The Bio Dude

02/15/2025

A female Dendrobates tinctorious 'Bakhuis' at the entrance of her coconut hide. For successful dart frog breeding, a coconut hide with a petri dish provides the ideal egg-laying site by maintaining humidity and making eggs easy to monitor. Other factors that contribute to healthy offspring include proper nutrition and genetics. Supplementing food with Herptivite, Repashy Calcium, and vitamins A and D boosts fertility and egg viability. Vitamin A helps prevent egg-binding, while vitamin D and calcium support strong bones and muscle function.
To avoid genetic issues, breeding lineages should be tracked rather than just rotating frogs. Maintaining multiple unrelated breeding groups prevents inbreeding-related defects in offspring.
You can see The Dude's breeder setups and Phyllobates terriblis tadpole tank at the southeast Houston store🐸
-THE DUDE ABIDES
Location: The Bio Dude Inc Houston
15116 Highway 3 Bldg 4 Webster, TX 77598
Hours: Mon-Fri: 9am-4pm Sat: 10am-5pm
Phone: (717) 305-0684

02/14/2025

Happy Valentine’s Day! Let’s talk about reptile bonds and how to bond with your reptile:
-Offer a variety of foods on a regular schedule. Reptiles LOVE routine, whether it’s with photo periods having regular light and dark times, or with food. When your animal associates you with a feeding at a particular time, this builds trust. Hand-feeding is a positive interaction to have with lizards and geckos who eat plants or fruits (DO NOT hand-feed mice to snakes, always use tongs!)
-Floor time is a great way to offer enrichment. Giving your bearded dragon or gecko time outside of their enclosure to explore is fun for both parties. Just make sure you keep a close eye on them and that your other critters are contained.
-Imprinting occurs when animals are raised by you from a young age. When you’re the first human they get familiar with, this can give you a leg up on creating that bond.
Interested in keeping groups of reptiles or frogs? Here are some of The Dude’s favorite communal species:
-Red-eyed tree frogs
-North American green tree frogs
-Borneo-eared tree frogs
-cinnamon tree frogs
-Emerald Tree Skinks
-East African spiny-tailed lizards
-Amazon milk frogs
-Ocellated skinks
-Dumpy tree frogs
-Viper geckos
-green anole lizards
-Mourning geckos
-long-tailed grass lizards
Note: If you keep males and females together, or Mourning geckos, you may end up with fertilized eggs and offspring.
Background on Lt. Dan:
You may have noticed that Dan is missing one of his back legs! He came to The Dude about 3 years ago with a badly broken right hind leg. At Red Bluff Animal Hospital, he was placed under anesthesia and the leg was amputated. He's now a permanent resident of The Bio Dude's showroom and participates in community outreach events with our other animal ambassadors. Fun Fact: he was almost named Ron Burgandy.
-THE DUDE ABIDES
Location: The Bio Dude Inc Houston
15116 Highway 3 Bldg 4 Webster, TX 77598
Hours: Mon-Fri: 9am-4pm Sat: 10am-5pm
Phone: (717) 305-0684

02/13/2025

Bio Dude animals as Valentine’s Day
cards💚🐸🐍🦎🕷
Who’s who:
💚Thicky Vicky-African fat-tailed gecko
💚Panda King Isopods
💚Lt. Dan-Indonesian blue-tongued skink
💚Chinese Gliding Frogs
💚Creeping Fig
💚Phyllobates Terriblis Mint dart frog adult
💚Phyllobates Terriblis Mint dart frog tadpole
💚Greek Velvet Spider/ Ladybird Spider (available for sale
to join a loving forever home!)
💚Juvenile cornsnake (available for sale to join a loving
forever home!)
💚Spooky-aberrant striped California Kingsnake
(available for sale to join a loving forever home!)
💚Juvenile Ocellated skinks (available for sale to join a
loving forever home!)
💚Stuart-Stuart’s milksnake (available for sale to join a
loving forever home!)
-THE DUDE ABIDES👍🏻
Location: The Bio Dude Inc Houston
15116 Highway 3 Bldg 4 Webster, TX 77598
Hours: Mon-Fri: 9am-4pm Sat: 10am-5pm
Phone: (717) 305-0684
Email: [email protected]

02/12/2025

Fat tails make great pillows🛏
Meet this stunning pair of juvenile albino stripe African fat-tailed geckos! By day, they lounge in their cozy flagstone rock cave, but once dusk falls, they emerge to hunt with precision. Comparable to leopard geckos, this species shares some of the same physical attributes but requires a less arid vivarium. Like leopard geckos, they’re great for beginners due to their hardiness and sweet temperament. If you’re interested in these guys, they are available for purchase to go to their bioactive forever homes.
-THE DUDE ABIDES
Location: The Bio Dude Inc Houston
15116 Highway 3 Bldg 4 Webster, TX 77598
Hours: Mon-Fri: 9am-4pm Sat: 10am-5pm
Phone: (717) 305-0684

