Save the Orangutans With Your Halloween Candy!

It's important now more than ever that we pay attention to our actions and how they affect the world around us. Simple things in our day to day activities could have an impact in a whole other country and we wouldn't know it. 

By simple day to day activities, I am talking about buying candy... because at least for me that is a day to day activity. 

But what I'm really talking about, is what's instead the candy. 

AKA Palm Oil

Now this isn't found in all candy, but it is found in many fan favorite candies from companies like Hershey, Nestle, and Mars. 

Ok, so what? ... Well I'll tell you what...

Palm oil is a vegetable oil found in the fruit from the African oil palm tree. This oil is a key ingredient in many aspects of our lives, such as cosmetics, cleaning supplies, food, etc. 

So why is it bad? Because there is a high demand, which means clearing forest in order to create plantations for palm oil  production. This forest is home to animals like the Orangutan and Sumatran tiger (both of which will probably be extinct in less than 10 years according to statistics btw). 

But have no fear! The Roundtable on Sustainable Palm Oil is trying to make a change! 

They get that companies need palm oil, but they also get that you can have palm oil without contributing to the extinction of the worlds valuable wildlife. They are committed to the use of 100% deforestation free palm oil, or in other words, sustainable palm oil. 

Ok so lets talk Halloween.

Now you have probably seen this picture going around from the Cheyenne Mountain Zoo:

This handy little picture gives you some examples of good choices for Halloween candy this year. All of the companies listed are part of the Roundtable, however, based on a point system, some are doing better at being sustainable than others. 

The green companies are your best choice! They are totally committed to sustainable palm oil! The yellows are not too bad... could use alittle more commitment. The oranges need lots of work. Maybe they just joined the Roundtable or maybe they are a bit lazy on trying to gain points from the 5 point possibilities (can be found on the app). 

So the app (made by the same Zoo) (can we just acknowledge how pro active the Cheyenne Mountain Zoo is..?!) The App is called the Palm Oil App,  and you can look up or scan the bar code on any item. Then the app will show you a green, yellow, or orange dot to tell you where that protect falls as far as the use of sustainable palm oil.

If a company or protect is not listed, either is doesn't have palm oil (I recommend checking the ingredients before pulling out your app), OR it is not part of the Roundtable, therefore has made no commitment to using sustainable palm oil, therefore is killing the orangutans. So ya, we want to avoid supporting those companies. 

So on to the candy!!! Below I have comprised an easy list with Yay and Nay candies. For the time being, we are just going to ignore the yellow middle men, because we want to show support for those companies that have launched themselves into the sustainable palm oil commitment! Plus, I don't know about you, but I'm sure as heck not handing out Lindt and Ghiradelli to trick or treaters....

So obviously, your choices have not been severely limited! There are still plenty of candies out there from companies who are using sustainable palm oil, so really how hard can it be to skip over some Wonkas and Nestles (just until they get their stuff together!)

The Orangutans will thank you! 

Be sure to check out my youtube video where I talk about Palm Oil, the Roundtable on Sustainable Palm Oil, and How to use the app while shopping for Halloween candy! 

Save the Orangutans With Your Halloween Candy!

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DIY Iguana Enclosure

Large reptiles are becoming super popular in the reptile industry, but large reptile enclosures are bank breakers. 

I’m finding that this is a common problem in casual reptile keeping that is leading to poor animal husbandry and therefore poor reptile health.

So what do you do when you want a large reptile, but cant afford a large enclosure? YOU DIY IT!

I’m going to walk you through how we built my iguana enclosure.

I’d like to start off by saying I would have liked to make it bigger, but this enclosure had to travel to college with me and it is plenty for his size right now.  

