Getting into reptiles and snakes!

Hello all,

I'm a 37 y/o professional guy who is just now getting fascinated by snakes and other reptiles. I don't own any yet as I want to make sure I have all the supplies and everything starts out as good as possible.
The only problem I foresee is where I live. When I'm not working, I live in Mexico (on the border) in a small house with no insulation. In the winter it gets down to mid 60s inside but in the summer (still even now) it can get to the 100s even with the door and window open. I'm wondering how I would modulate this for reptiles. We don't have a cooler/ac because we always say that it's only hot like that in the summer sometimes and then it starts to cool down in Oct. (So far it hasn't.) My concern is, any ideas on how to make this suitable for snakes/reptiles? As they are cold-blooded animals, I realize that ambient temp spikes/drops can't be the best thing for them. Any species that tolerate it more than others? My first reptile I've decided will be a corn snake or king snake.
Thanks all!

Z

Your best bet with ambient temps like that would be a bearded dragon or other heat loving reptile. I don't know of many snakes that would last long with 100 degree heat for an extended amount of time.

No worries, snakes survive in Mexico don't they in their natural environment? :). One of my favorite species of snake is from your 'environment'.....Tarahumara Mountain Kingsnakes.

If I didn't have temperature control, my first thought would be to keep something native to my area. You could offer sun, shade and a subsurface retreat into the cooler ground....custom built outdoor enclosure. (check out these outdoor enclosures in south california....http://geroldandcindymerkerreptiles.com/our-facility/)

My second route would be to find species comparable with my native environment. If I had the Mexican environment....I would definately be keeping monitors in big ol' outdoor enclosures :)

http://hillherp.com/wp-content/uploa...ection-003.jpg

I should clarify that I'm not in deep Mexico, my weather is San Diego weather. That being said, it does get hot. I love the Tarahumara Mountain Kingsnake! I like all the tricolor Kingsnakes and wonder if they would be better than getting a Nelson's or Mexican milk snake. I like how the mountain kingsnakes tend to have the white banding instead of yellow that milk snakes have. I just don't know which are more handleable or if the difference is negligible.

I am not really a fan of bearded dragons. It just seems like they'd be complicated to take care of even though many say they're not. I think it boils down to me investing in a method of cooling the house in the summer with an evaporative cooler or a/c. I'm going to be investing in the care of my animals so in order to keep the species I would like, I will have to moderate the temp of the house.

Thanks all!

Z

Snakes hide in the shade all day. Other than the morning when they sun themselves I find it hard to believe you'd find a montane species like that Kingsnake in 100 degree ambient tempuratures. Even if they end up in the hot weather for a while its not going to be for 12 hours a day.

Also aren't the Merkers out door cages for lizards?

We have a baby Mexican Kingsnake and a baby milk snake, and there's very little difference in handling. They move differently, but it's a kind of subtle thing, which may be personality differences or species differences.


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Originally Posted by ZSThomp

Hello all,

I'm a 37 y/o professional guy who is just now getting fascinated by snakes and other reptiles. I don't own any yet as I want to make sure I have all the supplies and everything starts out as good as possible.
The only problem I foresee is where I live. When I'm not working, I live in Mexico (on the border) in a small house with no insulation. In the winter it gets down to mid 60s inside but in the summer (still even now) it can get to the 100s even with the door and window open. I'm wondering how I would modulate this for reptiles. We don't have a cooler/ac because we always say that it's only hot like that in the summer sometimes and then it starts to cool down in Oct. (So far it hasn't.) My concern is, any ideas on how to make this suitable for snakes/reptiles? As they are cold-blooded animals, I realize that ambient temp spikes/drops can't be the best thing for them. Any species that tolerate it more than others? My first reptile I've decided will be a corn snake or king snake.
Thanks all!

Z

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What is the temp of your floor? I expect you can do this, but you might need to be a bit creative, and also vigilant about checking temps. Just a wrung out towel set underneath the cage might provide sufficient evaporative cooling.

I live in SD so same weather here, now my house is climate controlled, during power outages the temps in our hose hit the low 90s. All my cages are either PVC or in the case of my tegu a heavily insulated wood cage. They seem to hold stable temp pretty well. All that being said another snake option would be any of the antaresia species (ex childrens python). They are from Australia and like a nice warm environment with a hot basking spot.

I get similar hot streaks and usually can keep my room down to below 80 with good airflow. One of the keys is having a large exhaust fan in one window and another intake fan somewhere that creates good airflow through the room. Even when it's 110 degrees outside, my room stays below 90 (even being upstairs). If it gets worse than that, I can take my cages downstairs to my living room which is the coolest room in the house, never getting above 70 or so (only has two walls to the outside).

Other than that, just invest in a good thermostat (like a Herpstat) to keep the cage temp under control and you will be fine.

Thanks all for your responses. It's getting cooler here now so I won't have to worry too much about it but in the future I think I will have to do the evaporative cooler/ac method, just to be sure. Thanks again!

Z