BHB Reptiles

Kritter Crumble
Kritter’s Crumble is a small animal and reptile bedding that is manufactured out of coconut husk. When we first tested this bedding a few concerns came to mind. First what would the odor elimination be , would it be messy to use and how would it retain moisture? Our first concern was the lack of “fragrance” with the bedding. Would it be able to “mask” the smell of a soiled cage? We were pleasantly surprised that it seemed to absorb the odor far better then we could ever have imagined. As for as mess goes, the two sizes we tested were coarse and fine, the coarse was our preference for Ball Pythons, and other snakes. With very little dust and it being 100% organic it was far less “messy” then other bedding that we used. The fine was a little more messy, but still had very little dust and worked really well with our geckos and other lizards. The humidity issue is always the most important issue when it comes to bedding in my eyes. Nobody wants a snake that doesn’t shed properly and bedding is a huge part of keeping the humidity levels proper. It was a surprise that the absorption properties of the coconut husk was amazing. What we found was you could spray it down a lot and it would soak the water up like a sponge, yet wouldn’t stay soaked on the service, which could be bad for the animal. We found that it kept the humidity of the cage higher without the animal sitting on wet bedding. Along with the lack of dusk and odor eliminating properties we were extremely impressed with this bedding. Also with it being 100% organic with no toxic chemicals and it’s mold resistant qualities. We would happily recommend this bedding to anyone that was looking for a good product. If there is a downside it would be that it’s certainly not the cheapest bedding on the market, but in this case it is a matter of getting what you pay for.

Reptibator
Having the right incubator is always important when breeding reptiles that lay eggs. What do you do when you are first starting out and don’t want to spend tons of money. Well ZooMed might have the answer. The Reptibator is hardly over $100 and will hold a couple small clutches of snake or lizard eggs. We found that we could put up to 15 Ball Python eggs in the incubator or as many as 50 gecko eggs in at the same time. Certainly not meant for a commercial reptile breeding facility, but if you are just starting out, this is a perfect way to get your feet wet. It’s simple use is probably what I liked most about it. As a beginning reptile breeder the last thing you need to worry about is having to figure a complicated incubator out. This has a digital thermostat with a heat indicator light. It’s a proportional controller that also has a thermometer built in to see what the actual temp is in the incubator. We tested this out over a few month period and were surprised at how accurate we were able to keep the temps. It did vary about 1 ½ degrees over that period of time, but that was within the range that would not be a problem for hatching reptile eggs. I also liked the clear top that allowed me to keep an eye on the eggs without opening it every day. I’m not sure I’d feel comfortable putting a $50,000 clutch of eggs in this, but for someone that needs a reliable incubator for your first several clutches of eggs, this seems to be the answer the hobby was looking for.

Exo Terra Breeding box
What’s the best way to house your pet reptile? It’s always the biggest question before buying your animal. As a bigger reptile breeder, “rack” systems are the easy answer, but as a hobbyist it’s hard to justify spending hundreds if not thousands of dollars. Let’s face it, fish tanks are just not the best answer. The “breeder Box’s” from Exo Tera are a pretty good alternative. They are clear plastic which makes them light weight yet still easy to see into. It also makes then really easy to clean. They also can stack, so if you want to make your own rack style system you can at very low expense. I liked that it has a “side” door that slides open, so if you did have several stacked you could still put a food item in without bothering the others in the stack. I wouldn’t say that this product is ground breaking because there have been similar product out there for years, but with some of the minor improvements that exo tera has made on an existing product it really does make them a more desirable choice for a reptile cage. I’m still not 100% sure what the best way to heat these boxes are and that’s probably my only “knock” on them. But for animals that require little “extra” heat or if you have a heated room these seem to be a good cheap choice.