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ValiantUK91 said:
Yeah there will be 3 hides one at either end then one somewhere in between and will be quite as there is only me in the house half the time and yeah like i said after posting it i realised i dont need any of it.

So you would recommend a ahs heaterover a ceramic bulb then.
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Absolutely. AHS heaters are the nuts for boids. They are easy to fit and extremely reliable. They are so efficient and well designed in the way they heat the air that there have been many instances of snakes recovering from respiratory infections when placed into a viv with an AHS. Indeed a certain breeder who uses them claims that he has never had 1 resp infection using AHS heaters.
 
As long as you pack it out with hides and decoration it isn't a problem. They aren't hatched into vivariums in the wild, they just hide a lot. They get stressed in open spaces and even my big guys hate being out in the middle of the floor.

AHS heaters are awesome, they keep the humidity a lot better than a ceramic will. When I was trialling the AHS it was very obvious from the discarded skin which snake had it in. You can put a hide packed with damp sphagnum moss in there for extra humidity if you need it.
 
So after another 3 week hunger strike by Monty it got me thinking. How do your snakes like to be fed? I'm mainly interested in royal pythons but would be interested to find out if other breeds are similar problems.

The only way i can get Monty to eat is to leave the rat outside his hide over night and check in the morning to see if it's gone. When he was little i tried feeding him with the rat in tongs but he just got scared so i stopped trying to feed him like that.

Is he likely to change how he feeds?
 
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Snakes should always be removed from the viv to be fed to reduce the risk of ingesting substrate.

I put mine into a big plastic tub with air holes drilled in and hang the mouse above until he grabs it. If he doesn't go for it I just leave it in the tub with him, put the lid on and leave him for a bit. If he takes it, great, if not I just put him back in the viv and try again a week later. He is usually a pretty good eater though.

Three weeks is nothing to be concerned about, especially at this time of year.

I would only start to be really concerned if they went 6 months + without eating. In the wild they can easily survive this long between feeds and is quite common.
 
So...I got a Beardy :)

He is 3 years old and called Buddy! He's previous owner didnt have any time for him anymore so i bought him off her.

He has a new viv now (4ft one) which I finished putting together this weekend - I hope he loves it more cause his old viv (pictured) was very small and boring

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I am having problems getting him to eat his fruit and veggies. I have been told to withhold live food to force him to get the food given to him (tough love). Is this the best technique?
 
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Nice looking boy.

You need to change the substrate though (if indeed you are using the same as what he is on in the pic of the old viv) - That wooden stuff is awful and potentially dangerous. I would recommend a 50/50 mix of clean top soil (no pesticides - I use the homebase own brand one) and kids play sand. That is much closer to their natural environment and will allow him to dig, which he needs to be able to display natural behaviour.

That wooden stuff doesn't allow the digging and can also cause impaction if ingested.

Re feeding - He needs time to settle. A change of environment will take a few weeks for him to adapt to and he may well not eat for a while. I would continue to offer fresh food every day for now and just go with it. A reptile will never starve itself to death unless there is an underlying illness. Once he is settled and / or hungry enough he will eat.

Do you mind me asking the lighting / heating setup you have used?
 
BDEE said:
Nice looking boy.

You need to change the substrate though (if indeed you are using the same as what he is on in the pic of the old viv) - That wooden stuff is awful and potentially dangerous. I would recommend a 50/50 mix of clean top soil (no pesticides - I use the homebase own brand one) and kids play sand. That is much closer to their natural environment and will allow him to dig, which he needs to be able to display natural behaviour.

That wooden stuff doesn't allow the digging and can also cause impaction if ingested.

Re feeding - He needs time to settle. A change of environment will take a few weeks for him to adapt to and he may well not eat for a while. I would continue to offer fresh food every day for now and just go with it. A reptile will never starve itself to death unless there is an underlying illness. Once he is settled and / or hungry enough he will eat.

Do you mind me asking the lighting / heating setup you have used?
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Thanks for the info! He is in his larger viv now which has a mixture of reptile carpet and tiles and some of the wood stuff from his old viv, but I will take your advice and try what you said - he does seem to like to dig

In his new viv I have a 30" (desert style) UV strip and a 100w ceramic heat bulb which is on a B1 pulse thermostat. I have gone with the ceramic bulbs after noticing that he has a very good body clock and I was worried about the temperature in his viv dropping low over night.

He seemed really disliked red heat lamps and daylight heat spots - he would activity hide from them :( Even though the red light is the one I got with him. As soon as I installed the ceramic, he sat himself under it :D So I think that suits him better?

The ceramic is set to one side of his viv so he has a hot and 'cold' end and the thermostat reader is in the middle of the viv.

I will take a pic later and pop it up

Is there anything I have missed or need? So far, everything I have done is more or less copying my boyfriends sisters viv set up, info from the internet and instincts so all info is welcome!
 
BDEE said:
Snakes should always be removed from the viv to be fed to reduce the risk of ingesting substrate.

I put mine into a big plastic tub with air holes drilled in and hang the mouse above until he grabs it. If he doesn't go for it I just leave it in the tub with him, put the lid on and leave him for a bit. If he takes it, great, if not I just put him back in the viv and try again a week later. He is usually a pretty good eater though.

Three weeks is nothing to be concerned about, especially at this time of year.

I would only start to be really concerned if they went 6 months + without eating. In the wild they can easily survive this long between feeds and is quite common.
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Sorry but no. A snake shouldn't ever be moved for feeding.

How do you suggest I do so with my retics? They're large and extremely aggressive eaters, I have to be careful simply opening the viv and have been chased by one.

A much, much better alternative is 'tap training'. Get a long enough implement (I use snake hooks) and touch them on the nose every time you interact outside of feeding. This 'switches off' the feeding response and tells them it isn't food time.

