I started keeping reptiles about ten years ago (over thirty if you count the two per turtles and the garter snake I had as a child, and there were also amphibians at that time that included frogs, toads, and salamanders). I had worked at a pet store in college and really liked the chameleons and leopard geckos. My mother and younger brother began keeping snakes and lizards. My brother is currently a junior in college and still has a corn snake my mother bought him when he was six years old.
When I first got into the hobby, I made several rookie mistakes. First, I decided to start with a chameleon. He was a beautiful Cameroon Sailfin. I had purchased everything for my chameleon months ahead of time, even a book about chameleons. The problem was that the set-up was much better suited for a veiled or a panther chameleon than it was for a montane species. A common misconception is that extreme heat is good for *all* reptiles. I even went to a vet (who practiced, but didn't specialize in reptiles) tell me that. Plenty of reptiles need cooler temperatures (New Caledonia geckos, Montane chameleons, cave geckos, ect.) If they are exposed to temperatures over 85 degrees F too long, they die. I had a baby crested gecko almost die just walking from the show building to my car once. I had to buy a can of pop (soda to people living outside of the Great Lakes) and hold it over the deli cup just to help him stay cool enough.
My first chameleon was dead in 10 days. I year later, I had somewhat better luck with a couple of Rudis Chameleons, but not much. Thankfully, I got myself a bearded dragon and a leopard gecko. I made rookie mistakes with them too, but they recovered. I read book from pet stores. My leopard gecko suffered from impaction from sand. My bearded dragon also got some intestinal parasites from the sand. He also suffered from metabolic bone disease because the UVB bulb was 2.0 instead of 10.0. My vet was able to treat him and he made a full recover. That particular vet recommended using newspaper instead of sand. What I've learned is that even when we clean sand with a litter scoop every day, the bacteria is still in the sand. There isn't an eco system in captivity to break it down. Some keepers have been very successful with sand and other more naturalistic substrates, but that's still something I have to learn. In the meantime, I've keep several healthy reptiles on newspaper and it's very easy to clean. People could also support good journalism by getting subscriptions to newspapers that still have it, and use the ads as liner for reptile cages, it's a thought.
Over the years I've learned that there are very basic necessities for keeping healthy reptiles. They are temperature, cleanliness, diet, lighting, humidity, and space. Each species has unique requirements for this, but pet owners who get these requirements right with have healthy pets. Sometimes when animals seem to be sick, like they are losing weight, simple changes can save a trip to the vet. I know that the first thing a lot of people say when people post online about a sick animal is "you need to take it to a vet." In many cases I agree, especially with cats. The problem with reptiles, is that there are a lot of vets who practice on reptiles, but very few that actually specialize in it. My first experience was when I took my rudis chameleon to the vet for an abcess. He said that heat was good for Spunk, and I kept telling him that temperatures above 80 were not. He still put Spunk under a heat lamp. Spunk was gone in a few hours.
Sometimes there are no local vets who really understand how to treat Herps. Pet owners spend their hard earned money trying to save their beloved pets only to have them die the next day. If animals have parasites or some other infection, yes they should see a vet to get treated and hopefully, there is an expert near by. Local herpetology societies usually know where to find them. Sometimes, animals are suffering from stress caused by a number of factors. I have a couple of group habitats from my Leopard, Fat Tail, and crested geckos. Here's a tip: always monitor your groups carefully. There is often one or two animals that don't fit in and get picked on. The stress can result in sickness and death. Always keep a couple of empty spare habitats. Once any particular animal is removed, don't put it back with the group after it gets healthy again. If she's part of a breeding group, just set aside some time to put the male in with her in her own enclosure.
Just this year, my female Nigerian Uromastyx was losing weight and not really eating. When I started to shred her greens into smaller pieces, she began to eat more. When I moved her from an aquarium to a melamine cage, her appetite picked up even more. She was thin a few months ago and now she's nice and robust. She's also very healthy. The melamine cage (36x24x18) is more efficiently heated with a 60 watt bulb than a 100 watt bulb heated a 30 gallon aquarium. The screen top of the aquarium probably just allowed too much heat to escape.
