Areas you'd like to improve upon/explore within your husbandry and collections?

Came across this great blog by Scott Borden the other day and made me think a bit more in depth about my approaches to keeping and how I've changed over the years, as well as what I'd still like to be better at.

https://medium.com/@morelialife33/to...1-84523abb8bd1

Maximizing my useable enclosure space while also diversifying the range of micro climates within that space is something that interests me and I'd like to explore more fully. Different varieties of hides, perching, heat/cool options, means of providing humidity, tactile sensory enrichment... These are many of the ways I'm considering tapping into these areas of improvement/change/etc. Humid hides that can also act as a perching shelf on top, cork bark hides that also provide some interesting textures for the animals, sky hides mounted under shelves and on ceilings.

Another consideration I'm making is how to do all of these things in a way that is also efficient and easy to manage and clean on a day to day basis. Storage totes as hides with holes cut in the side so animals can be removed for enclosure cleanings without having to disturb them unnecessarily is an idea I picked up from listening to Morelia Python Radio. I've actually done a variation on that with Thai takeout containers in two of my Morelia enclosures currently and I must say, it's a very nice feature once the animals decide to use them. My Rockhampton coastal carpet likes to perch on top of hers and uses the hide feature of it from time to time as well. My female Brisbane coastal carpet has recently decided to use hers as a hide and spends much of her time in there. She's also pretty shy so that makes it much easier to remove her for enclosure maintenance without stressing her.

Temperature stratification and using heat transfer to my benefit is something else I want to make better use of in my room. Cooler climate critters near the bottom of enclosure stacks, using heat transferred from lower enclosure's heat panels to the enclosures above them. Using that transferred heat to reduce the amount of power needed for heating elements in enclosures higher in the stack. Ordered a bunch of new enclosures today with this exact concept in mind.

What are some things that y'all might be considering exploring in greater detail or from a different angle this year? Curious to see how other folks' gears are turning in this regard. Cheers!

This year I hope to get some new enclosures in too and will have to rearrange my stacks. I didn't overly consider heat transfer either and have some cooler animals and cages without RHPs up top that should be at the bottom or middle of the stack. My other main goal is to do more enrichment, I want to do some sort of cage/area with climbing spots and textures to be able to put the snakes in while I'm cleaning or for exercise. Find some different hides for the cages so I can swap those around and more options for burrowing and soaking for the short tails.

I want to get larger enclosures for my scrub and olive pythons, add some arboreal hides for my carpets, and upgrade to a couple of Herpstat 6 thermostats.

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Originally Posted by jmcrook

Another consideration I'm making is how to do all of these things in a way that is also efficient and easy to manage and clean on a day to day basis. Storage totes as hides with holes cut in the side so animals can be removed for enclosure cleanings without having to disturb them unnecessarily is an idea I picked up from listening to Morelia Python Radio. I've actually done a variation on that with Thai takeout containers in two of my Morelia enclosures currently and I must say, it's a very nice feature once the animals decide to use them.

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This is something I never thought about, but would love to be able to remove hide and snake for cleaning, instead of pulling a hide off the top of a sleeping BP and then having to grab him before cleaning. Plus it's a cheaper option then ordering pre-made hides and you can customize them to fit whatever you need.

My BIG goal for this year, is getting my guy in his T10 when it gets here. Ordered back in September so I'm hoping I'm getting close. I picked up a Herpstat 2, and plan on running the T10 with it's installed Proheat RHP for a week or so before transferring him over. My hope is, with the heat and humidity retention, my husbandry overall will not only be better, but easier to maintain than my current glass set up.

I'm also excited to be transitioning to a proportional thermostat vs. the Jump Start on/off set ups that I've been using. I'm also going to take the enclosure upgrade as an opportunity to try out a new substrate, just to see what works well and what I can use long term.

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Originally Posted by EL-Ziggy

I want to get larger enclosures for my scrub and olive pythons, add some arboreal hides for my carpets, and upgrade to a couple of Herpstat 6 thermostats.

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Same. I want to make 6x6x6 cube enclosures for my retic and scrub.

