Search found 524 matches

by Joseph S.
February 15th, 2019, 3:08 am
Forum: The Forum
Topic: Ecuador Herping Suggestions
Replies: 7
Views: 9807

Re: Ecuador Herping Suggestions

I’d second Rio Bigal. Higher snake density than just about anywhere I’ve been in the Amazon(admittedly not too many spots). Bushmasters have been seen. It isn’t really a large scale thing so I’m not sure if the owner would be free or have folks to take you out...but the trails are well managed. . Hi...
by Joseph S.
April 21st, 2018, 10:47 pm
Forum: Image Lab
Topic: Tripod options?
Replies: 5
Views: 13910

Re: Tripod options?

I've considered a monopod as well.

Have you tried shooting video off one?

They are less stable than tripods, but certainly more stable than an unused tripod
by Joseph S.
April 18th, 2018, 6:52 pm
Forum: Image Lab
Topic: Tripod options?
Replies: 5
Views: 13910

Tripod options?

I'm on the market for a tripod, with a catch. I want something small and compact, but bigger than a tabletop tripod. Anyone make anything that maxes out between 3-4 feet, yet can collapse small enough for a backpack? I've borrowed a few full size tripods, but tend to shoot everything hand held. Work...
by Joseph S.
April 11th, 2018, 9:16 am
Forum: The Forum
Topic: AZ in spring
Replies: 1
Views: 3866

AZ in spring

Is Arizona worthwhile in the spring vs the monsoon season?
by Joseph S.
March 27th, 2018, 5:58 am
Forum: The Forum
Topic: Galapagos, Southern Ecuador, and Tarapoto
Replies: 3
Views: 4701

Re: Galapagos, Southern Ecuador, and Tarapoto

Thanks Jeff! The rainbow may be one of my all time favorite finds.
by Joseph S.
March 18th, 2018, 8:16 am
Forum: Herpetoculture Forum
Topic: misting system questions
Replies: 16
Views: 30846

Re: misting system questions

light meters can be had for <20 bucks on Amazon. I would disagree about running tap water. Distilled/RO is cheap even without having a unit. You could also harvest rainwater if you live somewhere with ok air quality. The problem with running hard water is not just eventual clogging of the units....I...
by Joseph S.
March 13th, 2018, 9:46 pm
Forum: The Forum
Topic: Galapagos, Southern Ecuador, and Tarapoto
Replies: 3
Views: 4701

Galapagos, Southern Ecuador, and Tarapoto

I started up a wordpress, and have written stories on a few of my herping shenanigans.

https://musingsofjoeblog.wordpress.com/ ... n-ecuador/
by Joseph S.
March 11th, 2017, 3:29 pm
Forum: The Forum
Topic: Wild Boa constrictor
Replies: 0
Views: 2951

Wild Boa constrictor

https://youtu.be/0AHEcOb3pkE

Quick clip of a nice sized boa. More photos etc soon.
by Joseph S.
March 11th, 2017, 2:54 pm
Forum: The Forum
Topic: Wild Boa constrictor
Replies: 0
Views: 2452

Wild Boa constrictor

https://youtu.be/0AHEcOb3pkE

Quick clip of a nice sized boa. More photos etc soon.
by Joseph S.
March 3rd, 2016, 6:39 pm
Forum: The Forum
Topic: Reactionary regulations in Oregon
Replies: 12
Views: 4776

Re: Reactionary regulations in Oregon

This sort of thing makes me very frustrated.
by Joseph S.
February 18th, 2016, 11:08 am
Forum: The Forum
Topic: "Pick one thing"
Replies: 115
Views: 50996

Re: "Pick one thing"

How much does being directly involved factor into morality? Tge suicide bomber sees people and runs up to kill them. The drone operator watches a building blow up on a screen, with knowledge that people are dying. A man in an office issues a command to drop a bomb far away to kill thousands, presuma...
by Joseph S.
February 13th, 2016, 12:19 pm
Forum: The Forum
Topic: "Pick one thing"
Replies: 115
Views: 50996

Re: "Pick one thing"

That is a great question. I don't have the answer. Nice to be able to talk openly. Perhaps travel is a sign of privilege, and the 4th man has never personally intentionally killed a large animal. The indirect deaths caused are unseen. Travel is seen as fun. Killing and skinning an animal is not exac...
by Joseph S.
February 12th, 2016, 5:52 pm
Forum: The Forum
Topic: "Pick one thing"
Replies: 115
Views: 50996

Re: "Pick one thing"

Interesting. Socially acceptable vs not has little bearing on environmental impact.

