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Posted by chris_mcmartin on January 03, 2003 at 12:15:35:
I make spreadsheets to monitor my animals' weight among other things.
Here's some figures for 2002 for my garter:
Wandering Garter Snake (_Thamnophis elegans vagrans_)
- Min Weight: 2.7 ounces
- Max Weight: 5.9 ounces (after feeding)
- Largest Amount of Food Eaten as a Percentage of Body Weight: 43 percent
- Number of Sheds This Calendar Year: 3; Min Number Days Between Sheds:
87; Max: 104
- Median Humidity: 50% (36-66--I use the same gauge for all animals though
this induces some locational error); Median Temp under Heat Lamp: 86.9 deg
F (67.9-104.2); Median "Nighttime" Temp: 68.9 (51.3-74.5).
This is just a smattering of the records I keep. I also track food offered
vs. accepted, and "sort of" keep track of feeding costs (just for the
snake). Good ol' Nibbles cost me roughly 70 dollars US to keep fed this
year! While this is much cheaper than owning a dog, it's much higher than I
thought it would be after totalling the numbers. It's interesting to see
how much certain foods cost. I recently switched his diet from primarily
fish to adult mice--nutritionally and quantitatively, he's getting fed
better and more cost-effectively using the mice. Also, these were purchased
individually, which contributed to the high cost. I plan on using
bulk-purchase frozen mice this year, which should help bring down the cost
of ownership.
My reason for posting all this? First of all, I feel it's my duty as a herp
keeper to contribute to the knowledge base of these interesting creatures,
and perhaps help other herpetoculturists. Secondly, and more importantly,
it helps justify all the time my wife says I waste making these "stupid
spreadsheets." But hey, that's the engineering background in me! :)
Chris
