Can you buy in?

[Black Hills Reptiles]

Last week I listened to a podcast with Terry the curator of reptiles at reptile gardens. He keeps his snakes different than any care sheet and I just want everybody's opinion on this.

He says. First off take the ambient temperature keep that. Drop the hot spot completely and forget about the word humidity. Snakes don't need to thermoregulate in captivity because we as keepers can make there core body temp perfect (80 degrees). Mind you this is how he keeps GTPS breeds them and perfect sheds every time. Any thoughts????????

[M.P.C]

Actually makes sense since they only thermoregulate because of changing temps in the natural enviroment, in captivity theres no need for them to chase temps, ive actually thought about this cause neither of my snakes really use the cool side of the tank outside of when they do a lap around the tank, if they are just sitting out its always on the hot side... looking forward to reading all the replies on this one

[Eric Alan]

There are many experienced keepers that don't give their collections hot/cool sides without issue. It's all about knowing your animals and having the experience to react properly if something is off. For inexperienced folks, the snakes tend to know more about what they need better than their people do, which is likely why temperature zones get recommended most often. It's not a "wrong or right" thing by any means.

[dr del]

There are many ways of keeping the various species - but a huge amount of the success you will have with it relies directly on your level of knowledge and observational skills.

I suspect in both areas his skill is high.

I commend you for thinking of taking the time to raise your skills to the same level - I think it is something we should all try and achieve.

[Black Hills Reptiles]

Just want to throw a few more things out there. Don't change your husbandry very quickly. Another thing is I'm not asking for advice on this just want to know what everyone thinks about this.

[bcr229]

I think I'd rather give my snakes a temperature range and let them figure out where they want to be, with the caveat that I keep a variety of species with a wide range of temperature and humidity requirements, so keeping them all at a constant 80*F or 82*F or 85*F would mean that somebody isn't going to be very happy.

Plus, doing so would mean putting in separate HVAC for my snake room since right now it's controlled by the house temperature. If I had a separate building on my property that would make a big difference.

[Jhill001]

IDK, I'd imagine some species would have a different "perfect" core temp. I know stuff like diamond pythons, rubber boas and some Asian rat snakes die when kept at too high of heat. I think that it's quite interesting.

Also why are we forgetting the word humidity. Do you have a link to this pod cast?

[Black Hills Reptiles]

I'll get it for you soon.. for example gtps all the care sheets say you need to spray them and keep the humidity up. He doesn't because at 80 degrees a snake can do everything they need to do I'll get that long later tonight

[Black Hills Reptiles]

http://www.blogtalkradio.com/morelia...ything-morelia

[jclaiborne]

The temp thing I guess I can understand, a lot of people have had success with having the ambients stable and not utilizing a hot spot, but I still prefer to provide a range for my animals. (I haven't listened to the podcast, as I am at work) but from how you are wording it, it sounds like he is saying 80 degrees ambient no matter what the species, if that is the case I disagree with that. You can't make a catch all blanket statement like that. The humidity statement I would disagree with as well. What is the ambient humidity in the room he is keeping them in? I could understand if the humidity in that room is high overall and he is saying there is no need for supplimental spray downs, because spray downs generally don't have long term boosts on hummidity. On my lizard cages I have a deep substrate layer that I water maybe once a week, thin substrate (wood chips, etc can't hold the moisture like deep natural soil can for longer periods) but to say there is no need to monitor humidity or boost it if it is low, I do not buy into. Certain species require certain humidity levels, some if it is too high can get RI, some if too low can get RI, with Lizards if they require a high humidity and don't have access to it they can get dehydrated which can lead to a lot of issues down the road, IMO it isn't just about a perfect shed.