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FEEDING RECORDS?

morph evolution

morph evolution

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whats up guys i am posting to find out what people are using to keep records of the animals you all keep..programs?home made spreadsheet?i have seen a few programs offered and was wondering if you had any experience with them or any suggestion are welcome as well.hope all is well with everyone.
 
I used an excel spreadsheet I made for a long time, then I used the Degei software for a few years, which was a good program.
Finally all that entering data, and keeping up with it all became just too time consuming, and I couldn't find a reason why I would need to know when a snake refused a meal 5 years ago.

Now I use a note card on each cage. When the snake eats, I write the date on it (8/17 for instance). I'll also note weights if I'm keeping track of it on that particular animal.
It takes a year plus to fill a card, at which point I throw it away and put a new card on the cage.
 
I use cards, but keep them all. Just incase I have to know something about them 5 years ago. Im kinda of heavy on record keeping tho thats just me.
 
I use cards, and then once they're full enter the info into Degei. May stop doing it because like was said above, why would I wanna look that far back when I never have before? Thinking about moving to just cards, then have a file folder for each snake I can drop those into when they're filled up.

Saw someone say once that they used a notebook for each snake. Would work great if you only have a few.
 
I'm the disorganized, disinterested one of the crowd....and I ABHOR paperwork.

I keep track of babies' feedings, and then only for a relatively short period. Once an animal is established here, I focus more on exceptions. Writing down, or otherwise documenting, that a snake eats when I offer it food seems silly - that's what they're supposed to do...and it was downright time consuming when I had a lot more critters. I think it's more important to be aware of unusual things; so when a solid feeder skips a meal, I notice. If it skips a second meal, I pay attention.
As far as breeding notes, I'm pretty outcome focused...I breed one male to a female (occasionally I might breed two similar males to the same female - ie I may put 2 different enchi males to the same girl). In any given season, I know what my goals are; so I know what I paired. I usually document witnessed copulations at least once - if the snakes don't separate before I can, in which case I'll take a pic of them together - that way I can reference pairings from previous years if I have a reason/desire to do so.
 
hhmoore said:
I'm the disorganized, disinterested one of the crowd....and I ABHOR paperwork.

I keep track of babies' feedings, and then only for a relatively short period. Once an animal is established here, I focus more on exceptions. Writing down, or otherwise documenting, that a snake eats when I offer it food seems silly - that's what they're supposed to do...and it was downright time consuming when I had a lot more critters. I think it's more important to be aware of unusual things; so when a solid feeder skips a meal, I notice. If it skips a second meal, I pay attention.
As far as breeding notes, I'm pretty outcome focused...I breed one male to a female (occasionally I might breed two similar males to the same female - ie I may put 2 different enchi males to the same girl). In any given season, I know what my goals are; so I know what I paired. I usually document witnessed copulations at least once - if the snakes don't separate before I can, in which case I'll take a pic of them together - that way I can reference pairings from previous years if I have a reason/desire to do so.
Click to expand...

Thank goodness I'm not the only one.

I usually fill a card or two for the first few months of the babies life. As Harald said, once they are established I calm down with it all a bit.
I'm very fortunate that my collection seems to eat well year round.
 
We have a notebook with pages for each snake for our collection but for babies we use cards. The notebook is getting out of hand now that our collection has grown though. I want to find or have a friend build an app for a tablet...I know exactly how I want it, but not sure if it already exists.
 
Used to use a "pretty" Excel file I made up.
Now I use it only for major things like:
1. Egg laying
2. Weight before laying
3. Weight after laying

Other than that I use post it notes for in about 3 month blocks and chuck them when I am done. :D
 
I use Excel. I'm a scientist, so I keep data on everything! I keep records on food items, refused/taken, quantity, sheds, locks, lays, and I weigh all my animals once a month. It's not really a lot of work, and I find myself referring back to my spreadsheet when I'm trying to figure out when girls tend to go off feed, for how long, and when they're likely to be receptive to breeding.

Here's a screenshot of my data. Weights are on a different tab. I can send you my Excel file if you would like to use it as a template?

EDIT: Attaching the file to the post reduced the resolution so much as to be unreadable. Here's a direct link to the screenshot:

http://www.geckolair.com/temp/records.jpg
 
thanks everyone for your input.i have some thinking to do.i am sure one the ideas presented will work perfect.
 
I use Degui. I only keep feedings on hatchlings that are for sure for sale. Once I decide I am keeping them I quit recording feedings. I like to keep them to give to buyers. I use degui to keep track of weights, pairings and clutches. I just updated some clutch info and can see when I paied and that most females laid this year within a week of last year. That is a huge help in predicting when to pair and when to expect clutches.
 
snowgyre said:
I use Excel. I'm a scientist, so I keep data on everything! I keep records on food items, refused/taken, quantity, sheds, locks, lays, and I weigh all my animals once a month. It's not really a lot of work, and I find myself referring back to my spreadsheet when I'm trying to figure out when girls tend to go off feed, for how long, and when they're likely to be receptive to breeding.
Click to expand...

This is me, too! I'm actually starting to see some trends in terms of growth and sometimes feeding, so keeping meticulous notes is coming in handy. Also, when something seems off, no matter how small or seemingly-insignificant, I take note, and that has been incredibly useful because they sometimes turn into warning signs for something worse. It has been invaluable to me to keep such detailed records.

Dang, that reminds me: I have several plots to update and post with regard to breeding season that people might find interesting....

Anyway, here's a screenshot of my own spreadsheet. (This one's just for the girls in the collection. Different clutches each have their own sheets.) The "Health" column is now "Notes" since it's not just health-related. Also, I need to remove the "Length" column since it's rarely used. The Charts tab shows a plot of everyone's weight over time, which is great for quickly checking to see how everyone's doing.
sample_spreadsheet.jpg
 
I'm glad to see that I'm not the only one with a lot of "refused" on her spreadsheet, lol! Krystal, if you ever want my data to do some comparisons with or increase sample size for some question you've got, just let me know!
 
Hahahaha, yeah! I definitely have lots of "refused!" I love this time of year because almost everyone is eating.

It would be great to collaborate! I'll get all my crap together and then let you know what data I've been looking at to see if we can combine our notes. Adding to my growth charts would be pretty spiffy, and breeding data would be wonderful since I haven't had a lot of clutches yet. :D
 
My wife printed up spreadsheets for every animal we have and created individual binder tabs for them. We keep track of every feeding, including the gram weight of the prey. We also make note of sheds, bowel movements (and subsequent weights), pairings/other breeding info, and any other info that we think might be pertinent later.

We recently purchased HerperPro and have started copying all of this information into there, but we're still going to be using the binders as well.

This definitely seems like overkill when I think about it, but we just got in the habit of doing this from the beginning and now it seems like second nature.
 
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