RCReptiles.com

[Buck_99]

There are many acronyms and terms used on this site which may be overwhelming at first to newcomers. Here is a list of the acronyms and terms, along with their meanings, to help newcomers understand what we're talking about.

In the "ACRONYMS" section, I have only listed what each acronym stands for. The terms themselves are defined in the "TERMS" section.

NOTE: Please see the "HOW TO CONTRIBUTE TO THIS LIST" section at the bottom for how to contribute to this list or otherwise make modifications.

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ACRONYMS
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ASF - African Soft Furred rat
BP - Ball Python
CB - Captive Bred
CH - Captive Hatched
F/T - Frozen / Thawed
Het - Heterozygous
IBD - Inclusion Body Disease
JJ - Jason's Jungle
PAM - Provent-A-Mite
QZ - Quarantine Zone
RI - Respiratory Infection
RR - Reptile Relief
UTH - Under Tank Heater
WC - Wild Caught

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TERMS
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Basking - An activity that allows an ectotherm to increase its body temperature. In reptile and amphibian enclosures, one part is called the "basking side" or "basking end" (if it's on the end). This is the warmest part of the enclosure and it's where the animal can go to bask to heat up.

Captive Bred (CB) - Animal hatched in captivity from parents bred together in captivity. Captive bred animals typically make the best pets.

Captive Hatched (CH) - Animal hatched in captivity from mother captured in the wild. Captive hatched animals are frequently hatched overseas and imported, and may have problems associated with them such as undue stress and parasites. This category also includes animals whose wild-caught mothers were imported while gravid.

Ecdysis - The scientific name for shedding.

Ectotherm ("Cold blooded") - Animal that does not generate its own heat internally and must therefore regulate its body temperature by moving around to warmer or cooler spots as needed. This action is called thermoregulation.

Enclosure - The container in which the animal lives. For herps in general, a suitable container must meet the following criteria: It must have sufficient spacial dimensions depending on the size and species of the animal (see Ron's blog for Ball Python info and other literature for specifics around the reptile of your choice). It must allow the animal to thermoregulate, have suitable substrate, temperatures, humidity, and appropriate light cycles for the species. Last but not least, it must be inescapable.

Epiglottis - Muscular extension of the snake's windpipe which a snake can extend out of its mouth so that it may continue breathing while swallowing prey. Additionally, when the snake expells air past special membranes within the epiglottis, it creates the hissing noise. The epiglottis can be seen as a hole inside the mouth on the bottom lip.

Flexwatt - Sometimes called "Flexwatt heat tape," thought it is not actually a tape. It is a plastic film up to 11" wide that can be purchased online at various lengths, and is priced by the foot. When an electrical current is run through the tape, it gets hot. Reptile keepers use it in conjunction with thermostats as a heat source for enclosures.

Frozen / Thawed (F/T) - Prey that is already dead and is kept frozen until the keeper is ready to feed it to the animal. Prey must be completely thawed throughout its body before it can be safely fed to a reptile. Generally keepers also warm the prey past room temperature to give the illusion of life.

Genotype - The genetic make-up of an organism. The genotype refers to the genes that the organism carries, not just the ones that are expressed in visible traits. For example, a snake my carry the gene for albino but appear normal (wild type). In this case the genotype of the snake is such that it includes the albino gene, even though the albinism trait is not expressed and the snake appears normal. See "Phenotype."

Gravid - Buns are in the oven. Pregnant with eggs, if you will. A gravid female reptile has eggs in her body which she may lay into a clutch (if she's oviperous), or which may hatch inside her body after which she will give live birth to young (if she's viviperous).

Herp - Shorthand way to reference any reptile or amphibian.

Herper - Also shorthand, someone who's into herps, such as herpetoculturalists and herpetologists

Herpetoculture - The husbandry and breeding of reptiles and amphibians. Captive care of live reptiles and/or amphibians. See http://www.rcreptiles.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=168&highlight=herpetoculture. One who practices herpetoculture, whether professionally or as an amateur, is called a herpetoculturalist.