Also my snapping turtles dirty their water within 15 minutes of cleaning it, so i want to get them setup on the water line for constant cycling of fresh water.

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Originally Posted by wnateg

Same. I want to make 6x6x6 cube enclosures for my retic and scrub.

Also my snapping turtles dirty their water within 15 minutes of cleaning it, so i want to get them setup on the water line for constant cycling of fresh water.

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Interesting dimensions. Any reason why you’d like this size over a 4x8’ footprint? You may be able to make fewer cuts and maximize use of standard board sheet sizes. I’m sure they would both make good use of spacious and tall enclosures


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Originally Posted by jmcrook

Interesting dimensions. Any reason why you’d like this size over a 4x8’ footprint? You may be able to make fewer cuts and maximize use of standard board sheet sizes. I’m sure they would both make good use of spacious and tall enclosures


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The dimensions are not set in stone, but it's to use up as much of the reptile room wall as possible. The 6' width for the 12' wall and the 6' height so I can stand in it, but the depth has some flexibility.

One big thing I'd definitely like to improve on is seasonal husbandry. I more or less stumbled through the seasons this year and could have prepped the boas for their winter turn-down better. At the very least, this is more or less the case for the Sonoran (who's from a higher latitude/more seasonal locale) than the longicauda (who's more or less equatorial and seems to be doing pretty well right now). Currently in the process of drafting up a seasonal feeding, photoperiod, and heat-period schedule so I have something more definite to stick to.

I'd also like to improve upon the enrichment I offer the boas, particularly now that I know both of them better. The longi likes to perch and hide, so I'm planning on getting him a couple of different perching and hide options and switching them out throughout the year. The Sonoran's a bit trickier. She hasn't really responded to any of the "toys" I've given her yet, but she seems to enjoy time out of her enclosure, particularly when she gets to climb any "tree"-shaped things and watch TV (the moving images and sounds seem to satisfy the wallflower aspects of her personality). I've already re-arranged her cork so she has a ledge to sit on by her favorite enclosure door (ie. the one from which she can most easily watch the room, the TV, and I), and she seems to appreciate it. (Her pushing also stopped when I did so. Coincidence? Probably not.) Next on the list is to get her some branches/grapevines/what-have-you for some new perching and climbing options, and maybe a fake plant or two to spruce up her enclosure.

The longi's due for an enclosure upgrade, so there's also that to plan for. There are definitely things I'd like to do differently this time around. First off, I'd like to have the RHP be more of a auxiliary/ambient heat source, instead of a primary/basking heat source. For the latter, I'd prefer to have either a DHP or a halogen bulb for a few hours a day (think peak basking times in the wild). Secondly, I'd like to have a small strips of display LEDs installed and use those as the primary photoperiod lights, with the UV-B light only coming on during basking hours. This would simulate more intense sunlight around peak basking times. An enclosure like this has a lot of moving parts, but I think it would be a very enriching environment if done properly.

Finally, I'd like to continue avoiding reptile impulse purchases and grow my little snake pit in a controlled manner. I've actually done pretty well on this front so far and would like to continue that trend. At this point, things will go one of two ways: either I'll build boa pairs, or I'll get a carpet. Either way, I'll be putting a lid on things for a while afterword. Three/four snakes of the sizes I have is my maximum "easy pet load" capacity, and I'm not quite sure I'd like things to move beyond that right now.

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Originally Posted by Hugsplox

This is something I never thought about, but would love to be able to remove hide and snake for cleaning, instead of pulling a hide off the top of a sleeping BP and then having to grab him before cleaning. Plus it's a cheaper option then ordering pre-made hides and you can customize them to fit whatever you need.

My BIG goal for this year, is getting my guy in his T10 when it gets here. Ordered back in September so I'm hoping I'm getting close. I picked up a Herpstat 2, and plan on running the T10 with it's installed Proheat RHP for a week or so before transferring him over. My hope is, with the heat and humidity retention, my husbandry overall will not only be better, but easier to maintain than my current glass set up.

