here are some pictures of the litter.

Here is a list of our 2008 boa pairings:

• Het albino x coral albino – (11/30/2007) (POS 2/5/08) (Babies born 5/14/08 – 2 live albinos born but died the next day, 9 slugs) – The good news about this breeding is that the female proved out to be het albino.

• Kahl albino x jungle het albino – (Introduced 11/30/2007) (Possible ovulation 2/5/2008) (NO POS) (Babies born 6/7/08) – We got some sweet albino jungle boas in this litter!

• Dubay pastel x hog cross male – (11/30/2007) (Ovulated 2/15/08) (POS March 1st) (Babies born 6/12/08)

• Big girl (normal) x arab male (added last week of Jan) (Maybe POS March 14 – very small ovulation) (Due June 27th) (slugged out June 21)

• Dubay pastel x hypo – (Did not witness an ovulation or POS) (Babies born 7/1/2008)

• Scarlet hypo x salmon jungle (introduced first week of Feb) (3/16 – starting to see swelling) (POS April 15) (Due July 29th) – I CAN’T WAIT FOR THIS ONE!

Well, that’s it for this year. I did have a few other parings, but they didn’t take. Maybe this coming season.