Melissa Kaplan's
Herp Care Collection
Last update January 1, 2014

About Melissa Kaplan...

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Species:
Amphibians
Chelonians
Crocodilians
Cyclura
Green Iguanas
Invertebrates
Lizards
Snakes

Herp Care & Keeping:
Behavior
Captivity Issues
Clean/Disinfect
Conservation
Education
Emergency Preparedness
Food/Feeding
General Herpetology
Health
Humor
Pet Trade
Plants
Prey
Resources
For Kids
Parents & Teachers
Societies/Rescues
Using the Internet
Veterinarians
Zoonoses

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About Melissa Kaplan

by Melissa Kaplan

Advance Care Directives
Chronic Neuroimmune Diseases
Lyme Disease & Coinfections

Blogs:
 Lizards-in-Scarves

Reprint Copy Rights and Permissions

Some people wonder who I am and what my background is. I have no problem with their wanting to know, indeed, I think learning a bit a person who is presenting information about something as important as animal care and behavior is a good thing. People should want to know more about the people who are providing information rather than simply accepting what someone says without knowing anything about their background, education, experience, training, and bias, if any.

Knowing something about a site owner or an author can be a useful tool in sifting through the growing amount of information appearing on the Internet and in books and magazine articles. The truth is that knowledge and experience are not necessarily the same thing, nor are they necessarily prerequisites for getting magazine articles and books published. And in this day when anyone who has access to a computer can put up a website, knowledge is certainly not a requisite for developing content for a website, just as knowledge about the animals sold is not a requirement for anyone who wants to open or work in a pet store.

And so...
I've been disabled since 1990 from a neuroendocrinoimmune disorder triggered by exposure to crude oil that occurred while working on oil spills, something that probably happened to me because it was layered on top of long-term subclinical tickborne infections. This ultimately left me unable to do much but read and clean up poop...and do a lot of research and reading and observation, especially of iguanas. Some people think this sounds like a dream life; it is, however, anything but… In 2000, I was re-tested for tickborne diseases and found to have three of them, including Lyme disease.

Herp-Related Information
Brief Bio
Personal Reference Library
Published Herp Works
How I Got into Iguanas
Elvys
Holiday Gifting

Of A More Personal Nature
Meet Melissa Kaplan, by Dolly Ellerbrock
Melissa Kaplan on Melissa Kaplan
American Trader Oil Spill
Day of the Iguana: On Reptiles and Disability

Not Necessarily Reptiles...
Estrogen Dominance and Xenoestrogens
Not Necessarily Herp Haiku
Bio: Theodor Giesel (Dr. Seuss) HTML, PDF
Sidney & The Thing That Lives Under My Tub (PDF)
To Fu or Not To Fu: Soy's the Question
The Effect of Air Pollution on North American Temperate Forests

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Thank you!