Hermes' Diary...

[EasternGirl]

Thanks...he's out and about now exploring his viv...I'm not watching him tonight...letting him have his space .

[katach]

Good plan!

[EasternGirl]

So...Hermes was out and exploring when I woke up around 8am this morning....interesting for my little nocturnal buddy..perhaps the pinky piece he ate last night gave him some confidence! I may have ruined that for him though because I took him out to show him to my sister-in-law. Maybe not though...because I took him out last night when I got him ready to feed and he still was out and very active all night. Perhaps he is starting to come around...

Since I am new to albinos...exactly how much to I have to protect him from light? I mean...obviously, I am not putting any kind of UV light directly on him...but how much do I have to protect him from the regular lights in my house and sunlight coming in windows?

[chris-uk]

I wouldn't have any snake in direct sublight through a window, glass in the viv acts as a greenhouse and you won't be able to control the temperature gradient properly. There shouldn't be any danger from your normal house lights. Our albino checkered is more active in the evenings when it's dimmer, but we still see her out and about plenty during the day. I think it's just a case of Hermes coming around, keep giving him time and you'll start seeing more of him soon.

[EasternGirl]

Right...I mean, I don't have him in a window or anything like that...but should I worry about sun coming in the windows in the room that he is in? Should I worry about walking past windows when I have him out? How much light can he safely be exposed to?

[chris-uk]

He's not a vampire, so he's not going to burn to a crisp if sunlight falls on him. If he's not in direct sunlight he'll be fine, if the room is south-facing with big windows it may get bright for him in the summer, but I'd be surprised if your room was bright enough to do him any harm.
I'd say you'd get an idea as to whether bright light bothers him by walking him past a window, if it hurts his eyes you'd see him turn away or react in some way. I've stood with Binky in my hand next to our front door, it's not all clear glass but it's translucent and lets a lot of light into the hallway. I've not seen Binky react to the bright light. And thinking about sunlight, a lot of UV is blocked by glass, not all of it though so I think that although Hermes could burn his skin through a glass window it's going to take some time, so you'd have to be really careless to let it him burn (and everyone around here knows that isn't going to happen).

Just to add, I was downstairs a few minutes ago, with the sun shining into the hallway and Binky was happily slithering around in the bright hall. She's in a viv about 4m up the hall, so no direct light, but white walls and light flooring mean the hallway is bright when the sun is in the right direction. We also have a 60W ceiling light in the hall and she's not bothered by that in the evenings.

[EasternGirl]

Thanks Chris...this is all very helpful! So far when I have walked through the house with him I have not seen him react in any way to the light. These are all great things for me to know with this new little guy.

[EasternGirl]

Hermes has been out and about in his enclosure a lot the last couple of days. I think he is finally getting comfortable here. He spends most of his time basking under the red light in a little fake bush he seems to like. Last night he was slithering all around the tank. I offered him some more food...just in case he was looking for some...I made him a mixture of pinky, salmon, and reptomin (Wayne's garter goulash) but he didn't seem to want any. I just hope that he is going over to the water dish and drinking at night. I tried to put him in his water dish yesterday and he got mad at me and made a little hissing sound...it was very cute. This may be a dumb question but would there be any chance that a young snake would not know to go to the water dish or not look for it in a big tank? I'm being a silly over-protective mom aren't I?

[guidofatherof5]

If very young I would say that's a legit concern.
As long as the dish is low to the ground it shouldn't be an issue.
Tossing (gently placing them) them in the water dish from time to time is acceptable.
I do that when they look like they could use a wash.

[EasternGirl]

So...do you think it is possible that he hasn't been drinking water then?