Kinda like hunting vs eating a burger.



I dont judge people for traveling usually...am even envious. Directly catching and perhaps killing something seems much more in your face morally questionable
by Joseph S.
February 10th, 2016, 4:17 pm
Forum: The Forum
Topic: "Pick one thing"
Replies: 115
Views: 50996

Re: "Pick one thing"

Craig : that is the basic outlook. I think change from humanocentric creates the thread here. If you have been given creation to have dominion over, their is little incentive to steward it. But that aside Say we have two people. Person 1. I went into my backyard and collected a snake! Booo... Person...
by Joseph S.
February 10th, 2016, 11:52 am
Forum: The Forum
Topic: "Pick one thing"
Replies: 115
Views: 50996

Re: "Pick one thing"

What is interesting is that collecting has been extensively debated on this forum-overall it seems most are convinced the impact of recreational collecting is minimal. But collecting and collectors tend to still be chewed out. Their is really no shame or shaming for the extravagant big year road tri...
by Joseph S.
January 16th, 2016, 12:42 pm
Forum: The Forum
Topic: Catalina Island Zonata
Replies: 148
Views: 8442

Re: Catalina Island Zonata

These foxes are very bold animals. Many do indeed have access to handouts. However, even in the interior of the island they will not hesitate to enter tents, walk up on sleeping people, and similar shenanigans. They perfectness of the scenario-coupled with the relative rarity of snakes in island fox...
by Joseph S.
January 11th, 2016, 11:33 am
Forum: Herpetoculture Forum
Topic: small scale mouse breeding
Replies: 67
Views: 54901

Re: small scale mouse breeding

Indeed. Finding the balance is crucial in captive husbandry.


The campbells have a litter of 6. None of my snakes are hungry at the moment-haha. I wonder if their is a way to select for temperament at fairly young ages. The adults can be pretty bitey in the enclosure.
by Joseph S.
December 30th, 2015, 2:44 pm
Forum: The Forum
Topic: Catalina Island Zonata
Replies: 148
Views: 8442

Re: Catalina Island Zonata

That is incredible! I think I will hold out until an animal is found in the deep interior of the island(anyone know where this guy was found?). Their are lots of folks trapsing around on Catalina compared to some of the other channel islands. For example, a big portion of Santa Cruz island is off li...
by Joseph S.
December 22nd, 2015, 6:10 pm
Forum: The Forum
Topic: Catalina Island Zonata
Replies: 148
Views: 8442

Re: Catalina Island Zonata

By taken...as in in a pickle jar?
by Joseph S.
December 17th, 2015, 10:29 pm
Forum: The Forum
Topic: Not quite a snake but...
Replies: 11
Views: 6562

Re: Not quite a snake but...

Great photos! Yes moray eels and lobsters get along quite well. Octopus and eels...not so much. I think a freshly molted lobster could be vulnerable. As someone who has taken 2 moray eel bites to the same set of fingers(different circumstances involved) be careful...they can be quite abundant in som...
by Joseph S.
December 17th, 2015, 10:10 pm
Forum: The Forum
Topic: Where do snakes winter if there isn't a rocky den place?
Replies: 35
Views: 17184

Re: Where do snakes winter if there isn't a rocky den place?

