Livefoods by Post

Not all heatmats are born equal...

2011-02-07T21:31:00.000Z

Not all heatmats are born equal.. well that is to say they are not made equal, a few years ago we started to get returns of a certain brand of heat mat. They had scorch marks in the surface, some had burn marks through the material, I wont name the make of heat mat but suffice to say you will no longer find them for sale on our website.

So whats the problem, well like i say not all heat mats are made the same. When buying a heat mat in the UK you will be faced with many different manufacturers and styles, but when you look closer there are really only two choices as there are only two methods used to produce a heat mat. so lets look at these methods and what is a heat mat,

What is a heat mat? Its two sheets of plastic with an electroconductive ink squashed between it, this ink joins up to wires which you plug into the mains electric. When you plug the mat into the socket and switch on electricity flows down the wires and through the ink, the ink causes the flow of electric to slow down (causes resistance) which makes the heat mat warm up.

In the highest quality heat mats the ink is printed onto a glass cloth and is referred to as carbon impregnated glass cloth, this then has two metal strips sewn onto the ends and joined to the wires before being sandwiched (laminated) in between sheets of adhesive.

The other style of heat mat has the ink printed straight onto a sheet of plastic, usually in strips (known as tracks), sometimes in very fine strips. this method of production is cheaper than the glass cloth method and has certain drawbacks as i will now explain.

These heat mats are made by printing ink onto a sheet of plastic, so basically you have a silk screen printing machine just like the sort that is used to do t-shirt screen printing, onto that an electronically conductive carbon ink is poured and then an operator stands there putting in sheets of plastic which the machine prints with the ink,

Now because carbon ink is expensive the boffins who design these try to get the maximum coverage of area with the least ink possible, thats why the printed heat mats have tracks (black lines) on them that run from one end to the other.

During the printing process ink builds up around the stencil and its the job of a skilled printer to monitor the print quality and wipe clean the stencil and remix the ink whenever neccessary, if this doesnt get done then tiny hair line bleeds get printed which connect the tracks up in places where they shouldnt do which changes the resisitance of the circuit. Also if the ink isnt changed at the right time it starts to go off causing an uneven print surface which also effects resistance.

Once they are printed and dried its some poor sods job to sit in front of a light box with a high powered loupe or looking glass and they have to look at all the tracks on the circuit to make sure there are no defects, it would typically be something like 1 in 100 circuits that get inspected, so plenty of room for faulty ones to get through. at some places every product is given a final test before being sent off but i can imagine this isnt the case for all factories, if these ink bleeds are missed it could malfunction causing it to melt or catch fire.

Because the cloth mats are basically a solid sheet of carbon you dont ever get this problem!

So how do you know which is which, well its quite simple, glass cloth heatmats are only made by one company and thats Eurorep, they sell them under the brand name Habistat and manuafacture them for Komodo and also Pro rep, anything else and it will be a printed plastic mat, some manufacturers are now laminating there mats in black plastic so you cant see the thin tracks inside but unless its one of those brands it will definately be a mat of lesser quality. Another give away is if its made in china as all of the Eurorep mats are made in the UK.

We currently sell both types of mats on our website, the Habistat ones I would advise every time, and we also stock printed ones made by Lucky reptile, as of yet we have had zero returns involving serious defects with these mats on both brands. So i am guessing luck reptile have better quality control procedures than the unnamed but unavailable from us brand of heat mats!

http://www.livefoodsbypost.co.uk/reptile-heat-mats-339-c.asp

2011-02-07T00:35:00.002Z

Beardie feeding guide

2011-02-07T00:16:00.001Z

Bearded Dragons (pogona vitticeps), beardies can be ravenous eaters but they can also be fussy at times! The trick to keeping your pet bearded dragon well fed is to vary the diet, Bearded Dragons are omnivores meaning they will eat vegetable matter as well as live insects so you need to be giving them ideally some fresh vegetables every other day (we will cover that in another guide but for this one we will stick to the livefoods).

As I mentioned earlier beardies can be faddy eaters going through favourites of one type of livefood and then refusing to eat it anymore! To conquer this behaviour in bearded dragons you need to vary the insects that they eat. Bearded dragons will eat virtually all of the livefoods we sell such as Crickets (black and brown), locusts, mealworms, waxworms, roaches, superworms and fruit beetle grubs. The only livefoods we sell that you would never need to feed to a pet bearded dragon would be fruit flies and micro crickets as they are too small. You need to feed appropriately sized insects to match your bearded dragon, so if your bearded dragon is a hatchling you would start off with small sized crickets and move up through the sizes as your bearded dragon grows until it becomes an adult and you are feeding it adult sized insects. The rule of thumb is only feed insects to your pet reptile that are as long as the reptiles mouth is wide to prevent the animal from choking on its prey. Although this is a good rule of thumb in practice its not always possible and reptiles are not overly burdened by chewing away on larger sized prey (just watch an adult bearded dragon munch up an adult locust).

When a bearded dragon is young it will eat crickets, locusts and roaches as a staple diet, for a yummy treat you can add in waxworms. As the Bearded dragon grows and is about 8-10" long they are usually developed enough to be able to manage harder to digest livefoods such as mealworms and super (morio) worms they will also be able to cope with larger treats such as fruit beetle grubs.

