HDTenEightyP/NetNews huggingface dataset:
From: larry@angel.UUCP (Larry Tenbush)
Newsgroups: rec.pets.herp
Subject: Re: Guest post
Date: 9 Apr 92 03:09:52 GMT
Organization: Angel's Retreat - San Antonio, Texas

From article <1992Apr7.163552.13125@igor.tamri.com>, by donb@tamri.com (Don Baldwin):
> Posted for Lisa_Forman@go.com:
> 
>           I was given some used wooden cages from a friend.  They are
>           in good shape but very dirty.  Some type of substrate (corn
>           cob I think) is stuck all over the cage. And the cage has
>           mites.  I want to clean the cages and rid them of mite
>           before I put any type of herp in them. What should I use
>           to clean the cages and rid them of the mites. I was thinking
>           of water and alcohol.
> 
>           lisa

To clean the cages I've found that alot of elbow grease and water and   
alcohol works.

As for the mites:  You might want to get a "No-Pest" strip from the store
put a piece in each cage and leave it there for at least 24 hours.  After 
about 1 week repeat this to kill any hatching eggs.  Then do this again.
and one more time just to make sure (better safe than sorry).  After all
of this you can then bleach out the cages.  To kill the effects of the 
bleach use vinegar after the bleach.  I've done this bleach and vinegar
trick on expensive tropical fish tanks and it works.  

Hope this help a little.
Larry


-- 
WHOAMI: Larry "Bear" Tenbush 
  CITY: San Antonio, Texas  78230
 SMART: larry@angel.ucm.org
  BANG: ....!cs.utexas.edu!swrinde!dptspd!ephsa.ucm.org!angel.ucm.org!larry
Newsgroups: rec.pets.herp
From: donb@igor.tamri.com (Don Baldwin)
Subject: Re: KILLER BIVITTATUS
Organization: TOSHIBA America MRI, San Francisco
Date: Fri, 10 Apr 92 16:48:05 GMT

In article <1992Apr9.192902.23149@progress.com> gerard@progress.COM
(Gerard Bras) writes:
>>I see lots of talk about bites, but how does one get squeezed?
>>I'm certain that nobody reading this group has ever personally
>>been killed by their python, but does this sort of thing ever
>>cross one's mind while cleaning?  Do you guys use spotters?
>
>Easy.  What the Canadian gent got is what we call a "feeding bite".
>The snake was just quicker and probably a little smarter than it's
>owner.  The way of it is that first the snake locks down it's jaws.
>then using the head as sort of a fulcrum, it "thows" (levers actually)
>coils around the victim.  I got one of these deals from a small Burmese,
>what it wrappred around was my arm.  Some of the coils it threw went
>around it's jaws and it was a real bitch to get loose.

A snake smarter than its owner?  I think the only way a snake could be
smarter than me (or more obnoxious) is if I fell of my motorcycle a
couple times without a helmet, doing about 80 mph.  I like snakes a LOT
but they have all the mental prowess of a soap dish...


>When I'm handling big snakes that I don't know I most certainly
>do have someone else around.  Same goes if one of mine is feeling 
>"feisty".  That's a technical term herpetologists use for mean or
>hungry with intent.

They don't even need to be feisty.

I have a great Carpet Python, who had never bitten me in 3 months of
association.  Getting tamer all the time.  Last Wednesday night, I had
a mouse ready to feed him and pulled him out for some pre-meal handling.
He usually clings to his climbing branch (pretty well, as he's an arboreal
snake),  so I tried a new approach to getting him off for handling:  I
set his branch down on the bed and just waited to see what he would do.
Eventually, he climbed down onto my hands of his own accord.

Fine and dandy, but I had forgotten about the mouse that was waiting
for its demise.  I remembered to wash my hands before getting Pliskin
out BUT, when I inadvertently held him close to the mouse's cage, he
adopted a striking coil.  Trying to avoid trouble, I reached out and moved
the cage away, brought my hand back to the python...and he went into
feeding mode.  Munched my hand, started constricting.  Luckily, he's
only about 3 feet long so it didn't hurt too much...eventually, he
uncoiled, looking confused.  I put him back in his cage and fed him,
after washing off the bite.