I'm also excited to be transitioning to a proportional thermostat vs. the Jump Start on/off set ups that I've been using. I'm also going to take the enclosure upgrade as an opportunity to try out a new substrate, just to see what works well and what I can use long term.

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You're going to really enjoy that T10 and herpstat. Most definitely easier to maintain than glass in my experience.

What I've found so far is that shorter enclosures are easier to dial in initially with RHP but can have a more dramatic gradient depending on the room temp. Fiddling with my 2' tall cages I can get the temps I want but the hot spot is on top of the shelf at 93-94 and the entire floor area is in the 83-79 range. Not terrible really, and I've been toying with the idea of more of an ambient temp overall with some micro climates within that. We'll see how it goes. My thinking is that they can handle a little cooler temps better than too warm of temps so I'm erring on the side of cooler.

The puzzle is never complete here and I keep adding pieces to the damn thing so who knows if it will ever come together. If the critters are thriving and I'm learning then I don't see too much of an issue really.

Sometime this year I'm going to get a T8 for my ball python. He's not quite big enough yet but he's growing steadily and the makeshift enclosure I concocted out of a 30 gallon fish tank has been proving to be a real pain in the neck maintenance-wise. For now though I'm ironically right in the middle of an ambitious aquarium project (125 gallon that I'm almost entirely overhauling to begin a live planted system, the tank itself is over the double the size of any aquarium I've worked with before) so snake stuff has to be put on the back burner for the time being.

Though, given how infamously long they take to ship (I know they take a while but Hugplox's having been ordered back in Sep and still not having arrived, geez) I might have to consider putting money down for one sooner than I planned...

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Originally Posted by WrongPython

One big thing I'd definitely like to improve on is seasonal husbandry. I more or less stumbled through the seasons this year and could have prepped the boas for their winter turn-down better. At the very least, this is more or less the case for the Sonoran (who's from a higher latitude/more seasonal locale) than the longicauda (who's more or less equatorial and seems to be doing pretty well right now). Currently in the process of drafting up a seasonal feeding, photoperiod, and heat-period schedule so I have something more definite to stick to.

I'd also like to improve upon the enrichment I offer the boas, particularly now that I know both of them better. The longi likes to perch and hide, so I'm planning on getting him a couple of different perching and hide options and switching them out throughout the year. The Sonoran's a bit trickier. She hasn't really responded to any of the "toys" I've given her yet, but she seems to enjoy time out of her enclosure, particularly when she gets to climb any "tree"-shaped things and watch TV (the moving images and sounds seem to satisfy the wallflower aspects of her personality). I've already re-arranged her cork so she has a ledge to sit on by her favorite enclosure door (ie. the one from which she can most easily watch the room, the TV, and I), and she seems to appreciate it. (Her pushing also stopped when I did so. Coincidence? Probably not.) Next on the list is to get her some branches/grapevines/what-have-you for some new perching and climbing options, and maybe a fake plant or two to spruce up her enclosure.

The longi's due for an enclosure upgrade, so there's also that to plan for. There are definitely things I'd like to do differently this time around. First off, I'd like to have the RHP be more of a auxiliary/ambient heat source, instead of a primary/basking heat source. For the latter, I'd prefer to have either a DHP or a halogen bulb for a few hours a day (think peak basking times in the wild). Secondly, I'd like to have a small strips of display LEDs installed and use those as the primary photoperiod lights, with the UV-B light only coming on during basking hours. This would simulate more intense sunlight around peak basking times. An enclosure like this has a lot of moving parts, but I think it would be a very enriching environment if done properly.

Finally, I'd like to continue avoiding reptile impulse purchases and grow my little snake pit in a controlled manner. I've actually done pretty well on this front so far and would like to continue that trend. At this point, things will go one of two ways: either I'll build boa pairs, or I'll get a carpet. Either way, I'll be putting a lid on things for a while afterword. Three/four snakes of the sizes I have is my maximum "easy pet load" capacity, and I'm not quite sure I'd like things to move beyond that right now.

