GO GREEN!

[Barbel]

I have had something on my mind for a while now and so I decided to post a topic and see if anyone else agrees with me or if maybe I could make a difference.
In my everyday life I try to do things that are earth friendly. I recylce, use organic and steam cleaners instead of chemicals, buy engery efficient appliances and light bulbs and try to do whatever else I can to be green friendly, including how I care for my reptiles. I must say that I cringe at the thought of how many hundreds of newspapers and papertowels are thrown away everyday in the name of herpetology. I mean think about it. How many of you line the bottom of you cages with some sort of paper that you just toss in the trash at the end of the week? A LOT! How many of you use paper towels to spot clean poopy spots or wipe things down? Also, how much money do you spend on papertowels or print-free newspaper? These papers can't be recycled either since they are covered in fecle matter and urine. It is undeniably wastful.
Well, these are a few things that I have done that are not only friendlier to the Earth, but also have saved me some money. First of all, I line my leo cages with self liner. When it gets dirty I take all the liners out and soak them in hot water in the bathtub while I rinse out their tubs in another bathtub. After the soak, I rinse them off and lay them out to dry so that they can be reused. I use sponges to scrub out the stuck on stuff and I also bought some cheap towels from Wal-Mart that I use to wipe down my tubs instead of papertowels. Then I rinse the sponges off and throw the towels in the washer to be reused.
We used to spot clean our ball pythons with papertowels, but I bought a small litter box pooper scopper from a pet shop and use that instead. It works really well and is actually picks up better than the papertowels.
These are just some ideas that I have come up with so far and I'm always trying to think of new ideas. So if you have some green ideas or whatever thoughts you have about my post, please feel free to respond!

 

[hybrid]

"self liner"? or shelf liner? im not being a butt im asking if you misspelled it or its something different....

if shelf liners...i sounds good to me too. I'm not much of a "Green" guy but it sounds easier and wouldn't mess up as easy as newspaper or paper towels. ty for the info!

 

[Barbel]

"self liner"? or shelf liner? im not being a butt im asking if you misspelled it or its something different....

if shelf liners...i sounds good to me too. I'm not much of a "Green" guy but it sounds easier and wouldn't mess up as easy as newspaper or paper towels. ty for the info!

I had a typo! It is shelf liner, like the stuff that lines your cabinets.

If you're not really a "green guy" the easiet thing to do to be green is to change out your light bulbs to those GE flourescent light bulbs. They will drop your electric bill a lot and they aren't too expensive. Just think about it the next time you need to replace a burned out bulb.
Thanks for responding.

 

[hybrid]

Actually my room mate replaced them all last month to those! lol i guess since he pays the electric bills, lol

 

[Barbel]

Actually my room mate replaced them all last month to those! lol i guess since he pays the electric bills, lol

That's awesome! It will make a huge difference.

I just wanted to add another green thing to do that I can't believe I forgot. Breeding your own reptile food is something that is very green and I am sure it is something that a lot of you are already doing. Breeding your own crickets and mealworms and whatever else is green because if you don't have to go out and buy food, not only will you be making fewer trips in your car, but the pet stores will order less often. This means that delivery trucks will be making fewer trips as well and pet shops will be saving on the plastic or paper bags they use to bag up the food you are buying. Not to mention it will save you a ton of money! We were spending nearly $100 a month on crickets! Now we only need to buy food for the crickets which we get at the grocery store while we are shopping for ourselves. That is one trip instead of two along with a ton of savings.

 

[Bellalee]

Awesome points.

 

[BGalloway]

Good ideas for going green, but if you do go the store to buy crickets or mealworms you could bring your own containers(the critter keepers or whatever they're called) and they usually will just drop the crickets right in, no wasted plastic bags. Some people just don't have enough reptiles to make breeding their own feeder insects economical.

I have a quick green question. Why couldn't you just compost the paper towels and newspaper you use? Its not as green as using shelf liners or tile, but its better than throwing them away.

 

[Barbel]

I have a quick green question. Why couldn't you just compost the paper towels and newspaper you use? Its not as green as using shelf liners or tile, but its better than throwing them away.

It is better than throwing them away, but you would have to set up your own little compost heap, which from what I have read isn't difficult and is very beneficial in many ways. You will still have to go out and buy papertowls and newspaper, which still costs you money and chops down more trees. It is better, but still wasteful. If you are only using these as substrate because you just think it is more convenient, I have to say that soaking and rinsing the shelf liner is not anymore time consuming than tossing out paper towels.

 

[whkrazyk]

i think its a great idea for those who have a few bets, but what about the people breeding 100-1000 geckos, and hundreds or thousands of snakes to boot, it would be incredibly time consuming for them

 

[Barbel]

i think its a great idea for those who have a few bets, but what about the people breeding 100-1000 geckos, and hundreds or thousands of snakes to boot, it would be incredibly time consuming for them

If you have that many, you are likely cleaning sections of tubs everyday. In that case, I would cut two sets of liner. If you have 100 tubs, make 150 to 200 liners or tile, whatever you prefer. When you are cleaning, take out the dirty liner, toss it in a tub and replace it with an already clean liner. Then once you have collected all the dirty liners, fill the tub with hot water and let them soak over night. The next day rinse them and lay them to dry and then they will be ready for your next cleaning, which probably won't be for a week anyway.
It may take a while to cut out and set up the liners, but once it's done, you won't have to do it again.

