So excited - finally getting snakes!

[Alyxx]

I'm getting the stick for my boyfriend's peace of mind, just in case he has to move one when I'm not there. As for newspaper substrate, I love the convenience but I'm not so fond of the look. I might stick with it at least for now.

 

[Alyxx]

Changed the newspaper for aspen shavings and the snakes love it. They can burrow into it and seem to enjoy going in and out of it. Kept seeing them pop out like a little periscope. Got them some climbing branches and a bigger soaking dish for the cool side. Plus I upgraded their lamp for a bigger one with a ceramic heat emitter. I wish I had gotten a picture of the new setup but I forgot. I'll be back Friday though. They both ate last night and I'm happy to say Spike took a thawed frozen mouse with no problems. Dangled it with tongs and he struck in seconds.

 

[toddnbecka]

He's settled in and got his appetite back.

 

[Alyxx]

He's settled in and got his appetite back.

Yup. The week before he wouldn't go un his feeding tank. He gripped the edge with his tail and refused to go in. This time he let me put him in without much issue. I'm back at my boyfriend's place for the weekend now. Not going to feed them since they ate last late Tuesday night, but I will have lots of time tomorrow to get them out and handle them, which makes me happy.

I feel like I could just sit and watch them for hours even when they aren't really doing much of anything. I've had a fascination for snakes ever since I was maybe 6 years old. A lady that worked at the gas station by where my mom worked brought her ball pythons in from time to time, and even though my mom is a snake hater she would bring me in when she had them there and I got to hold the small ones and pet the big one. She wanted to at least give me that experience even if she didn't understand it. I guess she didn't expect me to fall in love with them. Heh, I still haven't even told her about them... she's going to freak out. One, I own snakes. Two, instead of spending maybe $150 for a snake and some equipment, I spent probably $700 all in all for two rarer snakes and the best equipment I could get. But as much as I love my fuzzy pets, I love the scaly ones just as much. Spike and Dru and my fish are my babies just as much as my cats are.

 

[toddnbecka]

I'm setting up a 55 for the pair of red mountain boas I plan to get after we come back from vacation next week. Have a spare 75 sitting empty too, but the 55 will work for some time, I will probably move one to the 75 when they mature and need to be separated. Got a laser thermometer to check actual temp on the warm end, should be handy for the fish as well. Humidity in the basement is high with so many aquariums, so no worries there. Snakes aren't quite as lovable as cats or dogs (we have 2 dogs) but definitely more satisfying as pets than fish are. Boas and pythons have a calmer nature/energy than smaller snakes like corn or king snakes. Generally a better disposition too IME.

 

[toddnbecka]

Stopped by a reptile show in Havre de Grace on the way down to the airport, loved it. If it had been on the return trip we would have been taking a couple little buggers home. I was really surprised at how low some of the prices for baby corn, king, milk, and even red tail boas were. Not surprisingly I didn't find any Dominican red mountain boas there, but hundreds of ball pythons and red tails of many different color/pattern morphs. Decent selection of other species of pythons and boas as well as smaller snakes, geckos and various tarantulas and scorpions. Few beautiful baby emerald tree boas, but those are more display than pet snakes.

 

[Alyxx]

Awesome! I would love to catch a reptile show. There's one somewhere around here but I've never been. One of these days I would like to get some lizards again. I kept green anoles as a kid and I've wanted a leopard gecko or bearded dragon for a while now.

Heh, the tarantulas and scorpions I will pass on. I don't do spiders... I love watching a big wild spider in its web but for the most part spiders give me the creeps.

Good luck finding the boa you want, though! I feel so lucky that I stumbled upon pretty much exactly what I wanted - cool color morph of a docile species. Red tails were the first snake I wanted actually. Big and pretty and rather friendly.

My boyfriend has been doing well with them. He doesn't like it when I take them out but he does come and watch them sometimes. And he has decided he wants fish! I'm giving him a tank soon and teaching him what he needs to know.

