Serious Question: Reptile Software

Well sine I program as well I will tell you first off what I don't like. Most programs have way more stuff then most keepers will ever use. Because of this programs are virtually rendered useless. They had the one program from two members on here that was like $30, and IMO too much because for starters it was laid out pretty bad and just had way too many options that rendered the program useless. On top of that the navigation of the program was horrible.

For your average keeper, and breeder they don't measure snakes, record prey weight and all the other stuff. Then recording poop and pee and all that is useless. I use index cards and have a great layout. I just bring the flash drive to fedex kinkos and have them print out like 25 sheets, which is 50 cards. That lasts for 6 months+ roughly but longer probably as I've not used a whole one yet.

It's all made in a microsoft excel and then whole punched and put in a small binder which I can bring with me anywhere, much easier then trying to find data on a computer if I sell a snake. When I sell a BP, I simply give the buyer the feeding card. On the front it has a spot for name, morph, genus, sire, dam and something else. Then under that it has a lot of boxes for feeding: Date - Food or prey or something like that. I simply put 1-3-14 - RP or SR. RP = Rat Pup, SR = Small Rat. If they refuse I write Refused. On the back of the card it has Shed Date - Weight. When the snake sheds I weigh it and write the date & weight.

It's simple and it's all the data that 95% of reptile keepers/breeders will use. Who really keeps track of when they poop, pee, drink water, how many logs, what they weighed, the diameter of the poo, the color/smell. I mean all that crap is worthless to know. Simple enough, hey I don't remember when the last time my snake used the bathroom. Pick the snake up, flip over to see the belly and do you see the black thing near it's vent? Yep. Well it must of not been recently or you can generally tell by the tail when the area right before the vent is really thick.

So basically instead of a program being simplistic and easy to navigate people add all these useless options that make it annoying to navigate and use, so only keepers who think it's a good program really use it. Now I don't mind giving the excel file, or converting to .pdf for you to have a printing place print it on index card paper, but I have to check with the person who made the file in the first place. If it's okay with him then I'll post a link on here, and then maybe you can write a program that looks just like the card. Then it'll be easy and manageable. I'll help you with the layout and stuff if you'd like but I haven't programmed since Visual Basics 3-6 back on AOL 2.5-5.0 when I used to program booters and anti's :)

A free QR code reading program that allows updates to the "database" via a cell phone or tablet (android for me) would be nice.

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Originally Posted by ViperSRT3g

So I keep seeing the occasional thread pop up about reptile software. And I want to get some feed back on this. What features do you seek in these programs, and what are some popular choices? I'm a programmer, and the thought that people pay money for these things when they can be provided for free intrigues me. So I'm asking for serious feedback, what key features do you use these programs for, and what would you like to see in them? I'd like to take a shot at developing something people can use easily as part of their lives for tracking stats about their reptiles.
Submit as much info as you'd like, even including examples, screenshots, or even mock ups of how you'd like to see a program laid out for you. All feedback is appreciated!

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Hey, are you talking desktop tracking or web based app tracking? I have actually been very very quietly, until now obviously (My wife did not even know) working on a very large web based project for about a year. I have been watching and listening to what people have been wanting in a tracking app for over the last year now, and have compiled from pretty good information.

Some of this could be a bit biased, as I am a web dev, but here is my take:

From what I have gathered, a desktop only app (sorry to be blunt, and like I said, I could be wrong here) is pretty much out. Web is in. Which has already been done pretty well, by iHerp, except (no offense to iHerp, I love iHerp and use it alot) I feel that it is missing a few things, like the power of databases. As a business in the reptile industry, I want to generate reports based on the tracking information... let me manipulate that data, much like Degei does. I can enter the cost of different actions, but never can I actually see totals for anything, just seems a bit silly. On top of that, a one-stop shop is what I see being the most beneficial, which also makes this a very large project.

My vision is to take the best of the tracking abilities/features of iHerp & Degei combine them with the classifieds of iHerp, Fauna and Kingsnake, add ebay like auctions, and then some tricks of my own that will make people think, "why was this never thought of until now", which I will of course, keep to myself for the time being.

I know this is very ambitious, especially as I am building everything from the ground up, which if you think about it has very many projects rolled into one: you have a image gallery, tracking, classifieds, auctions, generating reports, and many more and they have to all work together. To top it off, I am just one person, this scale of thing is usually the work of a team, which I am really starting to think that I should assemble one, so I can actually finish this in a reasonable time.

