 |
Back to Bull-Pine-Gopher Snakes Forum Forums Home Members Area
Bull-Pine-Gopher Snakes Forum
Ashmash JackAsp Greatballzofire JackAsp Ashmash Greatballzofire |
| Member | Message | ||
|
Ashmash View Profile |
Mowglee’s new setup!
That’s his new 90 Qt cage he’s recently been upgraded to from a 10 gallon glass tank. I just added the shredded news paper tonight, and before he was on paper towels. It’s about an inch deep. Should I add more? He has 2 branches to climb, 3 hides (one will be replaced w/ a humid hide once I get Sphagnum moss), a 9" water dish (also upgraded tonight), is fed young mice every wednesday, and as soon as I decide the best way to heat his cage he’ll either have a light fixture or UTH. I’m leaning more toward a light so he can get UVA... What do you think? Otherwise I would sandwhich a UTH between tiles to put under the tank. Would it still melt that way? Here’s Mow---
Any advice is appreciated! -Ashlee |
||
| 09/28/09 12:56am |
|
||
|
JackAsp View Profile |
Message To: Ashmash In reference to Message Id: 2077502 Mowglee’s new setup!
The branches might be too thin for him. Heavier, loglike branches with a lot of curves and turns that can be crawled on top of without having to really grip are more likely to be used. And, again, some aren’t climbers. That’s another choice that’s up to him. Use an UTH, but go with a small one under the corner, and you might want to use a lamp dimmer on it to keep it from putting out so much heat that it warms up the cool end too. It won’t melt the plastic anyway, but if you’re not careful it might heat up his cool end to 90 degrees, which isn’t good either! Most people suggest a cool end in the 70s, often very LOW 70s, which is why my bull is the only herp that I keep in mesh rather than glass or plastic. One problem with heat lights is that the room is coolest at night. With the UTH, he can still get a good dark night’s rest without getting too cold. Not that he necessarily will need the heat anyway. Mine tends to stick to the unheated areas, and uses his warm corner as a bathroom. But my apartment is pretty warm. I do believe in giving them bright lighting during the day, but lights warm the air up, and warm air spreads, so too much light on a small enclosed cage can ruin your thermal gradient. You might use a striplight like you’d put on a small tank, and position that crosswise over the warm end. And don’t skimp on venilation holes. Snakes don’t use much air, but ventilation will help keep waste heat from building up. You can always throw a towel over it if there’s a surprisingly cool night. Lack of UV will probaby not be an issue. They do not need UVB for calcium synthesis, although certain other snakes do, and UVA is really just a trick to make them stop trying to hibernate. I’ve had snakes I needed to use that trick with, and there are certainly Pits that are prone to that quirk, but all three Pits that I’ve had were good winter feeders with just undertank heat and normal fluorescent strip lighting. So remember that UVA is an option, should winter depression kick in, but really you may well be worrying unnecessarily about it. It’s a more common problem with wild-caught adults who have already hibernated than it is with captive-breds or babies. |
||
| 09/28/09 01:51am |
|
||
|
Greatballzofire View Profile |
Message To: Ashmash In reference to Message Id: 2077502 Mowglee’s new setup!
So how did the tub lid work out? Is your snake a great basin? He kind of looks like that, a nice snake by the way. JackAsp, Thanks for the info on the UTH. I do basically what you do, with a 4 watt Zoomed UTH on one end of the tub, controlled by a thermostat. My snakes generally seem to prefer the cooler areas, but in the winter my cabin gets cold at night and then they seek out the warm spot.
My 08 Pacific female Gonzo; soon she will need a bigger tub than the 105 she is in now! I think of pituophis as the poor man’s python...a nice big snake but the husbandry is a lot easier. She goes in her 2x2x4 ft screen cage during the day, on the porch for sunlight. I see these snakes in the wild early in the morning catching rays, so I try to let mine enjoy the same thing. |
||
| 09/28/09 10:03am |
|
||
|
JackAsp View Profile |
Message To: Greatballzofire In reference to Message Id: 2077606 Mowglee’s new setup!
I tried to post this before as an afterthought, but the board seems to have eaten my post: if he doesn’t have any trouble shedding, I’d skip the humidity chamber. Tubs store humidity, and a tub with a water bowl in it will probably be about as humid as is any good for him anyway. If you add a moss box to the equation, that humidity will spread too and cause bacteria to grow much more rapidly. In the substrate, in the water, in his mouth, in his lung, everywhere. Humidity boxes for dry-habitat snakes are a specific problem solution, not a necessity. Mostly, I’ve always used glass and screen for Pits ( OK, or tubs for brand-new babies) and even without mossboxes I never had a bad shed. if the problem happens, you’ll know the solution. But worrying about it pre-emptively might cause more danger than it prevents. |
||
| 09/28/09 06:16pm |
|
||
|
Ashmash View Profile |
Message To: Greatballzofire In reference to Message Id: 2077606 Mowglee’s new setup!
|
||
| 09/28/09 09:51pm |
|
||
|
Greatballzofire View Profile |
Message To: Ashmash In reference to Message Id: 2077985 Mowglee’s new setup!
Mowglee then is a close cousin to my Pacifics, particularly Gomez, who hails from the Motherlode in the Sierra Foothills:
|
||
| 09/28/09 10:33pm |
|
Back to Bull-Pine-Gopher Snakes Forum Forums Home Members Area