It's not instant and takes weeks and months but it is very much worth it. It's less stress for the snake as a full snake is a vulnerable one. Even my tamest reacts badly to being messed with.

Your snake may tolerate it with no visible effect but in my opinion you're taking an unnecessary risk at the worst possible moment, when everything smells like food. I also started out removing them for feeding but got bitten and started asking questions, when I learned about tap training.

As for getting a snake eating, day old chicks are pretty irresistible, just try anything new. Exposing the brain of the prey also works pretty well if you can stomach it. Other than that, royals are known for their long fasts and it isn't something to really worry about. :)
 
Never taken mine out for feeding. Wouldn't chance it. As soon as she smells a rat, that's it. It's no retic, but a large Royal can still give you a very nasty bite. Outside of feeding times, once you have a snake for a while, it's easy to understand their body language and know what the little blighters have planned.

I don't get the ingestion argument. Do you think snakes are served food in silver platters in the wild? As long as you don't dump a wet rat on the substrate, it shouldn't be a problem. I always defrost mine in warm water but in ziplock bags to stop them getting wet.

I wouldn't fancy moving a full snake. Firstly, their feeding instinct doesn't switch off as soon as they have eaten. It stays for a while. And handling a full snake can often lead to a very unpleasant pile of regurgitated rodent. Not nice. Much better just to feed in the viv.
 
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I have big slate dinner mats in each of my vivs, it serves as a nice basking area and I can just brush it off at feeding time.

One of mine recently got so worked up at feeding time that he bit and constricted himself, then the litter picker I use for feeding. He then struck at his heat guard three times whilst simultaneously dumping his water everywhere. This is a semi-regular occurrence and isn't exaggerated.
 
TrixiBuG said:
Thanks for the info! He is in his larger viv now which has a mixture of reptile carpet and tiles and some of the wood stuff from his old viv, but I will take your advice and try what you said - he does seem to like to dig

In his new viv I have a 30" (desert style) UV strip and a 100w ceramic heat bulb which is on a B1 pulse thermostat. I have gone with the ceramic bulbs after noticing that he has a very good body clock and I was worried about the temperature in his viv dropping low over night.

He seemed really disliked red heat lamps and daylight heat spots - he would activity hide from them :( Even though the red light is the one I got with him. As soon as I installed the ceramic, he sat himself under it :D So I think that suits him better?

The ceramic is set to one side of his viv so he has a hot and 'cold' end and the thermostat reader is in the middle of the viv.

I will take a pic later and pop it up

Is there anything I have missed or need? So far, everything I have done is more or less copying my boyfriends sisters viv set up, info from the internet and instincts so all info is welcome!
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Yeah reptile carpet is awful stuff and tiles are not great. Soil / Sand mix will see him good. Is the UV 10% / 12%? Ideally you would want a T5 bulb as the output is far better than a T8. 12% T5 is what I would go for.




Re the snake feeding - I see the point on the retics - That's of course a different kettle of fish to feeding a corn snake. I stand by my views though on smaller snakes - as do most people I know who keep snakes. Vivs are not the wild. They have very different surroundings in a viv and for some the risk is just not worth it. There is also no need to handle them going back in - Mine simply slithers off out the tub.
 
BDEE said:
I stand by my views though on smaller snakes - as do most people I know who keep snakes. Vivs are not the wild. They have very different surroundings in a viv and for some the risk is just not worth it. There is also no need to handle them going back in - Mine simply slithers off out the tub.
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We'll agree to disagree. For me, no point in external feeding.
 
BDEE said:
Yeah reptile carpet is awful stuff and tiles are not great. Soil / Sand mix will see him good. Is the UV 10% / 12%? Ideally you would want a T5 bulb as the output is far better than a T8. 12% T5 is what I would go for.
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The UV is a 12% I think and I am going to get on sorting him some soil and sand shortly just need to source some none toxic soil :)

Can I ask why tiles are no good? The one that I have for him is a textured one and I read in a few places that they are good cause they can help keep a Beady's nails short and they are easy to clean

Pictures from last night:

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TrixiBuG said:
The UV is a 12% I think and I am going to get on sorting him some soil and sand shortly just need to source some none toxic soil :)

Can I ask why tiles are no good? The one that I have for him is a textured one and I read in a few places that they are good cause they can help keep a Beady's nails short and they are easy to clean
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Looks like a nice setup, I'd get a heat guard for the ceramic just in case but other than that it's fine. He looks like a healthy lad. :)
 
Tiles, like carpet, don't allow digging. The more natural the substrate the better. They are marginally better than carpet in that carpet is notorious for nasty bacteria growth.
 
Quick question my mates decided to put his corn snake into a viv and re-use a old hide from one of his lizards vivs only thi g is its covered in calcium powder and he cant seem to get rid of it, is it harmful to a snake?

Also how long do ceramic bulbs take to heat up fully?
 
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Diddums said:
What is that? Iguana? It's awesome and I want it :D
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It's a bearded dragon you lunatic. :p

Definitely get one, young males are awesome entertainment when they're in the 'assert dominance over everything' phase. Furious head nodding and arm waving with a black beard with a lot of running around like a headless chicken. :D

ValiantUK91 said:
Quick question my mates decided to put his corn snake into a viv and re-use a old hide from one of his lizards vivs only thi g is its covered in calcium powder and he cant seem to get rid of it, is it harmful to a snake?

Also how long do ceramic bulbs take to heat up fully?
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The calcium powder shouldn't hurt it but if it's that much of a concern almost anything can and will be used as a hide. Ceramics take about an hour but it depends on how warm it is when you turn it on and how warm it needs to be etc.
 
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