Student teaches reptile care
Jonah Bowdle holds his green iguana, Charlie. Photos submitted
By Tom Victoria
Jonah Bowdle instructs folks how to take care of their scaly friends.
“People interact with animals, but know nothing about them,” the American teen said. “A big thing that’s important to me is educating people about animals.”
Jonah, 19, of Ohio uses social media under the brand DIY (Do It Yourself) Reptiles to teach people about cold-blooded creatures. He owns numerous pets, including a green iguana, a bearded dragon and various tropical arboreal geckos.
“Keeping reptiles, breeding reptiles is what I’m most passionate about,” Jonah said. “I like taking reptiles because they need a home. I really like breeding reptiles because it’s always interesting.”
He stressed the need for reptiles to be housed in the proper enclosures.
“If it’s really big, it’s probably going to be hard to keep because of the space requirements,” Jonah said.
He built the enclosure — which is 7-foot tall, 5-foot long and 2.5-feet wide — that houses his green iguana, Charlie. She is 3 feet in length and weighs about 5 pounds, but males can be 7 feet and 20 pounds.
“There’s no other way,” Jonah said about constructing enclosures for iguanas. “They just get too big.”
Charlie, measuring three feet in length, chills in her enclosure.
He said another complication for larger reptiles is they’re diurnal, active during the day, requiring UVB (ultraviolet B) lighting. UVB lighting replicates the effect of sunlight, enabling species to synthesize vitamin D3 to absorb and metabolize calcium.
Carnivores require other animals for food. Jonah breeds roaches that are fed to the bearded dragon. He said geckos are easier to keep due to having less stringent needs.
“Geckos are the easiest to keep, but I am biased because I like geckos,” Jonah said.
He cited another reason is the geckos live in room temperature and standard lighting.
“You don’t need special lighting,” Jonah said. “That seems pretty easy to me.”
His menagerie includes 11 crested geckos, 6 gargoyle geckos, 3 Madagascar giant day geckos, 2 mourning geckos, a tokay gecko, 8 turtles of varied species and roughly 50 freshwater fish as well as 7 colonies of different breeds of roaches.
Jonah’s bearded dragon Richard scampers up his shirt.
Jonah also has numerous critters residing in the reptile habitats.
“I have springtails, giant canyon isopods, blue- and orange-powdered isopods, dwarf purple isopods, superworms (a type of beetle larvae) and earthworms that all live and reproduce in my bioactive enclosures,” he said.
Jonah also tends to plants.
“I cultivate dozens of species of plants inside and outside,” he said. “Among my most successful are moneywort, wandering Jew, peace lily, philodendron and various varieties of pothos.”
Jonah explained there are common mistakes in animal husbandry.
“Not providing big enough enclosures and not doing enough research and applying that research correctly,” he said.
Jonah said breeding animals provides a way to add new animals minus the potential issues of buying them, such as cost and the animals becoming stressed by a new environment.
“You might be keeping it different than it’s used to and that can be really stressful,” he said.
Jonah invests considerable time in ensuring his reptiles have the proper habitats.
Jonah said a breeder can get desired results with some species.
“You can try to map out the genetics with some species,” he said.
Jonah said one type of gecko won’t necessarily adopt any of their parents’ traits.
“Crested geckos are not really like that,” he said. “They’re more like polymorphic. It’s a little bit of randomness to it.”
Jonah is currently breeding dark crested geckos.
“Create my own strain,” he said.
Jonah said breeding also contributes to conservation as people are less likely to pull animals from the wild.
How much a reptile can be handled depends on the species and the individual animal. Jonah has to be cautious with Charlie, who shows trepidation with visiting humans.
“She is very wary,” Jonah said.
However, Richard the bearded dragon is much more receptive to human contact.
“He is extremely chill,” Jonah said.
Forrest is a crested gecko.
Jonah prefers reptiles to warm-blooded animals. Having four chickens, two cats and a dog at home, He knows how noisy and attention-seeking mammals can be. Conversely, reptiles aren’t too concerned about the large two-legged creatures shambling around.
“They just want to live in their environment,” Jonah said.
