Some snake questions!

[BCollie]

Also, I placed my order for my snake last night! I feel that I'm ready & prepared. He will hopefully be here on Tuesday.

[EL Ziggy]

Originally Posted by BCollie

Also, I placed my order for my snake last night! I feel that I'm ready & prepared. He will hopefully be here on Tuesday.

Best wishes with your new king. I believe you'll really like him. They're easy to keep, awesome feeders, and most of the ones I know have really good temperaments. Make sure you have a safe heat source, water bowl, hides on both the cool and warm sides of your enclosure, and a good thermostat to control your temps. Ambient humidity is fine for kings. I usually mist their tanks or add a moist hide during shed. That's pretty much all you need to get started. I'd also add a few more fake plants and cover 3 sides of the tank for added privacy and security. I couldn't see the top of your enclosure. Is it escape proof? Snakes are notorious escape artists. You don't want to leave them any openings. Best wishes and post pics when you can

[sharthun]

Originally Posted by BCollie

Good idea! I want one of these...
http://www.amazon.com/Hydrofarm-MTPR...pr_product_top

Great thermostat for the money. I ordered my last two here from the source that Drumcrush found:

Hydrofarm MTPRTC Digital Heat Mat Temperature Controller 6" at EssentialHardware.com

[BCollie]

Originally Posted by EL-Ziggy

Best wishes with your new king. I believe you'll really like him. They're easy to keep, awesome feeders, and most of the ones I know have really good temperaments. Make sure you have a safe heat source, water bowl, hides on both the cool and warm sides of your enclosure, and a good thermostat to control your temps. Ambient humidity is fine for kings. I usually mist their tanks or add a moist hide during shed. That's pretty much all you need to get started. I'd also add a few more fake plants and cover 3 sides of the tank for added privacy and security. I couldn't see the top of your enclosure. Is it escape proof? Snakes are notorious escape artists. You don't want to leave them any openings. Best wishes and post pics when you can

Thanks so much! I'll post pictures when I get him, I plan on doing a VERY fast photoshoot so that you guys can tell me what body condition he's in and if he looks healthy. Then I'll leave him alone for a couple weeks.
I believe the top is escape-proof, it is a screen cover with an aquarium light on top of it. I don't think he'll be getting out! But I'd like to buy some locking screen clips, I'll have to stop by the pet store and get some. How do they work?
The only reason I did not cover the sides of the tank is because it's in a place where he will see no activity. It's in the stand of my 100 gallon aquarium, so technically it is covered on all 4 sides. He can't see anything but walls.

Originally Posted by sharthun

Great thermostat for the money. I ordered my last two here from the source that Drumcrush found:

Hydrofarm MTPRTC Digital Heat Mat Temperature Controller 6" at EssentialHardware.com

I'll check it out, thanks!

[BCollie]

Mister snakey's tank and fake plants are currently being soaked in a very hot bleach bath, it's full of water/a ton of bleach, and the plants, which wanted to float, are being held down with forks lol

[EL Ziggy]

The water to bleach ratio should be 10 parts water to 1 part bleach. Make sure you rinse everything with clean hot water after bleaching and let it dry thoroughly. I'd definitely add the locking clips to the top if it's not the slide in locking screen top.

[BCollie]

Originally Posted by EL-Ziggy

The water to bleach ratio should be 10 parts water to 1 part bleach. Make sure you rinse everything with clean hot water after bleaching and let it dry thoroughly. I'd definitely add the locking clips to the top if it's not the slide in locking screen top.

I'll be sure to rinse really well. Usually when I bleach tanks, fish are going in after, so I'm a master at getting bleach rinsed off.
I'll stop by Petsmart tomorrow after school and see if I can find some locking clips for the tank. I'm turning in an essay tomorrow for my English 1A class, so she just collects the essays then lets us go. Yay, early day!
The tank is draining now, then I'm going to rise it out well, towel dry it, and put everything back in. It will then have at least a day to set and dry out all the way before my snake gets here.
Now I need to think of a name for him!

[BCollie]

Here is his hopefully permanent enclosure. I was hoping to paint the stand black and buy a 40 gallon Breeder tank, but the dimensions aren't right for my stand.



Unfortunately, it has really stubborn hard water stains on it


And I can't get them off. I've soaked it in vinegar for 20+ minutes then scrubbed really hard with a paper towel, and that got off MOST of the hard water stains but not all. I really don't want to use this tank unless I can get the hard water stains off, as his permanent enclosure is something that's going to be in my room, AKA something I'm going to be looking at every day. I might just try to find a tank+stand on Craigslist but that's a lot of money. Sigh. I'm not sure what to do. I can't get the hard water stains off and they drive me nuts.

[toddnbecka]

Hard water deposits around the top of the plastic trim? The tank looks identical to the old 38 gallon I'm setting up for my incoming pair of yearling boas this week. Some really fine sandpaper (300-400 grit) would do it, or a coarse plastic pot scrubber.
I picked up some clips for the screen top on my 55, took them back because they were too weak on the tension to hold much in the tank. Babies would be fine, but a decent size snake would be able to push right through. I found a new item called Tera Tie Down on Amazon, put 2 on the 55 and ordered 2 more for the 38. Much more secure than the new style screen clips, and the new style locking clips I looked at are just ridiculously overpriced.

[BCollie]

Originally Posted by toddnbecka

Hard water deposits around the top of the plastic trim? The tank looks identical to the old 38 gallon I'm setting up for my incoming pair of yearling boas this week. Some really fine sandpaper (300-400 grit) would do it, or a coarse plastic pot scrubber.
I picked up some clips for the screen top on my 55, took them back because they were too weak on the tension to hold much in the tank. Babies would be fine, but a decent size snake would be able to push right through. I found a new item called Tera Tie Down on Amazon, put 2 on the 55 and ordered 2 more for the 38. Much more secure than the new style screen clips, and the new style locking clips I looked at are just ridiculously overpriced.

Tera Tie Down...I'm going to have to remember that. I just looked them up. What a genius idea, and so simple.

Wouldn't sand paper scratch the glass tank?

[BCollie]

Here it is...his enclosure. All done!

[toddnbecka]

Ah, now I make sense of the 2nd pic. Hard water stains on the glass, use a tough plastic pot scrubber pad with water or a single edged razor blade.

[EL Ziggy]

Do you have hides for your enclosure? You'll need at least two. One on the cool side and one on the warm side of the tank.

[BCollie]

Originally Posted by toddnbecka

Ah, now I make sense of the 2nd pic. Hard water stains on the glass, use a tough plastic pot scrubber pad with water or a single edged razor blade.

Good idea on the razor blade, I used to do that to get off algae in my tanks. I'll give it a try!

Originally Posted by EL-Ziggy

Do you have hides for your enclosure? You'll need at least two. One on the cool side and one on the warm side of the tank.

I do - I have toilet paper tubes on both sides, along with crumpled up newspaper and dense fake plants.

[EL Ziggy]

Toilet paper tubes aren't the most secure hides IMO because they have openings on both ends. The paper towels and plants are more for cover than actual hiding. You can make free hides out of boxes or small plastic containers. I also like these hides from Reptile Basics.
Reptile Hide Boxes from Reptile Basics