Record keeping

[Sputnik]

I went to see a friend last weekend who keeps ball pythons and keeps studious shedding, feeding and weight records. How important do you think record keeping for garters (and other snakes) not used for breeding, is? I have to admit I have not kept any for so far but feel maybe I should start. I'll have a go at drawing up a table today.

[adamanteus]

I guess record keeping is different for eveyone. If you only have a couple of snakes it probably isn't necessary at all. Whereas if you have many, keeping records might be essential. I guess it's a matter of personal choice and what works for you. No need to feel "that you should".

[drache]

I've gone through this myself
if you come up with a good table, please let me know
I use spiral bound index card boolets and I use them much like log books, but I forget to enter things sometimes, especially sheds
I also regroup my logs from time to time
I used to keep seperate logs for each tank, but I've consolidated some
I did this for years with my fish tanks and now I realize I never went back to look at anything further than a month back except to check how old my light bulbs were
I still think, some record keeping is a good idea
what I do works, but I'm still looking for a better idea

[ScimitarX]

We keep records for all of our snakes, each snake has an individual chart with columns titled: Date, Feeding, Weight(as we occasionly weigh them), vivarium( for any changes we make to the tank) and Comments, which is just for additional notes. I find it very useful for keeping track of how often a snake feeds, and its good for spotting any signs of problems or changes in behavior due to illness or changes in the tanks.

And if an animal needs treatment at the vets, we start a medical record so we can keep track of treatments and monitor its recovery.

We've filled a ringbinder with all the records.

[drache]

that's what I was looking for
could you post one of your charts please?
thanks

[Sid]

In an earlier thread this question came up. Don had a post on it about software called "Degei Reptile Husbandry". It's what I use now and you can track about anything with it. If interested type it into a search engine and it is easy to find.

Sid

[ScimitarX]

theyre too big to upload as an attachment. i'll try scanning 1 when i can. prob tomorrow or in a few days.
This is what we do.
Go into microsoft word
put on the snakes name and species and a small image of the species
then do a table that fills an A4 sheet with the columns date, feeding weight vivarium and comments
then print it off double sided.

Its easy to do.

Hope this helps

[adamanteus]

You can make a custom database in Microsoft Access too. Or Exel if you want loads of extra work!!

[drache]

Originally Posted by adamanteus

You can make a custom database in Microsoft Access too. Or Exel if you want loads of extra work!!

actually I don't like work and prefer not to become my animals' administrator
none of the computer programs I've seen so far have appealed to me

[Sputnik]

Yeah, it does sound like a lot of work to me, too, but I can also see the benefit of it. Sort of. Yes, you can pick up if one of the animals isn't growing properly, but if you are observant while feeding them, you would hopefully pick up any serious problems anyway. I'm sure record keeping is very useful when you keep more than a handful of snakes or breed them, but knowing me, I would get a little paranoid if I got too much into it.