A brief overview of some terms & phrases used in the reptile keeping world

Vivarium:
Tank or enclosure for snakes/lizards

Substrate:
Material used for bottom of enclosure e.g. sand, wood chips, newspaper which help absorb animal waste

Hides:
Areas of, or objects in the enclosure where animals can hide to feel more secure

Heat mat:
Specialised mat placed under or on the side of a vivarium as a heat source for the animal(s)

Heat bulb/spot lamp:
Bulb used to provide heat in an enclosure

Colour phase/morph:
Colour variation of a species e.g. lavender royal python. Colour morphs can also be given other names e.g. liqourice ratsnake, butter cornsnake

Shedding/Sloughing:
The process by which reptiles remove their old skin. Snakes usually shed in one piece (like a sock), lizards may shed in many pieces. Some species eat their shed e.g. leopard geckos

Brumation:
Reptile equivalent of hibernation. Not all reptiles hide during this time, many only stop eating or become less active. Many species require a brumation period over winter to help start the breeding season in spring

Feel free to add to this or correct me if necessary anyone!!!

C.B - Captive bred species. Born & Bred in captivity

C.F - Captive farmed species. Parents are wild caught, kept in breeding farm then eggs or babies removed upon birth/Laying

W.C - Wild caught species. Species caught in the wild and pulled out of their natural environment, shipped to relevant countires to be sold.

The bottom 2 are not always the ideal way of obtaining snakes, with most cases turning disastrous.

__________________

Pinky - Usually a newborn baby mouse, standard size 1-3cm

Fuzzy - Slightly bigger than a pinky with fur starting to grow on the body.

Hopper - Again usually in the form of a mouse, this is where the mouse is at the stage of starting to venture, can be around 3-5 cm.

Small mouse - Speaks for itself, size is usually around 6-8cm, although some places do differ in size with some going bigger and yet some smaller, This is based upon the parent mouse.
Sizes of mice in various places usually goes up in the stages of:

Medium Mouse, Adult mouse, Large Mouse, and if your lucky Giant mouse

Rat Pup - Baby rat, in same form as Pinky mouse only that as rats are larger their babies are too, standard rat pups are usually around 4-5cm.

Weaner Rat - This is usually the size of an adult mouse it has all the fur and looks eactly like its bigger generation, this term is loosley used and normally used as weaning reptiles off mice and going onto bigger rats, if the reptile requires a diet of this size. Again rats then can come in the various size stages as mentioned with the mice.
Ive been fortunate enough to see giant rats reaching around 12-14 inches (tail not included)

Day old chicks - Speaks for itself, the chick has all the feathers, beak and claws, and is usually around 9-11cm in length, although not as nutricious as rodents.

Ive written this myself so may be slightly out or differ from others experiences.

__________________

Acclimatise
The time it takes for a new reptile to settle into a new home

F/T mice or rats
This being frozon thawed

Isnt is Freshly Thawed?

abx -Abbreviation for antibiotics. ("He was on abx for 3 weeks.")

Acute-
Of short duration; not chronic.

Aggregate- A group of individuals drawn together due to some environmental attraction (safe sleeping area, basking areas, food source, mating).

Ambient -Surrounding temperature; room air temperature

Albino- Skin lacks all dark pigments such as black, brown, orange and red; albino herps are white with some yellow. Current use in herpetoculture applies this term to all reptiles lacking one or more colors. Thus, anerythristic, amelanistic and albinos are all being referred to as albino.

Amelanistic- Skin lacks all melanin, the substance which produces brown and black coloring in the skin

Arboreal- Living in or climbing trees

Aspirate -The inhaling of fluids into the lungs

Ataxia -Loss of muscle coordination.

Aquatic- Lives in, or mostly in, water

Autotomy -The defensive release of the tail; also refers to the autoamputation of toes or by constriction of retained skin shed

Basking Light- A light or overhead heating element that produces an area of higher heat in an enclosure required by the reptile for digestion

Beak -Hard or bony mouthparts on chelonians and some tadpoles

Bifurcated -Notched in two, such as a snake's tongue. Iguana tongues have a small, deep pink notch in the tip, often only visible once the iguana has reached a year or so of age.

Brumation -Torpor induced by prolonged periods of low temperatures.

Buccal- The tissues in the mouth (roof, walls, gums).

Carbuncle- Egg tooth, used by oviparous species to cut a slit in their shell through which they will push their way out.

Carnivorous -Eats only animal flesh

Chelonian -A collective term referring to turtles and tortoises

Caudal- Towards the tail end of the body

Chronic -Of long duration

CL- Carapace length.

