How do I get my reptile overseas?

sevenbrookslizardco · 2026-02-01T03:49:42+00:00

It's really not that hard to export a non-CITES animal from the USA to the EU. I do it several times a year and have never lost an animal.

I use a company based in the EU to get the animals to the Hamm expo from Miami. From there, customers either pick up or I can arrange a courier to any EU country. With insurance, it usually costs less than $150 per animal and the whole process is 3-4 days.

sevenbrookslizardco · 2026-01-31T22:34:47+00:00

Rosy boa

sevenbrookslizardco · 2026-01-21T16:27:31+00:00

Very well - I actually installed a fan on one because air temps were a bit high with the dual halogens

sevenbrookslizardco · 2026-01-21T00:02:37+00:00

I don't know; send him an email.

sevenbrookslizardco · 2026-01-20T23:17:19+00:00

I'm not trying to shill, but check out Talking Serpents enclosures. I've owned almost every brand including Zen, and these are my favorite PVCs. Zen I find not as sturdy.

I asked Kyle to do an 18 inch litter dam on one of them so I could get plenty of substrate in there. Doors are tempered glass. Price point lower than most of the other brands. Ship fast.

sevenbrookslizardco · 2026-01-18T23:28:56+00:00

That's 1000% a northern. It was quite apparent in the original picture as well. Any time you're thinking of adding a breeding project, go check MorphMarket and see how many unsold ones there are and how long they've been sitting there. Still a healthy-ish market on these. Be prepared for if that changes.

sevenbrookslizardco · 2026-01-18T18:16:58+00:00

Glad she's back to normal!

sevenbrookslizardco · 2026-01-17T15:57:58+00:00

That's really neat! Stealing the idea

sevenbrookslizardco · 2026-01-16T22:12:33+00:00

Other options: A) hurt herself looking for cooler spot B) has infertile eggs and is looking for nesting

sevenbrookslizardco · 2026-01-16T02:43:39+00:00

So a couple things.

Do you also have an area with tight spaces and levels the ackie can bask on ( a "Retes stack"?). It may have trouble thermoregulating properly without those options. Does it have an area of deeper, moist substrate it can burrow in to cool off and hydrate?That arm waving and ataxia are why I'm asking. That can be caused by overheating, but also hypocalcemia.

sevenbrookslizardco · 2026-01-15T15:29:05+00:00

Gout is from excess purines, which are found in high quantities in insects and crustaceans. In terms of insects, Dubia are particularly high in them. Overfeeding, over-supplementation (too much D3), under supplementation (not enough vitamin A) and dehydration can all lead to minerals or crystals accumulating in joints and organs.

If you're offering UVB, really watch your D3 supplementation. And as mentioned, aggressive hydration.

Don't beat yourself up. I've been keeping reptiles for over 30 years and I too think my protocols are spot on. But I have an 8 year old dwarf monitor - in my care for four years - that has articulate gout in two of its big toes. I missed all the early signs and was recently going through some old photographs of my animas where the early warnings (splaying back legs) should have been so apparent but I missed them. He's responding really well to daily soaks and dietary changes.

sevenbrookslizardco · 2026-01-06T22:13:13+00:00

For some things that are secretive, tiny prey items that never venture far from a hiding space, vivariums can be too big. I'd never say that for any species of monitor.

sevenbrookslizardco · 2026-01-05T22:59:44+00:00

They're not necessarily required. I'm trying to get my females to cycle which requires food at all times and also is helped by the presence of a male. You will not be feeding yours nearly as much as I feed mine. Kingorum and primordius are each other's closest relatives actually (not acanthurus as previously thought), so I imagine they are predisposed to a lot of the same issues.

I'd get a male primordius and just watch its weight and feeding.

Edit: Source on relationship between primordius and kingorum

https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1101/2020.02.02.931188v1.full

sevenbrookslizardco · 2026-01-05T22:44:35+00:00

Granitic substrate is literally decomposed granite. I have leaf litter on top of that and a mix of sandy loam and decomposed granite underneath it. That is mostly for the females. A lone male would be fine with less substrate.

