new snake owner w/ LOTS o' questions

[mrsmiawllc]

Hi all,

We are a new snake owning family. We adopted two 5 month old rat snakes. They came in a regular ol' glass aquarium with aspen shavings for substrate, a hiding rock, a water bowl, pinkies, and the previous owner provided her heating, which is just an old heating pad she placed under the tank.

I've been poking around your forums all night but have a couple of follow up questions.........

1) They are about a foot long each. We fed them 1 day pinkies last night which they both just GOBBLED right up in less than a minute. The previous owners fed them weekly and I'm thinking maybe for now we need to feed them more like every 4-5 days? Thoughts?

2) On that note, one of them did the funniest thing.....after he ate, I went to put him back in his regular cage (yes, now after reading I don't think we're going to transfer for meals anymore) and he put his nose right on my finger and then opened up his mouth.....kind of like a bite in slo mo. Then when he was back in his enclosure, he did the same thing to himself. From reading, it sounds like he was just in feeding mode and acting a little crazy?

3) So, I'm thinking we probably should just feed in their main home, but I see lots of people worrying about getting substrate on the food. What happens if they ingest that? I've seen a lot of other forums that state things to the effect of "they get dirt on their food in the wild, they can handle it" which kind of makes sense to me. But tell me why/if I should really be worried about substrate on food for these guys.

4) Side note on that, it looks like if we DO move them to eat, the good idea would be to leave them in the feeding enclosure for a few hours, yes? Not move them right away??

5) BETTER HEATING! Clearly, we need that. What to use for now while we get settled and start looking into better enclosures?


Thanks........I'm sure I'll have more questions over time. But, by way of introduction, here are my starters. I've already learned a lot here, looking forward to learning more!

[Rattlehead]

1) Depends on the size of the mice given. For the age of the snakes, 10 to 15% of the body weight every 5-7 days it's ok.

2) Yes, on feeding mode they are brave creatures lol. They'll try to eat a lot, but as long as they eat the correct rations, you shouldn't feed more items. You don't want to overfeed.

3) I use paper towels and put the mice there. Sometimes they grab the mouse and drag it all around, but if you have your temps ok, they'll be able to digest some aspen without complications.

4) Feed in their tank. Don't stress both you and the snakes.

5) if the heating pad is located in one of the sides and provides enough basking heat and you dont have problem giving proper 'ambient' temperature, it should be ok. Remember to ALWAYS use a termostat for the heat pad.

Good luck! Keep us posted

[mrsmiawllc]

Originally Posted by Rattlehead

5) if the heating pad is located in one of the sides and provides enough basking heat and you dont have problem giving proper 'ambient' temperature, it should be ok. Remember to ALWAYS use a termostat for the heat pad.

Good luck! Keep us posted

I got a thermometer for the tank and the ambient temp is less than 70, but the floor temp where the pad is stays roughly at about 80. We still have probably two months of cool mornings here in CA, and we don't keep our house very warm so I worry they will be too cold. They are pretty active, though.

[EL Ziggy]

Welcome and best wishes. Aaron (Rattlehead) said it perfectly. Feed them in their enclosures. I also use the same feeding regiment for my snakes and agree that any heat source should be controlled by a thermostat. Post pics of your critters and set ups when you can.

[Minkness]

I have a question.

You mentioned that you git 2 snakes but 1 heating pad. Are both snakes in the same enclosure?