Cloaca -A passage used for eliminating fecal, urinary and reproductive discharges. From the Latin word meaning "sewer".

Conspecifics -Members of the same species.

Cranial -Towards the head end of the body

Crepuscular -Active at dawn and dusk

Crest- A decorative ridge of skin or spikes that may occur on the neck, back and/or tail.

Debride -The removal of dead or injured tissue

Dehydration- Reduction of water in body tissues and blood; can be fatal. Dehydration can be due to insufficient water intake, a too-arid an environment, or as a result of thermal burns.

Dewlap -The flap or fold of skin on lizards along the throat from chin to chest; some may be flared outward during territorial and aggression displays

Diurnal- Active during the day.

Dorsal- Towards the back (spinal area).

Dorsoventral -Relating to the dorsal and lateral sides of the body.

Dysecdysis-- Difficult shedding skin

Dystocia -Abnormal or difficult labor or birth

Ecdysis -Process of shedding the skin.

Ectoparasite- Parasites living outside (or on) the body

Ectothermic "Cold-blooded" - body temperature varies according to ambient external temperatures.

Ectotherm- Having to regulate internal body temperature by seeking out different external heat sources.

Endoparasite -Parasites living inside the body

Estivation- Torpor brought on by extended periods of drought or heat.
Eversion- Turning out; inside out

__________________

Femoral Pores Enlarged pores found on the inside of the thighs of males and females. Males have larger pores than females. The plugs in the male iguana's pores grow during breeding season and are used to scent mark their territory. Females do some scent marking but not as extensively as males. Chemicals in the waxy plugs can be used to tell if the iguana who left the mark was male or female

Fibrosis Excessive fibrous tissue formation as a result of injury, infection; calcium deficiency causes fibrosis of the long bones of the body.

Follicles The enlarging ova in ovaries, prior to fertilization.

Fossorial Burrows under ground or beneath vegetation

Glottis The opening at the back of the tongue leading into the trachea (wind pipe)

Granuloma Tumor-like mass caused by a chronic inflammatory or infectious condition.

Gravid Pregnant. Used when referring to viviparous, oviparous and ovoviviparous animals.

Heliotherm(c)
Basks in the heat of the sun (or other overhead bright heat source). Commonly found in arboreal and semiarboreal iguanids and agamids, chameleonids, etc. Aquatic and semiaquatic turtles also bask. Snakes use a combination of heliothermic and thigmothermic strategies.

Hemipenes The bi-lobed male reproductive organs in most reptiles, kept inverted in the tail until needed.

Hemolysis See Lyse (Lysis)

Herbivorous Plant eaters. Includes fructivores (fruit eaters) and folivores (leaf eaters)

Herpetology The study of reptiles and amphibians. From the Greek word herpeton, "things that creep and crawl on their bellies". The herpesvirus is based on the same Greek root, named for the viruses creeping along the nerves in the body.

Herp A reptile or amphibian. "Herpers" is the term used to refer to people who are interested in or who keep herps. Herpetoculture refers to the keeping and breeding of herps.

Herxheimer (herx) Also known as the Jarisch-Herxheimer reaction. Used to describe the die-off effect of many antibiotics, paraciticides, and antifungals. When the drug kills off the initial large numbers of most susceptible organisms, the patient experiences several days or a week or more of feeling worse as the dead organism lyse and pass through the gut until they are excreted/voided. Once the dead organisms clear out, the patient feels better, resuming more normal daily activities, coloring and appetite. A second, less severe, herx effect may be observed subsequent to the follow-up doses that deal with the more resistant organisms.

Hepatic Relating to the liver.

Het Short for hetero, the standard color/pattern for which an animal carries dominant genes.

Insectivore Eats only insects.

Invertebrate Animals having external skeletons or shells, or none (e.g., insects, snails, slugs, worms, crabs).

Lateral Refers to the side, as in "lateral folds".

Lethargy Drowsiness or prolonged lapses into unconsciousness

Lysis (lyse, -lyse, lysing, -lysis) Lysis is the destruction of a cell, through the rupture of the cell wall by the contents of the cell or through some outside action. Hemolysis (destruction of blood cells) can occur during the taking of a blood sample (needle gauge too small; blood pressure high due to stress), or when transferring collected blood too quickly from the collection syringe to the processing tube. Hemolysis can cause abnormal blood test results which must be taken into consideration when evaluating certain high/low ranges

__________________

bollocks i'll just post a link to the rest!
http://www.anapsid.org/resources/glossaryp-s.html

__________________