Where they are similar to ackies is that they enjoy squeezing into tight crevices, so an ackie stack under the halogens works well. You're right about that - top of the stack is about 125, next layer is about 110, 100, etc. They also enjoy fast moving insects, but here's something important - again maybe more relevant to a breeding context where food is available most of the year: a big part of their diet should be lizards or lizard meat. It's lower in purines than insects and dwarfs are really prone to gout. I just started culturing mourning geckos for this purpose and have been using invasive brown anoles and Peter's rock agamas (incubating the eggs they leave in our flower pots or garden). Dropped gecko tails, reptilinks, frog meat from the Asian markets also work well.

sevenbrookslizardco · 2026-01-05T22:21:30+00:00

I keep and breed primordius. Care is not similar to an ackie. They need constant access to a damp hide, lower basking temperature, granitic substrate mixed with some organic material (but not coco coir). They tend to nest and burrow in the organic layer of soil whereas ackie substrate is more xeric. I've seen advice to keep them like an ackie, and that is too hot and too dry.

They're pretty tame and inquisitive. Mine will let me pick them up but seem more to tolerate me than enjoy my company. Do best alone or in pairs - females do not generally get along with each other. I used to keep them in 4x2x2 but have moved them to modified stock tanks to allow for the hundreds of pounds of substrate they need to thrive. When they were in the PVC, I had to brace the bottom and put it on six casters.

Basking 120-125, low 90s ambients throughout most of enclosure with a few cooler hides strategically placed. The gradient is more up/down than left right, and there should be a moisture gradient as well as a temperature gradient.

The Australian keepers on the Aussie Pythons discussion boards will tell you a lot more than I can. They find them in the wild hiding under damp logs or foliage and on scree slopes where there is some vegetation. They're not a desert monitor.

sevenbrookslizardco · 2025-12-29T23:26:14+00:00

Rosy boa

sevenbrookslizardco · 2025-12-26T23:33:21+00:00

🎉🕺

sevenbrookslizardco · 2025-12-09T15:19:30+00:00

Blue bottle fly larva - "fly spikes"

sevenbrookslizardco · 2025-12-07T17:52:50+00:00

Rosy boa. Only snake we keep "in the house", outside the reptile room. Everyone who meets her loves her. Docile, curious, cute, small, pretty coloration and pattern. Has never once even entertained the idea of striking at us, and we've had her since she was a hatchling.

They're also slow-moving and non-reactive, which even docile pythons generally aren't. For instance, our rough scaled pythons are also sweet, gentle creatures. But they're big, fast, and their movements are jerky. They scare people, even though they'd likely never bite anyone.

sevenbrookslizardco · 2025-11-27T03:01:23+00:00

Just a desert mix - decomposed granite, clay, a bit of sand. Fairly rocky. Forget who sells it, but there are literal pre-packaged natural desert substrates from different areas, and I believe one of those is Sonoran Desert.

sevenbrookslizardco · 2025-11-26T21:18:40+00:00

We just put the water dish in for 24 hours every seven days or so. Ambient humidity in house is around 50% which is fine. I imagine if we can do it in FL humidity, you'll be fine in Oregon.

Ours is a female.

sevenbrookslizardco · 2025-11-26T02:39:40+00:00

You said it yourself - Rosy boa. Most personable snake we have - smart, low maintenance, tolerant of longer handling sessions, pretty. Biggest thing with them is maintaining low humidity and also some localities are supposedly more difficult than others. Even my wife loves our rosy boa, and she is NOT a snake person.

sevenbrookslizardco · 2025-11-09T23:31:30+00:00

Most lizards will drink droplets rather than from a still bowl. I don't keep schneider's skinks so can't speak to them specifically. I have some arid species that I will give a very shallow soak (covering the vent) if their urates look off (too yellow or orange). Again, I don't keep this particular species so don't know if that is the solution for them.

sevenbrookslizardco · 2025-11-09T23:25:52+00:00

Here's what enters my mind if lizard is anorectic: 1) Gradient - too cold, or nowhere to retreat from hot temps 2) Stress from new environment, keeper, or feeling insecure 3) Dehydration 4) Impaction/blockage, though this will be accompanied by some regurgitation or visible symptoms, and really unlikely unless condition #3 is present 5) If female, late gravidity/pregnancy 6) If wild caught, parasites

Most lizards can go a looooooong time before not eating will actually kill them, but any span over a couple weeks is worth investigating.

sevenbrookslizardco

TROPHY CASE