Corona virus preparation for your herps

@annakirby definitely agree. And the buying out of tp and baby wipes is ridiculous. But one trip to a grocery store to then not have to leave home for 2-3 weeks? That’s social distancing. Don’t need people to starve to death to stop a virus lol.

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Apparently there is now a wave of people abandoning their herps at a pet shop near me because they are afraid of them carrying the virus. Probably going to be a lot at rescues soon too. Keep an eye out for any abandoned pets y’all, and maybe consider adopting one if you can.

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Wow really? These next few months are gonna be crazy…

Yeah. Even though there is really no way for the virus to cross over to anything else. Especially not a reptile.

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It wouldn’t surprise me if people stopped buying Chinese cave geckos. Probably going to need to change the name to keep folks from shunning them

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My parents do not want me to go out in public anymore especially to go shopping. I prepared everything I needed for a long time…yet I just need to get crickets…but I do not know how I am going to be getting crickets. Is online shopping for them a good idea? Do I need to suck it up and go to the store? What if they run out?

Several items are missing in the store I go to because everyone is purchasing a lot of pet supplies like it is the end of the world.

You are 20 right? They can’t keep you trapped inside since doing so is illegal. You can order crickets, mealworms, dubias, and other bugs online from multiple sellers however. Mealworms keep longer and can be stored in the fridge so you may want to look into buying mealworms as emergency lizard food. They are also cheaper and you can buy a lot of them at once.

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I agree with @ashleyraeanne about the mealworms. You can also buy crickets in bulk like a box of 500 or even more or you could just breed them and have a constant supply of them but I dont even know if they are in stock on Amazon anymore.

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Or even better. They could buy dubias in bulk and breed them. Less smelly, noisy, and easier to breed. They could also breed mealworms but that takes longer.

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BUT that would stop the virus from spreading :woman_shrugging:

People in my area are:

  1. stocking up on toilet paper (and I can only hope they get explosive diarrhea)
  2. Frozen food excluding frozen vegetables - because that makes sense
  3. All bread - naan, tortillas, etc are gone
  4. All red meats - vegan meat untouched (because even in the end of times no one wants that :joy:)
  5. Shrimp?
  6. Cereal and not the healthy kind - just the sugary kind
  7. Cheese (except the fancy expensive $4+ cheese)
  8. Cakes (cause why not)
  9. Canned beans (all other veggies available)
  10. Chips (because snacking during the end of times is a must)

No one is going to stave because of this virus. Even schools who are mandated close are still offering free meals throughout the week from a food truck between 11 - 1. Any kid under the age of 19 is welcomed. If someone is starving there are places to go to get food, and if all else fails - get arrested. Free room and food.

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Just a random bit of information. :blush:
This virus is believed to have jumped over from bats and then spread to humans via a snake or pangolin, which is why finding “patient zero” is so important.

@annakirby :joy::joy::joy:
If I get arrested will they let me bring my snakes?

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While this is good information, Just reminder guys to stay on the topic at hand. I fear we are starting to go a little off topic. :wink:

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There are also fears and speculation on it having come from a bioweapon lab in China. We don’t really know where it came from yet and without contact to it a reptile won’t be able to spread it even so.

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One funny video from a guy in a dutch distribution centre laughing about toilet paper hoarding.

Translation:
Dutch forklift driver shows gigantic stock toilet paper. He says: for all the hoarders around who are scared the can not wipe their a… this weekend because of corona virus…people, it think we have enough…

Even the prime minister called out to the public that they should stop because there is really enough food and everything in the distribution centres

I didn’t hear about people abandoning animals here yet but it was full in the reptile shop last friday with people trying to fill up their reptile supplies.

But luckily it’s also bringing up good things in people. In Italie as entertainment people are going in the evening to their balcony a sing songs with their neightbours, in Spain every time health care workers change shift people are singing to them from their windos to thank them for their hard work, and in Holland student started a webside, put flyers in doors and approach older people with the offer to do grocery shopping for them, walk the dog or anything people need outside if they are scared to go out or are in quarantine. They even called out in several television shows they really want to help, and since schools are closed they want to do something for the community. So not all is bad.

As already mentionned by another staff member this is not about

The danger of the virus

Conspiracy theories on it’s origin

People’s behaviour in a time of crisis

The TP apocalypse

Etc

It’s about whether or not you need to be prepared as a reptile keeper and if so how

**So keep on topic please.

Thank you**

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A lot of reptle stores as well as Amazon can ship you crickets, mealworms, waxworms, etc. Mealworms hibernate when stored in fridge. Just let the feeders warm up and start wiggling around before you offer them to your geckos in a feeding dish

Thank you for reminding everyone, I appreciate it. Would you have any advice as to how you would prepare in a situation like this if crap hit the fan?

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Speaking of snakes.

Well my situation is a bit different compare to most, back when I was having a small collection of 20 or less animals I always had 6 months worth the F/T food (because buying bulk made sense and is overall cheaper)

Now for the past 13 years I have been breeding my own feeders and do a supply run every 6 weeks and I don’t plan to change my habits (not like people are gonna be hoarding rat food and pine bedding).

Now people need to keep in mind that while hatchlings and juvenile need to eat on a regular basis they can perfectly be put on an every 10 days schedule it there was an issue, and let’s remember that when it comes to healthy adults they could go months without eating.

Now for those that order f/t online I doubt there will be any issue however for those that source live prey locally it could be an issue, but that can happen at anytime (summer because the person breeding rats loose their colony, diseased colony, colony not producing enough etc) that’s why as a breeder that need live prey to start my offspring I never wanted to rely on someone else because things can always happen so my way to prepare has always been to breed my own.

Now speaking of lizard eating bugs I have my own dubias colony because driving each week for a handful of bugs is just not worth it to me.

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I’m hoping there won’t be a shipping ban, because I plan on having feeders (both bug and rodent) shipped to me during this time. I have no idea how likely a shipping ban is but I’m hoping it’s unlikely. Thinking I should start some insect colonies myself for situations in the future… Plus it’s so much more efficient really!

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Just put in a extra order myself as a just in case of what I feed the most. Fingers crossed I just bought extra for nothing.

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