Enclosure Don'ts

[guidofatherof5]

Bump.

[guidofatherof5]

Don't ever say to yourself or out loud "I don't think they can get out there" Trust me, they can and will.
Better to go overboard with security then feel bad about not doing enough. Many of us know that feeling all too well.

[BLUESIRTALIS]

That is awful! Out of all my years of keeping snakes I have never seen anything like that. I have had baby kings eat their sheds before. I leave my female sheds in the cage during mating season so I guess i'll have to start breaking them in to small pieces.

Notice the snake's head is crammed into the tail of the shed, proving the snake completed shedding, then crawled back inside the skin in reverse prior to passing away. Pity too, it was a nice caramel coloured albino radix.

[Eddie]

I've keep female sheds in the enclosure during breeding many many times. I've even taken fresh sheds from one enclosure to another to spark male interest. I will start cutting them.
Good thread Steve!

[jwolfe152]

Instead of cutting into small rings would it not be better to just split it say from a mouth corner to the tail...or is that what you guys meant to begin with? Because i couldn't see how size, shape, or condition would make a difference to the interested parties, because isn't it just the hormones on the shed they are interested in?

[BLUESIRTALIS]

Yes we would cut it so that it was a flat shed instead of like a tube.

Instead of cutting into small rings would it not be better to just split it say from a mouth corner to the tail...or is that what you guys meant to begin with? Because i couldn't see how size, shape, or condition would make a difference to the interested parties, because isn't it just the hormones on the shed they are interested in?

[ConcinusMan]

disregard this post

[ConcinusMan]

isn't it just the hormones on the shed they are interested in?

pheromones. "The female sex attractiveness pheromone of the Canadian red-sided garter snake, Thamnophis sirtalis parietalis, consists of a novel series of nonvolatile saturated and monounsaturated long-chain methyl ketones which are volatile in nature "

[joeysgreen]

The amount of information a gartersnake can get from a single tongue flick is mesmerizing. They can tell if another snake has been there, if it's the same species, it's size/age, gender, reproductive status... There was a good talk on a study regarding this done in Manitoba presented at the last World Congress on Herpetology. If I can find the details I"ll post them.

[ConcinusMan]

Don't use UV lights on zilla slidelock tanks. The plastic is not UV shielded and within a year it becomes brittle and the tabs crumble leaving a hole for snakes to escape. Snakes don't need UV anyway.

Still in the process of trying to figure out who makes them but a WA state person makes slide top tanks in any size and configuration that don't have the problems the zilla tanks have. The frame around the screen is metal so it won't melt and there's no locking tabs to break. Also they can make any custom size or configuration. Theyre great. They have everything that's good about the zilla tankes, and none of the problems. Much better construction and cheaper than zilla slide top tanks. When i figure out who makes them I'll let you know.