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[toddnbecka]

A couple different sellers had dozens of cute little baby bearded dragons in large boxes, and several had a wide variety of baby and adult geckos, as well as skinks, monitors, and other lizards. Beautiful young tree monitor for $750, most expensive lizard I saw in the show. Prices on most of the the rest were as relatively low as on the snakes though, much lower than stores or even from online sellers. I saw a few yearling red tail boas for $30-40, awesome price for a random pet snake if you're not looking to breed them. Looking at the large setups I was thinking most of the sellers there must be really dedicated (or obsessed, lol) reptile people. Would take quite a lot of time and money to maintain so many critters, and for all the babies on display they would have had numbers of breeding adults at home to produce them. Never imagined I'd see such large numbers of pinky rats and fuzzy mice, would take large numbers of adults to produce a constant supply of those as well, and all the upkeep to maintain those along with the reptiles.
You should definitely check out a local reptile show sometime, much better variety and prices than anywhere else. Hard part is restraining the urge to take a bunch home...
I found a couple people selling the red mountain boas online, have the under tank heater and ceramic infrared "light bulb" shipping to the house this week. Will be setting up the 55 and ordering the snakes this Saturday for Monday arrival, along with a box of feeder anoles for the freezer. Aside from the hassle of keeping dozens of live anoles they'll be full of parasites, so I'm going to use frozen/thawed anoles to scent pinky rats to help get them onto eating the pinky's regularly w/out scenting them first.

 

[Alyxx]

Nice. I can't wait for pictures of your new snakes! My boyfriend sent me a good picture of mine last night, when I get it on photobucket I'll post it here. They were both all over the place after having digested their last meal. Apparently his cat was was very entertained watching them move around. I love my ceramic heat emitter. It's putting out way more heat than the bulb was. I have an under tank heater as well but for now I dont need it because the CHE has the hot end just about perfect. I might bring my 40B for them soon though, and then the under tank will be helpful. I just need a screen top for it. I want to give them as much space as I can. So far the male has taken frozen mice twice but the female wasn't going for it. I spent a good hour playing wiggle the mouse but she kept looking at me like she knew I was trying to trick her. This week I will be able to offer live though.

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[toddnbecka]

I'm thinking to use a rheostat on the under tank heater to maintain a steady low-end temp all the time, then the ceramic element will make up the difference during the day. Turning it off at night will then allow a temp drop similar to their natural environment. The 55 will allow them enough space to move around and thermoregulate between the warm and cooler ends of the tank, and since they're a smaller species of boa and semi-arboreal some tree branches in the tank will also allow them more mobility and exercise as well as temp zone selection. I'm wondering if a birdhouse mounted partway up the glass on the cooler end would be a good hide, at least while they're small enough to fit through the hole. Will just have to set it up and see what the under tank heater does first. The ceramic element is 100w, may end up using a rheostat on that too if it's so much more effective than a light bulb type. Better to have extra capacity than not enough though.

 

[Alyxx]

I'm planning on something similar once I pick up a timer. Under tank heater on all the time and the che on a timer for a nighttime temperature drop. Also before I set up the under tank heater I want to pick up some reptile carpet stuff to go under the aspen shavings as is suggested on the instructions for the heater. Either that or I will mount it on the side rather than underneath the tank.

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[toddnbecka]

I usually see corn and king snakes hiding under the reptile carpet in pet stores. Not so much boas and pythons though, I'll likely put a piece of that in the 55 as well. That's a newer product, didn't have it available back when I was keeping snakes years ago. Supposed to be the easiest to clean and sterilize, though newspapers are still a good alternative IMO.

 

[Alyxx]

The under tank heater recommends putting it under the shavings where the heater is to prevent burns since they can burrow in the shavings. And since mine really like to burrow it's a risk I don't want to take.
Fed them both last night and it was the fastest they've eaten for me so far. They each pounced their mouse in less than a minute. Guess they were happy to see live food after last week's frozen mice.