As i keep saying variety is the key to keeping your pet bearded dragon interested in its food and keeping it happy and healthy, the best way to achieve this would be with one of our multi buy livefood offers, if you have an adult bearded dragon I would recommend buying our six tub multi buy deal , if you were to choose 2 tubs of adult or extra large locusts, 2 tubs of large crickets, a tub of waxworms and a tub of either superworms or mealworms you should have the ideal hamper to keep your pet bearded dragon well fed for at least a week. When feeding my beardies i always rotate the livefoods that they get so one day they would have locusts, the next crickets and then the next meal or morio worms and then back to the locusts, every day I give them a few waxworms to keep them interested. You can sprinkle a few waxworms onto salad to encourage your beardie to eat his greens! YOu can also add into your bearded dragons diet some dubia roaches and as a really special treat some fruit beetle grubs, but you are best saving the fruit beetle grubs until hes an adult as they are quite big and juicy

Livefood Price increases from 1st February 2011

2011-02-01T11:28:00.001Z

Price increases from 1st February 2011

Dear Customer,

Unfortunately I have to announce that we have increased our live food prices, the new pricing is as follows..

1 Tub = £4.95
2 Tubs = £8.00 (MULTI BUY)
3 Tubs = £10.00 (MULTI BUY)
4 Tubs = £12.00 (MULTI BUY)
6 Tubs = £15.00 (MULTI BUY)

(Prices include postage)

We have managed to hold our prices since 2006, but after 5 years of continually increasing costs unfortunately it has come to the point whereby we have had to pass an increase onto the customer. As you are all aware VAT has just increased, add to this the huge increases in fuel, electricity over the past five years, minimum wages have increased, food costs, packaging, and postage to name a few. It has now got to the stage whereby if we continue to sell live foods at £3.75 a tub we would soon be selling them at a loss. Add to this the increased number of “lost in post” parcels we have that are resent at our own expense it works out for every tub of live food that goes missing we have to sell another 23 tubs to pay for the missing one! Obviously we can not continue like this so faced with the decision of stop selling our livefoods online or passing on the increased costs we have opted for the latter. I hope you understand the reason behind this price increase and we would like to thank you for your previous and continued custom over the years.

Delivery charges

2011-01-17T10:05:00.002Z

We have introduced free delivery on orders over £49.99 including frozen , Free Delivery on all livefood only orders and a new rate of £4.99* for hardware orders which is now fully traceable from us to your door.*£9.99 for heavyweight orders

Cold weather Update 09/12/10

2010-12-09T11:20:00.003Z

As you are aware we have a lot of orders on hold pending decent weather conditions to be able to send, Heres an update..

The weather over the weekend in most parts of the UK will be above freezing day and night, which makes it suitable to send livefoods,

However, there is a huge backlog in the delivery networks. Royal Mail are still not guaranteeing a next day delivery and our couriers are getting a 4 out of 5 next day delivery rate at the moment.

We will not be sending any frozen orders out until at least next week, No orders are being sent to scotland until the backlog clears into scotland,

If your order contains livefood please let us know if you would like us to post it today (Thursday) or Friday, the weather will be warm enough but as we cannot be sure that it will be delivered in time before it freezes again on Monday. We ask that you make the decision based on that they would be sent at your own risk if they are lost, delayed or arrive dead. If you do want us to send at your own risk please let us know asap.

Please accept our apologies for these unavoidable delays, we had hoped the transport network would have held up a bit better this time,

Thanks

Neil

www.livefoodsbypost.co.uk

cold weather update

2010-12-01T23:33:00.003Z

well its snowing, but we are still sending livefoods and the majority of parcels seem to be getting through ok, Royal mail have suspended next day delivery guarantees so we have removed the next day option from the livefoods on the website, just be aware that if you look outside your window and you can see white stuff chances are your post may be a bit delayed. so please be patient, snow,ice and christmas post arent a good combination!

not posting livefoods this friday

2010-11-24T12:28:00.001Z

because of the expected cold weather this weekend we will not be posting out any livefoods this friday 26/11/10

Substrate Special Offers

2010-11-19T09:40:00.002Z

Have just created a multi buy deal on the Skink Herp Supplies 5 Litre Bags of Substrate,

Individually priced at £2.99, now buy 2-3 @ £2.79 each or buy four or more @ £2.50 Each.

This makes them the cheapest substrate we have listed (cheaper than Zoo med, Lucky reptile) But the same quality.

Substrates available are

Reptile Bark,
Coarse Reptile Bark,
Aspen Snake bedding,
Spider Substrate,
**NEW** Tropical tortoise substrate,
Jungle bedding
Coarse & Fine Vermiculite.

Just add them to your cart to activate multi buy pricing, see the range of Skink Herp Supplies products here.. http://www.livefoodsbypost.co.uk/skink-herp-supplies-533-c.asp

Xmas Post Arrangements

2010-11-18T16:40:00.003Z

Yes its nearly that time of year again, so its time to announce our Xmas posting arrangements for the year.

This Year our last posting day for livefoods or frozen will be the 21st December with service resuming on the 4th January.

Anyone wishing to have livefoods posted between these dates can still do so but it will strictly be on a "at your own risk" basis. - Last year we tried to be obliging by sending out livefoods in the interim period between Xmas and new year and it nearly ruined us thanks to postal delays & bad weather - this year we are not prepared to take the risk, but we will post out as long as its at your own risk if they arrive dead or not at all.

Weekly Livefood subscribers will receive double on the week beginning the 20th and resume 4th January, fortnightly subscribers will receive as normal or if your subscription falls in the week beginning 27th they will be posted a week early on the 20th.

