Noah White, November 16, 2006
Hi, Do you ever get any of the smaller breeds of tortoise such as the Russian or Greek?  I'm looking for a captive born specimen, or a wild caught that has been treated for parasites (or a long term captive). Thanks for any help,

Sam Saeteurn, November 16, 2006
Hi Larry, is it ok to put sink water that has been conditioned with
NovAqua into my tank when I do weekly water changes? Also, my arowana is not eating goldfish. I just placed one into his tank. It is about
12:29am. The last time I fed him was 12 hrs ago. Is something wrong with
him? Usually, I feed my arowana freeze dried shrimp and krill. The only
tank mate my arowana has is a big pleco. Recent I bought 10 goldfish and
10 ghost shrimp. I want to feed my arowana the ghost shrimp. Will he eat
those? Is conditioned water as good as aged water from the sink? Thanks
for the advice.

Spenser Nunya, November 18, 2006
On your mandarin newts page -- the first picture -- would you happen to have a fuller picture of that whole enclosure? Thank you.

TJ

Taylor Jurrell, Lancaster, Pennsylvania, November 20, 2006
Hey LA. Here's a picture of my fire bellied toads "getting happy" for you to use, if you want, for your site.
Ps, keep up the great work

Archie, Los Angeles, CA, November 21, 2006
Your website is so informative (I'm a fish boy), but the thing that makes it worth the time to browse the different fish species is your sense of humor as you deliver helpful and accurate information. You make me crack up every paragraph or so. lol. It's unfortunate that you guys don't do online orders. I bet you guys would make a killing. as far as the fish category. Do you mostly carry all the fish in your store? I would love to visit your wonderful store someday. Too bad I live in Los Angeles, sigh. I haven't been to a store remotely coming close to the wide variety of pets/fish that you guys carry. Well, I just really wanted to say good job on the info about fish. And safe to say you can always get a job as a comedian. lol. Thank you very much again. Oh, and I just recently purchased an 80 gallon tank. And I'm putting (please don't judge me too harshly) and these are all babies still (2-3 inches): I wanted a snakehead but couldn't find one anywhere, sigh,  2 orange pikes, 3 pikes with black stripes (not sure what kind), 4 senegalus bichirs, 2 albino bichirs, 2 ornate bichirs, 1 delhezi bichir, 1 Texas cichlid, 2 convicts (stripe and pink), and 2 red bellies. They're small and will have plenty of room for now, but eventually I'm going to buy a 135 gallon tank. yaaay!!! Thanks again!!!!!!!!

Samantha Pollitt, Preston, England, UK, November 21, 2006
I am currently a an Animal Care student at a college in Preston, England.  As
part of my course, I am required to reseach research into breeding programmes for Axolotls.  I thought you may be interested in helping me with my research.  I would grately greatly appreciate it if I could possibly email you a questionnare questionnaire for you to fill and send back to me?
I look forward to hearing from you.

Justin McCann, Kentucky, November 22, 2006
I love your website.  It is one of the most informative site for animal
enthusiasts.  I was reading the terrarium portion and I read something that got me confused.  I have a  baby Eastern Box Turtle and a Green Anole together in my 29 gallon terrarium.  They get along well together, probably because they have little interaction.  The Anole is happy up in the live herb plants (for the boxie to eat from) and the boxie just hangs out below.  I may have to separate them when the boxie gets bigger.  But the Anole won't be around 10 years form now.  I just thought I would run this by you.  Thanks for one of the coolest sites on the net.

Kareem Thompson, November 22, 2006
What makes the better beginner snake-- a corn snake or a milk/king snake?

The Aqualand Home Office is motating to Kansas for two days to visit Toto and the Munchkins.*  Try to remember to include your location when asking questions.  LA
*Which does not really mean citizens of Munich.

Jeanette Slipetz, November 23, 2006
Hi. I already killed one ghost knife and the pet store attendant wasn't sure
why but gave me another one. Now this other one is at the bottom of the
tank breathing and moving his fins but not swimming. I have just gotten into
fish and found your site. The other tanks I started are fine. The only
other fish that have passed has been a zebra danio. It was in the tank
with the lobster. Any suggestions as to what I'm doing wrong with my
beautiful ghost knife?

Bryce

Mary Garcia, November 24, 2006
Hi! My boyfriend and I come into your place all the time and know that you
have a broad knowledge of herps. I also know that you guys sometimes buy
herps from local people who don't want them anymore. I recently came upon a posting on Craigslist about a Beardy a guy was selling for $45. I was
interested as I have been wanting a beardy and this guy is close to full
grown. I emailed him for info and he sent me an email (that I posted below)
and a picture. The info he gave me had me VERY concerned for the health of the BD. He was ONLY on a pellet diet, no greens, no proteins. His substrate looked like rocks from a lake. Part of his tail is missing. He is VERY underweight and also in just a 10 gallon tank (he's about 12 inches). I don't think he would be a good first beardy for me since I have never had one before and he may have some health issues (impactions also due to the
substrate). But I don't like the idea of him going into another home and
getting the same treatment. I didn't know if you guys may be interested in
contacting this guy for your own business or the store's to maybe get the
beardy into a healthier more comfortable environment. I'm positive you guys
could get him into better health and find him a great home after that. The
picture is included in this email. If you are interested, I'm also including
his email address if you want to contact the gentleman who is selling him. I'm
sure you could talk the price down as well due to the state of health the BD
is in. Either way - thanks for at least reading my email, even if you cant
do anything.

