I got my snake over 3 weeks ago. He appears to be healthy, all conditions have been met (checked with the breeder, care guides, and other owners), and has eaten twice, once a week.

He is not aggressive, but is very shy. I have a camera to watch him without disturbing him, and he usually at least pokes his nose out within 4 hours after lights go off. Once he even came out only 15 minutes after. He never comes out during the day. He usually comes out once or twice a night, either to explore his surroundings or just to poke his nose out (once he stuck his head out and just sat there for an entire 2 hours!). He has ever only fully come out on his own once, but he stayed on top of his hide the entire time, though he did explore around the area a lot. He is slowly gaining confidence and exploring more often, but he still never leaves his hide.

It is a top-opening cave with moss (it is a humid hide, so I’m not too concerned about dehydration though I still watch for signs). I have taken him out of his cave I think 3 times now, once to weigh him, once to check he was alive and healthy (I didn’t have the camera yet so I hadn’t seen him at all for several days), and once today to clean the cave.

He does not strike or display any signs of aggression, but he does freeze if I’m not careful. He seems curious, flicking his tongue and slowly exploring around and doesn’t attempt to run away. However, I think he is very shy and scared.

I want to start handling him but I’m not sure how to do this. I’ve already handled him before to weigh him and to clean his cave, but I only do this when I move him. How could I help him grow more comfortable to explore around his enclosure? How can I get him used to handling without stressing him out?

I’m planning on leaning towards choice-based handling, so I just rest my hand in the enclosure and wait for him to get curious and climb onto me or out of the enclosure, but I’m not sure how to do this if he never leaves his hide, and only does so at night. He’s also very skittish so any loud noises, bright lights, vibrations, or movement and he freezes and retreats. He hasn’t actually seen me while he’s still in his enclosure, when he comes out to explore I make sure to stay out of sight so I don’t frighten him back into hiding.

Any tips or ideas would be greatly appreciated, thank you!

I currently own a crested gecko, but I plan on getting another reptile when I’m fully financially independent (currently, 20yo college student).

I’m looking for a reptile that is:

• somewhat small (think around bearded dragon size with some wiggle room)
• intelligent
• can be successfully conditioned to positive human interaction
• colorful

Any recommendations + care info would be appreciated! Please be kind, I am very new to the herp community!

I’ve been on the hunt for sand/dune geckos but haven’t had any luck. What are other reptiles that are best kept in multiples? Hoping for smaller breeds. Not interested in mourning or day geckos. Thanks in advance :)

New here, are there any reptiles that would like just chilling on me while I sit at the computer etc? I used to have a hamster that would lay on my shoulder for long times but I'm very interested in reptiles lately. I'm not big on snakes tho.

I have a dwarf Caiman that is over a year old now. He has a 300 gallon pond and a 6x4 foot land area attached to it. He never goes on the land area. Is there a reason for this, or anything I could possibly do to encourage him to come out of the water?

I have many snakes and know they have preferences and I shouldn't be worried when it comes to how much they are soaking, hiding, etc. However, I am worried about my Caiman because he is growing algae on his back. Occasionally I put him on the land area and block off his access to the water so he dries off enough to kill the algae.

Hi everyone,

I am going to be upgrading my Brazilian Rainbow Boa from a 36"x36"x18" ExoTerra to a 48"x24"x24" soon (I know his current one is too small--he's particularly wee for a BRB, but I still want him to have more room now that we're moving out of my tiny studio apartment).

I have been looking at options, and while price is a factor I am willing to invest in a good quality enclosure knowing that he's going to be with me for another 1-2 decades (he's 12 now) and hopefully this will be his final upgrade. Portability is a big factor for me, so an enclosure that can be knocked down for moving is appealing, as is anything lighter weight than his current glass terrarium.

Right now I am looking at the Reptile Habitats V2 4x2x2 (same brand they sell on Dubia.com) and the ReptiZoo 4x2x2. I am wondering if anyone has experience with these, and can let me know what they liked/didn't like, and if they were suitable for a high humidity snake given that they aren't sealed on the bottom (I use cypress mulch and a Monsoon misting system). I'm also open to other ideas! I looked into grow tents but my guy is an escape artist, so I'm a little leery.

I'm also curious how people have chosen to heat the RH V2--can you stick a heat mat to it like a glass terrarium, or do you need to do something different?

Thanks in advance!

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I did this custom background for my 36x18x18 terrarium and I think it turned out great, I kinda panicked when doing it because the pond and stone foam came out really chunky and I had to spread it with a stick before adding the spagnum moss and eco earth but it looks pretty good. I had never done this before so I didn't know what to expect. What do you guys think?

Hi everybody, I'm Canadian and just somehow learned dubias are illegal here. (Not sure how that's not more well known information.) Does anyone have any alternatives or know where to look? I know discoid roaches are available from Canadian ant colony, but they're very expensive and out of stock/not shipping right now. I was hoping to start a colony for my Leo and my baby beardie so I could stop dealing with crickets.

The small local pet shop I usually purchase feeder insects from has gone under, so I've been forced to purchase from Petsmart until I find a new local purveyor of reptile supplies (I'm not a fan of big chain pet stores in general, for economic and ethical reasons). Among the things I bought was a pack of 25 waxworms, which is way more than I needed for my one leopard gecko but the smallest size they had. The pack had air holes and food in it, which I saw as a plus, because I could simply keep the ones I didn't need for later. However, they promptly pupated, and my gecko doesn't like eating the pupas, so I just left them in the box, not sure of what to do. Now I have moths!

I looked it up, and apparently waxworm moths are bad to release because they attack beehives. What is an ethical way I could put these unfortunate moths to sleep? I saw somebody say putting them in the freezer is one way. Is that effective and painless? Will it take out the pupas that haven't hatched yet? I feel terrible about this already, I just want to kill these moths in as ethical a way as I can.