New Room, New Snake Arrangements

[Rogue628]

Melissa, none of my animals are in rack systems...all are in clear tubs. Only a couple of them have hides and that's only because those actually use them. I took the hides out of the others tubs because they rarely used them. Most times I'd find them laying on top of them and not in them. My big girls are all in the same size tubs and they're all lined up against a wall. Their hot end is on that side as well. I bought a blanket to throw over that end and it encompasses all 4 tubs. Since they don't use hides, this gives them a dark area. Their cooler end is uncovered. And they still thermoregulate.

One thing I noticed and almost had an issue with when the ones that were using their hides when they were younger didn't thermoregulate much. A couple of my girls actually started looking a little pink on their belly scales because they stayed in their hides and would never come off the heat. When they did, they'd lay on top of their hides. With the blanket across them, they now have a sort of hide area and they thermoregulate more.

I thought of using the blanket when I realized that alot of people were keeping their animals in bins and weren't using hides. When the bin is closed, it gives them a dark area that probably gives them a feeling it's a safe area. When they move to the cooler end, it's still not as bright, even though we can still see inside and light can still get in. So the blanket kind of works the same way, although I don't cover their tubs completely, as their lids are colored and no much light can get in from the top.

I'm not saying this is an appropriate or perfect set up but it works for me and my animals do well this way. Once I get the Christmas Tree totes, I'm going to attempt to stack them. I think it's Chuck that has some of them on a shelf he's turned upside down (I think it's him...or it's Kyle...I don't remember who posted the pic a while back). Anyway, I've got to figure out how to do place the blanket since they'll be stacked....or by smaller blankets for each.

As far as the puppy pads...I use newspaper and it gets changed almost on a daily basis. The only time I use the pads is when I know noone will be here for at least a day to check on them. This way if they pee or flip over their water bowl (which a couple of them love to do), the pads will absorb the liquid so my girls won't be laying on damp newspapers until I get a chance to change them. I couldn't see using them everyday. That would get expensive! But if I knew of a way I could get similar padding much cheaper than puppy pads, I'd definitely use it!