There's no accounting for taste!

[guidofatherof5]

I try to give my Radixs the good things in life. The best food. Spacious homes. When it came to hides I spared no expense. I purchased two(A and B) wonderful hides from a local pet supply store. When I saw them I thought my little ones would greatly appriciate my purchase. Instead it was met with total distain. They would check them out but refused to stay in them. I then gave them back the horrible looking pre-molded cardboard hides(C) I had been using. They love these things for some odd reason. They will stack themselves inside 4 or 5 tall. If I remove the hide they come out stacked up.
I've always wanted my kids to live a better life then mine. I didn't want them to live in a cardboard box the way I did(just joking). I guess there's no accounting for taste.
http://www.thamnophis.com/thamphotos/data//500/medium/taste.jpg

[reptile3]

That is so cute.... it's like buying a toy for your kid, instead of playing with the toy, they enjoy the BOX it came in more.:rolleyes:

[count dewclaw]

:D It may just take a little time for them to adjust to the life of luxury. :D

[Snake lover 3-25]

lol that's funny...... you know what yould be a cute pic???? ;)



If I remove the hide they come out stacked up.

[aSnakeLovinBabe]

I have this problem 100%!!!! I have a lot of the expensive pet store hides that I just kind of accumulated over the years... but I also regularly grab cardboard materials from the store. I like them because they are disposable, not to mention free. There are these molded cardboard triangle things that come in when fish tank stands are shipped to us, and they are there to protect the corners inside the box..... my snakes LOVE those things!!! We also once had these fancy cat food displays that were assembed with big, exceptionally thick and sturdy silver cardboard tubing. When we were done with them I took all the tube parts and sawed (yes they required a saw and even that was tough) then into pieces. My snakes will use that kind of stuff before the expensive ones any day!!! I expeirience similar findings when I lift up one with multiple snakes, You look in the cage, there are no snakes, then you lift up the cardboard and there is a pile of snakes molded in the shape of the inside of the cardboard!!!

[ssssnakeluvr]

I keep all my butter tubs and sour cream containers....turn them over and cut a hole in it....the snakes love it!!!!! I wouldn't know anything about playing with boxes...:rolleyes:

[Loren]

Yeah, the petstore hides look nice, but I prefer dirt cheap since I have so many cages. Some of mine are cardboard, others are disposable black plastic bowls.

[guidofatherof5]

With 5 children shoe boxes are a plenty. My larger Radixs love them. I'm done with spending money on store hides. I get it now, my kids(Radixs) are trying to teach me recycling.

[Snake lover 3-25]

lol too funny steve!!!:D

[Seere121]

When It comes to hides I usually go with whatever is at hand, and get something nice when I can afford it. I recently got my garters a nice exo-terra small hide cave and 2 of em love it. The other hides out under the 50 cent granite tile thats leaning up against the hide bowl.

[Lori P]

Steve, I used some of those same cardboard hides this year and the snakes LOVE THEM!!!!! I've also given them to the mice and rats and they have a ball, darting out the different hoes and climbing on them. I need to find out how to get more of them... hmm, maybe a computer store would give them to me...

[drache]

I always thought they'd like low flat hides best, and I provide them that, so I think it's kind of funny to pick up a regular flowerpot hide and see this little ziggurat of garters has filled the thing to capacity

[anji1971]

That's the part I like the best. When you lift a hide and find a nicely molded pile of snakes. When my big girls do that, I can pick all three up together and they remain in their big old lump. Always makes me laugh!

[bkhuff1s]

Maybe it has something to do with the fact that ceramic materials would be cooler to the touch, while cardboard would be warmer (at least it makes since to me). Which might explain why our cold blooded friends would prefer them

[infernalis]

These little ones prefer Styrofoam cup bottoms..

http://www.dekayi.info/3/DKcup.jpg

[Sid]

My experience has been that if it is dark on the inside the better they like it, regardlee of whether it's "store bought" or something re-cycled.

[aSnakeLovinBabe]

Maybe it has something to do with the fact that ceramic materials would be cooler to the touch, while cardboard would be warmer (at least it makes since to me). Which might explain why our cold blooded friends would prefer them

Ceramic materials and metals feel cooler to the touch to us because we are warm blooded and we give off heat. Much like when you walk from the carpet to the hardwood, and the hardwood feels cooler, even though they are the same temperature, it is because the hardwood instantly begins conducting heat away from your body, whereas the carpet does the opposite and insulates, reflecting it back to your body. Since snakes do not give off their own body heat. There is nothing for an insulatory material to reflect back, and nothing for a conductive material to steal away, therefore to a snake, they will feel the same!

[GarterNovice]

My ribbon Sku seems to really love coconut hides. As for Stu, my Keelback, I placed some rocks against a vine from walmart to keep it upright and he really enjoys wrapping himself around and underneath them while he sleeps. In fact he's doing that right now. Unfortunately for me he's using the pinky I was trying to feed him as a pillow at the moment. Oh well. Have to try again tomorrow.

[infernalis]

OK Shannon, Food for thought time.

Snakes (all cold blooded animals) rely on external heat sources to regulate their body temperature. Hence basking lamps and ground heat.

Now the snake moves to a thermally conductive surface, the heat energy that the animal just stored will get "pulled away" and since the snake cannot generate it's own heat to replace the loss, it will chill the animal itself down.

So in conclusion, a cold blooded creature such as a snake will be drawn to an insulation source to help it retain the heat it had to "gather" previously.

Since they cannot burn calories to generate their own warmth such as we do, they will try even harder to avoid any contact with a thermally conductive surface, unless it is warmer than they are.

Try this experiment, take a cold metal object (a spoon or fork for example) and press it between your hands for ten minutes, the object will warm up, since it draws away heat from you.

You will re-generate that heat via your own metabolism, and all that will happen is you will have a warm object.

Now measure the temperature of a snake right after it's morning bask, then place the snake on a cold metal object, the temperature of the snake will go down, while the object will not get all that much warmer, since the snake is not generating it's own heat.

Now the snake must return to it's basking to bring it's temperature back up to it's comfort zone.

[aSnakeLovinBabe]

this is very true, as the body of a snake is conductive in nature, but it still would not feel the same to them as it does to us, and heat does not store in their bodies for very long at all. When you pick up a warm snake, even in our hands, their temperature drops very quickly. The insulatory effect of a cardboard hide would help a little, but not a whole lot.

[reptile3]

That's a Dekayi right? Wow it was like he was posing for the pic!! How cute is that!


These little ones prefer Styrofoam cup bottoms..

http://www.dekayi.info/3/DKcup.jpg

[infernalis]

Yep, one of this years babies...

[guidofatherof5]

I see it's been awhile since this thread was active.

Many of you probably saw the helicopter I bought for my radixes to use as a cold hide.
They checked it out and gave it a thumbs down.
I replaced it with a cardboard box and they started using it right away. Little jerks.
Just goes to show what I think is cool isn't what they think is cool or acceptable.:D

[ProXimuS]

Thats hilarious!! They are like children :p I've bought Proximus a couple new things and he still pretty much just stays in his favorite hide with his head sticking out...I've been wanting to see him explore his new stuff, but he doesn't seem very interested..

[guidofatherof5]

My crew wants cardboard. I think they are "green" snakes:D

[ProXimuS]

Steve is creating environmentally conscious radixes:D

[kueluck]

So it appears that snakes love cardboard items. So are there any nice looking items on the market?
There ya go……..another million dollar idea.