These Terms of Service ("Terms") govern your access to and use of scalypal.com (the "Site"), operated by ScalyPal Media LLC ("ScalyPal", "we", "us"). By using the Site, creating an account, or posting content, you agree to these Terms. If you do not agree, please do not use the Site.

⚠️ Not Veterinary Advice

ScalyPal publishes general husbandry information, not veterinary advice. We are not a veterinary practice and no content on this Site creates a veterinarian–client–patient relationship. Reptile and amphibian medicine is a specialised field, and individual animals differ. Always consult a qualified exotic-animal veterinarian for diagnosis, treatment, medication dosing, or any health concern — and seek emergency care immediately if your animal is in distress. Never delay or disregard professional veterinary advice because of something you read here.

1. Eligibility

You must be at least 13 years old (or the minimum digital-consent age in your jurisdiction) to use the Site. If you are under 18, you represent that you have permission from a parent or legal guardian. By using the Site you represent that you can form a binding contract and that you are not barred from doing so under applicable law.

2. Your Account

  • You are responsible for maintaining the confidentiality of your password and for all activity under your account.
  • Provide accurate information and keep it current.
  • One person, one account. Do not share credentials or operate accounts on behalf of others for the purpose of evading rate limits, bans, or moderation.
  • Notify us immediately at [email protected] if you suspect unauthorised use of your account.
  • We may suspend or terminate accounts that violate these Terms.

3. Your Content

3.1 Ownership

You retain ownership of the text, photographs, and other material you post ("Your Content"). We do not claim ownership of it.

3.2 Licence to us

By posting Your Content, you grant ScalyPal a worldwide, non-exclusive, royalty-free, transferable licence to host, store, reproduce, display, distribute, adapt (for example, resizing images or adding alt text), and promote Your Content in connection with operating and publicising the Site. This licence ends when you delete Your Content or your account, except for copies retained in backups for a reasonable period and except where content has been shared or indexed by third parties outside our control.

3.3 Your responsibilities

You represent and warrant that:

  • You own or have all necessary rights to Your Content, and posting it does not infringe anyone's copyright, trademark, privacy, or publicity rights;
  • Your Content is accurate to the best of your knowledge and does not misrepresent your experience or expertise;
  • You will not post other people's photographs, text, or artwork without permission.

3.4 Moderation

Community submissions — comments, questions and answers, enclosure photos, and reviews — may be held for review before appearing publicly, and may be edited for formatting or removed at our discretion. Automated filters and human moderators both apply. We are not obligated to publish, and we may remove, any submission for any reason, including if it is off-topic, misleading, unsafe, commercial spam, or violates these Terms.

Guest contributions. You may post questions without an account. Guest posts are identified by the display name you type. Do not impersonate another person or brand, and do not use a guest post to evade a suspension.

4. Acceptable Use

You agree not to:

  • Post content that is unlawful, defamatory, harassing, hateful, sexually explicit, or that promotes animal cruelty or illegal wildlife trade;
  • Give or solicit specific medication dosages, prescription drugs, or instructions for invasive procedures on animals;
  • Post spam, unsolicited advertising, affiliate or referral links, or repeated promotional content;
  • Impersonate ScalyPal, our contributors, or any other person;
  • Scrape, crawl, or bulk-download the Site in a manner that imposes unreasonable load, or circumvent rate limits, bot protections, or access controls;
  • Introduce malware, attempt to gain unauthorised access to our systems or other users' accounts, or probe, scan, or test the vulnerability of the Site;
  • Use the Site or its content to train machine-learning models without our prior written permission, or republish substantial portions of our content, including via automated content generation;
  • Misrepresent your identity, qualifications, or affiliation.

5. Our Content and Intellectual Property

The Site's care guides, species profiles, tools, design, logos, and the compilation of the Site are owned by ScalyPal Media LLC and are protected by copyright and other intellectual property laws. You may:

  • Read, share links to, and quote short excerpts of our content with clear attribution and a link back to the source page;
  • Print or save pages for your own personal, non-commercial use.

You may not copy, republish, mirror, translate, or redistribute our articles or species data in bulk, or use them to build or train a competing product, without our prior written consent.