 

[whkrazyk]

that is true, these are very good ideas barbel, i just recently went from newspaper to tile for my bearded dragon, and from newspaper to mulch for snakes

 

[BGalloway]

I know it is still wasteful, that's why I'm going to switch out for shelf liners next time I go the store.

Can't believe I never thought of using shelf liners, I know people will disagree but I think shelf liners will look nicer than tile.

Some people will always use paper towel or newspaper, composting is just a way to make it a little greener. You can't get everyone to go green, some people are just too stubborn/busy/don't care enough, but getting people to go even a little green will help.

 

[Barbel]

I know it is still wasteful, that's why I'm going to switch out for shelf liners next time I go the store.

Can't believe I never thought of using shelf liners, I know people will disagree but I think shelf liners will look nicer than tile.

Some people will always use paper towel or newspaper, composting is just a way to make it a little greener. You can't get everyone to go green, some people are just too stubborn/busy/don't care enough, but getting people to go even a little green will help.

YAY! You will save a lot of money switching over and I agree that it looks very nice. I had friend that didn't want to use shelf liner until he saw my set ups. The next day he made the switch.
I know some people will always use paper towels, but if even just a few people read this and change to something less wasteful it will make a HUGE difference.
I don't think you can ever be too busy to be a greener person. You just have to do it. You might be surprised that you are doing the exact same thing as before, but just by simply switching a product you can and will make a major difference to the Earth.
Unfortunately, I think the biggest issue is that people just don't care enough. That is why I always talk about how much money you can save. Everyone cares about money. While you guys are going out and buying a six pack or more of paper towel rolls, I am just soaking reusable products in the tub. Since I breed my own food, I don't have to go out and buy that either. By doing these things, I really don't have any recurring costs.
And for those of you that are wondering, my water bill was hardly effected at all. I compare gallon usage a lot and though it did go up ever so slightly, the amount it went up compared to the costs of paper towels is still incredible savings.

 

[Gregg M]

I am not too big on the tree hugger stuff... I think what you fail to realize is that the paper towels or news paper with the lizard fecal matter on it can be recycled... I just do not think that the herp hobby has the impact on the environment that you are making it sound like...

 

[ElapidSVT]

there is absolutely nothing on Earth that is not made up of chemicals.

 

[Barbel]

AH! I was waiting for the "nay" sayers. I don't consider myself a tree hugger either and you don't have to be a hippie to help take care of the planet. The smallest gesture can make the biggest difference without even changing your daily life AT ALL.
Everything you do has an impact on the environment. From how long your shower is, to how often you drive/leave your car idle, what you use to clean your house and even herpetology. Though it may not be the biggest threat to the environment, it still counts!
As an example, let's say one herper uses 6 rolls of paper towels a month, every month for a year. Doesn't seem like a lot does it? Well, those 6 rolls a month add up to 72 rolls a year! Now multiply that one herper by 5. Those 72rolls just turned into 360 rolls a year, rolls not sheets, just from 5 average herpers. We can't deny that almost all of those are just being dumped into the garbage. Now for fun 1,000 herpers using 72 rolls of paper towels a year equals 72,000 rolls PER YEAR!!! That's insane! If just those 5 people switch to reusable substrate, you can see how much paper is actually being saved.
Now, the small time breeders probably don't use that much, but the big time breeders use more than that. Considering that 90% of pet owners keep a reptile as a pet, that is a lot of waste. Buying reusable substrate is just something very simple that one can do to help the planet. And as I've mentioned before, if you won't do it for the planet do it for your time and your wallet. In keeping my leos, the only thing I have to buy is food for my roaches which I buy when I grocery shop for myself and it costs less than five bucks a month. So more profit for me per hatchling that I sell.

For the chemical comment. Yes, every thing is made up of chemicals, but if you use natural cleaners instead of man-made cleaners, it is safer for you and the environment. Honestly, is it really going to change your routine if you spray down your bathroom mirrors with Green Works instead of Windex?

Thanks for you comments!

 

[stewy84]

Leave it to gregg to disagree lol.(no afence see more post with u dissagreing than any, but much respect for you, built a new bator with a ranco cause of ur replys on the incubator post and am in the 2nd day of comparing it to the hova) Dont get the shelf liner thing, the ones i saw dont look like they would last, Post me pics. Maybe im looking at the wrong ones?If you get a newspaper every day anyways for reading y not use it, and recycle? I like the idea of something that can be reused tho, what about a cloth towel? You wouldnt have to scrub it in the tub, just thro in washer.Let me know what everyone thinks, tempted to try it unless someone says it not going to work at all. Great post not a big tree hugger myself but want my kids kids kids .... and so on to c all the great thing this planet has to offer.

 

[BGalloway]

To stewy84, I don't see anything wrong with fabric other than their little nails could get caught if its a loose weave or bath-towel type material.

Barbel, where did you get your 90% of pet owners keep a reptile as a pet statistic? I'm just wondering because I never heard that number before.

 

[nrich]

stewy84: After the paper has been in your tank, it really shouldn't be recycled. Recycling companies want clean paper only, so if it has food or reptile poo, they will just end up tossing it. Worse, it can ruin an entire batch of paper when they are processing it. That's why they ask you not to include things like pizza boxes, because there is usually food or oil soaked in the paper.

 

[stewy84]

Good point about the nails, never even thought about that. Humm, well maybe old sheets or pillow cases? Maybe terri cloth or lint free towels? Ill have to some looken around. Any ideas of any fabric or cloth that there nails wont get stuck in and will be washer safe?