I highly recommend Bernd Heinrichs book Winter World. Very little on snakes specifically but lots of cool stuff on supercooling, torpor, and all other winter survival issues. Anyone read Summer World? Is it in the same style as Winter World? Amazing those snakes dont all end up with scale rot/bliste...
by Joseph S.
December 17th, 2015, 9:56 pm
Forum: Herpetoculture Forum
Topic: small scale mouse breeding
Replies: 67
Views: 54901

Re: small scale mouse breeding

Jimi: so far they dont seem to be big gnawers. I put some seeds in a folded tp roll thinking they would like enrichment...despite a good amount of chewing i ended up having to open it. Maybe they will prove me wrong...but they have plenty of other things to chew on. I throw all kinds of junk in ther...
by Joseph S.
December 16th, 2015, 1:55 pm
Forum: Herpetoculture Forum
Topic: Acrantophis Appreciation
Replies: 18
Views: 11431

Re: Acrantophis Appreciation

I have heard a bit about dumerils being ok with cooler temps...but I would be cautious. Not sure what the climate from the dry forests they are from is. Their are many things that will affect an animals preferred body temperature-not the least for boids being a big meal. Keeping rubber and rosy boas...
by Joseph S.
December 16th, 2015, 1:35 pm
Forum: Herpetoculture Forum
Topic: small scale mouse breeding
Replies: 67
Views: 54901

Re: small scale mouse breeding

Kelly: I'm not sure how frequently water bottles leak/fail(seems to me they could if an animal pushed something up against them). I think a good watering solution for hamsters would be something along the lines of a chick waterer. Heck even a tupperwater with a hole cut in the lid and a net pot inse...
by Joseph S.
December 15th, 2015, 1:56 pm
Forum: Herpetoculture Forum
Topic: small scale mouse breeding
Replies: 67
Views: 54901

Re: small scale mouse breeding

Kelly: The interest in water in regards to these guys is in response to some earlier comments on how nice it would be to have some low odor desert rodents. I think gerbils and these roborovskii hamsters may be about as good as you can get in that regard. It does seem people disagree a good amount on...
by Joseph S.
December 14th, 2015, 5:25 pm
Forum: Herpetoculture Forum
Topic: small scale mouse breeding
Replies: 67
Views: 54901

Re: small scale mouse breeding

Kelly: Campbell's have been in captivity a pretty long time. I think i will be mostly using weanlings anyway. I came across a water deprivation study involving gerbils and Ords kangaroo rats. The gerbils proved much more resilient than this particular species of k-rat. Basically all the krats died a...
by Joseph S.
December 8th, 2015, 6:14 pm
Forum: Herpetoculture Forum
Topic: small scale mouse breeding
Replies: 67
Views: 54901

Re: small scale mouse breeding

The campbells pair have been mating...maybe babies soon. The female is a pleasure to work with...the male will bite but once removed from cage is fine. I think i will try holding back the tamest mf pair for the next generation. Hopefully pairing while young should mean no fighting. Roborovskis so fa...
by Joseph S.
December 7th, 2015, 12:15 pm
Forum: Herpetoculture Forum
Topic: wild collected feeders
Replies: 17
Views: 13225

Re: wild collected feeders

Haha geez. I can only imagine
by Joseph S.
December 5th, 2015, 1:08 pm
Forum: The Forum
Topic: "Pick one thing"
Replies: 115
Views: 50996

Re: "Pick one thing"

We could certainly feed more people than we have currently. We can house more people than we have currently. But to what end? When is too many too many? Will we need a water turbine at Yosemite Falls? Should every last peace of open space be converted to human use? Do we care about individual qualit...
by Joseph S.
December 5th, 2015, 12:59 pm
Forum: Herpetoculture Forum
Topic: "bioactive setups"
Replies: 7
Views: 5694

Re: "bioactive setups"

I think the issue is that snakes need an area they can get to if they wish to be dry. Ventilation is also essential.