Our showroom will be closed from 6pm on the 23rd December and will not reopen until wednesday the 29th. we will also be closed from the 1st to the 3rd of January - There will be no one to answer telephone call or e-mails during these times.

Some Changes

2010-11-07T14:32:00.002Z

Hopefully you have noticed we have a great new look on our website, its just been upgraded to a more up to date version of code which means it should behave a bit more dynamically enabling us to add in a few extras in the future and with the new menus you should be able to find what you are looking for a whole lot quicker.

Locust prices down! - yes DOWN

Incase you havent noticed we have lowered the prices on our bulk locusts as well as reintroduced the bulk bags of 100, we have also increased the Tub counts on the pre packed tubs of locusts, although they are only approximate guides as we progress into the next year you will notice more locusts in your tubs, i.e from 8 x extra large to 10, from 10 x large to 15 and so on, keep an eye out we are doing what we can to make reptile keeping less of an expense during these tough financial times.

great deals on exo terra plants

2010-10-19T19:38:00.001+01:00

just added some great deals to the website on exo terra desert plants and rainforest plants. Save £30 on the rainforest plants and £20 on the desert plants.

http://www.livefoodsbypost.co.uk/special-offers-521-c.asp

were on you tube!

2010-10-19T00:03:00.000+01:00

check out our you tube channel - videos at top of page

Bank Holiday Fun

2010-06-01T09:53:00.000+01:00

Please expect delays of a day or two for deliveries this week as the postal service resumes after a bank holiday, also we will have a lot of orders to post today so if you want a next day delivery make sure it is placed early and not at the last minute - thanks

More stock - better service

2010-03-31T01:06:00.000+01:00

we have now added an extra 2500 square feet of shelf space to our warehouse which means we are able to hold more of our most popular stock lines.

The result of this should be that our current 99% same day fill rate of orders should creep up to almost 100% as we will be able to fulfill more orders on the same day.

We have also increased our Royal Mail collections to twice daily, we will be keeping our official cut off as midday but in reality we will be able to pack and despatch orders right up 5pm whenever physically possible.

Reminder

2010-01-21T23:48:00.002Z

Just a reminder to say all orders that were held up due to bad weather have been sent, they were cleared at the start of this week, there are only a few people waiting on things (a tarantula, a couple of vivs and cabinets) so if thats not you then your order has been posted.

I dont know why people insist on presuming that we are at fault and for some reason we havent sent out orders - so just to confirm - if you ordered livefoods they have been sent.

Post is however slow at the moment and we have had a number of "lost" parcels, so if you are waiting on livefoods that should have arrived by now please send us an e-mail with your details and we will investigate.

2010-01-21T00:36:00.001Z

Just Launched our trade site for shops, websites and ebay sellers, have a look at www.thereptilewarehouse.co.uk

A word about security

2010-01-16T10:19:00.002Z

Some of you may have noticed that we have now switched off the "standard" credit card checkout option and that you now have to go through the 3d secure checkout instead.

We have had to switch off the standard card checkout as on this system we used to manually enter your card details into card machine - we are no longer allowed to do this because of PCI-DSS compliance (look it up - its very boring but if we dont comply we get fined!)

So whats 3D secure, well if you have heard of "verified by visa", where your card provider asks you to regsiter some memorable data against the card for online transactions such as an online password - thats it, if you havent done this already it will ask you to do it during checkout.

So just to set peoples minds at rest, when you enter your card details on our site its going through a secure HTTPS server with Paypal who are PCI DSS comlpliant, they process the transactions and we never ever see your card details.

If you phone us to pay for an order, we now type this straight into a card terminal and no record of the card details are kept.

we are completely secure as our webiste providers, payment providers and the systems we have in place here comply to the PCI DSS standards,

Snow Joke!

2010-01-15T17:38:00.004Z

Ok so now the snows gone, I thought i would share some pics of what it was like here at livefoods by post HQ!

On the left is our showroom, as you can see clearly covered in snow! underneath all that snow is a road that our couriers and Royal Mail use to get in and out from the packing unit, even though I did clear it of snow - i wish i didn't bother as when the Royal Mail finally turned up 6 days later the guy said they were not allowed to go out during the snow because it was too slippy and icy! meaning my road clearing efforts were wasted anyway!

On the right is where we do all the breeding, boarding and our new reptile room are housed, that snows at least 12" deep making for a right old trudge around site!

Some clown with a snowman! I did the roll a snowball from the top of the drive trick and this is how big it was by the time it hit the bottom!

Thankfully its all gone now and service is back to normal as of Monday!

Service to resume

2010-01-15T10:10:00.003Z

Service Update..

The weather has turned here the last of the snow is melting and the met office are predicting above freezing temperatures for next week,

The Royal Mail have reinstated the next day delivery guarantee,

Courier networks are still reluctant to lift their next day guarantee block, But I think that by Monday they should be ok again.

So we are giving the green light for Monday and will resume full normal service on the 18th January.

Subscribers - Please Re-subscribe - And check your previous payments if you have a payment taken where you havent received any livefoods please let us know via e-mail, list the paymnet amount and date and we will refund for you,

Frozen Orders - those of you waiting on frozen, these will be despatched on Monday.

Refunds - Those waiting on a refund - these are continuing to be worked through and should be complete by today,

Thanks everyone for being understanding during the bad weather.