Although the reptiles take less time to care for than their warm-blooded counterparts, their owner spends 5 to 10 hours weekly tending to their needs, which include feeding, cleaning tanks and bowls, and monitoring their health.
“It probably doesn’t come across how much work it takes and how much it takes up my life,” Jonah said. “I’m always observing my animals. I’m always checking on them.”
He keeps tabs on their weight, which can can vary but shouldn’t be steadily decreasing.
“You want to find you what’s wrong with your animal,” Jonah said about the latter scenario.
He also watches for odd behavior, shedding taking too long, skin health, respiratory problems and bruises, which is an indication of being bitten by another reptile.
Jonah is a freshman at Ohio State University working toward a degree in animal science.
“I want to become a zoo veterinarian,” he said. “I want to specialize in reptiles and birds.”
Jonah has a head start.
“I already have an associate’s degree from OSU Manor,” he said. “I’ve been taking college credit courses for the past two years.”
Jonah spent the summer working for the Marion County Park District as a paid intern, which included conducting nature hikes and giving presentations with his pets.
Crispin is a Madagascar giant day gecko.
He also spent 10 years participating in the 4-H youth program administered by a branch of the U.S. Department of Agriculture.
Jonah advised prospective reptile owners to not skip their homework before obtaining one.
“I did tons of research on green iguanas, but I didn’t know how to tame a green iguana and really didn’t learn that without doing it,” he said. “There are a lot of things you don’t even know to research. It’s important to keep learning about your animals. I definitely had the wrong ideas about about animal husbandry at the beginning when I was younger because my sources weren’t so great.”
Jonah said a vital consideration of reptile care is potential absences from home.
“It’s also important to consider what happens to them when you go to college or when you go on vacation or have to leave the house for an extended period of time,” he said.
Jonah breeds reptiles such as this baby mourning gecko.
Jonah said that factor limits his ability to be away from home much.
“That’s really not an option for me,” he said.
Jonah explained no one else even knows how to find all of his animals, which include tiny geckos, in their enclosures.
“There’s no one who knows about all of them,” he said.
Nia is a gargoyle gecko.
Jonah said breeding and animal husbandry of reptiles is different from other pursuits.
“Most people have hobbies,” he said. “If you’re not into your hobby anymore, you just stop and move on with life.”
Jonah cited his hobby of creating art with model clay, which he can’t indulge too frequently anymore, as an example. But there is no choice about whether to care for animals.
“Even if you’re not feeling it, you still have to do it,” Jonah said. “Their lives are on the line. It can be hard to stay motivated sometimes. But at the end of the day, it’s what you have to do. My animals keep me motivated more than anything else. I can’t really have an off day.”
He wouldn’t have it any other way.
“Animals. They’re my life. They’re everything I do.”
List of Jonah’s pets, plants and enclosures
2 Mourning Geckos
11 Crested Geckos
1 Tokay Gecko
6 Gargoyle Geckos
3 Madagascar Giant Day Geckos
1 Green Iguana
1 Bearded Dragon
2 Ouachita Map Turtles
4 Red-Eared Slider Turtles
1 Western Painted Turtle
1 Pink-Bellied Side-Necked Turtle
Roughly 50 freshwater fish consisting of goldfish, cory catfish, rosy red minnows, Dojo loaches, an oscar cichlid and a bristlenose plecostomus
3 breeding colonies of Dubia roaches
1 breeding colony of Madagascar hissing cockroaches
1 breeding colony of red runner roaches
1 small breeding colony of orange head roaches
1 small breeding colony of giant cave roaches
Springtails, giant canyon isopods, blue and orange powdered isopods, dwarf purple isopods, superworms, and earthworms in bioactive enclosures
Among dozens of species of plants inside and outside are moneywort, wondering Jew, peace lily, philodendron and various varieties of pothos
4 chickens
2 cats
1 dog
About 25 bioactive terrariums
2 125-gallon aquariums
1 75-gallon aquarium
1 300-hundred gallon outside stock tank
1 150-gallon outside pond
7 breeding tubs of roaches
Jonah holds a baby Madagascar giant day gecko.
Jonah’s Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/diyreptiles.jonahbowdle/
Jonah’s YouTube channel: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCYwD_GMDOdhDEvAnkoQWmLw?app=desktop