New to Hondos, some quick questions!

[kwhitlock]

When I went to my local reptile show I went in wanting to get a corn, but most of the morphs that I wanted were not there, but when I saw my albino tangerine hondo , I honestly couldnt say no to her! Looks amazing! Now I have tried and tried to find good info on hondos, but apparently everything is just general information for milks from what I have came across. Just wondering if I have her enclosure right.

Hot side 86-89 with about 30% humidity. Ambient air is roughly ~75 maybe warmer during the day. And night time temps usually drop down to ~82 hotspot and the ambient air is usually 70.

Also, no one has given me a great answer. Are milks very secretive snakes? I rarely see her move at all. Usually either in one of her hids, up the the plant I have hanging or burrowed some where. She seemed to be more active once I introduced a low watt heat lamp to her setup. Is this fairly normal behavior? Shes about ~15in long and 34grams, maybe her enclosure is to small? I have her in a standard 5.5 gallon aquarium.

Anything I am doing wrong, just lemme know! Just want to provide the best home I can for her! Thanks guys!

Heres a little pic!

[drumcrush]

All I can say is stunning snake! I love hondos!

[sharthun]

Wow! My next snake will be a Milk! Welcome btw!

[dbank999]

Not so sure about what kind of temp gradient you can provide in a 5.5 gal tank... this is a very small enclosure. I think you would be better suited to have at least 10 gal or 20 gal long, this way you have more "length" to create a useful temperature gradient.

I found this care sheet for hondos on another forum.

Honduran Milksnake Caresheet (http://ball-pythons.net/forums/showthread.php?71083-Honduran-Milksnake-Caresheet)

Best of luck and welcome to the hobby ;)

[kwhitlock]

Thanks guys! :) I got quite a steal on her, from my understanding they usually go for 100-150, got her from a breeder in a money crisis and hot her for $50! Her mom is over 6 ft long and her dad was younger and was 5! Think I may end up having a "monster Hondo" on my hands :) if I ever get another will be a extreme tangerine anery I believe it is? It's insane tangerine color with silver bands!

And thank you for the link! Guess I never found that care sheet before! :)

[kwhitlock]

And yes, I'm going to upgrade her to a bigger enclosure, she's grown a lot since ive got her mostly in length, so a 10 gallon or equivalent is next!

[Jim Smith]

Beautiful snake! Your temps are in the correct range, however many Hondo keepers do not even add heat. My sister has two adult Hondurans and she has no additional heat other than their regular lighting and she lives in the Kansas City area. I also have two Honduran Milk snakes and I provide them one warm hide, one less warm and one cool hide. They almost never use the warm hide. They prefer either the cool hides or just to burrow into the substrate. They do tend to be more on the secretive side, but are very quick to settle down and mine have never offered to bite me at all. Simply put, they are terrific snakes. Beautiful to look at (with tons of different morphs to choose from), they reach a very respectable size of 5 to 7 feet long, they’re easy to handle, very reasonable habitat requirements, great eaters and nice temperaments. What more can you ask for?

p.s. you really do need to get a larger aquarium. You can usually pick one up very cheaply off of Craig's list or better yet, your local Goodwill store where I often see 20-30 gallon aquariums for $10-$15. Also, Honduran Milk snakes are notorious escape artists. If your little guy finds even a small crack, he will get out and being as they are very secretive, you’ll have a heck of a time finding him.

Good luck and please keep up posted. I think you’re going to really enjoy your new acquisition.

[EL Ziggy]

Wow! My next snake will be a Milk! Welcome btw!

Welcome and best wishes kwhit. That's an awesome lookin hondo you have there. Glad you got that great deal too.
Steve- I feel you on the making a milk your next addition. I'm kinda leaning that way too (or it'll be another king) They have some great morphs and the care seems very similar to kings. That's why I love colubrids.

[kwhitlock]

p.s. you really do need to get a larger aquarium. You can usually pick one up very cheaply off of Craig's list or better yet, your local Goodwill store where I often see 20-30 gallon aquariums for $10-$15. Also, Honduran Milk snakes are notorious escape artists. If your little guy finds even a small crack, he will get out and being as they are very secretive, you’ll have a heck of a time finding him.

Good luck and please keep up posted. I think you’re going to really enjoy your new acquisition.

I just started looking for a new enclosure for her, going to check out the goodwill and pawn shop next week to see if I can find a cheap 10-20 gal tank for her!

[sharthun]

Welcome and best wishes kwhit. That's an awesome lookin hondo you have there. Glad you got that great deal too.
Steve- I feel you on the making a milk your next addition. I'm kinda leaning that way too (or it'll be another king) They have some great morphs and the care seems very similar to kings. That's why I love colubrids.


Yeah I'm about to snag another if I could just make up my mind on which morph to get lol :)

[muffiewrites]

I've had Spike for two years. I'm assuming he's a he because he's never been sexed and I have no interest in breeding him. He's in an exo-terra front opening terrarium, 18"x18"x18". He's not yet 4 feet. I'll be upsizing his home at some point, not just to give him more room, but to make a better biome. He's in a natural viv.

I use a light during the day with a couple of daylight light bulbs I get out of home depot. I think they're 40 watt. I have a 40 watt blue bulb for night time.

Hondos are nocturnal and subterrestrial. Spike is always under his rock, or under the sansaveria plant or in the dirt. I don't see him for most of the day. He comes out in the evenings to nose around, unless he's getting ready to shed, and then he just wants to be left alone.

The temps in the cage are in the high 70s in the summer and fall and the mid-70s during the winter and spring. Humidity is pretty easy to control because it's a natural viv with half the top screened in. I thought his temps might be too low, but he seems pretty happy with them. I do have an undertank heater that I use when the temps bottom out. I don't like it because that puts a heater where he can get burned by it, even if there is a layer of gravel he can't get through. The gravel gets warm. However, a heat bulb wasn't enough.

He's got a pothos, a sansaveria, and a mini African violet in with him now. I'm going to add a neoregelia bromeliad tomorrow. He loves to climb all over the cage and the neoregelia has strong leaves and a cup for water that herps in the wild drink out of. He'll get fresh water up high with no dirt in it. When I water the plants, he always drinks off of them. He's not a fan of his water bowl.

[atavuss]

I have a adult male and female albino Honduran and a adult female anery Hondo. All three of them are very secretive and I rarely see them outside of their hides (especially the anery). None of my Milks or Kings get any heat other than the room heater (oil filled radiant heater). All three of them are great eaters and often eat even when in shed.

[kwhitlock]

Yeah I think she's just going to be a secretive little thing, she rarely moves especially after I feed her or when she's sheading. Since she ate, I think she moved maybe an inch. Lol