Herpetology - The study of reptile and amphibian biology. See http://www.rcreptiles.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=168&highlight=herpetoculture. One who studies and practices herpetology, whether professionally, scholastically, or just for fun, is referred to as a herpetologist (NOTE: One professional herpetologist confirmed for me that, in his opinion, anyone can call themselves a herpetologist, regardless of their educational background or profession, as long as they apply accepted regimented scientific practices to their efforts. In general, though, it helps if you've published something in a respected scientific journal ).

Heterozygous (Het) - Carries a gene for a trait but does not show that trait. See the example in "Genotype" above: this example snake is considered "heterozygous for albino." The term "het" can be used as an adjective (e.g., he is het for albino) or as a noun (e.g., he is an albino het). NOTE: the term "100% het" is used to indicate certainty that the animal has the trait, whereas "66% het" or "50% het" (or other sub-100 percentages) indicates only the possibility that the animal carries the trait.

Hygrometer - An instrument that measures humidity. These come in analog and digital devices, and they can be found built into digital thermometers as well. Pet stores, online stores, or even cigar stores have these.

Inclusion Body Disease (IBD) - A retrovirus that devastates pythons. It can be carried by boas for long periods without symptoms showing, but with pythons the symptoms appear more quickly and are 100% fatal. Read more at: http://www.rcreptiles.com/articles/inclusion-body-disease.html

Incubator - A device used to maintain eggs at precise temperatures and humidity levels to improve the chances of successful hatching.

Jason's Jungle (JJ) - A guy who sells racks for snakes. Competitors are Boaphile Plastics, Vision Racks, etc. Jason is listed here because the acronym JJ is used frequently on this forum, whereas the others are usually referenced by name.

Morphs - Animals that have proven genetic traits that differ from those of "normal" or "wild type" animals most commonly found in the wild. Morphs appear different than normal animals and are generally valued more highly.

Normal - Also called "wild type," this denotes a snake that bears patterns and coloration most commonly found in the wild.

Oviparous - Refers to animals that lay eggs that hatch outside of the mother.

Phenotype - The observable constitution of an organism, or the appearance of an organism resulting from the interaction of the genotype and the environment (source: http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/phenotype. In plain English: the way an organism looks as a result of its genes and its environment.

Provent-a-Mite (PAM) - Good stuff for treating enclosures to prevent the spread of mites.

Punnett Square - A diagram designed by Reginald Punnett and used by biologists to determine the probability of an offspring having a particular genotype. Links:

Quarantine - The act of separating a set of animals from each other to prevent the spread of parasites and diseases until it is known that they no longer represent a threat to each other by being in close proximity. Generally a subset is quarantined from a larger collection, although it can also be said that two or more collections are quarantined from each other. In herpetoculture, quarantine is a necessary step when acquiring new animals before introducing them to a location in close proximity to the existing collection.

Quarantine Zone (QZ) - An area where a subset of animals can be quarantined from the main collection.

Rack / Rack system - A structure commonly used by herpetoculturalists to keep multiple animals in close proximity but separate enclosures containers. Typically racks have a built-in heat source that can be managed by a single thermostat to control the temperature for all containers in the rack system. Generally speaking, rack systems with plastic tubs allow more animals to be kept in a smaller space than glass tanks or other individual enclosures do. They also allow for easier maintenance of high humidity levels.

Respiratory Infection (RI) - An infection to an animal's respiratory system. Ball pythons can be particularly susceptible when under stress, usually due to less than ideal living conditions. This is because the infecting agents are already present in the animal, while stress weakens the animal's immune system defenses. Symptoms can include wheezing, rattling noises, coughing, and mucous around the mouth and nose. There are several antibiotic treatments available through veterinarians, each of which should be used with caution. Increasing the animal's ambient temperature is also frequently recommended when symptoms are observed.

Reptile Relief (RR) - A product that can be sprayed directly onto a reptile (but not amphibians) to kill mites and ticks. Use only as directed!

