Questions from a newbie

[tHeGiNo]

Why I brought my first snake home and have all these reptiles? Because I have a love for the beautiful creatures, and I understand that I am very privilaged to be given the opportunity to care for them and respect their individualities between species. They are an awesome learning tool, and often give me something to do in my spare time.

Also, I do donate to fundations for animals such as the one you mentioned. Me keeping reptiles has nothing to do with being selfish. I know they are not going to be sent back to the wild, and I know they will be in good care for me. In most cases, they will be better off with me then from where they came from.I therefore take this privilage to full advantage. Again, it is a privilage to own these animals, thats why we should never put what is best for us before what is best for them.

[Soul_Reaper]

DAMN!!! This thread became huge...why are you guys so f*cking stressed out about the rubbermaid and 50gal. discussion thing?

FACT: I bought my BP about 7 months ago at The Reptile Store in Hamilton - ON. I already have a Female Charcoal Corn snake, i've had it for about a year and a half now and she started out on a 40gal. tank. And so did my BP, yes you heard me right i bought another one for her and guess what?

Seven months later, my BP eats like a beast, moves around a lot and sheds perfectly. Of course, i have to myst the tank and place wet towels and such regularly but really...i hear people talk about maintenance and all...it's a piece of cake. The only think you have to worry about is the humidity, besides that...nothing.

I think that most people here think that EVERYONE in the community wants to have 50 breeding snakes in the house and that space is always a problem. NOT ME, i don't want 50 snakes, i love them but i don't want them. I have more things to do, i work, i play in a band, i design websites and i WOULD NOT have time to take care of 50 snakes.

Besides, a well arranged 40gal. looks WAY BETTER than a plastic box bought at Wal Mart. I think that a well placed Aquarium with backgrounds and such enhance the snakes beauty by a mile, and it makes for a beautiful house ornament.

The tanks take more work, TRUE. But that doesn't mean that you're gonna waste the rest of your life on it, maybe an extra 15 minutes as opposed to a Rubbermaid box, i don't believe that 15 minutes will really kill anyone.

Cheers.

[maiden_canada]

soul reaper, alot of ''newbies'' aren't commited to that extra 5minutes a day putting damp towels and everything in the cage to keep the humidity up. also you're runnig a risk starting a baby ball in a 40gallon, it could possibly get stressed that might lead to other problems

[Invictus]

I'm personally sick to death about all this horsesh*t about a BP getting stressed out in a big tank. I've never heard anything more ridiculous in my life. If a BP is in its hide box, it is not even the slightest bit aware of how big its enclosure is. All it cares about is its IMMEDIATE environment - the hide box! If they cared at all about anything outside their little hidey hole, they would be extinct in the wild. What they are not aware of does not stress them out, end of story.

[marisa]

Then why do almost all BP breeders and written authors advocate a small enclosure? Could it possibly be because wild Bp's live in burrows underground and spend literally 90% of their time there? Maybe.

Not saying it cant work but everyone isn't stupid and all these huge BP breeders aren't just tossing out ideas for no reason, its backed up by their natural behaviour. Although I am sure Favelle could explain this better than I by far.
Marisa

[Soul_Reaper]

Originally posted by maiden_canada
soul reaper, alot of ''newbies'' aren't commited to that extra 5minutes a day putting damp towels and everything in the cage to keep the humidity up. also you're runnig a risk starting a baby ball in a 40gallon, it could possibly get stressed that might lead to other problems

I agree with you. But first, when i bought my BP seven months ago she was two months old already, so right now she's almost a year old, which it makes her not really a "baby" but an infant of some sort. She's quite used to the tank and she seems to be in perfect health condition, i play drums and the drumset stays in my room. So i have to move her, the other snake and my Iguanas to separate containers upstairs 3 times a week just so the noise won't drive them nuts (those containers happen to be smaller Rubbermaids with soil and waterdishes), and they stay there for more than two hours everytime i jam. At first i thought they would stress up because of the constant changing of temperatures and become vicious but it hasn't happened. They are absolutely co-operative and have never hissed at me. Actually, my BP has only hissed at me once when i first got her, only because when i reached my hand to pick her up i accidentally poked her head without looking, and that kinda pissed her off. But besides this one time, she has been a total sweetheart.

As for Vengeance, he deliberatelly said that HE WOULD TAKE ALL THE PROPER CARE required for the snake, i guess that includes giving the tank extra mysting and everything else. He also seemed honest about it, if he didn't give a sh*t i don't think he would even bother asking anyone about it in the first place.

I'm just trying to say that i do agree with you guys that having a tank requires extra care, but i also believe that a 40gal. tank shouldn't be associated with the demise of the snake, it just requires more care like i said. That's all.

[Vengeance]

*beats dead horse*

But as a side note I did get allot of helpful information from this thread.

Thanks guys!

[Tigergenesis]

Glad to hear it Vengeance - I'd be happy to hear what you end up doing and how it all goes.

Kelly

[Vengeance]

Well as an update I started to work on tempatures. I've gotten the basking point to 91.3 on average and am currently testing the rest of the enclourse. Right now I'm testing under a branch which has some fake foliage hanging down and is pretty close to the basking spot, the Temp is staying steady at 84.4, after 24 hours I'm going to test the cooler side of the tank and make sure that the temps are holding on that side. After I have all the temps right I'm going to start work on the hummidity.

[maiden_canada]

what are you talking about ''basking spot''? when i hear that i think of heat lamps, you should NOT be using any sort of lamp that gives off heat. use a UTH only. another reason why rubbermaids are better...the heat doesn't go shooting through the roof

[Vengeance]

Maiden

Just love the generic unhelpful responses, thanks again. Why is an under the tank heater necessary and why are lights not supposed to be used? If both can produce the same temperatures why is one better then the other?

Also just as a side note, are you a spokesperson for Rubbermaid? I mean do you get like profit sharing for every person you sell a Rubbermaid too? When you sleep do people complain that they hear you muttering Rubbermaid as you sleep? Or is it that you have some weird form of Tourette's(sp?) where you randomly have to burst out Rubbermaid? Because I don't think there is a thread where you don't mention the word Rubbermaid.

[maiden_canada]

holy cow, do you NOT LISTEN AT ALL? seriously learn how to learn. basking lights are for lizards and monitors NOT snakes. you obviously haven't researched enough to properly care for a snake properly. how about you do some more research plz. and actually all of my responses that were directed to your first question, should have been very helpful if you knew how to read and use your brain

[maiden_canada]

( im not angry just using caps to get point across ok thx.) and yes i am sponsored by rubbermaid but my manager is down in california working out a deal with sterilite right now so we'll see i might not be for long

[foman]

You can use a light to warm the cage(but use a UTH too),and the warm spot can be called a basking spot.
Don't listen to Maiden he just got his first snake 3 months ago so now he's an expert, the guy is rude and not very informed, so just do what I do and don't listen to him, listen to someone who knows what they are talkin about, cause it's clear the guy is full of hot air.

[maiden_canada]

lol foman its funny how i just said pretty much exactly what jeff favelle told me a couple weeks ago....is he a noob too? just because im new to snakes doesn't mean i don't know anything. for all you know i could research snakes 10hours a day. sometimes i just sit here and laugh at the dumb comments people say