Herps

(Reptiles And Amphibians)

For Services Offered and Prices, Please Navigate to the Services Offered and Fees Page.

Herps have been a BIG part of my life, both personally and professionally.

I began to develop an interest in herps in the 1960s, after my family moved to Southern California. When we moved into our new home, close to the chaparral foothills, my interest became a fascination. That was back in the late 60s – early 70s, before development had destroyed so much native habitat, and I could easily walk to the chaparral foothill canyons, woodlands and rushing streams, or drive a short distance to the Mojave desert, to find an amazing array of reptiles and amphibians.

My fascination with herps continued to grow over the years, evolving beyond our native species to include exotic herps, especially frogs and toads, from environments all over the world.

I began to collect and breed many of these species. I became involved with organizations dedicated to the study, keeping and conservation of herps.

I had certain areas of expertise, including African reed and tree frogs, South American poison dart frogs, and geckos, especially day geckos.

I’ve created vivariums for myself, friends, pet and reptile shops, and other businesses. Vivariums are beautiful, naturalistic, planted enclosures for reptiles and amphibians, and sometimes invertebrates, that are not only wonderful to view, but provide a healthy, vibrant environment to promote physical health, mental stimulation and natural behaviors in herps.

Eventually, my knowledge of herps, and plants, merged with my writing profession. If you’re a long-time herp enthusiast and reader of Reptiles Magazine between about 1999-2016, you probably already know me.

Besides numerous feature articles for both the magazine and its annual Reptiles USA, for several years I wrote the regular column, The Living Vivarium.

This column covered all aspects of creating and maintaining vivariums – tanks, lighting, other equipment, types of habitats, temperature, humidity, planting mixes, landscaping, landscape fixtures, plants, animals, feeding, maintenance, sources for everything, etc., etc.

Pictured here are just two examples of the many vivariums I created. The one with the elaborate oak frame was created for the front foyer of a historic Craftsman style home in north Claremont, California. It was featured on the city’s Christmas home tour the year I created it. It is a tropical forest vivarium, and housed poison dart frogs, reed frogs, day geckos, other geckos, pygmy chameleons and an orchid mantis. The tropical pool contained a miniature water lily and several varieties of tropical fish and miniature freshwater shrimp. The other photo is of the interior of another tropical forest vivarium I created as a demonstration vivarium in a reptile store. It held a variety of small tropical herps, some just for display and others for sale.

So, if you’re a herp keeper and need someone to provide care to your animals while you’re away, feel free to call on me to provide care visits. I can clean, remove fecals, feed/water your herp(s), check for any signs of health problems, check the environmental conditions of the enclosure/vivarium, make sure all systems are functioning properly, etc. Your herps couldn’t be in better hands.

See the Care Visit section on the Services Offered and Fees page.