Substrate - The material on the floor of an animal's enclosure. Substrates range from various tree barks to paper products to artificial turf. The most appropriate substrate differs from animal to animal and from one environment to the next, and factors such as ease of maintenance for the keeper must also be considered, so please research carefully before choosing a substrate.

Tank - A glass aquarium / terrarium or similar enclosure.

Thermoregulation - The way an ectotherm (i.e., cold-blooded animal) controls its body temperature by moving to cooler or warmer areas of its enclosure. It is important for keepers to provide enclosures where the reptile can thermoregulate because ectotherms can't control their body temperatures by internal means (for example, a snake can't sweat).

Thermostat - A device used to control one or more heating elements to establish a steady temperature appropriate for the captive animal. Typically a thermostat is set to maintain the temperature in the basking area, which it measures by use of a probe that the keeper places there. Heating elements are plugged into the thermostat. While the temperature at the probe is less than the desired temperature (set by the user with a dial, etc.), the thermostat allows electrical current to pass to the heating elements. When the desired temperature is exceeded, the thermostat cuts off current to the heating elements to keep the temperature from getting too hot.

Tub - A plastic container, such as a Sterilite or Rubbermaid container, that can be used as an enclosure. Tubs are often used as the individual enclosures within a rack system. The keeper may need to solder or drill holes into the tubs as needed to permit air flow and control humidity.

Under Tank Heater (UTH) - An electrical heating device that can be applied to the underside of an enclosure. An under tank heater should be used in conjunction with a thermostat.

Vermiculite - A medium used by herpetoculturalists to surround eggs in an incubator to help tightly control humidity and temperatures around the eggs, and to provide stability.

Viviparous - Refers to animals where the eggs hatch inside the mother and the young are therefore birthed live.

Wild Caught (WC) - Captured in the wild, as opposed to hatched or bred in captivity.

Wild Type - Also called "normal," this denotes a snake that bears patterns and coloration most commonly found in the wild.

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HOW TO CONTRIBUTE TO THIS LIST

To contribute or make changes, please post a reply to this thread. I'll review all replies and make edits to this top entry as necessary.

What the definitions on this list do not contain are references to specific places in Ron's blog or other threads on the forum that cover the subject in greater detail. If you happen to know what the best place on the blog or forum is to point the reader to for further reading, that's the kind of thing I'd like to see posted as a reply so that it can be added.

Thanks!

[karoberts]

Thanks Buck-this is extremely helpful!

[ryancbj22]

Nice sticky Buck. Could you explain what the term BLUSHING means or what it refers too.. Thanks

[a_green]

You can probably find it elsewhere in the forum if you search, but since I'm here I will help--blushing refers to the character of a bp's colouring when it sort of 'blends' or 'fades' from one colour to another--for example, over time you might see faint lighter spots gradually appear in areas that were once black, or around your bp's head they might have brown colouring that is sort of 'cloudy' rather than solid. I hope I explained that comprehensibly...

[RonCrawford]

I'm not sure if this fits here or not but I'd like to describe what the "1.1" means when you see something along the lines of "1.1 [insert morph name here] ball pythons".

Dot notation is used to express the sex/count and is separated by a period (.). There are three sections that makeup this notation.

x.y.z

The x section is for males, y is for females and z is for unknown. You would use 2.3.2 to represent two males, three females and two unknown. The last section (unknown) can be omitted if the sex of the snakes are known. Hence, two males and one female would be represented as 2.1 and the last section can be omitted.

[todd13]

thank you very much at first im like how can you have 2 snakes and 1 tenth of another one!!!!

[wErd]

Hello people,

I am new to the herp and pet loving world and I chose a BP as my very first pet. I don't have any pictures available right now, but I'll be working on that.

I am getting used to all these acronyms, but I dont see what ASF stands for. I've been seeing it in information regarding feeding.

Help is much appreciated.

-wErd

[RonCrawford]

[wErd]

Thanks Ron.