Snabitat Build

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Originally Posted by ROSIEonFIRE

Oh also I’ve been thinking about enrichment and wondering if snakes like/use hamster wheels or anything like that. People used to put these spinning disks that were like a hamster wheel turned on its side in their tats, I thought a snake might enjoy something like that.

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I think you're going to have to adjust your expectations regarding how playful your BP will be. BPs sleep about 90% of the time. Occasionally, you may catch your snake reposition himself. You may even see him glass surf for a few minutes. That's it. The most active you'll see him is when you are handling him.

By all means, provide him with branches and vines to help him move about his enclosure. Give him different textures to touch; different smells to experience. Give him ledges. Move all the stuff around occasionally, so he has something to think about. Just don't expect a hamster. A BP is the opposite of a hamster.

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Originally Posted by Homebody

I think you're going to have to adjust your expectations regarding how playful your BP will be. BPs sleep about 90% of the time. Occasionally, you may catch your snake reposition himself. You may even see him glass surf for a few minutes. That's it. The most active you'll see him is when you are handling him.

By all means, provide him with branches and vines to help him move about his enclosure. Give him different textures to touch; different smells to experience. Give him ledges. Move all the stuff around occasionally, so he has something to think about. Just don't expect a hamster. A BP is the opposite of a hamster.

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I hear you. For the record although this is my first snake this is far from my first reptile/exotic pet. But one thing I’ve found over and over again is that animals will surprise you. I prefer to provide options for my animals and if they want to use enrichment items they can and if not they don’t. It will be interesting to see what they like to interact with though.

Snabitat 2.0! The cabinet came and it looks great. As a side note, this cabinet is actually just their 4x2x2 enclosure with solid doors. You could just throw some acrylic in there and make it an enclosure. It’s basically identical to the enclosure but it doesn’t have a top. While I had him out to move the tat, I figured I’d jeuje it up a little bit, although my main goal was to provide more cover for him and more hides. I think it’s a big improvement in terms of snake privacy and appearance! Now that the cabinet is all set up and I have some cover in there for him I’ll probably wait until he’s had one or two feeds per community wisdom before I upgrade to snabitat 3.0. But I’m def gonna start getting the pieces together! BTW the magnet logs were definitely a bust lol.

Does anyone have any recommendations about some supplemental day time lighting? Right now I have a DHP and a CHE set up plus heat mats. I’d like to get some supplemental day time lighting, primarily so I can see the tat better.https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/202...98eebc6572.jpg

Oh also, do you guys think he will be able to climb up this hanging plants? I figured not but my paranoid snarent brain is forcing me to ask.


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So right now the inside of his preferred hot hide is holding steady at 83*, the top of the hot hide (aka basking) is 93*, and the cool side is 75*. I have read a bunch of different care sheets from good sources and they often differ a bit about optimum temps. I feel like I’m in the right range. I also have some hides in the middle of the tat so he can really optimize his temp. What do you guys think of these temps? Also, the previous owner reported that these are essentially the temps she was keeping him at and I feel like I should be trying to match what he’s used to.

Re: feeding, the previous owner reported that she was feeding him every other week. Everything I’ve read says feeds should be every week. He seems to be in good condition, I still need to weigh him but just by eyeballing it his body condition seems good to me. Do you think I should stick with the previous owners schedule? When should I offer the first feed? He ate about a week ago.


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Originally Posted by ROSIEonFIRE

Oh also, do you guys think he will be able to climb up this hanging plants? I figured not but my paranoid snarent brain is forcing me to ask.

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I don't think he will. I think he will test them out, realize that they won't support his weight, and leave them be.

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Originally Posted by ROSIEonFIRE

So right now the inside of his preferred hot hide is holding steady at 83*, the top of the hot hide (aka basking) is 93*, and the cool side is 75*. I have read a bunch of different care sheets from good sources and they often differ a bit about optimum temps. I feel like I’m in the right range. I also have some hides in the middle of the tat so he can really optimize his temp. What do you guys think of these temps? Also, the previous owner reported that these are essentially the temps she was keeping him at and I feel like I should be trying to match what he’s used to.