2010-01-14T10:38:00.002Z

service update

Royal mail are still not guaranteeing a next day delivery, most of the mail we sent out this week at own risk seems 50:50 arriving and not arriving on time,

Couriers appear to be back to normal, but are still not guaranteeing next day delivery.

hoping we can retunr to normal next week, will send a mail shot out if so,

2010-01-12T19:57:00.003Z

Still no guaranteed next day deliveries available from Royal Mail or couriers yet but mail and parcels are moving, all those parcels sent at own risk yesterday are being reported back by customers as being delivered today, none dead on arrival as yet but most in need of reviving in a warm room.

Still unable to send any frozen rodents until we get the all clear on guaranteed nex day deliveries, as despite the freezing weather they would defrost if not delivered next day.

2010-01-11T21:37:00.003Z

11/01/10 - Update

Our Backlog is cleared, all parcels have gone out and all orders that were requested to be sent at own risk have gone, there are still a handfull of orders that are on back order but this is due to waiting on stock to come in and those affected have been notified.

Dont expect a lighting fast delivery though, Royal Mail are still not guaranteeing a next day delivery on their special delivery service, so first class is going to be a bit delayed. And the couriers are not guaranteeing a next day delivery yet either. These delays are being caused by a backlog within the parcel networks from all last weeks parcels that they were unable to deliver and is being hampered by the difficult conditions created by snow that is still on the ground,

The weather isnt looking as bad as first predicted and all being well we are expecting service to return to normal either later this week or next week.

If you are a subscriber who has had payments taken but not received the livefoods could you please send us an e-mail with your details and list the payments you need refunding and we will act on that as soon as possible.

The livefoods that were sent on Monday/Tuesday have finally started to arrive today and remarkably a lot of people are reporting live arrivals from locusts, mealworms, waxworms and some of the larger crickets. If you do have dead on arrivals please just send us an e-mail with your order number, what was dead and if you want us to send them now at your own risk or send them later when the weather turns. PLease b epatient as this is going to be quite a large task considering two weeks of xmas livefoods went out on those days!

Thanks to everyone who has been kind, considerate and patient during what has been a truly awfull start to 2010!

2010-01-10T00:19:00.002Z

Nothing eventfull happening today, the e-mail compliants still come flooding in, but there were a few rays of sunshine in amongst them , that i will reply to when things calm down.

just waiting now to see if the predicted snow comes tonight and sunday, If it doesnt then the courier and royal mail networks stand a good chance of getting back to somewhere normal service and hopefully you will all start to get your parcels!

2010-01-08T23:10:00.002Z

update 08/01/10

Some positives today..

I managed to repatriate my son (borrowed a 4 x 4 !)

We managed to recover our lorry from the ditch, - just incase you ever have to do this i must warn you digging a 3.5 ton lorry out of a snowdrift with one set of wheels in a ditch is not fun!

Louise packed nearly all of the hardware orders today on her own - they are ready to go as soon as royal mail get here (when?)

We have cleared a decent sized roadway down to our packing unit and showroom to enable local customers to get in and delivery lorries etc to get down to us. - Another note digging out 50ft of driveway covered in 6-12" of snow and ice with a spade is also not fun (B&Q had sold out of shovels!)

Our Courier - APC came to us in a 4x4 pick up and took some parcels, obviously not as many as need to go but its a start.

Still no sign of the Royal Mail???? - Royal Mail where are you!!! we haven't seen you since Tuesday - surely you must have cleared some snow by now, surely your vans are out and about by now! Royal Mail come back we miss you! 2 out of 10 for effort guys and girls.

Looking forward... Its going to be another extremely cold week, theres going to be some more snow, we will send out your orders if you want us to - but at your own risk and as and when we are able to do so....

we have agreed with another company that we work in co-operation with that they will send out orders on our behalf next week if need be, they are outside london so we have a good back up plan in place!

I will be personally e-mailing all customers who have a livefood order held up at the moment to find out if you want us to send it at your own risk or not - i will be doing this saturday and sunday.

2010-01-07T22:34:00.001Z

As the temperatures in the UK are currently below freezing we have had to suspend our live arrival guarantee and all livefood orders will be sent entirely at your own risk, we suggest you select livefoods from our cold weather livefoods section. Large and Extra large black crickets and Mealworms are the only livefoods we are confident will arrive in a suitable condition to be revived.

We will only be able to send these livefoods when the transport system permits.

Service update

2010-01-07T18:05:00.003Z

As you are probably aware we have had to suspend our service, we are currently under 12" of snow, no lorries are able to get to us to deliver anything and no lorries are able to get out to get things moving, so heres a update to the situation as of Thurs 7th January 2010.

All livefood orders and subscriptions were sent on Tuesday night, we stopped packing livefood orders around Tuesday lunch time - so if you ordered on Tuesday your order may not have been sent.

we have a backlog of hardware orders dating back to the 30th December at the moment, we are packing them as and when we can and sending them as and when we can,

So whats all the fuss and whats causing all the problems....

Well we had a huge backlog of orders from the xmas holidays which was supposed to be cleared this week, why did we have a backlog? because it was xmas we were on holiday so were the couriers and royal mail (couriers and royal mail dont work on bank holidays!).

This has now been compounded by the big freeze as The Royal Mail and our couriers are unable to get to us, this means nothing can go out...

Also we have the problem of the extremely cold weather - so why dont we use heat packs and send everything next day delivery? The heat packs are not effective against these low temps and all next day services have been suspended by the royal mail and all national couriers - they will not guarantee a next day delivery.

what are we doing about it? we are still packing hardware orders and piling them up ready for when they can be collected.

