Reptile Advice
Reptiles are some of the most exotic pets you can keep at home, but looking after animals from the furthest corners of the planet can bring with it some special challenges. However, our hints and tips will help keep you informed about your reptile’s needs, from health advice to accommodation to its general well-being.
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Choosing Your New Reptile
How to give your snake, lizard, turtle, tortoise or other reptile the best place to live with the right lighting, heating and humidity for long-term health.
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Cryptosporidium And Your Reptile
Cryptosporidia are a type of protozoa – a microscopic, single-celled parasite – which live in the intestines and can have devastating consequences.
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Bringing Your Reptile Home
Reptiles have a diverse and often complex range of needs. Meeting these means preparation is key when you decide to bring a reptilian pet into your home.
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Ticks And Your Reptile
Having scales isn’t always enough to protect against biting parasites. Ticks are nasty, blood-sucking parasites with powerful mouthparts. These can pierce even scaled skin, which means even our reptiles are not safe from the risk of tick bites. While indoor reptiles are at very low risk of tick bites, our roaming reptiles such as tortoises are more likely to be affected.
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Handling Reptiles
Many people falsely assume you cannot handle reptiles. In fact, many reptiles can be socialised to a degree and can be routinely handled. Due to the nature of reptiles, however, any handling needs to be done with consideration of their needs and behaviours.
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Coccidiosis And Your Reptile
Coccidiosis is caused by a single-celled parasite, or protozoa, and can be especially dangerous to Bearded Dragons.
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Microchipping Your Reptile
A microchip is a small electronic device about the size of a grain of rice. The microchip is inserted under your rabbit’s skin, between their shoulder blades, via a quick injection. Once inserted, your pet cannot feel the microchip and the special capsule around it means that it does not break down – a microchip is designed to last your pet’s lifetime.
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Have You Pet Proofed Your Festive Season?
Have you pet proofed your festive season to avoid any accidents or more serious incidents? Contact one of our Vets4Pets surgeries to find out more.
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Mites And Your Reptile
Amazingly, there are over 250 species of mite which can affect reptiles. Thankfully, most of these are very rare or not found in the UK. Spider-like, and ranging in size from as small as 0.1mm, many mites are not parasitic at all and are in fact free-living – some mites in fact are really useful, working as decomposters in our environment!
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A Guide To Feeding Your Reptile
Reptiles are an amazing and diverse group. This means that they have a large range of requirements when it comes to their diet. Some, like tortoises, are vegetarians – a world away from the sporadic, meat-only dietary pattern of a large boa snake!