A little nervous....

[Skittles1101]

I'm leaving Tuesday morning to Florida for vacation until the 27th. My mom likes my snakes, not scared of them or anything, but she's a little nervous of dealing with them alone (I've always been right there...and always hand them to her) and her nervousness is making me nervous lol. She's a little weary of my boa too, ever since I told her he's the only one that has bit me (the only time he has was the first day I had him....). I typed up a little sheet for her, she really just has to check temps and clean any poo or pee she finds...I've just seen horror stories of people coming home from vacation and something going terribly wrong

If you never kept a snake before and only knew their "general" care, would this make sense to you? She's going to come over tomorrow morning and I'm going to show her everything, but I wanted her to have the sheet just in case.


"-Temps with the gun should read between 88-92.
-To read with the gun, point it perpendicular about two inches above the ground and hold the button down. You can move it to different area to read an overall temp. The temperature in the top right corner is the highest read temp, and the large temperature reading in the center is the last read temp.

How to adjust the thermostats:
The one on Julius’ tank:
Hold the “set” button until the digits blink. Adjust using the up and down arrows. Hit set once after you adjust to where you need it. Repeat for the boa’s thermostat…they are the same ones.

The one with the drawers in the kitchen:
To adjust temps (you shouldn’t have to unless it’s getting too hot or cold in my house….) you hold down the (-) button until it allows you to adjust. Adjust up or down as needed, then leave it alone, it should automatically set after about 5 seconds.

The big clunky one on the floor next to the metal rack (in Jake’s playroom):

(this is blank...I'm going to write it in because I honestly can't remember how to adjust temps with the Johnsons and I'm at work...lol)


If you ever see them out during the day, please call me. They should be hiding unless it’s night. Also if you see a white “poo” looking ball, don’t freak out it’s normal. Just clean it up, there will be urine around or under it.
To spot clean the tank and the tubs, I just pick up the spot and the aspen around it with a paper towel. If it’s really messy you can wipe it down with a wipe just makes sure it’s completely dry before adding any more aspen. Plastic bags are under my sink "

Am I missing any vital info? My ACs are set on timers to keep the apartment from frying since it's supposed to be really hot next week. I'm going to leave her the timer set paper it came with in case it starts getting too hot or cold and she needs to adjust it. I am also feeding them tomorrow night so she won't have to do that either.

[JLC]

Do you frequently have to adjust your thermostats? Once I get mine set up, I rarely ever have to touch it. That just seems like an awful lot of confusing information for such an unlikely event. You're only going to be gone for five days. It also won't hurt a snake to be out and about during the day...mine come out during the day sometimes. It doesn't mean anything, but insisting on being called while in the middle of vacation makes it seem very ominous. Not a way to help calm a nervous helper.

Just have her check for poo and pee and leave it at that.

Relax and enjoy. These guys aren't THAT fragile.

[Skittles1101]

No I never have to adjust the thermostats. Occasionally for Julius who's in a tank, but the others I never do...I just figured I'd leave her the info in case she needs to. I think your right though...I might be making this seem a lot harder than it is (for her).

Edit: and the only ones I ever see "out" during the day are the ones in my RBI rack....Julius and my boa and the one that's in a tub are NEVER out during the day...so them being out would probably mean something is wrong.

[Skiploder]

We go through this every time we go on vacation. It would be easier if we could take our vacations in the late fall and winter, but my job requires me to be 30 minutes from work between November 15 and April 15 so the summers are our vacation. I'd much rather yank the kids out of school during the winter than leave during the heat of the summer, but oh well.

Even though the rational part of me knows that 99% of the time, my daily routine with the snakes consists of checking ambient temps and spot cleaning, and that if I fast them before I leave the cleaning part ceases to be an issue - I always feel a twinge of anxiety anytime we leave town.

We have one girl who house sits for us so that we don't have to kennel the dogs and cats. She knows the drill with the thermostats and checking the temps in the snake house (we have a temperature readout in the main house). She knows the reboot sequences for all of the settings, etc.

In case of something a little more difficult, she has our vet's and her main tech's home phone numbers.

I usually clean every cage the week before we go on vacation and stop feeding around the same time. Any paired up species are split up and all water bowls are filled to the rim.

Still, I run out to the building the minute we get home to make sure everyone is all right. I always worry about a long power outage or an equipment malfunction hitting when we are gone.

If you keep it simple and make sure she knows to call you the minute something isn't right it should all go well. That and if you can put them on a little fast before you leave, it removes one more potential issue from the list.

[msoprano]

Seems pretty thorough to me. I'm sure they'll be just fine, so enjoy your vacation. What beach are you going to?

[yovan54]

Enjoy your vacation. It's beautiful down here

[Skittles1101]

Thanks everyone, I am very anxious and excited. My mom came by this morning and I gave her the tour and showed her where everything is. She's fairly comfortable with the snakes, minus the boa lol...but I showed her a trick so he feels more comfortable about being held if she needs to move him. She knows to call me if she has any issues. I will be staying in the St. Pete area for a while, visiting Orlando where my sister lives and Port St. Lucie where I have some other family, so I'll be bouncing around quite a bit. I'm excited! I'll try and get on here when I can, but if I can't everyone have a great week

[ballpythonluvr]

I'm sure everything will be fine. Try to relax and have a great time!

[Skittles1101]

Just wanted to let everyone know I am back, I had a BLAST! And I came home to seemingly happy snakes. My mom kept me updated and even sent me a picture of her holding my mojave...she labelled it "the others all were like 'eh...leave me alone I'm sleeping', but this one is very interactive and curious when I took him out...he's so cute!" lol. She's warmed up to them, she handled them every other day or so, and only had to clean some poo while I was gone lol. I had fun, and my snakes are all happy One is in blue and my boa shed, probably the morning I came back.

[ballpythonluvr]

Just wanted to let everyone know I am back, I had a BLAST! And I came home to seemingly happy snakes. My mom kept me updated and even sent me a picture of her holding my mojave...she labelled it "the others all were like 'eh...leave me alone I'm sleeping', but this one is very interactive and curious when I took him out...he's so cute!" lol. She's warmed up to them, she handled them every other day or so, and only had to clean some poo while I was gone lol. I had fun, and my snakes are all happy One is in blue and my boa shed, probably the morning I came back.

Welcome back! I'm so glad that you had a great time. See, your snakes were in great hands!