Materials:

• A heavy duty HDX shelving unit  - $60 to just over $100 depending on the size you want
• Fencing to go around the shelving unit - we used Backyard X-Scapes bamboo fencing from home depot ($84) because we liked the thicker bamboo. They do having reed fencing that looks just as nice for $26.
• Materials for inside - Branches, wood for shelves, ramps, etc.
• PVC to create a door - 2 Tees, 2 elbows, 4 straight pieces. Make sure they are wide enough to fit over the corner pole from the shelving. 
• Plexi Glass - make sure its big enough for your door. We bought this after we had the door assembled. We also bought Lexan, so it was a little more expensive- BUT really good quality. You could use some sort of mesh if you live in a humid environment. We went for the glass because it looks nice and helps hold in humidity. 
• Landscape fabric - this will act as a base for the enclosure. 
• Garden liner and tile for the base tray. 
• Brackets and screws
• ZIP TIES
• Whatever decor you want - We hit up Michaels and Jo-Anns with those good coupons

 Instructions:

1.  CUTTING
• Figure out how tall your shelving is and how long the fencing needs to me and then make the appropriate cuts. 
• Measure and make cuts to your pvc to create your door
• Cut the landscape fabric to fit one of the shelves.
2. BUILD
• Take one of your long pvc poles and attach the two Tee pieces to each end.
• You are only going to use two of the shelves from the unit for this project. Take one shelve and flip it upside down for the base. 
• Before you put the shelf on to create the top of the enclosure, slide the pvc that will connect the door to the enclosure over the corner pole, and situate the fencing (if it is going inside like how we did the bamboo).
• After you piece it all together, use zip ties to attach the fencing and the landscape fabric to the shelving unit. 
  
3. DOOR
• Now you can finish assembling your door frame.
  
4. GLASS
• Go ahead and lay your enclosure down, and using silicone, glue the glass to the pvc.
• You will want heavy items to hold the glass down while it dries. 
• We did this step at night, so it could sit while we slept. This way we weren't losing valuable building time!
  
5. INTERIOR DESINING

• This was the fun part. Now you get to design the interior layout of your enclosure
• I highly recommend drawing your idea, and for any shelves, draw them and cut them out of paper so you can visualize what it will actually look like in the enclosure. Then you can use it as a stencil on your wood before cutting out your shelf. 
• With a deeper enclosure, it would be really easy to just add a bunch of branches and call it a day, but because I was building for a physically deformed and injured iguana, we had to handicap it with lots of ramps. 
• to secure the shelves, we screwed the shelves to smaller blocks of wood, which we secured to the fencing with a bracket. 
• For better looks and ease of climbing, I wrapped the ramps in twine and used a thicker rope to braid a "railing" along the longest one. 
• **** Be sure to plan out where your lights will go!*****

• For the base, we created a removable tray. We glued two pieces of tile to a rubber mat, and then added garden liner around the edges. This was if he were to spill water or go to the bathroom, it wouldn't get soaked up by the bamboo. 

      6. LIGHTS, FLORALS, ETC

• We loaded the enclosure with zip ties!
• Your lights can go on top of the enclosure, but you may want lights in the enclosure depending on how you style the interior.
• Make sure you provide vegetation that allows your iguana to hide and feel safe!
• You can zip tie a plastic table cloth or shower curtain to the enclosure to help hold in humidity 

• Don't forget some sort of "pool" for your iguana!  

 If you have any additional questions don't be afraid to get in contact with me ! And if you custom built your own enclosures definitely send me pictures! I'd love to see them ! :) 

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8 Musts to Beating Metabolic Bone Disease

How does MBD Work?

There’s no doubt that MBD can be a confusing thing to understand, so I want to try and explain things as simple as possible - so simple that I was finally able to truly understand it.

There are various causes to how a reptile gets MBD. One is the reptile is getting an inadequate ratio of calcium to phosphorus in their diet. They should be getting a ratio of 2:1, and if they don’t get enough calcium, their body pulls it from the bones instead = the bones become weak and subject to breakage.

Another cause is the lack of UVB exposure. UVB synthesizes vitamin D3 so that the body can use it → Vitamin D3 is needed in order for the body to absorb calcium.

So basically there are four main things to think about:

           Calcium

           Phosphorous

           UVB

           Vitamin D3

Of course like anything, there are several other causes, but they more or less link back to these MAIN causes, and by simply making sure your iguana has the proper diet and proper habitat, the odds will be in your iguanas favor.

Now back to the list that y’all came here for….

We have all seen those heartbreaking cases of Metabolic bone disease. If you or someone you know is dealing with an iguana with serve MBD, this is what I recommend to you:

 1. Keep it positive, but keep it realistic.

I knew iguanas rarely come back when they are that far gone. I kept telling myself that he could get better if I did everything right and didn't give up on him, but I also made sure not to forget that if it went on long enough, there would come a point where I’d need to let go.