If you have a livefood subscription i advise you visit our subscriptions page here and cancel your subscription.. http://www.livefoodsbypost.co.uk/cancel-my-subscription-142-c.asp

The subscription payments are automated and payments are going to continue to be taken even if we cant send anything, TO AVOID THIS please cancel your subscription and re-subscribe once service resumes.

The weather outlook doesnt look good with the freezing weather predicted well into next week. but we are playing it by ear and hoping for the best.

If you live localy to our Showroom please come and buy some livefoods - we are currently doing an offer of buy one get one free on all tubs of livefoods priced at £2 each, we need to sell all of our tubbed livefoods stock by Monday or else it will have to be binned.

If your livefoods do arrive and you think they are dead please please do your best to revive them, 4-5 hours in a warm room can work even if they look totally dead. WE CANNOT CLAIM ANY INSURANCE for these dead on arrival livefoods and are replaced entirely at our expense so a little understanding and effort on our customers behalf to revive them as best as possible is greatly appreciated.

Please please please dont contact us unless its important - We are working on a skeleton staff and having to answer telephone calls that go along the lines of "I ordered last night and I am snowed in so really need these livefoods" does not help. Nor do e-mails asking when your order is going to be despatched - as we dont know - when the couriers/royal mail turn up we will load their vans - but we dont know when that will be.

If your livefoods are dead - just send us an e-mail (please dont call us), state your name, address, order number or state that it is a subscription and please say that you have allowed them time to revive. we will resend them, as and when we can - please be patient.

Advice for getting by without food - ok so dont panic, most lizards if in prime health can go for a month without eating - obviously thats not ideal but "gex" will not drop dead if he doesnt get his crickets this week, nor will he starve to death by missing a weeks food. You could try and get some food from a nearby pet shop - be aware though we supply pet shops and we are in touch with other companies that supply pet shops and they are in the same situation so dont be suprised if the pet shops dont have any in yet. If you have a bearded dragon - now is a good time to get it used to eating veg! or try the dry pellet food, we also sell canned insects that most lizards will eat with a little enticing.

If you are one of the less understanding people who have been sending us irate / angry / borderline abusive e-mails and are waiting on a refund - please bear with us we are refunding as and when we can (in between answering irate / angry / borderline abusive e-mails and phone calls, packing parcels, digging our lorry out of a snowdrift etc etc etc )

A little perspective - ok so a lot of people may think its the end of the world because we cant send out livefoods at the moment, I personally have been cut off from my 3 yr old son for the past two days as he has been snowed into a relatives house he was visiting a few days ago. And accross the country people have lost their lives so although its frustrating its not worth getting angry about.

Thanks for reading and please keep an eye on our blog for updates

Thanks

Neil - Livefoods by post - Director.

Winter weather causing problems

2009-12-22T22:57:00.001Z

winter weather has caused delays with our couriers and royal mail services, please be patient when expecting deliveries.

checkout

2009-10-02T21:27:00.002+01:00

We have just implemented a new one page checkout to cut down on checkout time and introduced the 3D secure - verified by visa payment option to give increased security for your payments.

Economy Rodents

2009-05-08T14:51:00.000+01:00

Economy vs Premium Mice

Our Economy mice are the same high quality rodents we have been supplying that are bred on site by ourselves, which are cared for humanely and fed a premium diet. However to allow for the current times we are living in we have decided to add an economy range to our current frozen mice and rat range, these rodents will be sold in bulk quantities of 100, will be vacuum sealed in one bag (as opposed to each rodent being sealed in its own pouch as with the premium rodents) and will not be subjected to the individual grading process that the premium rodents go through. This means that all of the rodents in a bulk pack will all be the same age but there may be some size discrepencies amongst them as some of the mice and rats grow faster than others.

Frozen rodents can be found here http://www.livefoodsbypost.co.uk/frozen-rodents-318-c.asp

