newb status

[Reptile_Reptile]

can you give me ideas to help me make my snakes setup more comfortable/sophisticated. in both setups i use newspaper for substrate i find its easy to cleanup and cheap. i have one heat lamp per tank (two) 100 watt for my royal and 150 for my corn snake both have bowls that they can soak in although ive only seen my corn snake doing it and they both have hiding spots 2 for my royal and one for my corn and they both have a warm and cool side to their tanks. plz also tell me about your setups im new to this world and wish to know everything. XD

[marvelfreak]

How big are their cages and what are your temps for the warm and cool sides? The rest sounds ok.

[Reptile_Reptile]

How big are their cages and what are your temps for the warm and cool sides? The rest sounds ok.
standard 10 for the ball and a twenty long for my corn snake the temp for the ball is 85 during day in hot and about 75 in cool drop ten to 15 at night and for the corn snake its 70 in cool 80 in hot and drop 10 to 15 at night

[SnakeyJay]

personally i use aspen for my corn, and he loves burrowing in it... its not dusty at all so it keeps the corns from gettin breathing infections as theyve only got 1 functioning lung. x

[Lankyrob]

Our royal has a hot end of 90-93 and the corns a hot end of 86, may be worth bumping them up a bit.

I Think it was you posting about humidity for the royal too? Bumping the heat up may help with humidity too as it will evaporate more water.

[DeesBalls]

i too use aspen for my corns... and my ball, but my corns absolutly love burrowing in it.. you can see all their little tunnels.. lol

[SnakeyJay]

yeh mine too, he leaves loads of tunnels everyhere... wierdly he likes to sit n watch tv with me at night lol x

[Reptile_Reptile]

hmm i check out aspen bedding then. i just use newspaper as substrate because its cheap and easy to clean and im worried about RI's

[infernalis]

This may sound peculiar, but I simply love reptile bark. I can empty out all the cages, put the bedding on a screen, pick out the feces, then run a scalding hot shower over it all.

Then I put it in a deep dish baking tray and put it in the oven for about 15 minutes at 400 degrees. The steam rolls out of the oven vents, and when I take the bedding out, I have a whole new batch of fresh bark.

When you have as many cages as we do, this is very economical compared to buying a half a truckload of bedding at a time.

Snakes can burrow in it, it holds humidity well and with the ability to recycle it a few times, super cheap too.

[Reptile_Reptile]

This may sound peculiar, but I simply love reptile bark. I can empty out all the cages, put the bedding on a screen, pick out the feces, then run a scalding hot shower over it all.

Then I put it in a deep dish baking tray and put it in the oven for about 15 minutes at 400 degrees. The steam rolls out of the oven vents, and when I take the bedding out, I have a whole new batch of fresh bark.

When you have as many cages as we do, this is very economical compared to buying a half a truckload of bedding at a time.

Snakes can burrow in it, it holds humidity well and with the ability to recycle it a few times, super cheap too. how can i get this stuff?

[Freebody]

This may sound peculiar, but I simply love reptile bark. I can empty out all the cages, put the bedding on a screen, pick out the feces, then run a scalding hot shower over it all.

Then I put it in a deep dish baking tray and put it in the oven for about 15 minutes at 400 degrees. The steam rolls out of the oven vents, and when I take the bedding out, I have a whole new batch of fresh bark.

When you have as many cages as we do, this is very economical compared to buying a half a truckload of bedding at a time.

Snakes can burrow in it, it holds humidity well and with the ability to recycle it a few times, super cheap too.
after all this time and now you share this idea LOL i think i might try that, bark hold humidity way better, the only reason i dont is becuase it costs an arm and a leg, if i try that it would be cost effective.:) you can pick this up at pretty much any pet shop. in different sized bark peices as well.

[Aaron_S]

I highly recommend getting rid of the fish cages. There's plenty of plastic enclosures for snakes. That will help with your temps. You also need to bump up your heat on your animals. A second hiding spot for the corn is also needed.

[Lankyrob]

We use repti bark too for all our snakes and the lizards. Thankfully we have a deal with our reptile shop where we can buy trade size bags at just slightly over trade price.

[marvelfreak]

how can i get this stuff?
Pet smart sells it. Where i live their almost $8.00 to $10.00 cheaper than any of the other pet store around here. plus doing like wayne said you only have to change it completely every 6 monthes. It tells on the bag how to clean it. Even if i don't spray every other day with reptile bark my humitidiy stays 65% or above.

