Buying adult 5yrs old snakes or baby, please advice

[TobyToiser]

Hi guys, I'm about to buy a Milk snake this month. Friend Is offering me couple of L.t. sinaloe, both 5yrs old , including the enclosure for a very good Price. Other option is to buy a baby Snake which I like aswell, L.t.hondurensis. please what would You advice me to get? Are thé snakes already too old for purschase? Thank You

[Roman]

My male Lampropeltis triangulum campbelli is about 20 years old and still active. So 5 years is not really old for them.

What are the dimensions of the enclosure? The options for heating depend somewhat on the size of the enclosure. I use only light bulbs for heating, depending on the size of the enclosure and the temperatures needed for the snake in question I use either a 35W Halogen lamp or 50W / 70W metal halide lights in larger enclosures. You don’t need a thermostat this way, you create a local hot spot below the light with temperatures of 30° to 35° C (86° to 95° F) and a thermal gradient down to room temperature at the opposite end of your enclosure. Of course this does only work if your enclosure is big enough, a small enclosure might overheat, so you have to test it before the first snake enters the enclosure.

The advantage is that your snake associates light with heat, so the brightest spot in your enclosure is also the hottest (and with the right choice of lamp you can also provide UVB as enrichment).

If your room doesn’t cool down too much over night you don’t need any additional heat source this way.