Snake Help

FishForums.net Pet of the Month
🐶 POTM Poll is Open! 🦎 Click here to Vote! 🐰
Snakes are commonly heated via heat mat as they are on the ground anyway, unless you have arboreal snakes. Most species do not need uvb, but if you want to supply it, stick to a 2% bulb or house above a mesh screen (like an exoterra) if going above 2% is my recommendation.

Dragons are different. 10% uvb is mandatory, do not use reptiglo either, their bulbs often cause problems. This is just a light supply. You also need to supply a "basking spot" where the temperature is closer to 40º. As the dragon is drawn to light naturally, seeking to get the highest spot near to it, using a ceramic bulb is often counter intuitive: its dark heat and the dragon may sit elsewhere closest to the brightest spot. For this reason, most of us dragon keepers use a spotlight bulb: the dragon is drawn very close to the bulb due to the light. I have found 42W halogen bulbs do the trick for the right temp. In nature, a desert drops in temp at night, so its natural to do this for a reptile too. Right now, its a piece of wee wee as its 25/26 degrees permanently anywhere in my home, so everything goes off. In winter, we heat the room to 21/22 at all times and we use lower wattage night lights (red or blue bulb), heat mats & ceramic bulbs for some of our more specialised guys.

Tell you, the electricity used for a fish tank is nothing compared to a hot room!
 
I have a 12% UVB for my snake yes :p My heat mat is what controls the warm side.
 
Anyway this is "I don't have a name for him yet" dragon
 
20130727_1634450.jpg

 
He is my rescue dragon, I told the LFS I was interesting in him and the told me that the woman that brought it in said she was going to give up and "bin it". I was quite shocked how someone could mistreat such a lovely guy. He does not mind being picked up and I love him to bits, So yea. I took over from the LFS and plan to recover him back to full health.
 
The viv I got him with has a 10% UVB T8 and a basking light set at around 100F. I replace his water daily and feed him veg, Due to go to pets at home today to get him some bugs for his meaty side of the diet. He'll also be having his first bath in a long time no doubt, Needs a good soaking.
 
20130727_180902.jpg

 
His foot has damage on it which is behond repair, But am hoping that once I get it cleaned up he'll be fine, He'll just lack most other climbing powers.
 
He is a adorable though and I did clean the viv up after these photos.
 
Corn Snakes don't need a UVB/UVA bulb ;) He is a bit chunky, Large Mice will be perfectly fine every 10-14 days as he's a bit overweight :)
 
They do not like humidity unless shedding as it can cause respiratory problems. He needs a heat mat that will cover approx. 1/2 his full viv length and it needs to be on a thermostat or it could overheat and cook him alive. It's happened before.
 
He does not need a light but if you want to give him one then you can get LED strip lights which are perfect for snakes as they don't give off heat so cannot burn the snake.
 
He needs two hides minimum, one for the cool end and one for the hot end. What substrate is he on? Aspen?
 
If you feed in the viv, make sure he eats on a smooth surface and not his substrate as if he ingests some it could cause a blockage for him which means he would probably need veterinary care which could be a expensive.
 
Do not handle for 2 days after feeding so that he has time to digest his meal before being pulled about again.
 
I will warn you now, some males can be funny during breeding season. They can go off their food for weeks on end and they may be a little more twitchy when touched as they aren't thinking about anything but the ladies. Some males don't act any differently but some do, just a warning. He will be perfectly fine not being fed for however many weeks he goes off his food for, they can go months without food. As long as he doesn't lose too much weight he will be fine.
 
Any more question, feel free to ask on her or PM me :) I will always be happy to help where I can.
 
We just got a new beardie, called him Twix as his colouring is a bit like the biscuit of one :D

Plan ahead on live foods. Buy crix from livefoodsdirect.co.uk. get some dubai roaches as well. You can create a colony and a breeding programme easily with these guys to get a continuous sources and they are one of the most nutritious bugs you can feed a beardie.
 
After a nice bath and some crickets hes basking in the heat with his mouth open so it's all going quite well. He seems really happy now that hes getting the care he needs :p
 
I checked out that livefood direct and I think I'll order 500 crickets and try breeding them, See if I can get something going to save me money :p
 
20130728_150525.jpg
 
He is looking good!

We use them (maybe a bit too much) and recommend their quality. We havent bothered with breeding crix, they are a bit of a pain in the butt tbh, but the roaches are really really easy.
 
That website dont have those roaches you are speaking about?
 
Are you sure there dragon friendly? I've never heard of people using those :p
 
Very dragon friendly. We have been using them along with crix in our guys diets for quite a while now and are recognised as one of the most nutritious livefoods you can give.
Some nutritional info for you:

http://www.roachcolony.com/Nutritional-Value-17-w.asp

We also feed silk worms as a regular part of the diets for the two that were not properly cared for, roaches & silk worms for new borns (all kinds) and for supplements to adult diets for crested, leopard & gargoyle geckos.
 
Thanks a lot DGWebster, I shall be ordering myself some roaches :)
 
No problemo. I would send you some, but our colony is quite diminished by the recent additions, having to buy some more in to boost the colony :s
 
Just gotta watch those roaches, move like bloomin lightning! Don't want any holes in the vivs unless you want roaches in the house!
 
We found best way was to put a few in a big storage box and stick the dragon in there to eat them rather than lose them in the viv ;)
 
I really want to get silkworms! They are so bloomin hard to get hold of and expensive :( (for decent sized ones..)
 
We bought some silk worms from the previously mentioned website but their quality for silk worms was poor, they died pretty quickly.

We have a friend with them though who supplies us and is helping us start our own colony. If it ever takes off properly, I'll send you some.

With the roaches, we use a plastic shoe box for their normal homes: pretty poor climbers. We also permanently use a 32L RUB as a feed box for the beardies so never thought of that part. We have one that loves to be hand fed so there is an exception there.
 
I just looked on the Silkworm Store website and they don't have any big ones available which is a pain, they do however have butter worms and calci worms so ordered a bulk bag of locusts, a pot of calci worms and some butter worms for my chameleon. Raspberries are ripening up fast so he will get the odd big of fruit now and then as well lol.
 

Most reactions

trending

Members online

Back
Top