Just a reminder folks:  no matter how tame an animal is, they don't
mess around when feeding time comes!

   don "pincushion" baldwin
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
			Bush for  President in '92!
                                 ^
                                 Ex-
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Don Baldwin  -  Software Engineer  - e-mail to:  donb@tamri.com
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Newsgroups: rec.pets.herp
From: pmb2@ellis.uchicago.edu (Peter Bell)
Subject: Re: TARANTULAS, venom is dangerous to those senitive to bee stings!
Reply-To: pmb2@midway.uchicago.edu
Organization: University of Chicago Computing Organizations
Date: Fri, 10 Apr 1992 00:10:55 GMT

In article <1992Apr9.134139.7268@athena.cs.uga.edu> weaver@castor.cs.uga.edu (Mike Weaver) writes:
>I own a Chilean rose tarantula. It is a male about 5 yrs old. (estimations)

Sounds neat--how big do these guys get?

>   (4) Spiders can be hand tamed if you feel adventurous (sp again). Remember
>       a few points: 
>	  1) Spiders will and can bite. The venom is not dangerous to humans,
>	     but the fangs are sizable and can cause a great deal of pain. 
>	     (no worse than my ferrets, though)
As I said in the header, this is not true for folks allergic to bee stings.
I am not sure if the venom is identical, but it provokes the allergic 
response in those who are sensitive.  And tarantulas can deliver substantially
more than can bees, so if your animal is hand-tamed, be careful to ask folks
before letting them hold it.
>          2) A fall of more than 1' can kill the spider. When handling the
>	     spider, do so over a table.
>          3) The tiny hairs on the spider are irritants to humans, be sure
>	     that you wash your hands after handling.

Also, at least in the Mexican red leg, I have been told that an aggressive 
posture which frequently precedes biting involves using the hindlimbs to 
throw hair off the back.  If your animal starts doing this while you are 
holding it, you might want to put it back in its cage and let it mellow out.

If anyone knows the details of venom composition, I'd love to hear about it--
this is info I was given when I worked at a museum that let people handle 
animals, inc. tarantulas.  We always asked about bee allergies, and we 
always had a sting kit on hand in case someone did not tell us/know beforehand.

No one ever got bit (staff or visitors) by our animals while I was there.
I always liked working with the tarantulas, and hand trained a few.  I started
working with them wearing gloves in a quiet room, and worked them up to 
being used to people....   Never had any trouble, though!
From: jp30+@andrew.cmu.edu (Jonathan Bruce Pollack)
Newsgroups: rec.pets.herp
Subject: Pittsburgh: Boa for sale
Date: 13 Apr 92 22:33:58 GMT
Organization: Senior, IM - H&SS Track, Carnegie Mellon, Pittsburgh, PA

I am looking to sell my Columbian Boa to anyone who can give it a good home.  

It is: - 1 year and 4 months old
       - captive bred
       - somewhere between 4 and 5 feet long (the last shedding measured 5'1")
       - generally very tame
       - looks sharp 
       - good eater
       - healthy 
       - tank, aquarium, heating rock, vitamins included
       - price negotiable

I can be reached eithor by e-mail or phone.  My number is (412) 268-5317.
Newsgroups: rec.pets.herp
From: debra@solbourne.com (Debra Frances)
Subject: Re: "the person at Solbournewith the Savannahs"
Organization: Solbourne Computer, Inc.
Date: Thu, 16 Apr 1992 14:55:39 GMT

All the savannahs (7regular; 5 whitethroats), are doing great.  I think I may
have one gravid whitethroat!  My New Guinea Gould's monitors are also thriving,
and I'm increasing my prehensile tailed skink population from three to five.
Stop by when you are out this way....
                                     Debra, the lizard junkie.
From: larissa@finance.esd.sgi.com (Larissa Williams)
Newsgroups: rec.pets.herp
Subject: Re: BAARS Meeting tonight
Date: 15 Apr 92 20:54:36 GMT
Distribution: usa
Organization: Silicon Graphics, Inc.