Good to keep in mind on the aspen. I simply used it since it was what I had on hand.
by Joseph S.
December 4th, 2015, 11:03 am
Forum: Herpetoculture Forum
Topic: "bioactive setups"
Replies: 7
Views: 5694

"bioactive setups"

Anyone here have much experience with these? I know it is standard modus operandi with frogs and the like...but a lot of people are using them with snakes. I went ahead and moved a couple of my Dasypeltis from just aspen onto a layer of hydroballs topped with aspen and seeded with lots of isopods. I...
by Joseph S.
December 4th, 2015, 10:17 am
Forum: The Forum
Topic: Visiting San Fran
Replies: 6
Views: 3617

Re: Visiting San Fran

Just a friendly tip. Seeing as you are a herper and therefore probably enjoy a more natural environ, I would pass on Muir woods. That place is a bit of a tourist trap. If you enjoy interpretive signage and a boardwalk then feel free...it is spectacular. Samuel P. Taylor State Park isn't too much fur...
by Joseph S.
December 4th, 2015, 10:11 am
Forum: The Forum
Topic: "Pick one thing"
Replies: 115
Views: 50996

Re: "Pick one thing"

Road cruising/shining cuts is one of my favorite means of herping, but I do it infrequently (one to two times per year). Even though when I do it, I drive long distances, my entire household uses little more than half the average US household consumption of gasoline annually. I bike to work 4 days ...
by Joseph S.
November 26th, 2015, 11:40 am
Forum: Herpetoculture Forum
Topic: small scale mouse breeding
Replies: 67
Views: 54901

Re: small scale mouse breeding

So i managed to get ahold of a very young pair of wee roborovskis. They honestly look like tailess kangaroo rats Since they are being looked at as potential model organisms for ADD i think we will get along well. I also realized my pair of rosy boas require more cleaning than the hamsters. Also...is...
by Joseph S.
November 25th, 2015, 11:27 am
Forum: Fish Forum
Topic: Paddlefish
Replies: 9
Views: 18985

Re: Paddlefish

Thanks Gary! Kinda a pipe dream to have a pond with a few someday. I know Calacademy has one...hard to tell how successful they are with it it has quite a bit of rostral damage but I bet that is extremely common in aquariums for these.

Shame the Chinese paddlefish is likely going down the tubes.
by Joseph S.
November 25th, 2015, 10:35 am
Forum: Herpetoculture Forum
Topic: small scale mouse breeding
Replies: 67
Views: 54901

Re: small scale mouse breeding

Haha looking forward to it. I think I will run two bins. Production would go something like this When bin one animals have batch of babies, remove a pair of weanlings to bin two By the time bin two animals are sexually mature(1-2 months)...they will start breeding. After a few months, feed off bin o...
by Joseph S.
November 25th, 2015, 1:57 am
Forum: Herpetoculture Forum
Topic: small scale mouse breeding
Replies: 67
Views: 54901

Re: small scale mouse breeding

Good points

How big are hamster fuzzies weanlings etc.? Maybe just leave undisturbed and harvest only once. Can they be sexed at young age?

I would assume you'd want to retire and replace breeders at a similar frequency to mice as well.
by Joseph S.
November 24th, 2015, 4:27 pm
Forum: Fish Forum
Topic: Paddlefish
Replies: 9
Views: 18985

Re: Paddlefish

I have to ask-do any of these cute little critters get sold to the public? I hear paddlefish obtained at a young age can be converted to feed and hjave a good chance of surviving in a backyard pond. They won't get as large as they will in the wild but a couple feet is possible.
by Joseph S.
November 23rd, 2015, 2:36 pm
Forum: Herpetoculture Forum
Topic: small scale mouse breeding
Replies: 67
Views: 54901

Re: small scale mouse breeding

Kelly: That has been one concern of mine...that taking pinkies would cause the hamsters to eat the rest of the babies. I suppose one could simply take the entire litter and that would solve that problem. How often did you find the sand had to be washed? Campbell's are native to steppes...which have ...
by Joseph S.
November 21st, 2015, 6:55 pm
Forum: Herpetoculture Forum
Topic: small scale mouse breeding
Replies: 67
Views: 54901

Re: small scale mouse breeding

http://wc.arizona.edu/papers/90/164/03_1_m.html
And when you thought you seen it all...heartbroken hamsters?
by Joseph S.
November 21st, 2015, 3:08 pm
Forum: Herpetoculture Forum
Topic: small scale mouse breeding
Replies: 67
Views: 54901

