Reptile Husbandry Record

What this sheet is for

Record the parameters you are actually achieving against the ones you are aiming for, which is the difference between keeping a reptile and hoping.

Who it is for

Keepers of snakes, lizards, geckos, tortoises and any reptile with a controlled environment.

How to use it

1. Write the species and the source of your targets before anything else.
2. Measure with a digital probe at animal level, not a dial stuck to the glass.
3. Record readings you were not happy with — those are the useful ones.
4. Take a fortnight of readings to an exotics vet rather than a description.

What is on the sheet

The layout is fixed at a size that fits both A4 and US Letter, so the A4 and Letter files are visually identical and print at full size on either. Rows are set at a height that an adult can actually write a date and a few words into with a pen — most printable tables are built in a word processor and never tested with one.

Questions

Why are no temperatures or humidity levels printed?

Because they are species-specific and getting them wrong is the commonest cause of avoidable illness in captive reptiles. There is no set of figures that would be correct for a corn snake, a bearded dragon and a crested gecko, and a printable that pretended otherwise would do harm. Get your figures from a specialist vet or a species-specific guide.

Where should I measure the temperature?

At the animal, not at the glass. A dial thermometer on the wall of a vivarium and a probe at basking height will give very different readings, and only one of them describes what the animal is experiencing.