In article <kt70tiINNi8b@exodus.Eng.Sun.COM>, vmh@vmh.Eng.Sun.COM (Valerie Haecky) writes:
|> Tonight (Friday, March 27) is a BAARS meeting.
> Doors open at 7:30pm, meeting starts at 8pm.
|> Valerie

Do you know when the next BAARS meeting will be?  I read your article _after_ the date!
From: gerard@progress.COM (Gerard Bras)
Newsgroups: rec.pets.herp
Subject: Re: Heating pads
Keywords: try a waterbed heater??
Date: 9 Apr 92 19:38:01 GMT
Article-I.D.: progress.1992Apr9.193801.23298
Organization: Progress Software Corp.

sclever@nmt.edu (Shawn Clever) writes:

>While we are on this heater thread, from a suggestion by someone on the net
>I have tried a waterbed heater to heat the bottom of my 29 gal iguana tank.

>It has proven very reliable, and safe (being that a thermostat maintains the 
>exact temperature dialed in and shuts off the heat when the sensor reaches the 
>desired temperature.). 

Excellent idea!  My only concern would be that without the water mass to absorb
the wattage it might get hot, but I guess you've proven the concept.

>the only problem is that it has driven my electric bill up probably 10-15 bucks
>a month.  

That's cheap compared to heating a whole room to 90 degrees.

>I would feel much safer leaving it on over a prolonged abscence than leaving
>a pharmacy heat pad on over the same time. 

You bet!

>Some of those theraputic heat pads
>void the warranty if any sort of weight is placed on them.  Most of them have 
>explicit warnings that say you should only place them on a surface and not
>place the surface on the heat pad.  

One more time, those things are JUNK. There are just too many good alternatives
to even consider using them.

cheers,
-gb-
From: mwaldvog@ent1.ent.ncsu.edu (Michael Waldvogel)
Newsgroups: rec.pets.herp
Subject: TARANTULAS
Date: 12 Apr 92 14:35:25 GMT
Article-I.D.: ncsu.1992Apr12.143525.20193
Organization: Dept. of Entomology - NCSU, Raleigh, NC
Originator: mwaldvog@ent1.ent.ncsu.edu


Michael Weaver wrote:

>Good points. I neglected to mention the risk on anaphalactic (I can say it
>not spell it) shock. By all means, if you are alergic to bee stings, then
>most likely you are alergic to spider venom. DO BE CAREFUL. (thanks)

My two cents added:

If you're going to own a tarantula and don't know if you are
hypersensitive to bee venom, I would suggest that you find out first.
There are degrees of hypersensitivity and you wouldn't want to find out
the hard way, especially if you're alone at the time.  The point was 
also made that the hairs can be a skin irritant and so folks who are
sensitive are also more likely to get rashes from it.  These rashes
'usually' (emphasis on "usually") go away in a matter of hours unless
you get repeated exposures.

One thing to remember in handling tarantulas is that their bodies are
fairly rigid, so they can't really bend their heads to bite.  They
normally grab their prey and pull it up to their mouths.  In handling a 
tarantula, keep your fingers out flat (not curled up), they'll make a
less an inviting target.

Tarantula and black widow bites are nasty and the black widow is
actually more venomous than the tarantula, but one that is kind of in
a league of its own is the brown recluse.  As  the name implies, they tend
to remain in hidden places (like the steam tunnels under Penn State's 
campus, Steve!).  A brown recluse bite usually causes the skin to rot 
away to varying degrees and I am not aware of any antidote.  Bite
victims often require skin grafts.  A friend of mine was bitten just
above the ankle and required a skin graft about 4"x2".




