Helpful Hints, share them here!

[Thor's Mom]

Ok, so I thought it might be fun to all get together and share helpful hints and tips that we have acquired through trial and error. There are certain things that I have found are making taking care of my 3 BD’s so much easier and a lot less time consuming. I will start it off with a few things that have helped me out a ton.

1. When I purchase my greens I take them home and wash and trim the stems off of them immediately. I store them in a Tupperware type container with small piles between layers of paper towel. They last substantially longer (up to 2 weeks for turnip greens, collards, mustard and endive). Dandelion don’t last very long no matter what you do. I also do the same with whatever veggies I get them. I clean and cut them into bite size pieces and store them in containers with lids. Makes salad making in the morning so much easier.

2. I use tiles in my vivs. I have found it very tedious and time consuming to scrub each tile and then wait for them to dry, or dry them myself. I have found that if you give them a good rinse/scrub any remaining particles off with an old toothbrush and then throw them in the dishwasher, It works great. The dishwasher not only sterilizes the tiles, but it does a great job drying them. All I have to do after the cycle is pull them out and place them back into the tank. My BD’s love their nice, fresh and warm (from the dishwasher) tiles! I have found this to be so easy and it has cut at least 1 hour off of my “deep cleaning” days.

Everything else I do is pretty standard I think, so that is what I have to offer for now. I am interested in hearing anybody else’s time saving, helpful hints, as I am sure we would all like to spend less time keeping things in order and more time holding and enjoying our BD’s!

 

[zimbabwepegasus]

Awesome thread!

Sinclair has a wood cage that crix can climb up the side of.. it's a pain and it's mesh up top. The upshot? I've been feeding both beardies out of mason jars. Takes a bit for the beardie to get the hang of it, but once they do! No more chasing around pesky crickets!

 

[pscaulkins]

Great thread!!!When I add something new or switch something I rub the item with one of their blankets. So the end result is it is not new to them. Their smell is on it. This also works when you upgrade their homes.

Zimbabwepegasus, this is how I fed Semi lobster roaches only I used this huge tall insulated coffee cup. I also fed my crested geckos their crickets. I just put the small crickets in a pint wide mouth jar in their tank and the gecko's climbed in to eat them and back out. So much easier.

 

[h0ndap0w3r]

Awesome thread!

Sinclair has a wood cage that crix can climb up the side of.. it's a pain and it's mesh up top. The upshot? I've been feeding both beardies out of mason jars. Takes a bit for the beardie to get the hang of it, but once they do! No more chasing around pesky crickets!

you could run a small strip of clear packaging tape around the tank, this way the crickets cant climb past the tape. its how i keep my crickets in my rubbermaid container with a textured side. I honestly thought i had wasted 5 bucks and about an hour drilling holes and screening the whole thing. Only to find out taht the crickets could climb the sides of the same tank that i use for my dubia. THe strip of tape solved that problem quite well and if you were to take your time doing so you prob wouldnt even notice it

as for other tips i use baby wipes and Lysol wipes to clean my tiles. Lysol first, baby wipes last.

 

[zimbabwepegasus]

Oh! I thought of another one.
I use a bit of olive oil to ease any constipation issues with my beardies. The best way I've found to get them to eat olive oil is to put a waxworm in a small dish with some olive oil.
The waxworm is too slippy for my guys to get on the first try (in fact I often have to pick up the waxie) and they end up consuming several licks of oil before getting the worm!

Yeah, I've heard the tape suggestion before... but it's so much easier than chasing crix around after he's done eating. He's a lazy bugger!

 

[Thor's Mom]

That's a great idea about the oil, I am definately going to keep that one in the forefront of my mind for when I might need it.

I know what you mean about lazy. If I put crix in Rexi or Diesel's cages, they just look at me like "you have got to be kidding me, right?" "You REALLY don't expect me to chase these things around DO YOU" "Now back to hand feeding SLAVE" :whip:

 

[ashesc212]

I know what you mean about lazy. If I put crix in Rexi or Diesel's cages, they just look at me like "you have got to be kidding me, right?" "You REALLY don't expect me to chase these things around DO YOU" "Now back to hand feeding SLAVE" :whip:

OMG that makes me feel so much better! I thought I was the only one with a beardie like that. I found that doing the greens that way is useful as well. Great idea about the tiles! I am still using paper towels...maybe I'll switch.

Tricks (other than what was said) - not much except for silkies. I've found that they live a lot longer if I keep them on the heat tape and cover the top with cheesecloth.

Sometimes I have a hard time getting her to eat her greens so I'll put superworms on top of the greens, thereby forcing her to get pieces here and there.

