Good book recommendations?

[Charis]

Well I got the one I was waiting for by David Perlowin. I don't know what year this one was printed, the ISBN is: 1882770269. Was the newer one titled the same? Anyway, my opinion of the book is that it's a decent general care guide, would be very good for a total newbe to snakes but wasn't quite as in depth as I could have wished. Overall though, for what I wanted it for I'm fairly pleased with it.

[MichaelSmith]

Well, I got the more recent Perlowin book (2005) and am puzzled and disappointed. Maybe I'm being picky.

In a couple of places he says that UV lighting may be of benefit because Natricines tend to bask. The book suggests that UV may be useful for the health of the snake. It would be nice if it said most garter/watersnake keepers keep them without UV lights and the snakes remain quite healthy. It would seem to be true that UV is optional, and any benefits at this point are pretty speculative.

The book makes a blanket statement that wild garters, water snakes, and ribbon snakes eat earthworms and insects (along with fish and frogs). Of course, a number of garter species (but not all) take earthworms - but insects?? Perhaps there are some records of these snakes eating insects, but I haven't come across it - and the data summarized in Rossman, Ford & Seigel does not report insects being taken. Accepting insects seems very unlikely particularly for ribbon snakes and water snakes. It would have been easy for the wording to reflect that different species may have somewhat different diets, with some being more opportunistic and others being more specialized for fish and/or frogs.

Additionally, he mentions goldfish multiple times as feeder fish, while I've seen several references to goldfish as being high in thiaminase. Puzzling.

The book says that the later generation of hot rocks have better temperature control and can be used carefully. Hmmm.

The species notes on black-neck garters was of particular interest since I have some field experience with them, have kept them on and off for a number of years, and bred them multiple times. The book says they "readily" accept fish fillet, but this species seems to be mostly an amphibian specialist in the wild and mine have only sometimes accepted fish. It also says that hibernation is a "must" for 3 or 4 months. I've never hibernated mine, and they've stayed healthy and have bred. Perhaps hibernation would be good for them, but in my experience it hardly seems to be a "must."

I'd be interested in others' reactions. I've picked out the parts that I'm puzzled by, but of course there's quite a bite of the book that is very good.

[Stefan-A]

In a couple of places he says that UV lighting may be of benefit because Natricines tend to bask. The book suggests that UV may be useful for the health of the snake. It would be nice if it said most garter/watersnake keepers keep them without UV lights and the snakes remain quite healthy. It would seem to be true that UV is optional, and any benefits at this point are pretty speculative.

UVB is necessary for the synthesis of D3. However, the snake itself doesn't necessarily need to be exposed to it, if it can get D3 through its food. Fatty fish, for example, is a good source.

Additionally, he mentions goldfish multiple times as feeder fish, while I've seen several references to goldfish as being high in thiaminase. Puzzling.

Seems to me that they simply parroted advice handed to them, which isn't really surprising, when the author is not specialized in the species he is writing about. This also applies to other things you brought up.

The book says that the later generation of hot rocks have better temperature control and can be used carefully. Hmmm.

The reverse seems to have happened here. I suspect that they were in fact relatively unsafe once upon a time, but I don't see any reason why that would have to be the case these days.