MauricesExoticPets
New member
I have a variety of reptiles; geckos, monitors, lizards, a few snakes, lots of insects, a rack or so of mice, a fish, and of course a pair of cats that couldn't be bothered with much more than expressing their distain for each other on a nightly basis, plus a few other random critters.
All of these are staying home for around two weeks, our dog (all 14 pounds wet) will vacation with a friend here in town.
If you have checked the local pet sitter businesses you may have come to the conclusion that enlisting their help in taking care of your own collection of reptiles is ... how do I say this without offending an entire community of pet sitters? It is out of this world expensive, mainly because they tend to charge on a per pet basis. So if you have a collection that is something on the order of ... enough for ... OK ... you have a bunch, your going to want to look for an alternative.
In my case I have a daughter who is staying in town while I am off soaking up some California sun, she has work obligations and is unfortunately not able to participate in the trip this time but was gracious enough to offer to help keep the critters here well fed and watered. I love you Kristina!
In any case, I don't want to put her out any more than is absolutely necessary to get the job done, she is 20, and 20 year olds have plenty of better things to do than spend time at dads taking care of his reptiles and assorted other pets ... one of the cats is hers.
So with just under 3 weeks to get everything ready I have a plan hatched that will make life in my absence smooth, or at least I hope so.
Before we get to my plan, I want to express that I do understand that most reptiles especially the snakes can go a couple weeks without food so long as they have water. Unfortunately I'm not keeping just snakes and we do have a number of fairly young hatchlings and soon to hatch eggs that will need attention.
The plan is pretty simple, but I am fairly proud of it none the less. I will label a zillion deli cups, ok not quite a zillion, but enough to get the job done with dates and little colored stars that correspond to when and to whom their contents are to be offered. I will prep each container with enough dry food to last the number of days till that particular container is to be fed off, and set up enough prepared vegetables to give the feeders the hydration they need.
Everything will be organized on a shelving system with each shelf representing a days worth of feeding needs available along with instructions for how to go about each days work.
I've been coding enclosures with little red, blue, green, silver, and gold stars so that all she has to do is toss like colored deli cups to like colored enclosures ... quick and hopefully painless.
I really hope this method works out, I am not fond of being away for such a long time. But, my daughter has the house for that time so I'm sure everything will be just fine ... :roll:
Maurice Pudlo
P.S. if this would be better some other place, great, I figured it was somewhat good for the noobish crowd, and didn't exactly think it was best posted in a blog that only a few might see.
All of these are staying home for around two weeks, our dog (all 14 pounds wet) will vacation with a friend here in town.
If you have checked the local pet sitter businesses you may have come to the conclusion that enlisting their help in taking care of your own collection of reptiles is ... how do I say this without offending an entire community of pet sitters? It is out of this world expensive, mainly because they tend to charge on a per pet basis. So if you have a collection that is something on the order of ... enough for ... OK ... you have a bunch, your going to want to look for an alternative.
In my case I have a daughter who is staying in town while I am off soaking up some California sun, she has work obligations and is unfortunately not able to participate in the trip this time but was gracious enough to offer to help keep the critters here well fed and watered. I love you Kristina!
In any case, I don't want to put her out any more than is absolutely necessary to get the job done, she is 20, and 20 year olds have plenty of better things to do than spend time at dads taking care of his reptiles and assorted other pets ... one of the cats is hers.
So with just under 3 weeks to get everything ready I have a plan hatched that will make life in my absence smooth, or at least I hope so.
Before we get to my plan, I want to express that I do understand that most reptiles especially the snakes can go a couple weeks without food so long as they have water. Unfortunately I'm not keeping just snakes and we do have a number of fairly young hatchlings and soon to hatch eggs that will need attention.
The plan is pretty simple, but I am fairly proud of it none the less. I will label a zillion deli cups, ok not quite a zillion, but enough to get the job done with dates and little colored stars that correspond to when and to whom their contents are to be offered. I will prep each container with enough dry food to last the number of days till that particular container is to be fed off, and set up enough prepared vegetables to give the feeders the hydration they need.
Everything will be organized on a shelving system with each shelf representing a days worth of feeding needs available along with instructions for how to go about each days work.
I've been coding enclosures with little red, blue, green, silver, and gold stars so that all she has to do is toss like colored deli cups to like colored enclosures ... quick and hopefully painless.
I really hope this method works out, I am not fond of being away for such a long time. But, my daughter has the house for that time so I'm sure everything will be just fine ... :roll:
Maurice Pudlo
P.S. if this would be better some other place, great, I figured it was somewhat good for the noobish crowd, and didn't exactly think it was best posted in a blog that only a few might see.