Re: small scale mouse breeding

Kelly. Has anyone ever set up hamsters in a ant farm type setup to be able to observe burrow construction? I can see issues (cleaning mainly) though I wonder if the right mix might last a while. I see that robot tunnel into sand dunes in nature. Maybe something a few inches wide but a meter or so ta...
by Joseph S.
November 20th, 2015, 12:26 pm
Forum: Herpetoculture Forum
Topic: wild collected feeders
Replies: 17
Views: 13225

Re: wild collected feeders

I think the potential for poisoning captives is very much overstated. I regularly feed stuff I find around lights and from field sweepings to my reptile captives. While fireflies have been linked to deaths in reptiles-their are a couple anecdotes from Dendroboard.com of people feeding them to Phyllo...
by Joseph S.
November 13th, 2015, 10:20 am
Forum: Herpetoculture Forum
Topic: small scale mouse breeding
Replies: 67
Views: 54901

Re: small scale mouse breeding

Kelly: I am actually sprinkling old reptile supplement on their food too. Would you recommend a decent economy bird pellet? Parrots eat at least some fruit in the wild(it looks like hamsters pretty much never see such delicacies) so nutrient profile is a bit different. Something designed for budgies...
by Joseph S.
November 12th, 2015, 7:05 pm
Forum: Herpetoculture Forum
Topic: small scale mouse breeding
Replies: 67
Views: 54901

Re: small scale mouse breeding

I got ahold of a pair of campbells hamsters They cant run warpspeed or jump as the robos do. They smell a lot less than mice too. Literature suggests they may be a tad more prolific...mine were from a litter of 10. Robos are so darn cute im still tempted to try them. As long as these campbells dont ...
by Joseph S.
November 10th, 2015, 12:59 pm
Forum: Image Lab
Topic: macro photo and video dslr?
Replies: 7
Views: 6842

Re: macro photo and video dslr?

No body yet either. So that would be important.

Umop: I think that being able to film/photo critters around 1-2cms would be sweet-but willing to compromise here.
by Joseph S.
November 4th, 2015, 12:42 pm
Forum: Herpetoculture Forum
Topic: Questions About Breeding Diamond Pythons
Replies: 4
Views: 6962

Re: Questions About Breeding Diamond Pythons

Wacky idea-but if male-male combat is needed you could always borrow a friends Morelia of sorts-get your diamond riled up...and then plop him in with the female.

I think the extra male would be nice insurance if one male is shooting blanks, however.
by Joseph S.
November 2nd, 2015, 9:53 pm
Forum: Herpetoculture Forum
Topic: small scale mouse breeding
Replies: 67
Views: 54901

Re: small scale mouse breeding

I bet. They are very much desert rodents...so pee is very concentrated. I have found more anecdotal reports complaining of male robo musk (frequently compared to chips) than other sp.

Did you guys price them differently? It seems the robos are more expensive. Makessense if they are less prolific
by Joseph S.
November 2nd, 2015, 9:32 pm
Forum: Herpetoculture Forum
Topic: small scale mouse breeding
Replies: 67
Views: 54901

Re: small scale mouse breeding

Interesting. I talked to a petstore person today who claimed she felt robos had amore musky and ammonia smell to them
by Joseph S.
November 2nd, 2015, 8:49 pm
Forum: Image Lab
Topic: macro photo and video dslr?
Replies: 7
Views: 6842

macro photo and video dslr?

Any thoughts? I got to play with a friends camera and think I might like something that can take very goodclose up footage and photos.

What could a 500 budget get me that yall think would be suitable?
by Joseph S.
November 2nd, 2015, 8:32 pm
Forum: Herpetoculture Forum
Topic: small scale mouse breeding
Replies: 67
Views: 54901

Re: small scale mouse breeding

Haha yeah. The robos are so darn cute and add too.

Do you have any thoughts on the smell of robo vs campbells? Dunno if you guys stock both species.