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[toddnbecka]

Live food is much more instinctively exciting than dead, but potentially more risky to the snake/s, though mice are pretty safe IME.
I have the green reptile carpet in the 55 now, and found a two-tier rubber-coated wire corner shelf at Wal-Mart Sunday night. It works nicely to hold some pieces of black egg crate foam to make a hide for the cool side, and another piece of the foam under the ceramic heat bulb creates a warm basking area on the "roof". Together with the pole lamp (60w light bulb) the interior of the tank should be ideally heated for them. Still need to put together another hide over the warm end, it will also be the black egg crate foam all around. Then a few branches and some artificial plants for climbing and additional cover so they don't feel too exposed. They'll be arriving Friday, shipment of frozen baby quail (their accustomed diet) should arrive Monday or Tuesday. Have you seen rodentpro.com? Best prices I've found online for frozen feeders yet. Pinky rats are only .29/each this week. I figure a bag of 100 baby quail will last about 6 months feeding them once weekly. Even with shipping cost that's very economical.
Few pix from the seller, daddy first:


momma:


The pair of yearlings will look like this one:

 

[toddnbecka]

They arrived earlier than I expected, sat on the front porch for several hours, but they were fine when I opened the box. The male sulked under the paper bedding when I open the lid of his shipping container, so I opened the female's too. She was more willing to come out and move around, so I picked her up after she stretched out across the kitchen table. She quickly settled down and wrapped around my wrist, hung out there while I placed the male's tub in the cage then took a few pics of her. After she slipped off the wrist and into the cage she found the hide on the cool end and tucked herself away. The male was more interested in exploring the new environment after he came out of his container, but headed into the hide on the warm side after a while. He was roaming the tank when I got home from work, so I picked him up, and couple minutes after he pooped on me he settled down and hung out on my arm for an hour. Then I let him back into the tank, the female was still tucked away but there's a fresh poop in the corner behind that hide.
Here's my new (female) Dominican red mountain bracelet:








Female looks a wee bit smaller than the male, narrower head and a few inches shorter, he's just about 30".

 

[Alyxx]

She's so pretty! The parents are really gorgeous. Sounds like they are enjoying their new home so far too. Enjoy them! Heh, so far mine haven't pooped on me. I'd be pretty happy if they kept that trend going.

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[Alyxx]

One thing that has sort of amazed me about my snakes so far is how attached to one another they seem to be. They frequently curl around one another and prefer being held together to being held individually. If I hold one and someone else holds another they try to get to one another. I'm guessing this is a good sign for having a good breeding pair when they are older.

I've had them for a little over a month. I'm guessing they should be shedding soon. The male (Spike) shed right before I got them, so I'm guessing the female (Dru) should be next.

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[toddnbecka]

That is interesting, I've never heard of snakes being attached to each other. Certainly a good thing that they get along.
I just read an article online about a female red tail boa that has produced young twice w/out mating. Apparently the DRMB's are fairly social, they don't need to be separated when they mature. Really thinking about getting another pair from a different breeder to mix the bloodlines a bit, not sure how advisable line breeding is among snakes, though it seems fine with fish.
Boa constrictor produces babies - without the help of a male! | News | Practical Fishkeeping
If the female offspring do the same thing they could be the marmokrebs of the snake world.

 

[Alyxx]

I read about that. Pretty cool. And it figures that I would end up with odd snakes, but they do seem to be rather affectionate towards each other, at least for snakes. I always get the strange ones, hehe.
Seems my boyfriend is coming around to them - he just sent me some pictures which revealed he has been using the red night light on occasion instead of the CHE at night to watch them. It's a start. He is interested in watching them at least from a distance. Hopefully eventually he will be ok touching or even holding them, but at least for now he likes watching them. He has a respect for snakes and thinks they are fascinating, but he does have a phobia. At least this is a huge improvement over "if you have a snake you had better have a separate apartment for it across town".

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[Fishobsessed7]

One time my dad was irrigating and he saw to rattlesnakes and he killed one and the other one slithered away and the next day it was sitting next to the dead one so they can like each other.


Fishobsessed7