6. Third-Party Links and Affiliate Relationships

The Site contains links to third-party websites, including retailers. Some of those links are affiliate links, from which we may earn a commission at no additional cost to you. We do not control third-party sites and are not responsible for their content, products, pricing, availability, or privacy practices. Your dealings with any third party are solely between you and that party.

See our Affiliate Disclosure for full details.

7. Disclaimer of Warranties

THE SITE AND ALL CONTENT ARE PROVIDED "AS IS" AND "AS AVAILABLE" WITHOUT WARRANTIES OF ANY KIND, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO IMPLIED WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY, FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE, ACCURACY, AND NON-INFRINGEMENT.

Husbandry science evolves and sources disagree. We make reasonable efforts to cite reliable references and update our guides, but we do not warrant that any article, species parameter, calculator output, or community contribution is accurate, complete, current, or suitable for your animal. Species parameters are general guidance and are not a substitute for observing your individual animal.

We do not warrant that the Site will be uninterrupted, secure, or error-free, or that defects will be corrected.

8. Limitation of Liability

TO THE MAXIMUM EXTENT PERMITTED BY APPLICABLE LAW, SCALYPAL MEDIA LLC AND ITS OFFICERS, DIRECTORS, EMPLOYEES, CONTRACTORS, AND CONTRIBUTORS WILL NOT BE LIABLE FOR ANY INDIRECT, INCIDENTAL, SPECIAL, CONSEQUENTIAL, EXEMPLARY, OR PUNITIVE DAMAGES, OR FOR ANY LOSS OF PROFITS, DATA, GOODWILL, OR HARM TO OR DEATH OF AN ANIMAL, ARISING OUT OF OR RELATING TO YOUR USE OF THE SITE OR RELIANCE ON ANY CONTENT, WHETHER BASED IN CONTRACT, TORT, STRICT LIABILITY, OR OTHERWISE, EVEN IF WE HAVE BEEN ADVISED OF THE POSSIBILITY OF SUCH DAMAGES.

To the extent any liability cannot be excluded, our total aggregate liability to you for all claims relating to the Site will not exceed one hundred US dollars (USD $100).

Some jurisdictions do not allow the exclusion of certain warranties or limitations of liability, so some of the above may not apply to you.

9. Indemnification

You agree to indemnify, defend, and hold harmless ScalyPal Media LLC and its contributors from any claim, liability, damages, loss, or expense (including reasonable legal fees) arising out of or relating to: (a) Your Content; (b) your violation of these Terms; (c) your violation of any law or third-party right; or (d) your use of the Site.

10. Termination

You may stop using the Site at any time and may request deletion of your account by emailing [email protected]. We may suspend or terminate your access, with or without notice, if we reasonably believe you have violated these Terms or to protect the Site or other users. Sections 3.2, 5, 7, 8, 9, 11, and 12 survive termination.

11. Governing Law and Disputes

These Terms are governed by the laws of the State of Texas, United States, without regard to its conflict-of-law rules. Subject to any mandatory consumer-protection rights you may have in your country of residence, you agree that any dispute arising out of or relating to these Terms or the Site will be brought exclusively in the state or federal courts located in Travis County, Texas, and you consent to personal jurisdiction there.

Before filing any formal action, you agree to contact us at [email protected] and attempt to resolve the dispute informally for at least 30 days.

12. Changes to These Terms

We may revise these Terms from time to time. When we do, we will update the "Last updated" date above. Material changes will be announced on the Site. Your continued use of the Site after changes take effect constitutes acceptance. If you do not agree to the revised Terms, stop using the Site.

13. General

  • Entire agreement. These Terms, together with our Privacy Policy and Affiliate Disclosure, are the entire agreement between you and us regarding the Site.
  • Severability. If any provision is found unenforceable, the remaining provisions stay in full effect.
  • No waiver. Our failure to enforce a provision is not a waiver of it.
  • Assignment. You may not assign these Terms without our consent; we may assign them in connection with a merger, acquisition, or sale of assets.

14. Contact

Email: [email protected]
Post: ScalyPal Media LLC, 2847 Keeper's Trail, Suite 200, Austin, TX 78704, United States

See also: Privacy Policy · Affiliate Disclosure · Our Methodology