Dave Pepe, Langhorne, PA, November 27, 2006
Just a couple of quick questions:
I have trouble breeding my paradise fish. I purchased (what I thought)
was a female, not a lot of color and extensions are not that long. I then purchased a male and put the two in a 10g. The female proceeded to
attack the male. I returned the male and purchased and traded it for another
female (thinking maybe it's a bland colored male) and that too was attacked.
Is my fish just too aggressive for this attempt? I have since separated the fish and put her/him (?) back in my community tank.
One last thing, in my 29g I have the following:
2 firemouths (one of which never comes out of the cave)
1 angel fish
1 paradise
1 African butterfly
Is that overcrowded in your opinion?
Thanks

Victoria Barker, November 28, 2006
Hi! I own three pygmy hedgehogs at the moment, and like your site very much. However, there are several misconceptions on your hedgehog page, and I was wondering if you could please change them, or add in alternate information. :)
Male hedgehogs aren't any more aggressive than females unless they're placed with other males (which shouldn't be done anyway).
Food should be left out all night, and not limited. Unless it's a fresh diet
that will spoil -- which isn't the case with most cat foods -- hedgehogs
should have access to food at all time. If given lots of roaming time
outside their cage, or a suitable wheel, hedgehogs will remain at a
perfectly healthy weight. Removing their food at night would be like denying
humans food during the daytime. It's when they're most active, and when they should have access to food.
Water bottles have many downfalls, although water quality should be taken
into consideration. Water will stay clean if you replace it every day.
Hedgehogs can chip their teeth on water bottles, their necks aren't made
like rodents (so they shouldn't have to bend up to reach the nozzle), their
long tongues can get stuck between the metal ball and the lip of the nozzle,
and it's more difficult to get water out of. When offered a dish, many
hedgehogs will drink much more than when they had a bottle. The only
downfall to dishes is that if you keep your hedgehog on bedding, the bedding
may be kicked into it. If you get a heavy water dish, they shouldn't be able
to knock them over, so that shouldn't be a concern.
Other bedding you can keep your hedgehog on is Carefresh and liners. Liners in particular are recommended, as they're cheap, reuseable, and create no dust (which can often irritate a hedgehog's sensitive nose). Sneezing is often cured by switching to liners.
I would never recommend hedgehog food to any owner. I just got a rescue
who'd been starving to death on hedgehog food because she didn't recognize
it as a food source. Most commercial hedgehog foods are not only a choking
hazard, but hedgehogs have died of malnutrition because of it. They're
simply inadequate as a food source. Cat food used to be inadequate as well,
but now there are lite formulas that are a great base of most hedgehog diets.
Most high-quality cat foods come in a high-protein, low-fat version for
overweight cats, which is what you should feed. Look for fat under 10%, and protein over 20%.
As for exercise, hedgehogs should be provided with a solid-surface running
wheel at least 11" in diameter. There are many brands available, and if you
can't find any, there are even do-it-yourself sites on how to make your own
wheels.
With their habit of annointing, giving them newspaper as a toy isn't ideal,
as it could potentially harm them. Some other recommended toys are toilet
paper tubes (cut up one side so they can't get stuck), jingly cat ball toys,
and sections of PVC pipe.
Keeping hedgehogs supervised outside is a good idea, but letting them eat
things off the ground is not. Insects they ingest may have come into contact
with pesticides or disease, which can transmit to your hedgehog.
Raisins present a choking hazard as a treat, and grapes have been attributed
to sickness in hedgehogs. It's unconfirmed as to whether grapes are bad, but
after several reports of a hedgehog getting violently ill after eating one,
it's a very risky idea.
Ladders are very unsafe for hedgehogs. Their legs can be caught very easily.
They have naturally bad eyesight, so it would be easy for them to miss a
step and fall. Multi-level ferret cages are an especially unwise idea; I've
seen hedgehogs fall from the ramps provided with such cages. Instead,
hedgehogs should be kept on a single-level, rampless cage. If you're set on
ramps, however, you could modify it and build walls on either side of the
ramp so that the hedgehog can't fall off. Thank you!

A:  Sorry.  My sources seem to have "dried up." I got my last ones from Segrest quite a while ago.  And it's probably illegal to bring them into Hawaii anyway.  (I'm just guessing on this.)  LA
 

James Glenna, November 29, 2006
Do you know where I could find a female furry, carrying the hairless gene? Thank you.

Samantha Woolley, Ontario, Canada, November 29, 2006
I was looking at your site.  To be more specific, it was the page on Snapping Turtles. I noticed you were holding it by the tail. You probably already know this, but you should never hold a snapping turtle by its tail. You can kill it by doing that. Its spine goes through the tail, so you can disconnect the spine by doing that.
And also, the page on painted turtles, where you have the picture of the painted turtle climbing out of what it was in, and the caption says "Don't think painted turtles can't climb.  Snappers can't, but these guys can." I do not agree with that. Snapping turtles can climb out of things like that too! I am speaking from experience, they can climb.
I just thought I would tell you these. And yes, I know what I am talking about. I volunteer at a place called the Kawartha Turtle Trauma Centre, located in Peterborough, Ontario, Canada.

Tom Osborn, Arizona, November 30, 2006
I got a couple questions for ya. I have two 3.5 inch tinfoil barbs and two 2.5 inch silver dollars in a 55 gallon tank. My tinfoils rub up against each other constantly, like they're fighting. But when I walk toward the tank, they immediately cease as if they know they've been doing something wrong. Also, I was planning on adding some American cichlids like firemouths, and was wondering if there were any other generally avaliable American cichlids that I could put in there (I wish I could find firemouths around here). Also I was getting interested in big fish like knife fish and arowanas, but I'm afraid they'll get too big and be crowded. Any suggestions? Thanks