I apologize if this steps on some toes, which is why I have been keeping this quiet for some time, that and I was waiting until I was sure this would be a reality and was near completion, which it is definitely not, but maybe talking about it will keep me on task as I think this is something the industry really needs.

I spoke to Viper and gave him a layout of what I think would be the ideal program. Simple and more useful than all those other programs.

So just a quick update on this program.

I've begun working on the GUI for this, and it will allow you to have different ways of viewing your snakes, from using their names, ID numbers, or even photos as icons for each snake. You'll have different levels of detail so you won't get flooded with information fields to fill out and look at.
From there, you'll be able to check up on the snake's info, edit data, and all that other fun stuff. (Still adding in more things to track, this will probably be the part that takes the longest)

Once I finish up the data input and display aspect of things, I will be able to begin writing the data saving and loading aspects. This will also include printable forms to send with snakes if you're a breeder.

Based on some of the suggestions here, it seems like people who have a lot of snakes may actually need reminders of when snakes need to eat. So I've also decided to add in feed calendars and such so people can track when they've last fed a snake, as well as when they should be due for another epic meal time.

And thankfully because of my job as a CMMS Manager, and a game server host, tracking the cost of materials and payments will definitely be in there, though these things will definitely be some of the last things to be added. The main priority would be features that allow users to interact with their data. I'm also learning up on BP Genetics so that I can possibly include a gene calculator, as well as a genetics tracker, but these are also low priority items right now.

Lastly, the database will definitely launch with automatic updates, so that you will always have the latest version of my program! I'll be sure to make more announcements as they become available, and as always, keep posting more ideas!

So I'm putting together the list of data to track for each snake, this will allow me to prioritize the data fields to add in first. Subsequent updates can be made to add in more data fields. If you have more suggestions, feel free to post it and I'll add it to this list!

Note: Fields marked with (Graph-able) are fields that will be able to be comparable with similar data in graphs.

Snake Characteristics
Name/ID
Scientific Name
Age
Weight (Graph-able)
Length (Graph-able)
Gender
Genetics
Temperament

Extra Data
Feed Dates (Graph-able)
Shed Dates (Graph-able)
Poop Dates (Graph-able)

Data for Future Updates
Inventory Tracking (Cost of materials, etc)
Incoming/Outgoing Payments
Market Price for Snake Morph/Type - A reliable method of obtaining a market value would need to be established

Why not have the ability to add custom fields for the people who log everything or the ability to hide fields, personally I wouldn't want to see data such as scientific name, length, temperament, shed or poop dates. I would never record them. As for market price, I think you would need fauna or kingsnake to feed data to you, which with their current system, I don't see how they would be able to do that.

Also what platform will this program be available for?

HerperPro. offers every thing that has been metioned in this thread. I use it, they even have a Ball Python Module that works with World of Ball pythons. com to import morphs for ball pythons. keeps housing records, genetics and sibling records for all the animals, feeding records, even prints scanable QR code tub stickers and cards to allow you to up date 50 animals for free from your smart phone, It keeps invoices and value records, it will even keep price lists for people selling more that a few animals.. chek it out as WWW.herperPro.com the basic one is free if I remember right.

I'm developing this software for Windows based PC's for now. Also the abundance of information fields is why there will be multiple view levels. The core information to be tracked will be available in the simple view. While more and more information can be tracked if switching to a more advanced view.

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Originally Posted by Freakie_frog

HerperPro. offers every thing that has been metioned in this thread. I use it, they even have a Ball Python Module that works with World of Ball pythons. com to import morphs for ball pythons. keeps housing records, genetics and sibling records for all the animals, feeding records, even prints scanable QR code tub stickers and cards to allow you to up date 50 animals for free from your smart phone, It keeps invoices and value records, it will even keep price lists for people selling more that a few animals.. chek it out as WWW.herperPro.com the basic one is free if I remember right.

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The thing I don't like about Herper Pro is the fact if you get the cell phone version that works with the program itself then you have to pay if you have over 50 snakes. It's a yearly fee as well. I just don't agree with this in a way because you've already bought the program. I also find that Herper pro has way too much stuff on the front that renders the program useless. I wouldn't even use 70% of the features it has. The program isn't free, but you can use a trial version.

I find cards to be the best for me because it's simple with what I use and it doesn't have all this extra stuff that I don't want to see, but that's my preference.