anyone lived in a RV/car with their snakes?

[snakesinavan]

I'm planning on living in a cargo van with my snakes pretty soon, so I've been doing a lot of research on how to make them comfortable, but I cant really find anyone who's actually done it themselves before. If you've lived in an RV or car with your snakes before, please reply with your experience!

[Scubadiver59]

No advice here, but keeping the temperature regulated when the van's not running--i.e. keeping it warm when it's cold outside; and vice versa, keeping it cold when it's hot outside would be a challenge unless you're parked at an RV lot with continuous power.

[snakesinavan]

Originally Posted by Scubadiver59

No advice here, but keeping the temperature regulated when the van's not running--i.e. keeping it warm when it's cold outside; and vice versa, keeping it cold when it's hot outside would be a challenge unless you're parked at an RV lot with continuous power.

I'm going to insulate the inside of the van, and put solar panels on the top to hook up heating pads and lamps to. fortunately corn and king snakes dont need as warm temps and arent as picky about them, but obviously it's still a concern

[jjhill001]

Originally Posted by snakesinavan

I'm going to insulate the inside of the van, and put solar panels on the top to hook up heating pads and lamps to. fortunately corn and king snakes dont need as warm temps and arent as picky about them, but obviously it's still a concern

Idk what state you live in but a car can get obnoxiously hot even in 60-70 degree weather. I would highly recommend you find someone to care for your snakes while you go on this adventure.

[SerpentineDream]

Originally Posted by jjhill001

Idk what state you live in but a car can get obnoxiously hot even in 60-70 degree weather. I would highly recommend you find someone to care for your snakes while you go on this adventure.

This. I'd be most concerned about them overheating, even in mild weather. It only takes a few minutes of excessive heat to kill a snake.

[TRD]

I'm with the "You can't control the temperature in a car" folks

[snakesinavan]

Damn. I would want to live in a colder place anyway just for my own comfort, but yeah you're right, cars do overheat really quickly. of course I will rehome them if I have to, but I'm trying to look at all the options and see if I can find a way to keep them comfortable. I've read about a few people who travel with their snakes (there's a blog called havesnakeswilltravel, and they live full time in an rv and travel with their reptiles to do educational shows) but none of the people I've seen talk at all about what their setups.

[akane]

RVs are easily made to heat and cool 24/7 running or not and hooked to power or not with batteries or generators so you can travel and maintain temp when resting even between RV parks. Although usually the temp is not maintained in as narrow of range as a house could be but gas and emptying the waste tank at approved places is all they need to run constantly. You can modify a van and it's been done for those that show dogs or similar because often they can't bring their entire show stock into the hotel but the prebuilt space is not there. An RV has areas underneath and above with the water and electrical needs or even a generator fitted to the back adding length so the living space is not taken up and you need to vent things like that properly. We had to hook up and unhook all the wiring and lines under the floor and outside bottom edge access panels every fall and spring to winterize because unless specially designed even batteries freeze here when not in use for a few days much less water. Some use livestock trailers instead to make up the lack of space a van has by the time you put living quarters, animals, and environmental control needs in there. Prebuilt or DIY of another vehicle it's not cheap to do right and either more up front or more ongoing depending what method you use. Cooling takes a lot of power for solar. I can't even separately cool a small room with 3-4 small heat lamps (20gallon-30gallon tanks) and a few small daylight fluorescent strips running when it gets to 90F without tripping the circuit breaker. If everything happens to click on at once... poof...

[pet_snake_78]

I'm going to say hard no on the car/van, not sure on the RV. Is there any particular reason you would choose this style of housing over other low cost alternatives?

[pet_snake_78]

I read a book by Bill Love recently where he had a traveling herp exhibit. You might ask him how he did it. It sounded like maybe some kind of RV type rig