The desert tortoise is a threatened species throughout much of its range which includes both the Sonoran and Mojave deserts. Recently the desert tortoise was split into 2 separate species. The Agassiz's desert tortoise (Gopherus agassizi) lives in the Mojave deserts of California, Nevada, Utah, and Arizona west of the Colorado river. The Morofka's desert tortoise (Gopherus Morafkai) resides in the Sonoran deserts of Arizona east of the Colorado river and Mexico.  The 2 species can interbreed and many of the captive tortoises in the Phoenix area are hybrids, which can only be determined by genetic testing.

Wild desert tortoise populations are threatened by development and destruction of natural habitat. In the meantime, captive tortoises have the opposite problem and have become over-populated. Large numbers of tortoises now sit homeless in sanctuaries throughout the southwest US. Wildlife officials are unable to return these captive to the wild because many are hybrids and there is a high risk of exposing wild tortoises to any diseases carried by these pet tortoises.

Respiratory infections in reptiles are often associated with exposure to low environmental temperatures, either by consistently keeping the temperatures in the lows 70's°F or simply occasional drops to much lower temperatures.  A lot of times these drops are due to a power outages that disrupts the heat elements in the enclosures.  Sometimes the cold temperature is due to a failure of the heat source for the cage, either the light burns out, a fuse or circuit breaker fails, or the heat source is simply not warm enough for the size of the cage.

It is very important to recognize what is normal and abnormal in the droppings of a reptile.  If you see abnormal droppings, you shouId collect a sample and bring it to a veterinarian so it may be checked for parasites and other diseases.

Mites are small parasites that can live on the skin on reptiles and cause disease. Sometimes they can be seen with the naked eye on your pet reptile or in its cage. Other times, a microscope may be needed to see them. Mites can cause clinical signs in your pet reptile such as loss of appetite, inflamed or infected skin, itchiness, restlessness, rubbing on cage decorations, more frequent or longer soaking, and frequent or abnormal shedding.

Baby red-eared sliders are often sold on the side of the road, at swap meets, and in other ways that can negatively affect their health.  These tiny turtles have sometimes been kept in unhealthy situations between the time they hatched and when they finally ended up in your hands. They may have become too cold, too warm, or overly stressed.

Red-eared sliders and other aquatic turtles often develop respiratory infections as a combination of husbandry errors such as cold water, a basking site that isn't warm enough, a poor diet, and lack of ultraviolet-B light.

Red-eared sliders are the most popular aquatic turtle kepts as pets.   The commercial sales of baby turtles to the public is illegal due to the "4-inch law" regulated by the Food and Drug Administration (Title 21, Part 1240.62 of the Code of Federal Regulations 21 CFR 1240.62 (b) and Compliance Policy Guide 7129.01).  This law does not ban the sales of baby turtles from one hobbyist to another.

Neon tree dragon is a common name used in the pet trade for a variety of small agamid lizards from southeast Asia.  Agamid lizards are an Old World family of lizards that include bearded dragons and uromastyx lizards.

"Stick Tail" is a common term used to describe a leopard gecko that loses weight until the tail fat disappears leaving behind a thin boney tail.  "Stick tail" also affect fat-tail geckos, tokay geckos, and other species of geckos with robust tails that can store fat.  A similar wasting disease is known in crested geckos and other Rhacodactylus, and many other geckos.

Cryptosporidiosis is a common intestinal infection of leopard geckos caused by the one-celled parasite Cryptosporidium varanii (also know in older references as Cryptosporidium saurophilum).  Cryptosporidiosis is a very common reason that a leopard gecko will lose weight, and as the tail fat disappears all that remains is a thin boney tail, a condition herpetoculturists often call “stick tail”.