[Reptile_Reptile]

I highly recommend getting rid of the fish cages. There's plenty of plastic enclosures for snakes. That will help with your temps. You also need to bump up your heat on your animals. A second hiding spot for the corn is also needed.
ive recently added a heating pad for a second hotspot and im not going to change the tank to plastic when this glass works just fine

[shaunyboy]

ive recently added a heating pad for a second hotspot and im not going to change the tank to plastic when this glass works just fine


you have miss read arrons post mate

he said second HIDING SPOT not heat spot

you only need one heat spot in a tank mate

you must always have heat guards if its ceramic or light emmiting bulbs your using to heat your set ups.

not giving you a hard time just pointing out there is no need for 2 hot spots

also you need guards if you havent already got them

all the best shaun

[Aaron_S]

can you give me ideas to help me make my snakes setup more comfortable/sophisticated....

So this first one one is asking for ideas and such to better help yourself and not your animals. I see now.

...im not going to change the tank to plastic when this glass works just fine

Really? Does the glass actually work since your temps are far below where they should be? I don't consider that working for the animal, only working for you. Maybe you should replace the reptiles with fish if you wish to keep using tanks. You asked for advice but I see now that you don't really want any.

[Freebody]

How to build 4x2 enclosure for $100 - Redtailboa.net (http://www.redtailboa.net/forums/how-tos-tutorials/28742-how-build-4x2-enclosure-100-a.html) no one is out to give you a hard time so you should not get so upset when we say something, that said, fish tanks are for fish, i was told the same thing when i started out and i didnt like it but i went out and got new cages and all is doing great. beside with that fish tank you have you can get a sweet turtle or somthing lol thats putting a positive spin on things eh lol

[Reptile_Reptile]

why would a fish tank not work fine my temps all match up and humidity holds fine. and that lovely 100$ build is still to much i spent my last 300 on they're current setups (i recently upgraded)

WOA WOA WOA ok my bad i read the thread front to back and i understand whats being said i just didnt get it my bad. why is plastic better then glass? fyi tho still no need to be rude

[Freebody]

the humidity is real hard to hold in a fish tank, you need to mist constantly to keep it up, with the open top your heat escapes easy and its much harder to keep the temp, with the cage i linked 1 large water bowl in their and as long as you dont live in real dry climate you will most likley never have to mist and your heat will stay much more constant with less power bulbs or cords. its a much better idea. if i was yu i would use what you got and save up $100 and build one. dont forget when you go to a glass shop ask them for scraps it usually will be much cheeper than having it cut off a full size peice, i use 1/4 inch plexi glass for my cages. and turtles would not work well in that tank, 10 gallons per 1' turtle you get is the rule of thumb :P

[infernalis]

how can i get this stuff?


Pet shops sell it..

http://www.reptiles.swelluk.com/img/shop/original/zoo-med_repti-bark.jpg

http://pet.imageg.net/graphics/product_images/pPETS-3758909t400.jpg

[Freebody]

you said you mix those 2 right? how much 50/50?

[Reptile_Reptile]

and how do you need to mix it like mulch it up? or just like stir it around?

[Freebody]

i would imagine mixing it dry straight out of the bag, them when its in the cage just spray it with water.

[Reptile_Reptile]

i think im going to do that for my BP and go for some aspen for my corn since everybody says they just love it

[infernalis]

and how do you need to mix it like mulch it up? or just like stir it around?


The first step is to put one of those bricks in a bucket of water. I do it sparingly and add a little water at a time.

The bricks are made by using a hydraulic press to squeeze several quarts of substrate into a small light and easy to ship brick. The water releases the fibers and the brick will expand into a big heap of wet coconut hair.

Be really careful that the brick is sitting where it has room to expand. It was compressed with tons of pressure, and it will expand right into the walls of your container and push on it with similar force.

I deformed a pail with one once, it expanded right into the walls., just make sure the brick is oriented correctly, it should expand up not out.

Then I dump in the bark (an 8 quart bag) and stir this all together. Let it sit in a big poly tote (rub) for a while and the wetness will absorb into the bark, then the overall result is a tad wet but not quite sopping.

Put that on the bottom of the cage and you will have a humid cage for a while. when it starts looking dry in there, just mist it down.

If you are really strapped for cash........

I found that this washes decently, just be careful not to plug up the drain.

The smaller particles will just pass as cloudy brown water, that's no big deal, a few hunks of bark stuck down in a drain sucks. (Been there done that)

[Reptile_Reptile]

hmm interesting

[infernalis]

Saves me a fortune, My garter snakes eat 3-4 times a week, so they poop constantly.

I remember once I ordered in this huge freaking box of substrates, it was huge, almost 100 dollars worth of bedding. I did all my cages and no kidding I ran out.

So washing it out may be a pain, but I could never afford to buy truckloads of bedding all the time.

[Reptile_Reptile]

lol newspaper is cheap and i bet the sunday edition would be enough for all your charges

[SnakeyJay]

unfortunately all the reptile bark around here is real dusty soo its really not suitable for corns that burrow... ive tried just usind all the bigger bits but it just crumbles on me lol x