Reptile Care... Don't believe everything you see/read/hear.

The internet, and the vast amount of information it provides to our fingertips, is a great tool for getting the knowledge you need for just about anything.  However, because there are no real regulatory agencies "vetting" websites, blogs, and video posts, it means that anyone can post their opinion on any subject at any time whether it is true or not.  What does this mean for reptile care?  It means that if you are looking for advice on reptile care, although the internet is a decent tool, you MUST take everything you see with a grain of salt.  Some advice given on the internet is good, but much of it is misleading and possibly dangerous to your animal.  Another dangerous source of information, possibly even more dangerous than the internet where you can find hundreds of opinions and make an educated hypothesis from the sum of all information presented to you, is at your local pet store.  These people are almost NEVER experts, and simply want to sell you things, so their advice often leaves out important facts and details that you really need to know in order to keep a healthy reptile.

If you are looking for real advice, your best source of information is a certified herpetological veterenarian, and/or SEASONED breeders.  I say "seasoned" because anyone can buy a male and female reptile and breed them, which does not an expert make.  If the breeder has been breeding for years, however, and has had great success with some minor failures (previous failures are necessary in becoming an expert because it's not good enough to just know what works, you also need to have learned through experience what does not work), he is a good source of information as well.

Also, take into consideration that contradictory information doesn't necessarily mean that one opinion is correct and the other is not.  Reptiles are animals, after all, and they live in nature.  Nature is often unpredictible, and therefore there is no real "exact" mathematically correct way to raise a reptile with all other methods failing.  For example, there is great debate in the desert reptile world about the use of sand.  Some people will tell you that sand is dangerous and increases the possibility of reptile impaction.  This is a true statement as sand can cause impaction, however when a breeder tells you that sand is okay to use, he is also correct for the simple reason that impaction caused by sand is not really that common.  I myself have been breeding leos for a few years, using sand the entire time with never a single impacted animal amongst the hundreds that have come and gone through my menagerie.  Another debate I have heard a lot of varying opinions about is whether or not leos require a "wet box".  The answer to this question is simply... No.  They do not require a wet box for their general survival, but a wet box does provide them with a humid spot to go to when they feel they need one (such as when they are shedding their skin), and does not cause any harm to them.  A wet box is cheap and easy to make and adds "quality" to your leos life, so why not have one?  Sure, it's not necessary, but it wont do any harm either.

The bottom line is, what works for one reptile owner may not necessarily work for another.  A reptile owner may be actually harming their lizard without even knowing it, and believe the whole time that they are doing everything correctly.  Do not just take advice from someone who happens to have a lizard.  Take advice from someone who has OLD lizards, ones that have lived a long life (an indicator that they have been kept healthy and happy), from seasoned breeders and actual certified herp-vets.  Unfortunately everyone online thinks they're experts (including me! ha ha), so read and research a LOT before you decide to adopt an exotic animal of any kind.

~J