2.            Soak and don't get discouraged!

This is especially for you iguana people dealing with the inability to poop, which mine was. Because of nerve and spinal damage, he was unable to control that end of his body.

I gave Arcadius a nice long soak 1-2 times a day for weeks. There were days I thought what's the point, because they never seemed to do anything, but who am I to say they didn't help. I did it, and my iguana turned around - so it doesn't hurt to try!

3.            CALCIUM / PROPER DIET

Pay attention to what you are feeding your pet! The Green Iguana Society has a great chart with all the foods listed and their calcium to phosphorus ratio. Ideally you want to feed them foods with a 2:1 (ca:p) ratio, but when you are battling severe MBD definitely offer those foods higher in calcium!

Your greens can be a great source of calcium, so during this time I did 60% greens, 40% veggies, and a tiny treat of fruit. Making sure your iggy gets protein during this time is important too. A good source of this is alfalfa. If you don’t have this available to you, you can buy the alfalfa treats you would find for rabbits and shred them into a powder like consistency. Then you just have to sprinkle it on your iggys food!

You can also use a calcium supplement, but try to find one without D3. Your iggy gets D3 from its UVB, and too much D3 can cause other health problems.

This is a post recovery meal. I do not recommend this much fruit for someone going through MBD. He was just getting spoiled this day.

My top recommendations:

·         Collard greens (!!!!), mixed with turnip greens, mustard greens, watercress, and/or dandelion greens. (Always collard greens).

·         Green beans, butternut squash, acorn squash,

·         Papaya and mango

·         Alfalfa

                       

                        Stay away from treats and occasional foods during this time.

4.            UVB

Make sure your iggy has UVB exposure, and that it is the correct distance away from the bulb to be getting what it requires. Most importantly, get a good UVB bulb!!! This means spending some $$$, but it’s  worth it if your iguana is healthy again right?

I recommend a mega ray - this bulb is heat and UVB combined AND has a long and wide beam for maximum efficiency. Also highly popular, are Arcadia lights and zoo med’s powersun lights (these can be found in petsmarts).

5.            Patience

Your baby won’t heal overnight, or even in a week. Reptiles can take months to heal, so just be patient while their body does its’ thing.

6.            Always seek vet help

Some vets know more about reptiles than others, but it doesn't hurt to try and get assistance from them. In my case, I was not all that impressed with our vets enclosure set up, but he knew how to manually poop an iguana and that was all I really needed.

He was able to show us how to do it at home, and I believe this manual pooping is really what helped his body get back on track. Plus, he wasn’t full of sh** in the healing process (LOL) !

7.            Handicap everything!

Take away any obstacles that could potentially cause more injuries or damage to your iguana until the healing process is well underway.

When this all happened he was temporarily in a 20 gallon tank. We put a towel down to not only pad everything, but to give him something to grab on to with his front legs, since he couldn’t use his back legs.  

Arcadius’ enclosure we built is all ramps, because he was in the middle of recovery when we built it. His enclosure at my parent’s house now has branches and vines, because he is stronger now and can handle it better than before, but he is still tipsy on them.

IF YOUR IGUANA ISN’T DEFECATING ON ITS’ OWN

8. Increase water

This means making sure the humidity is up and adding water filled substances to their diets.

A good source of water is cucumber and watermelon. Also, getting an eye dropper to physically give them water to drink is a good idea. Sometimes we created fruit infused water to encourage him to drink the water.

And as I mentioned before - baths! Lots and lots of baths! Iguanas typically go to the bathroom in the water, so this could be another form of encouragement.

And as always, don’t let your iguana go too long without defecating. A reptile vet should be able to help manually poop your iguana. If they are nice like ours, they’ll have you come back every couple of days to repeat the process (until they think you have a lost cause and show you how to do it yourself so you stop throwing money at them).

*Side note: I do not recommend pooping your iguanas yourself, unless it comes down to it and you have vet assistance the first time around. That is a last resort situation and it takes two people*

It is important to remember, that your iguana may not go back to its totally healthy able iguana self. Arcadius suffered spinal and nerve damage, so he will forever have a curve in his spine and he can’t use his hind legs as well as a healthy iguana can. This being said, he is pooping on his own and living a completely spoiled life full of love and happiness! All you can do for them during these hard times are give your full love and support!