02/11/2025

Check out this booming culture of Armadillidium peraccae isopods here at The Bio Dude. You can tell whether your isopod culture is doing well by how packed the cork flat is when you turn it over, and if there are multiple life stages present.
A little bit about Armadillidium peraccae isopods:
Endemic to Greece, these isopods are very quick to breed and are excellent to utilize in a variety of applications. These are some of the best starter isopods given their larger size, hardy nature and reproductive output. Many users will breed this species specifically as a feeder for their lizards or frogs. These unique isopods prefer a more temperate/semi-arid type of bioactive habitat, but have been known to thrive in more humid setups.
Location: The Bio Dude Inc Houston
15116 Highway 3 Bldg 4 Webster, TX 77598
Hours: Mon-Fri: 9am-4pm Sat: 10am-5pm
Phone: (717) 305-0684

02/10/2025

A tiny Mycena fumosa grows in the enclosure of a Dendrobates tinctorious 'Azureus' dart frog. One of the most rewarding parts of having a bioactive enclosure is watching the closed ecosystem change over time. If you see mushrooms pop up in your terrarium, it's usually a sign of a healthy bioactive tank. However, in temperate or arid-leaning tanks, mushrooms or mold can indicate a moisture level that's too high. Simply drying the tank out or adding competing fungi and bacteria via a soil inoculant can resolve an uncontrolled spread of something like Flower Pot Fungus. Learn more about common fungi in bioactive tanks and what to do about them on The Dude's blog: https://www.thebiodude.com/blogs/fungus-and-bacteria-in-your-bioactive-terrarium/fungus-and-bioactive-terrariums?srsltid=AfmBOorXcCKzAqUI3Sjy47Kf0rIv3D0-LsSS6MPG8XGRT_feFapnXjvY
-THE DUDE ABIDES👍🏻
Location: The Bio Dude Inc Houston
15116 Highway 3 Bldg 4 Webster, TX 77598
Hours: Mon-Fri: 9am-4pm Sat: 10am-5pm
Phone: (717) 305-0684
Email: [email protected]

02/08/2025

How gorgeous is this Malaysian Cat Gecko? While he spends most of the time curled up in a bromeliad sleeping, whenever The Dude crew checks on him he's always ready to crawl around and explore (albeit very slowly). If you're intrigued by this critter's fascinating combination of physical traits, be sure to check out The Dude's Blog for more information about Malaysian Cat Geckos. This particular individual is available for purchase to join a loving home.
Location: The Bio Dude Inc Houston
15116 Highway 3 Bldg 4 Webster, TX 77598
Hours: Mon-Fri: 9am-4pm Sat: 10am-5pm
Phone: (717) 305-0684

02/05/2025

It's The Dude's birthday!!🎉
-THE DUDE ABIDES👍🏻
Location: The Bio Dude Inc Houston
15116 Highway 3 Bldg 4 Webster, TX 77598
Hours: Mon-Fri: 9am-4pm Sat: 10am-5pm
Phone: (717) 305-0684
Email: [email protected]

02/05/2025

Check out this breathtaking bioactive paludarium for Red-Eyed Crocodile Skinks, shared by Laura Solan! This setup uses Terra Flora substrate, biodegradables, and botanicals from The Bio Dude🌿

This 4x2x2 features an intricate background with a cascading waterfall into the water area. Placing cork rounds within the background foam is a great way to grow flora in the upper levels of a tank. You can see this method utilized with the vanilla orchid vine seen on the left side of this tank. Moss also flourishes on the walls of a habitat like this, benefiting from the constant moisture.

The ghostwood structure seamlessly connects the substrate, water area, and background while doubling as a tent-like shelter. Other standout elements include Philodendron ‘Brasil,’ button ferns, and cork tubes, which offer ideal hiding spots for this shy species. The fogger adds the perfect finishing touch, enhancing the tank’s dream-like, immersive feel.
-THE DUDE ABIDES
Location: The Bio Dude Inc Houston
15116 Highway 3 Bldg 4 Webster, TX 77598
Hours: Mon-Fri: 9am-4pm Sat: 10am-5pm
Phone: (717) 305-0684

02/04/2025

New video is up on the YouTube channel, featuring a plant-less build and a method for creating a DIY background using organic clay kitty litter from Dollar General and springtail clay. I hope you guys enjoy, and there are more build videos on the way! You can see this build in the renovated showroom, where the Viper Geckos are loving it.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J-vzej-ruEs
-THE DUDE ABIDES
Location: The Bio Dude Inc Houston
15116 Highway 3 Bldg 4 Webster, TX 77598
Hours: Mon-Fri: 9am-4pm Sat: 10am-5pm
Phone: (717) 305-0684

Hi guys, welcome to another bioactive build video! I've done TONS of builds for our new showroom display tanks, so you'll be seeing more videos like this one...

