I’ve gone through a few versions, but here is my current record keeping system. Aside from adding a column for temps/humidity to each individual bin (which I currently keep on another big sheet for all the bins at a glance), this is how I track all my data. Do you all have other ideas to add to this system? I’d love to see ways I can make this even more thorough, or simpler to manage…which may be contradictory goals! Haha.
Do you all transfer written records to a digital system when cards fill up? I do my physical records in 6-week intervals to keep all the feeding schedules straight. I figure any baby purchased from me will come with all these records and any notes written on the back.
My son likes this one for easy reference of who needs to be fed on what day. Note: My next 6-wk printout will be titled “growers and adults,” instead of “keepers,” and the lower section as “babies and mamas” instead of “breeders,” since those titles are misleading. We will feed all the snakes we intend for sale and any snakes we intend to keep the exact same way. Anyway, here’s his quick reference chart my son prefers to use:
I’m having so much fun getting all my systems in place in order to receive my first 42+ babies this season! Dotting i’s and crossing t’s is my specialty! Haha.
All I do is fill up spiral notebooks that end up taking a whole lot of space on shelves n’ such
I recently started using MM’s care tracker but a majority of the time I completely forget to update it and get so behind on it… I think bin cards would definitely suit me better imo so I can immediately have their info right infront of me instead of having to flip through pages or scroll and click through my phone to get the info I need and make sure everyone is on track.
Even though I am not a breeder with as many snakes as you guys have I still have to keep up with 33 of them so I use index cards for feeding, shedding, etc. I just keep them in groups according to feeding dates.
I am extremely old school (because I AM old) but I works for me!
I don’t think I could handle doing physical records like this. I’d just have papers everywhere. I use a free app, ExotiKeeper for all of mine. It has the option to create enclosure labels with scanable QR codes, you can save & transfer data, has pretty much everything I need for every aspect of keeping. It does have full screen ads every so often, but honestly it’s much easier to use/more helpful than MorphMarket’s husbandry stuff, at least for me.
Impressive! I have old-fashioned index cards, two wall calendars (one for breeding/hatching and one for feeding). Lots of pencils. I have been using the MorphMarket husbandry function since it became available. I don’t have the drive to transfer all my records to another digital system, but hey, MM already has all the animals’ basic info. I have them grouped in there by feeder size, so it’s pretty quick to update when they’re fed.
I will add that I don’t actually record temps. I certainly monitor them at least daily but I don’t record it.
I’d love to see digital images of anyone who uses physical cards. I love the idea of digital but my phone is distracting enough as it is! Squirrel!!! And if I let my son manage digital records…well let’s just say he might end up playing games instead
I also need to know the second I look at a bin if I am allowed to hold a snake (when did he last eat? Is he in blue?), because I have lots of kids who like holding and I want it to be fast and efficient. I try to make sure each one gets handled at least 2-3x per week.
I don’t have cards everywhere because they are TAPED on and no one is allowed to take them off except every six weeks when we put new ones on. I keep the old cards in a file box, sorted by snake:
@caryl I’m glad to know you don’t record all the temps/humidity. I check, of course, daily as well but I thought I might record it just once a week or something for record’s sake. Maybe it’s overkill and not necessary, though?
Not sure if this is what you meant, but here are pics of a couple from when I sent them to the snakes’ new owner. Sheds are underlined, weights are boxed. (Date + B) = in “blue,” not fed on schedule. The first card is for one who started as a picky feeder; lined out/R indicates a refusal.
Jess, I may look closer at https://exotikeeper.net/. Thanks for the link. While I can’t get away from my at-a-glance cards, I do like the idea of something digital that is more accessible.
It’s always nice to have a digital backup, just in case, even if hard copies are your first line. You can even print the QR codes for the animals directly on your cards so you can just scan them with your phone and add the information into the app while you write it on the card itself! I actually asked the developer (it’s one person) if they could add a non-breeding/spayed toggle after my girl Celia had to be spayed because I wanted to hide the breeding data for her, so it even has that functionality.
I use iherp.com for my personal records. I use it to record feeds, sheds, weights, etc., as well as breeding records. I also have a note on my phone listing all of my snakes and their info, such as hatch date, genetics, and who produced them. That info is also on their iherp pages, but it’s nice to have it condensed so I can easily see matching hets at a glance. For my buyers, I send a paper record with the snake’s genetic info, hatch date, sex, clutch ID, and then feeds, sheds, refusals, etc. And it includes a hatch photo since I think it’s fun to see how they’ve changed! As far as tracking what chores need to be done, I have a calendar whiteboard in the snake room listing which days which snakes get fed, as well as an inventory of feeders so I can easily reorder when I’m running low on a certain size.
I’ve used the Reptile Buddy app for the last 3 years. Like some other apps mentioned above, I have the ability to generate a printable QR codes for me to scan so I can see details of each snake. It also has a feature to generate a PDF with select information based on the fields I want to be included. It also has reminders for feeding, etc.
Granted, this app was last updated in 2021 but I definitely don’t want to move all my snakes’ info into another app. This app is simple, with a user-friendly interface. “Basic,” if you will.
Before using this, I used a basic notebook and wrote everything down.