I’m hoping for the best for all of you MBD fighters out there!

Do you have any experience with MBD or any questions? I’d love to hear from you!

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10 Easy Eco-Friendly Lifestyle Changes

Being Eco-friendly is the new trend, but does that mean you have to live zero waste for it to count?

The answer is NO.

Going zero waste is a big commitment and isn’t easy, but don’t worry, there are many eco-friendly things you can do that don’t involve completely taking on a new lifestyle!  

Here are simple ways to journey towards being eco-friendly:

1.  Use reusable shopping bags

You can find super cute ones everywhere! Pretty much every store has them now and you can order cool ones online! I have a bunch from Tjmaxx and some zoos! The average person uses about 350-500 plastic bags a year, so imagine how much plastic we'll keep out of the environment by using reusable shopping bags!!!

2.  Reusable Water Bottle

Why constantly spend money buying plastic bottles when you can just bring a reusable water bottle with you wherever you go?! I have so many, just because whenever I find a cool one I usually end up buying it.

I’ve started getting into glass bottles, and my favorite is definitely my SandCloud bottle! It says Save the Fishies on the lid, and it is just too cute! Follow this link to the bottle and you can use my ambassador code ZAuger25 for 25% off!

3. Reusable Travel Mug

Instead of Styrofoam or plastic travel mugs, take a reusable one to work with you! A lot of coffee places will put your coffee in your eco friendly mug if you ask!

3. Ditch plastic straws

I am new to this one, because I never use straws at home, but recently I have been for my smoothies. There are tons of cute metal ones that you can find on Amazon and Etsy!

 

PrettyCandyPinCo on Etsy

4. Walk

Not only does this help the environment, but a little walking is good for your health too! This is a big one for those of you on college campuses. If you can walk to your classes, try to do that instead of driving!

5. Don't use plastic bags in produce section

This is something I’m going to start doing! Having an iguana, I am constantly buying tons of fruits and veggies. Buying and reusing these bags you can find online are a good way to limit how much plastic you are bringing home from the store!

 

NollaShop on Etsy

6. Reusable sandwich/snack bags

These are another thing you can easily find on amazon and etsy! We go through tons of plastic bags for lunches and snacks, so these are super awesome! You can even find them in cute fabrics!

HeartStitchesForever on Etsy

6. Less Lights and Water

This sounds super basic, but I’m saying it anyway - Shut off the lights when you leave a room and use less water! By decreasing your shower by 1 minute (ONLY 1 MINUTE) you can save roughly 500-2000 gallons of water per year!!! Nuff said.

7. RECYCLE

Designate a bin in your kitchen, bedroom, dorm room, whatever room, to items that are recyclable. Now instead of throwing everything away, take your paper and recyclable plastics and put them in your designated recycling bin!

8. Reusable K-Cups

This one is for you coffee drinkers! It’s well known that K-cups aren't great for the environment, but now they have reusable k-cups! You just dump your favorite coffee in the cub and your good to go!

 

Click Here for Reusable K Cups on Amazon

9. Use washcloths for dishes or reusable sponges

Instead of sponges that get yucky and you throw away, use a cloth or reusable sponge! All you have to do is throw them in the washer and then you're good to go!

 

MarleysMonsters on Etsy

10. Bamboo Toothbrushes

This is another one I haven’t done yet, but come my next paycheck I will! Recently I read in an article that between 850 million and over a billion plastic toothbrushes are thrown away each year AND they take hundred of years to decompose! That is insane! Bamboo brushes are recyclable, so why not!

WowE Natural Bamboo Toothbrushes

Click here for a website I found that compares different bamboo brush companies!

These are just some ways to reduce your waste, but by all means there are more! Amazon and etsy have tons of eco friendly products and alternatives to everyday products. I love just scrolling through to see what there is!

What are some of your favorite ways to help the planet? Leave a comment below!

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Adopting Reptiles: Where to Look

Let’s talk adoption. You hear it all the time with cats and dogs, but how often do you hear it with herps? Probably not often. 

Depending on where you live, part of this could be due to the fact that you just never see snakes or lizards in shelters.

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