For a while there my basking light would get too close to the UVB fixture and melt it. Now I put tinfoil on top of the UVB fixture and it doesn't happen anymore. Hmm - I can't think of any others right now...they are at the tip of my tongue ...

 

[absolutbill]

The dishwasher not only sterilizes the tiles, but it does a great job drying them. All I have to do after the cycle is pull them out and place them back into the tank.

I would just be careful about thinking your home dishwasher Sanitizes or Sterilizes anything?

I have worked in hotels and restaurants for about 10 years and am well versed in dish washer sanitation guidelines. The generally accepted standards and regulations for sanitizing the plates and cookware that we all eat from is a wash cycle of 160 degrees and a rinse of 180 degrees.

This is usually obtained in commercial establishments utilizing a very powerful heat booster. If that is not done a quaternary ammonia or cholorine sanatizer is called for.

You may want temp probe your dish washer to see if it reaches these temps. If not you may want to give your equipment/tiles a quick dip after in a sanitizing solution.

Sorry just my two cents

 

[pscaulkins]

The dishwasher not only sterilizes the tiles, but it does a great job drying them. All I have to do after the cycle is pull them out and place them back into the tank.

I would just be careful about thinking your home dishwasher Sanitizes or Sterilizes anything?

I have worked in hotels and restaurants for about 10 years and am well versed in dish washer sanitation guidelines. The generally accepted standards and regulations for sanitizing the plates and cookware that we all eat from is a wash cycle of 160 degrees and a rinse of 180 degrees.

This is usually obtained in commercial establishments utilizing a very powerful heat booster. If that is not done a quaternary ammonia or cholorine sanatizer is called for.

You may want temp probe your dish washer to see if it reaches these temps. If not you may want to give your equipment/tiles a quick dip after in a sanitizing solution.

Sorry just my two cents

I agree. Your dishwasher only gets as hot as the temps in your hot water heater gets. I personally do not put anything reptile related in my dishwasher. I do everything of theirs by hand. But this is my phobia. lol

 

[dolphinsilversea01]

This is a good thread!
About the only thing I got, right now, is what I recently built for Spike and it will probably only work for roaches, etc.
I wanted a way where I coud leave a few roaches in his tank throughout the day, like when I am at work, without them being able to go everywhere. Plus, I needed to make something to where it would bring him closer to his uvb. I built a little platform with a hole in it cut to fit a plastic container for the roaches and then from that built a ramp up to the top of his house.
Of course the roaches cannot clime out of the plastic container giving Spike a plate of goodness. I put some papertowel under the plastic container because it seemed as though he had a bit of trouble seeing the roaches at first with the dark carpet.
Here are some pics:

I have gotten alot of my adive and hints from this site, but if I think of anything else I will be back

 

[zimbabwepegasus]

I built a little platform with a hole in it cut to fit a plastic container for the roaches and then from that built a ramp up to the top of his house.
Of course the roaches cannot clime out of the plastic container giving Spike a plate of goodness. I put some papertowel under the plastic container because it seemed as though he had a bit of trouble seeing the roaches at first with the dark carpet.

We need a jaw drop icon!
That's freakin' genius!

 

[Thor's Mom]

With the dishwasher thing, I guess to each their own. I do get what you guys are saying though. With mine, the tiles I am putting in have had all waste particles scrubbed off of them. I also use a natural, chemical free diswasher detergent, so I'm not just running it through a rinse cycle. I will have to check to see what the temps actually are from my dishwasher. All I know is if I don't let it cool off and try to pull the tiles out immediately after the cycle finishes they burn my hands. The first time I used the dishwasher method, I actually broke a tile because it was so hot I dropped it.

Anyway, it works for me, so....

We need a jaw drop icon!
That's freakin' genius!

I totally agree! I'm going to have to try something like that for my guys. I hate it when the roaches get away from them and end up hiding out of reach.

 

[1happymommy]

Not sure if this is a tip but I give my beardie a warm bath every morning and he poops in the water. I have only cleaned poop out of the viv like 5 times in 4 months. It stays so clean especially with the tiles. If I think of another I'll be back too.

I love the greens tip & that food dish idea is great.

P.S. We are taking the kids to Disneyland all weekend. I'm so excited.

 

[lizardluvr]

I use non-adhesive shelf liner in the bottom of my cage, and I just love it. It's quick and easy to clean and it dries pretty quick. I sometimes even put it back in the cage damp, because it doesn't take long to dry out once the basking lamps hit it. You can find shelf liner at any WalMart.

 

[absolutbill]

I will have to check to see what the temps actually are from my dishwasher.

My biggest concern would be reaching at least 145 degrees for a few seconds this is the temperature at which Salmonella is killed.