Re: feeding, the previous owner reported that she was feeding him every other week. Everything I’ve read says feeds should be every week. He seems to be in good condition, I still need to weigh him but just by eyeballing it his body condition seems good to me. Do you think I should stick with the previous owners schedule? When should I offer the first feed? He ate about a week ago.

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Those temps are acceptable, on the cool side. Watch that they don't dip.

As for feeding, what are you feeding him? What size?

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Originally Posted by ROSIEonFIRE

Snabitat 2.0! The cabinet came and it looks great. As a side note, this cabinet is actually just their 4x2x2 enclosure with solid doors. You could just throw some acrylic in there and make it an enclosure. It’s basically identical to the enclosure but it doesn’t have a top. While I had him out to move the tat, I figured I’d jeuje it up a little bit, although my main goal was to provide more cover for him and more hides. I think it’s a big improvement in terms of snake privacy and appearance! Now that the cabinet is all set up and I have some cover in there for him I’ll probably wait until he’s had one or two feeds per community wisdom before I upgrade to snabitat 3.0. But I’m def gonna start getting the pieces together! BTW the magnet logs were definitely a bust lol.

Does anyone have any recommendations about some supplemental day time lighting? Right now I have a DHP and a CHE set up plus heat mats. I’d like to get some supplemental day time lighting, primarily so I can see the tat better.https://ball-pythons.net/forums/cach...98eebc6572.jpg

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Looks great. That cabinet's going to be a very convenient place to keep your supplies. I'm a little envious.

Another addition for you to consider, a camera. I mentioned, previously, that your snake isn't going to be very active. When he is active, he'll be most active at night. A timelapse camera will allow you to capture this activity. That it has a timelapse feature is important. You don't want to have to search through hours of video. In the linked video, I can review 8 hours of activity in 1 minute. It also needs to be able to film in the dark. They are not expensive either.

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Originally Posted by Homebody

Looks great. That cabinet's going to be a very convenient place to keep your supplies. I'm a little envious.

Another addition for you to consider, a camera. I mentioned, previously, that your snake isn't going to be very active. When he is active, he'll be most active at night. A timelapse camera will allow you to capture this activity. That it has a timelapse feature is important. You don't want to have to search through hours of video. In the linked video, I can review 8 hours of activity in 1 minute. It also needs to be able to film in the dark. They are not expensive either.

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Ooh a camera is a great idea! Add that to the shopping list lol


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Quote:

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Originally Posted by ROSIEonFIRE

So right now the inside of his preferred hot hide is holding steady at 83*, the top of the hot hide (aka basking) is 93*, and the cool side is 75*. I have read a bunch of different care sheets from good sources and they often differ a bit about optimum temps. I feel like I’m in the right range. I also have some hides in the middle of the tat so he can really optimize his temp. What do you guys think of these temps? Also, the previous owner reported that these are essentially the temps she was keeping him at and I feel like I should be trying to match what he’s used to.

Re: feeding, the previous owner reported that she was feeding him every other week. Everything I’ve read says feeds should be every week. He seems to be in good condition, I still need to weigh him but just by eyeballing it his body condition seems good to me. Do you think I should stick with the previous owners schedule? When should I offer the first feed? He ate about a week ago.


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You can fine tune the temps by noting where the snake spends his time. If he's always in the preferred hot hide, that may mean that it is a little too cool in there and he's not reaching his preferred body temp -- so that might be a clue to bump the temp up in that hide a couple degrees (without, of course, raising the temp too much on top of it). Snakes apparently choose their locations -- their microhabitat of the moment -- on many factors, some of which might make no sense to us, so don't assume that just because there's some warmer spot available that the snake doesn't "want" some spot to be warmer.

Feeding frequency depends a lot on how large a prey item is being fed -- twice as large means roughly half as often. I prefer to feed a prey item that's on the small side compared to other keepers. Feeding frequency also depends on whether the snake is indicating it is hungry -- if it isn't in feeding mode, I'll usually not offer food (ball pythons are much easier in this regard than are other snakes, since BPs will act differently if they're ready for food vs when they're not).