Dealing with mites and reptiles

2009-03-20T23:01:00.001Z

Dealing with mites in a reptile collection can be a daunting and frustrating task but dont worry we will explain that here,
So you have noticed mites in your vivarium, terrarium or reptile - first of all you need to establish what sort of mite it is. There are thousands of species of mite so its almost impossible to pinpoint the exact mite you are having a problem with but we can group them into three basic categories of mite you are likely to experience in the vivarium.
There are two types of mite that are most commonly encountered and strike fear into reptile keepers but they are not as bad as you may first think, these are mites that are harboured in substrates and food. These mites are usually dull white and about the size of a full stop such as this. You will encounter these mites if you are using a wood based or earth type substrate in a humid vivarium, they do not have to have come from any where - they just seem to appear! They appear because they have all the elements they need to survive. These are warmth, moisture, food and somewhere to live (the wood substrate). In small numbers they will not present a problem, only in large uncontrolled numbers would they pose a risk to the reptile, lizard, snake or amphibian. These mites can easily be managed by cleaning the substrate regularly (replace eco earth monthly and wash or replace bark substrates). By doing this and removing uneaten food and spot cleaning faeces on a daily basis will ensure a mite population doesnt spiral out of control. Another mite often encountered are the "grain" or "dust" mites, again these favour conditions as mentioned above and can be controlled the same, these are usually introduced when the reptile keeper attempts to store or breed livefoods at home, these mites love to feed on bran and grains etc, they are then introduced into the vivarium with the livefoods.
Thirdly you may encounter, (but less likely to do so) are the serious mites, these one can cause problems and must be treated asap - these are the snake mites, reptile mites and ticks. Again hundreds of species but all have the same thing in commmon. They live on your reptile using him as a host usually feeding on its blood!
How to identify reptile / snake mites - These mites are usually red or brown or even reddish brown! in colour, they can vary in size from a small dot to something like a very large flea, ticks are usually a bit larger. when squashed they will usually leave a red blood spot.
How do i know if my snake / lizard has mites - The first signs to look for are excessive shedding of the skin and dead mites in the water dish. Reptiles with mites will spend a lot of time laying in water to try and drown the mites as they will be itrratating them. If you suspect your lizard or snake has mites remove him from the vivarium and insect him closely, in a severe infestation you will notice mites crawling all over its body and even over your hands. In less severe infestations and in most snake mite situations you will notice mites underneath the scales, let your snake slither through your hands when he bends the under side of his scales will be visible - dont be suprised if you see mites hiding underneath the scales which then dissapear again completely from view underneath the scale. These scales will look slightly more raised than the others.
How do i treat reptile mites - You need to attack them fast and hard, you cant do half measures. First of all remove the reptile and any tank mates from the vivarium (if one reptile is affected you must assume all reptiles in that vivarium are also infected), dispose of all substrate, if you can dispose of all wooden furniture such as branches then do so but if they were expensive or unique you will need to wash and scrub them then soak them in hot water. All water and food dishes must be removed, scrubbed and soaked in hot water. When soaking items of vivarium furniture ensure they are fully submerged or else the mite will just climb up to the dry part to live on for another day!. Ok so thats the furniture taken care of now you need to tackle the vivarium, if the vivarium has any unsealed joints then extra care must be taken as there will be mites hiding in the cracks. once the vivarium is empty give it a thorough washing out with hot soapy water. If you can remove it from the house and give it a thorough spraying with an insecticide.
To treat the reptile for mites you will need to give it a spray with a mite killer, there are two types of mite spray available ones with an active ingredient and ones without, the ones without contain naturally occuring substances and work by irritating or suffocating the mites, ones with active ingredients contain chemicals that will kill the mites. In our experience Beaphar insect spray is the most effective and after treating snakes with mites with this product the first treatment was extremely effective and only required secondary treatments in heavily infested wild caught animals and in mild cases as a "belts and braces" precaution. Always follow instructions on mite sprays carefully as some reptiles may be unable to be treated.
When treating a reptile for mites we always wear gloves, spray the product onto the reptile and work it into the reptiles skin to try and get it under all of the scales, pay attention to ears and nostrils as this is where mites like to hide - but always check the instructions first before applying any spray.

Buying a Royal Python

2009-03-15T21:53:00.002Z

In the next Month Import season starts again for this years captive farmed Royal Pythons, we have put together this short guide to offer some advice for first time owners..

This guide is not intended to be a care sheet for the care of Royal Pythons, If you are looking for a good care sheet on Royal Pythons then have a look at our Royal Python care sheet provided by and reproduced with kind permission from Bob Clark http://www.livefoodsbypost.co.uk/royal-ball-python-care-sheet-445-c.asp

There is often a lot of discussion on the internet of Captive Farmed vs captive Bred stock when considering your Royal Python purchase, Virtually almost all of the Royal Pythons you will see for sale in pet shops will be captive farmed individuals. Captive farming is when eggs are harvested from wild populations and incubated in captivity, when the snakes hatch they are sent to the UK for sale, This trade is controlled and Royal Pythons are only imported during April to May. This is the best time in our opinion to purchase a Captive farmed Royal Python, Providing it is a hatchling it will usually have not had its neonatal shed (first) yet and will have yet to have fed for the first time, These snakes are in our experience in fantastic condition and free from mites, ticks or parasites, although treating for worms and parasites as part of a regular quarantine procedure wouldnt go a miss.

A problem with captive farmed royals can be non feeders, this is something you should bear mind if buying a captive farmed Royal Python outside the months of April - May, Now that the snake is a few months old has it started feeding yet? is it feeding regularly? strike feeding? is it gaining weight? This is where a pet shop worth its salt can help out - a good shop will keep feeding, shedding and weight records for each of its Royals. Ask to see the feeding record before purchasing and insist on having a copy when you buy one.
Be wary of unscrupulous sellers passing off captive farmed Royals as captive Bred outside of the import season, it has been known for people to pass off underweight non feeding captive farmed royals as hatchling captive bred stock!

If you are not experienced with snakes then it may be a good idea to buy a captive bred royal python, the best place to buy a captive bred Royal is obviously the breeders! there are many private breeders of Royal Pythons as well as specialist shops that breed their own stock, Most breeders will only sell their babies as established feeders and you should always insist on seeing the parents to ensure the above paragraph about unscrupulous sellers doesnt apply!

http://www.livefoodsbypost.co.uk/buying-a-royal-ball-python-502-c.asp

Here is the News

2008-05-22T20:53:00.002+01:00

Something I havewanted to do for some time is to expand the resources section of the website, so today I have added a herpetological news section! I will be updating it with relevant stories as and when they come in from around the world....

http://www.livefoodsbypost.co.uk/2008-459-c.asp

First of the years Bearded Dragons

2008-05-22T20:50:00.002+01:00

Our first bearded Dragons of the year hatched today, four down and about sixty to go! of the first clutches laid.

Baby beardies are nearly here

2008-05-21T22:50:00.002+01:00

All of our Bearded dragons have been busy this year, a few of the girls have laid their second clutches and the first batch laid on Easter sunday have just started to hatch! Stay tuned for pictures.

