AboutMick Expertise NO PRIVATE QUESTIONS! READ MY INSTRUCTIONS BEFORE SENDING YOUR QUESTION!. I can answer questions related to various aspects of reptile husbandry, selection, field ID (esp. in Texas and the SW), legal aspects of various species, and intermediate level medical care on most species. I am a co-founder of Wichita Falls Reptile Rescue ( TX ), founding member of The Society for Horned Lizard Preservation, a member of the National Wildlife Rehabilitators Assoc, a listed rescuer with Melissa Kaplan @ anapsid.org and rescuenetwork.org, and a subscriber to the International Veterinary Information Service. I do most of my own veterinary care in-house. I am most experienced in Chelonia (turtles&torts) with box turtles and common smaller tortoises (I am familiar with sulcata as well); and in Squamata (lizards & snakes) with everything from Anoles, Geckos, Beardies, and Monitors, to venomous snakes. With snakes, my primary expertise is in Crotalids (rattlesnakes), but I can answer a broad range of questions about colubrid and boidae snakes; such as kings, milks, corns, pythons, & boas. I am not aware of any reptile related question, in general, that I would not be able to provide some reasonable answer for. I have a direct style and may tell you something you did not want to hear; but the welfare of the animal comes first with me, and I will always reflect that position in my answer. READ "Instructions to Questioner" BEFORE ASKING YOUR QUESTION.I WILL NOT BE ADVISING PEOPLE ON HOW TO TREAT SERIOUS OR EMERGENCY HEALTH PROBLEMS ANYMORE, WHERE YOU SHOULD OBVIOUSLY SEE A VET, EXCEPT FOR IMMEDIATE NECESSARY LIFE SAVING PROCEDURES OR TEMPORARY MEASURES UNTIL YOU SEE A VET. I AM NOT HERE TO HELP YOU AVOID A VET BILL! Thank You.
Experience
I am an amatuer herpetologist with 24 years experience in reptiles. I am a reptile rescuer and subscriber to the International Veterinary Information Service. I have medical and scientific resources available, and have had to learn herp medical care over the years. I am not a vet, but I read from the same materials and have had to correct a few in the past. The average vet is not well versed with reptile anatomy and physiology.
I have a yahoogroup dedicated to the conservation and husbandry of Horned Lizards. My specific area of expertise is in Chelonians ( primary- Box Turtles ), Phrynosoma ( Horned Lizards ), and Crotalids ( primary- Western Diamondback Rattlesnakes ); though I have some experience also with aquatic turtles, tortoises, monitors, many other smaller lizards, and colubrid snakes.
I am currently the caretaker of 12 Horned Lizards, 25 Box Turtles, 13 Red Eared Sliders, 1 Green Iguana, 1 Texas Spiny Lizard, 1 Bullsnake, 2 Checkered Gartersnakes, 2 Eastern Ratsnakes, 1 Albino Great Plains Ratsnake, 1 Desert Kingsnake, 3 Fox Squirrels, and 1 Budgie. Previously: Leopard Geckos, Golden Gecko, African White-Spotted Wall Gecko, Mediterranean Geckos, Bahama Anoles, Ca. Kingsnake, Brazilian Rainbow Boa, Western Diamondback Rattlesnakes, Russian Tortoise, and Eastern Cotton-tails.
Organizations
Co-Founder: Wichita Falls Reptile Rescue http://wichitafallsreptilerescue.webs.com Founder: Horned Lizards YahooGroup http://groups.yahoo.com/group/hornedlizards Member: National Wildlife Rehabilitators Assoc.
Founding Member: The Society for Horned Lizard Preservation
Publications The Horned Lizard Husbandry Manual - self published 40 pages of care information on genus Phrynosoma.
Wikipedia entry "Horned Lizards" - contributed to a majority of the content.
Education/Credentials 24 years of field and captive experience. In my book that beats a PhD any day of the week. I was hands-on with venomous snakes before some of the formally educated "experts" currently in the herpetology field even knew what their undergraduate major would be.
Past/Present Clients I was requested to provide my care sheet ( manual ) on the Desert Horned Lizard ( Phrynosoma platyrhinos ), for the Montreal zoo. My manual is also used by the Ft. Worth and Nashville zoos.
Question Hi I bought a 6 ft tank mabe by cages by design online it has rock wall shelves with bushy vines hanging off and fake logs would leoped geckos clibm the logs and bushes to get to rock shelves
Answer Try using a little punctuation next time, so I don't have to figure out the run on sentence, ok?
Leopard geckos can't climb the way many other geckos do, but I don't know if they could climb this setup or not, because I haven't seen it. You should avoid heights with Leopard Geckos, because they can be killed by a fall more easily.
