Richard D. Bartlett

Known throughout the world for its beauty and personality, koi is one of the most carefully bred fish species around. Raising koi is especially time-consuming and requires more than just sprinkling little flakes in the fish bowl. But thankfully, you don't have to be an expert to maintain your own koi pond. Koi For Dummies shows you how easy and fun it can be to own and care for these delicate fish. Whether building a pond or aquarium for the indoors or outdoors, this easy-to-understand guide explores all of your options. Clear, concise advice helps you: Appreciate your koi's beauty Build, design, and maintain your koi pond or aquarium Find and select koi and the proper supplies Keep your koi happy and healthy Treat your koi for parasites, bacterial infections, and viruses Breed and care for baby koi Show off your koi to other koi enthusiasts This fun, friendly guide also explains what to do during a power outage and how to check your koi for illness. Featuring 8 pages of full-color photos, Koi for Dummies is all you need to get started raising your very own koi. No matter where you live, you'll be able to care for and breed this beautiful fish!

An up-to-date guide to the identification, range, habitat, and status of snakes found within eastern and central North America, from west Texas, to western Manitoba, to the eastern seaboard. Species accounts are grouped by family (Blind Snakes, File Snakes, Boas and Pythons, Colubrid Snakes, and two families of venomous snakes) and illustrated with 251 color photos showing species, subspecies and most natural intergrades and color phases. The descriptive text combines details of appearance, naturally occurring color morphs, behavior, range/habitat, prey, and look-alikes with the authors' personal field observations. Enhancing the text are 98 distribution maps. For ease of use, photos, range maps, and descriptive text are presented on the same page. Introductory chapters explain snake taxonomy and habitats, and they survey the legal and safety issues that should govern any attempts to handle these animals. For the general reader curious about the identity of a backyard visitor, the resource manager or naturalist seeking an engaging and informative handbook, or the herpetologist seeking an authoritative single volume devoted only to snakes.--From publisher description.

"Bartlett's Guide and Reference contains up-to-date and easy-to-use information for all 208 recognized species and subspecies of crocodilians, turtles, and lizards (native, introduced, and established) found within eastern and central North America, north of Mexico. Each species is classified by family and illustrated with a full-color photo. Detailed descriptions include information on appearance, behavior, range, habitat, and identifying features, as well as how to distinguish between similar species. Ecological issues are also highlighted."--BOOK JACKET.

Providing thorough descriptions of almost 200 species, this guide presents thousands of facts and figures that will help you identify, understand, and appreciate these important and remarkable animals. Each species and subspecies account includes the latest findings on abundance, size, reproductive habits, prey, habitat, behavior and venomous/nonvenomous status. (amazon).

"Simple text and photographs present geckos, how they look, where they live, and what they do"--Provided by publisher.