-- 
----------------------------------------------
| Michael Waldvogel  - waldvogel@ent.ncsu.edu |
| Dept. of Entomology, N.C. State University  |
| Raleigh, North Carolina  27695-7613         |
From: weaver@castor.cs.uga.edu (Mike Weaver)
Newsgroups: rec.pets.herp
Subject: Re: TARANTULAS, venom is dangerous to those senitive to bee stings!
Date: 10 Apr 92 16:28:09 GMT
Organization: University of Georgia, Athens

In article <1992Apr10.001055.12253@midway.uchicago.edu> pmb2@midway.uchicago.edu writes:
>In article <1992Apr9.134139.7268@athena.cs.uga.edu> weaver@castor.cs.uga.edu (Mike Weaver) writes:
>>I own a Chilean rose tarantula. It is a male about 5 yrs old. (estimations)
>
>Sounds neat--how big do these guys get?

He is about 4" in leg span. I don't know what the max size is. With males
I wouldn't expect them to get much bigger since they only live about 6 yrs.
Females are much larger since they can live up to 20 to 30 years in extreme
cases.
>
>>   (4) Spiders can be hand tamed if you feel adventurous (sp again). Remember
>>       a few points: 
>>	  1) Spiders will and can bite. The venom is not dangerous to humans,
>>	     but the fangs are sizable and can cause a great deal of pain. 
>>	     (no worse than my ferrets, though)
>As I said in the header, this is not true for folks allergic to bee stings.
>I am not sure if the venom is identical, but it provokes the allergic 
>response in those who are sensitive.  And tarantulas can deliver substantially
>more than can bees, so if your animal is hand-tamed, be careful to ask folks
>before letting them hold it.


Good points. I neglected to mention the risk on anaphalactic (I can say it
not spell it) shock. By all means, if you are alergic to bee stings, then
most likely you are alergic to spider venom. DO BE CAREFUL. (thanks)

>>          3) The tiny hairs on the spider are irritants to humans, be sure
>>	     that you wash your hands after handling.
>
>Also, at least in the Mexican red leg, I have been told that an aggressive 
>posture which frequently precedes biting involves using the hindlimbs to 
>throw hair off the back.  If your animal starts doing this while you are 
>holding it, you might want to put it back in its cage and let it mellow out.
>

This is true of several tarantula species. You can often recognize a stressed
spider by the large bald spot on its adbomen.

>If anyone knows the details of venom composition, I'd love to hear about it--
>this is info I was given when I worked at a museum that let people handle 
>animals, inc. tarantulas.  We always asked about bee allergies, and we 
>always had a sting kit on hand in case someone did not tell us/know beforehand.
>
>No one ever got bit (staff or visitors) by our animals while I was there.
>I always liked working with the tarantulas, and hand trained a few.  I started
>working with them wearing gloves in a quiet room, and worked them up to 
>being used to people....   Never had any trouble, though!

Thanks for your good points!  Good luck all who keep spiders!
-- 
________________________________________________________________________________
Michael Weaver            |"Where ever you go, There will be something in your
weaver@castor.cs.uga.edu  | way." --Banzai Clutter Theorm
DoD#0529                  |
Newsgroups: rec.pets.herp
From: pholland@iastate.edu (Paul J Hollander)
Subject: Re: BURMESE OUTDOORS
Organization: Iowa State University, Ames, IA
Date: Mon, 13 Apr 1992 21:36:43 GMT

In article <1992Apr13.173615.25675@news.eng.convex.com> datri@convex.com 
(Anthony A. Datri) writes:
>>   Someone mentioned that there are rattlesnakes in the area.  I don't
>>think that they would pose a threat.  You sound like you will let the
>>snake wander around on a lawn - timber rattlers stick to woods.
>
>That's not what I meant --  I intended that to mean that there might be
>snake mites around.

My understanding is that the snake mite that gives us fits, _Ophionyssus
natricis_, is a native of Egypt, not the USA.  There shouldn't be any 
problem with our native mites.