02/03/2025

If you've ever wondered what a pregnant Milkback isopod looks like...now you know!
Location: The Bio Dude Inc Houston
15116 Highway 3 Bldg 4 Webster, TX 77598
Hours: Mon-Fri: 9am-4pm Sat: 10am-5pm
Phone: (717) 305-0684

02/01/2025

More Dude-bred baby Children's pythons are ready for their loving forever homes!🐍The Dude loves Australian python species, this one in particular for attributes like its iridescent scales, large eyes with vertical pupils, and thick but short body. These snakes also are relatively active and inquisitive, making them enjoyable terrarium subjects. You can visit these individuals at the store, or find them on our Morph Market.
-THE DUDE ABIDES
Location: The Bio Dude Inc Houston
15116 Highway 3 Bldg 4 Webster, TX 77598
Hours: Mon-Fri: 9am-4pm Sat: 10am-5pm
Phone: (717) 305-0684

01/29/2025

Happy Lunar New Year to those who celebrate. It’s the Year of the Wood Snake, which gives us an excuse to talk about snakes even more than usual!
-THE DUDE ABIDES
Location: The Bio Dude Inc Houston
15116 Highway 3 Bldg 4 Webster, TX 77598
Hours: Mon-Fri: 9am-4pm Sat: 10am-5pm
Phone: (717) 305-0684

01/29/2025

It’s TANK TUESDAY! Take a look at this stunning leopard gecko tank built by Stevens Mason. It features an impressive hardscape and a wide variety of plants.
The hardscape creates plenty of opportunity zones for the gecko, which is always a top goal in any setup. The rocks under the heat lamp provide an ideal basking spot, while hides on both the warm and cool sides offer a range of temperature and humidity options. Plus, the gecko can climb to higher areas in the tank (see picture 2). You might not think of leopard geckos as climbers, but when given the option, they’ll explore every corner of their space.
Stevens also shows how a tank like this can have aesthetic plants. One standout feature is the draped vine effect he achieved with a string-of-pearls plant. While this plant is toxic, it’s safe here because leopard geckos are insectivores and won’t eat it. Other plants that thrive in arid setups and add visual variety include grasses like carex, succulents like echeveria, and herbs such as oregano.
For more plant options for different species, visit the Helpful Husbandry & Reptile FAQs section on The Bio Dude website!
-THE DUDE ABIDES
Location: The Bio Dude Inc Houston
15116 Highway 3 Bldg 4 Webster, TX 77598
Hours: Mon-Fri: 9am-4pm Sat: 10am-5pm
Phone: (717) 305-0684

01/28/2025

Who's hungry? These Phyllobates terribilis Mint dart frogs are! Our breeding group of adult Mint dart frogs receives supplement-dusted flightless fruit flies 5 times per week.
A good way to ensure that you never run out of the main feeder your pet needs is to keep a culture of your own at home. The Dude sells kits for culturing flightless fruit flies, and there's a tutorial for making them on our YouTube channel. At the store we sell the following feeders:
- Dubia roaches
- Rusty red roaches
- Orangehead roaches
- Large crickets
- Small crickets
- Bean beetles
- Black soldier fly larvae
- Flightless fruit flies
- Mealworms
- Superworms
- Waxworms
- Silkworms
- Horned worms
- Frozen mice (small, medium, large)
- Frozen rats (small, medium, large
- Frozen quail (small, medium, large)
-THE DUDE ABIDES
Location: The Bio Dude Inc Houston
15116 Highway 3 Bldg 4 Webster, TX 77598
Hours: Mon-Fri: 9am-4pm Sat: 10am-5pm
Phone: (717) 305-0684

01/27/2025

Fun fact: Emerald Tree Skinks are The Dude's favorite species of lizard!
-THE DUDE ABIDES
Location: The Bio Dude Inc Houston
15116 Highway 3 Bldg 4 Webster, TX 77598
Hours: Mon-Fri: 9am-4pm Sat: 10am-5pm
Phone: (717) 305-0684

01/25/2025

After weeks of hard work from The Dude Crew, we are pleased to announce that the new showroom area is complete! Come explore all the unique builds and see the awesome critters on display (peep the Viper Gecko, Centralian Carpet python, and Borneo Tree Frogs).
-THE DUDE ABIDES
Location: The Bio Dude Inc Houston
15116 Highway 3 Bldg 4 Webster, TX 77598
Hours: Mon-Fri: 9am-4pm Sat: 10am-5pm
Phone: (717) 305-0684