Our Pygmy chameleons have laid eggs, but sadly they failed after three weeks incubation at room temps when we had those three really hot days last week.

The chinese tree dragons have laid many eggs, most were unfertile but two are still looking promising... fingers crossed!

The Blog is back!

2008-05-21T22:44:00.003+01:00

Tut tut! Its been a longtime since I have had time to update this blog! Its been a manic year, with mega expansions going on at livefoods by post HQ, weve doubled the size of the livefoodsbypost.co.uk reptiles supplies showroom, added a classroom and increased the size of our reptile boarding and breeding rooms... Busy Busy....

Lower postage

2007-11-27T17:18:00.000Z

After some website re-jigging we are now able to offer a capped postage rate on dry goods of only £5.99, evrything gets charged at royal mail first class postage rate up to 2kgs and then its next day courier at only £5.99.

This applies to dry goods (Non livefood, non frozen) orders only,

Face what? facebook

2007-11-08T15:15:00.000Z

wow were on facebook, its a load of nonsense to me but hey we are on there, you can join our group Livefoods by post facebook group become a fan of ours livefoodsbypost.co.uk page on facebook Or just view our profile and be our friend !? be our friend!

Winters here, the weeds are dead so whats tommy the tortoise going to eat now?

2007-11-07T15:59:00.000Z

Most people have realised that the best possible diet they can provide for their mediterranean tortoises are weeds. This is after all the tortoises natural diet in the wild. It has been proven that tortoise pellets contain high levels of protein and tortoises fed exclusively on pelleted diets suffer from abnormal growth rates which manifests itself in "lumpy" thick shells also known as pryamiding. Supermarket salads are also fed commonly to tortoises and it must be stressed that these are lacking in the nutritional goodness that a tortoise requires.

So what do you do when its winter, there are few weeds in the garden and your tortoises are not hibernating, they still have to eat after all.

http://www.livefoodsbypost.co.uk/ have just launched a winter seed mix that contains a blend of edible weed seeds, just sprinkle them into a tray of soil, water and leave somewhere warm and sunny and in no time at all you will have a tray of fresh, nutritional greens to feed to your tortoises. Itis advisable to have more than one packet handy so that you can sow them in succession and have a constant supply of fresh weeds.

http://www.livefoodsbypost.co.uk/happy-tortoise---winter-seed-mix-3414-p.asp

Compact Tops

2007-11-04T13:20:00.000Z

Exo terra's New compact tops are now in stock, these fantastic little devices solve the problem of adding lighting to the range of exo terra glass tarrariums, these units come in a range of sizes to take either one, two or three compact UV lightbulbs. See them here...

http://www.livefoodsbypost.co.uk/lighting-canopies-304-c.asp

Website Update

2007-11-04T13:17:00.000Z

Hooray! The daunting task of updating the website is almost complete, we have now jumped from listing 1000 products to a total of 2300 items of an herpetological nature. All items are now live and shoppable, but some are still missing pictures and detailed descriptions, these are being added asap.

The futures bright - the futures Halogen!

2007-08-31T16:40:00.000+01:00

Recently I decided to update my bearded dragon vivs at home, Brand new vivs, lighting, thermostats the lot. The biggest problem we tend to have in this area is wires! wires wires wires - oh and plugs! You create a nice looking set up only to have the view slightly ruined by a spaghetti like mass of cables, one for the spotlights, one for each strip light etc etc, This problem has now been partly solved by the new Exo Terra Light Unit - terrarium light controller.

Its a Lighting controller that controls two flourescent strip lights from one control unit - meaning only one plug. So far I have been impressed by these units they are an electronic controller meaning no ballast, no starter unit and no flickering ends of the tubes! The benefits of this is that they are light and small so easily attach to the back of a vivarium making it easy to attach the lamp leads to the vivarium and conceal them, there is no flickering lamp ends, and each unit is only £29.99 which makes it an affordable option to add more than one strip light to a viv. I have used a combination of 10% UVB with 2% daylight strips in my vivs and the brightness is stunning. You can see these exo terra lifght units on our website here http://www.livefoodsbypost.co.uk/index.asp?function=DISPLAYPRODUCT&productid=934

They are available in 2 x 20W, 2 x 30W and 2 x 40W versions, Whilst updating my vivs I made a decision to switch over from a conventional basking spotlight to halogen bulbs, the difference between a standard basking spotlight and a halogen bulb is really noticeable, for a start you get a really tight beam of light, perfect for creating that intense basking spot that bearded dragons love. The intensity of the light is fantastic giving a very warm spot almost instantly with a brightness that brings out the natural colours of the Bearded dragons. For our enclosures we used the lucky reptile Halogen sun bulbs, but there are also Zoo Med Repti halogen bulbs available.

http://www.livefoodsbypost.co.uk/index.asp?function=DISPLAYPRODUCT&productid=603

Making crickets live longer just got easier!

2007-08-22T16:12:00.000+01:00

Wow! Another exciting new product - Beaphar Cricket food! Now from that title you are probably thinking cricket food - big deal. After all there are already loads of different cricket foods available. Yes but none like this, Beaphar cricket food are moist chunks of a firm jelly like substance that looks like a cross between pineapple chunks and diced carrot which smells of fruity peaches!

So what makes them so special, well for one they are moist - crickets become quickly dehydrated in the prepacked tubs and usually end up eating each other for moisture. Not anymore, just drop one of these cubes into the livefood tub when you recieve it and replace as neccessary this will keep your crickets hydrated, fed and happy.

