News

Good morning all you fans of our modern day dragons! We are having some amazing news coming over the airwaves. The efforts of the CDC and Jimmy Carter’s foundation, the Carter Center may have resulted in the eradication of Dracunculus medinensis, the Guinea Worm which is a parasitic worm in Africa that causes excruciating pain. NPR reports that we have gone from 3 million cases a year in the 80s to just 2 cases so far on 2016. And they both are believed to have been contained. Some parasites with indirect lifecycles require intermediate hosts and have a complicated lifecycle which can be difficult to follow. Congratulations and thanks go to the CDC, Jimmy Carter, Dr. Hopkins, and the host of health workers that risked their lives implementing health programs in war torn, mine laden countries to bring us to this point. We can’t pop the cork on the champagne yet, but at least it is time to locate the glasses. And what does this have to do with reptile news? Well, beyond the point that we are all human and this affects humans, it also is an example of what we need to do when considering parasitic infection for our pets. To clean our reptiles of parasites we need to understand the parasitic lifecycles before we can break them. And, yes, that education is part of the Chameleon Breeder Podcast mandate. So stay tuned in the coming months and I’ll do my part here.

Now, let’s get to our main story. How many of you have ever dreamed of owning a pet store? Yep, my hand is raised right now too! If you are driving, please put your hand back down. For today’s episode I went on location to Scales Exotic Creatures in Long Beach California run by Beth Greathouse. This reptile boutique is a unique take on the standard reptile store. Instead of walls packed with random reptiles and aging boxes of weathered inventory, there are carefully selected species, care products, T-shirts, stuffed animals, and even a specialized supplement line. I got a special interview with Beth before the store opened today. I talked with her about setting up the store and what a day in the life of a pet store owner was like. We then take a short tour around and discuss the reptiles that she offers and the reason for each. When you are creating a pleasant environment, overcrowding is definitely out and so each species is chosen carefully and with purpose.

If any of you are in the Los Angeles area and are interested in seeing a reptile boutique, you can drop by and see Scales Exotic Creatures and Beth. She is at 5746 E 2^nd St in the beach community on Naples island in Long Beach. Then walk around a bit and enjoy the ocean breezes. But, of course, you don’t have to remember all that. You can go to scalesexotics.com or go to the show notes at chameleonbreeder.com for the information. And for those not in the area I took a video of my trip so you can see what a reptile boutique and an iMac frogarium looks like!