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Kalleigh   JackAsp

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#2078751 Kalleigh View Profile	3 questions.... i just went to feed my gopher snake and it looks like he is getting ready to shed again....its only been two weeks at the most sinse his last shed. when he wouldnt eat i looked at his eyes and they were just starting to get a bit cloudy. it will be his third shed since i got him , the other two came 6 weeks apart so this is kinda weird. So im getting a new gopher snake possibly , my ex saved one (not sure of the whole story yet) where he lives in the okanogan...thats were my current snake is from also. I havent seen it yet, apearantly its quite nasty . He described it over the phone to me and he says its light pink and has black spots all the way down it. appearantly the spots do not get lighter in the middle of the body. I was under the impression that gopher snakes spots all do that...just like mine. im sure its a gopher snake because where he lives in the okanogan BC Canada there are only a few types of snakes, so its either a rattle snake a garter snake or a gopher snake. its very nasty and hisses and strikes out alot. does this mabey sound like a garter snake? i doubt it. ill try to get a picture asap. like i said im sure its a gopher snake but i specifically asked him if the spots on the snakes back lighten at all in the middle and are darker near the tail and head and he said they are black all the way down. where he lives they do not have rat snakes, or many other types. ok third question.... its getting very cold in my room now, i have my gopher in a 35 gallon tank with a heat pad and a 75 watt heating lamp in the day and an infrared one at night. im thinkin of changing them to 100 watts. im putting a blanket over half of the tank also. should i mabey use a regular 50 watt light on one side and the heat on the other to keep it warm enough. my room is freezing cold....its in a basement. i just dont want his activity level to decrease to much. thanks for everyones advice befor(jack asp and great balls of fire) your advice has made my snake a very healthy happy snake, its doing great. the aspen bedding is by far the best substrate on earth lol.
09/30/09  04:07pm
#2078768 JackAsp View Profile	Message To: Kalleigh   In reference to Message Id: 2078751  3 questions.... Yeah, sometimes babies like to hit you with that freak shed a couple weeks after the other one. What’s amazing is if you compare the skins, you’ll even see a size difference! Yay! A nasty snake that bites! Heh heh heh. Be careful about too much heat. If he’s eating and pooping, he’s as warm as he should be. Too much heat is a bigger strain on reptiles than it is on mammals, because they have no natural cooling system. Leads to organ strain and short lifespans. If he seems okay and you’re just worried about taking precautions, I’d say worry more about fighting drafts than about increasing watttage. Insulate three sides of the glass, for example. Night-time may not be as critical as daytime, because he’ll be hiding someplace warm anyway. I strongly suggest getting an infrared temp gun. They shoot a little red laser pointer and have a digital display that gives you the surface temperature of whatever spot they hit. Very fun toys, and great for checking cages over to make sure there’s no dangerously cold spots. They cost about 20-30 dollars, and the battery in them lasts for years. We’re standing outside the tank, getting hit by drafts from a million directions, radiating our body heat out into the "wind chill..." the room often feels a lot more stable to a 75-degree snake than it does to a 99-degree human. But, sometimes the tank is worse. Best way to know what you need to know is get the actual numbers. If when you check your temps it turns out that you really do need to take further measures to fight cold air, you can add foil over the screen. It’s safer to have near heat lamps than, for example, a towel.
09/30/09  04:54pm

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