Paul Hollander    pholland@iastate.edu
Behold the tortoise: he makes no progress unless he sticks his neck out.
Newsgroups: rec.pets.herp
Date: Wed,  8 Apr 1992 14:30:10 -0400 
From: "Jennifer E. Swofford" <jsap+@andrew.cmu.edu>
Subject: Constipation Again

Hello again,

I know I brought this up about a month ago, but I seem to recall getting
zero responses.  So, I'm trying again.

For a little over a month, probably 5 weeks, my iguana, Savros, has been
constipated.  She used to 'go' once a day, sometimes skipping a day. 
Now, she's 'going' about once every 5 or 6 days.  

Now, here's the thing.  Well, the things.  About 5 weeks ago was when I
stopped giving her Romaine Lettuce.  She loved the stuff, but, I just
didn't think it was that nutritious, and it goes bad in my fridge
quickly, so, I dumped it.  Could this be part of the problem?  I will
start giving it to her again, to see what happens.  Just curious if
anyone actually knows anything about it.

Also, I've found that when she does 'go,' she 'goes' in strange places. 
Like, when I let her out of the cage to roam about.  She usually stays
in the living room and goes to her favorite places.  But sometimes she
wanders off into the bedroom, and will usually 'go' in a big pile of
something.  Like, my jeans lumped on the floor, or, most recently, on my
bed in a big pile of unmade sheets.  Could this be the problem?  Could
she be outgrowing her cage and she doesn't want to 'go' in there, on the
turf?  Well, I know she's outgrowing the cage.  I'm gonna build a bigger
one for her ASAP.  Right now, I just don't have the space or the time. 
Do ya think that's it?  Should I put a pile of crumpled up newspapers or
something in the cage and see if she 'goes' in it?

Any replies welcome!!!

Oh, I do swim her - but it freaks her out.  She goes into shock.  She
gets really upset.  I hold her for a while, stroking her head and neck
(which she likes) while she dries off, but when I put her back into the
cage and she calms down, well, she's not calm.  She really spazzes when
I come near her cage.  Yes, she 'goes' when I swim her, but, I don't
know if it's really worth it.  I don't want her to be that upset all the
time.

Thanks,

------------------------------------
Jennifer E. Swofford     
Carnegie Mellon University
                              
jsap+@andrew.cmu.edu     
iguana+@cmu.edu        
                              
aka - Minerva - Key Lime Pie - FIVE!
------------------------------------
							

Newsgroups: rec.pets.herp
From: ftit@fraser.engin.umich.edu (Sergej Roytman)
Subject: Re: BEWARE OF HEATING PADS!
Date: Mon, 06 Apr 92 08:41:21 EDT
Organization: University of Michigan Engineering, Ann Arbor
Keywords: heating, pad, light, rock, sizzle
Originator: ftit@fraser.engin.umich.edu


In article <1992Apr4.145555.25181@athena.cs.uga.edu>, weaver@castor.cs.uga.edu (Mike Weaver) writes:
|
|I too had a snake get burned by a malfunctioning heating pad. STAY AWAY FROM
|THEM!
|

I've been following this thread for a while; pity about the animals lost
to or damaged by shorted-out heating pads.  I wonder, why not install a
fuse inline to prevent overheating?  It's simple: just crank the pad up to
the maximum expected heat-setting, measure the current going through it,
get a fuse rated at a little above this current, and splice it in.  Now if
your heating pad starts drawing more power than it should, your fuse blows
and the thing turns off.

You can even have an arrangement with two pads, one on each side of the cage
connected to a relay in such a way that when one circuit is interrupted (as
when a fuse blows), the other one is made.  Your reptile suddenly finds that
the warm side of its cage just became the cool side and moves appropriately.
No problem.

Does anyone have anything to add or criticize here?

|i now return you to your regularly scheduled postings.

