How we research, source & fact-check

The sourced gate: nothing published until it's checked

Every care number on Baskden — enclosure sizes, basking temperatures, UVI targets, humidity ranges, feeding schedules — has to be fact-checked against an authoritative source before it goes live. A species page only shows its full care specs once that's done; until then it says the guide is still in progress. We would rather show less than show something we haven't verified. Right now28 of 28 species have passed that gate.

Voice-of-customer — what keepers ask and worry about online — tells us what to write about. It is never our source for what's true. The demand comes from the community; the facts come from the authorities below.

The authorities we check against

Our care numbers and health claims are checked against recognised husbandry and veterinary references, including:

• ReptiFiles — evidence-based, science-referenced husbandry care guides.
• The Association of Reptilian & Amphibian Veterinarians (ARAV) — reptile veterinary care and a find-an-exotics-vet directory.
• The Merck Veterinary Manual — the reptile disease and physiology reference.
• Arcadia Reptile and the Baines et al. (2016) UV-Tool — reptile UVB lighting and the Ferguson-zone system.
• The Bio Dude — bioactive vivarium husbandry.
• Primary scientific literature and natural-history data where available, cited directly.

Every health or husbandry guide ends with a “Sources & further reading” block naming what it was written and fact-checked against, so you can follow the trail yourself.

Our integrity rules

• Triage, never diagnose. We help you tell normal from a red flag and decide when to act — we don't diagnose illness or prescribe treatment, and we send you to a reptile vet when that's the right call.
• Current husbandry, not folklore. We teach the modern evidence-based standard and correct outdated pet-store advice — kindly, and with the reason why.
• The wild-snake safety line. We never give a confident “it's harmless” for a wild or unidentified snake. We route you to expert identification and a regional authority, and we never tell anyone to catch, handle, or kill an animal to identify it.
• Post and tool agree. Our articles, tools, and care sheets are built to never contradict each other on the same fact.

Health articles & our review status

Health and safety guides carry an honest close: they're written and fact-checked by The Baskden Team, but not vet-reviewed — so if your animal shows the signs described, you should see a reptile/exotics vet rather than rely on an article.

We're working toward named veterinary and expert review of our health content. When a qualified reptile vet has reviewed a specific article, it will carry a “✔ Reviewed by [name]” line at the top — and you'll only ever see that line when it's genuinely true. We will never fake a review or a credential.

We keep it current — and we fix mistakes

Every guide shows when it was published and, where relevant, when it was lastupdated. Reptile care keeps evolving, and so do our guides.

If you find an error or something that's fallen out of date, please tell us. We'll check it against our sources and correct it promptly — a good correction makes the guide better, and we're grateful for them.

📧 hello@baskden.com · more about us on theAbout page.

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