These cubes make an ideal food for long term cricket storage and breeding projects, it has a long shelf life and is readily devoured by the crickets meaning there will be minimal waste and no bad odours such as when raw potato, sliced carrot and dog biscuits are used.

They also solve the problem of keeping Micro crickets alive in the tub after being delivered, as anyone who has used them before will know Micro crickets are prone to dehydration and do not survive in the tubs for long. By adding one of these cubes to a tub of Micro crickets you are providing a "drowning" safe form of food and drink.

This product also reduces the problem of stray crickets inside your pets enclosure biting your pet at night, simply leaving a couple of cubes in the vivarium for stray crickets to feed on will reduce the unwanted attention you pet may receive from the stray crickets.

the cricket food is also nutritionally balanced, ensuring the crickets are always happy, hydrated, healthy & gutloaded.

Limited stock available so order now...http://www.livefoodsbypost.co.uk/index.asp?function=DISPLAYPRODUCT&productid=931

Dendrobates enclosure now on display

2007-08-16T22:42:00.000+01:00

Anybody living near to our showroom can pop in and see our dendrobates terrrarium housing yellow and black poison arrow frogs. We have made use of a 60 x 45 x 60 exo terra terrarium, lucky reptile rain sytem and humidity control to create an interesting dart frog display.

Strikes Off!

2007-08-09T18:04:00.000+01:00

Hooray! Postal strikes are off, we are now free to resume our business. Normal service resumes as of Monday.

Post strikes extended

2007-08-06T17:49:00.001+01:00

Bad news! The rolling postal strikes have been extended until 17th August

Good News! Our backlogged orders are being posted on the 06/08/07 & 08/08/07.

After that its back to backlogging orders and posting as and when we can, sorry about this.

Been busy! New showroom

2007-08-04T21:58:00.000+01:00

Phew! Havent been able to post any blogs lately as we have been very busy opening our first showroom - "Exotic pets & Supplies" on the Isle of Wight, why not come see us, its located at Unit 12, Northwood Business park, Cowes, Isle of Wight. The unit currently operates as our office space and product showroom. We have 13 Display vivariums (the current vivexotic range) all housing a reptile or amphibian, we have crested gecko's, yemen chameleons, beardies, ackies, leopard geckos, corns, whites tree frogs and our very own captive bred fire bellied toads!

New range of Vivexotic Vivariums

2007-05-20T19:41:00.000+01:00

Limited stock is now availble of the new Vivexotic range of vivariums...

http://www.livefoodsbypost.co.uk/index.asp?function=DISPLAYCAT&catid=181

Chameleon Vivariums

2007-03-24T20:54:00.000Z

Just added to www.livefoodsbypost.co.uk The Chameleon vivarium is ideal for arboreal (Tree dwelling) species as well as species that enjoy to climb. Perfectly suited for chameleons but also ideal for snakes that need to stretch out and climb!, Three foot wide and four foot high provides plenty of space. See them here http://www.livefoodsbypost.co.uk/index.asp?function=DISPLAYPRODUCT&productid=812

Bigger Vivariums

2007-03-24T20:51:00.000Z

New to www.livefoodsbypost.co.uk are the Enthusiast range of vivariums this range of flat pack vivariums come in 55" and 72" lengths by 23" x 27", available in Black, Beech Walnut or Silver. Ideal for space loving reptiles. You can see them here http://www.livefoodsbypost.co.uk/index.asp?function=DISPLAYPRODUCT&productid=811

New resin water & Feed Dishes

2007-02-26T17:07:00.000Z

We are in the process of adding a range of generic (i.e non branded) Resin feed & water dishes to the the site, plus caves and hides. You can see whats been added so far to our Water & feeding dish section in the Reptile & amphibian supplies catalogue online here http://www.livefoodsbypost.co.uk/index.asp?function=DISPLAYCAT&catid=162

New Exo Terra catalogue

2007-02-20T09:55:00.000Z

Exo terra have released their new 2007 catalogue, you can download it here http://www.exo-terra.com/EN/index.html , There are a few new interesting and some exciting new products, but you will have to wait! we dont yet have them available to us, as soon as exo terra make these new products available we will add them to the site, remember you can find products by manufacturer here http://www.livefoodsbypost.co.uk/index.asp?function=DISPLAYCAT&catid=117 and this is the link for our exo terra products http://www.livefoodsbypost.co.uk/index.asp?function=DISPLAYCAT&catid=118

Exo Terra 10% UVB Strips

2007-02-19T22:25:00.000Z

Exo Terra have now replaced their 8% UVB strips with 10% UVB strips you can find them in our lighting section

Zoo Med Cleaning products

2007-02-19T17:28:00.000Z

New to Livefoodsbypost.co.uk, we have just added the new Zoo Med range of cleaning products comprising of Zoo Med Wipe Out 1, 2, 3, and 4. These are a cage cleaner, cage furniture cleaner, hand cleanser and a foaming hand cleanser, also added is Zoo Med Mite off for killing mites, all of these can be found in the Reptile & amphibian supplies section under reptile care products http://www.livefoodsbypost.co.uk/index.asp?function=DISPLAYCAT&catid=72

Welcome to our blog!

2007-02-19T17:26:00.000Z

Hurrah, we have a blog! this should provide an online diary of events in the life of livefoodsbypost.co.uk, we will use this to add new product announcements and anything else of interest!