Ditto.

|-- 
|_______________________________________________________________________________
|Michael Weaver            |"Where ever you go, There will be something in your
|weaver@castor.cs.uga.edu  | way." --Banzai Clutter Theorm
|DoD#0529                  |

--
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
|  ftit@engin.umich.edu   |   "... a stainless steel rat in the       |
|    (Sergej Roytman)     |  ferroconcrete wainscoting of Internet"   |
-----------------------------------------------------------------------

Say no to four-line .sigs.
From: v105mahs@ubvmsb.cc.buffalo.edu (Peter P. Donohue)
Newsgroups: rec.pets.herp
Subject: Re: PROBLEM WITH CORN SNAKE
Keywords: digesting problem (GROSS)
Date: 8 Apr 92 19:05:00 GMT
Organization: University at Buffalo
News-Software: VAX/VMS VNEWS 1.41

In article <1992Apr8.164414.25449@eagle.lerc.nasa.gov>, nnbarn@buzzard.lerc.nasa.gov (Paullette Hunsdorf) writes...
> story of corn snake...
   My guess is that he/she is throwing up.  The two signs that I am going 
by are: 1) the food still looks like a mouse and 2) it appears 2 days after
eating.  Another way to tell if the snake is throwing up is that the 
regurgitated food will smell badly, whereas feces isn't as bad.
   Basically, the mouse would not be recognizeable as a mouse if it was
feces.  It should also takes more than two days to digest.
   There are three basica reasons why a snake will regurgitate.  One - 
improper temperature setting.  Snakes needs heat to digest food.  If they
don't get enough heat, the food will not digest and will start to rot.
As a defensive mechanism, the snake will regurgitate any food that starts
to rot.  This may also apply to night time cooling - if the tank cools too
much at night, they may have the same problem.
   You said that the temperature was something like 78 to 82.  This should 
be an acceptable range for digestion.  You may want to try increasing the
heat a few degrees.  Also check that the tank stays relatively warm at 
night.
   The second major reason why snakes regurgitate is also a defensive
mechanism, but this time from external predators.  Think of it this way -
would you want to get into a fight just after you had eaten a weeks worth 
of food?  A snake would be better able to defend itself or flee with an
empty stomach.  If you handle a snake within a few days of feeding, they
may regurgitate the food.  I usually wait at least 2 days after feeding 
before I'll handle the snake.  If you have been handling the animal
shortly after feeding, try leaving him alone and see if it gets any
better.
   The third reason is that the snake has a problem digesting the food,
such as a blockage.  These problems are relatively rare; the prior two
reasons are by far more common.  If you can't find the problem through 
checking temperatures and less handling, then you will have to take him
to a vet for a checkup.
   I have gotten this info from a recent Reptile and Amphibian magazine
article.  You may want to get ahold of a copy of the issue and read the
whole thing.  I can get the issue number for you, just let me know.

						Pete

-----------------------------------------------------------------------
Peter P. Donohue - University at Buffalo, Graduate School of Management
bitnet:   V105MAHS@UBVMS                  .  "Education is a journey
internet: V105MAHS@UBVMS.CC.BUFFALO.EDU   .    not a destination..."
Newsgroups: rec.pets.herp
From: datri@convex.com (Anthony A. Datri)
Subject: Re: BURMESE OUTDOORS
Organization: Engineering, CONVEX Computer Corp., Richardson, Tx., USA
Date: Sat, 11 Apr 1992 19:51:31 GMT
X-Disclaimer: This message was written by a user at CONVEX Computer
              Corp. The opinions expressed are those of the user and
              not necessarily those of CONVEX.

>a young 4 1/4 ft burmese and I live in P.A. I wondered if it is possible
>to let her go through the grass (under intense supervision of course) a
>bit or if this would expose her to parasites, infectious agents, etc.

Since there a few rattlesnakes and such in that general area, I'd advise
against it -- mites and ticks could be lurking.

>I was told somewhere along the line that direct exposure to sunlight is
>not good for prolonged periods of time. What's the thinking along these
>lines?

I've never read anything like that.  I'd make sure, though, that the snake
didn't get overheated in the process.




-- 


======================================================8--<