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Great ideas all around here! I as well will be doing seasonal husbandry differently next winter. I plan to start dropping temps about a month later (Mid-Late December) and get some animals cooler than others. Hoping to have everyone, or most of them, in some form of enclosures with RHPs at that point so I can manage things a bit more compartmentally. I always forget how long it takes Mississippi to get cold and I'd like to use the weather outside more to my advantage when cycling my snake room. I'll probably use a similar schedule of temperature drops weekly until bottoming out for a couple weeks and bringing them all back up. I'll feel more comfortable about doing that with them all older and larger.

Interesting that your sonoran seems to need entertainment in that way. If it works, it works though! Still trying to figure out how to get my surinam boy from cramming his entire head into the gap at the cage lip. I'm probably just feeding very conservatively and he's begging to eat like a glutton. Sorry 'boutchya kiddo... He'll get a bit of an increase in size or frequency but it will be modest. Next option is stick him in a 4x30x24 that has different doors/cage lips he can't do that with.

Photoperiods are something I don't address in great detail aside from a window in the snake room. I have remote multicolor LED strips in all enclosures so I could put them all on timers if I wanted.

Enrichment is always a fun thing to address. Once I put coco husk chips back in boas cages the suri started burrowing and what not a lot more like he did when he was little. May give him deeper substrate when his sole heat source is from above. He does like to bury his waste though, so I could see that getting annoying for me really fast.

I say dive right in a get that WOW line Jungle from Mike Curtain! Boas are fantastic, don't get me wrong, and I love both of mine to pieces. But something about Morelia scratches a deep, multi-decade itch for me in such a good way and I'm beyond glad I did it.

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Originally Posted by Snagrio

Sometime this year I'm going to get a T8 for my ball python. He's not quite big enough yet but he's growing steadily and the makeshift enclosure I concocted out of a 30 gallon fish tank has been proving to be a real pain in the neck maintenance-wise. For now though I'm ironically right in the middle of an ambitious aquarium project (125 gallon that I'm almost entirely overhauling to begin a live planted system, the tank itself is over the double the size of any aquarium I've worked with before) so snake stuff has to be put on the back burner for the time being.

Though, given how infamously long they take to ship (I know they take a while but Hugplox's having been ordered back in Sep and still not having arrived, geez) I might have to consider putting money down for one sooner than I planned...

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Fwiw, the T8 is a quick(er) ship item. Shouldn’t take as long but even with their products being as great as they are I have a hard time justifying waiting half a year or more for goods I’ve purchased.

Ordered three big cages from Herptastic Reptiles recently, got very prompt responses, and was quoted 10-12 week lead time or sooner. Worth it to me to try another manufacturer even if I don’t necessarily ~need the cages right away at all. Rather have them and not even need to assemble them for a while after receiving and then have them on the ready than be on the edge of my seat waiting for cages I needed 3 months ago.


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Originally Posted by jmcrook

Interesting that your sonoran seems to need entertainment in that way. If it works, it works though!

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Yeah, Adelita seems to be a bit on an odd one in terms of snake personality. She's a hungry hungry peachy wallflower who's main joys in life are gastronomy, judging people, cinema, and that after-the-rain smell (she really likes to sniff around after I mist her enclosure). I picked her out because she seemed very curious and intelligent (on top of being a friendly little peach), but the degree to which she truly is has surprised me. She's very "with it," aware, and openly expressive around people compared to other snakes I've worked with. Finding forms of enrichment that truly "click" with her and satisfy her mental needs has been a challenge.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by jmcrook

I say dive right in a get that WOW line Jungle from Mike Curtain! Boas are fantastic, don't get me wrong, and I love both of mine to pieces. But something about Morelia scratches a deep, multi-decade itch for me in such a good way and I'm beyond glad I did it.

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Mate, don't tempt me. The only real reason I haven't pulled the trigger on a Morelia anyway this season (against my better judgement) is snake housing. Both the fact that I don't have spare snake housing on hand, and that I would probably be upgrading Kuzco and the alleged carpet at the same time (that'll suck when they both need 4'x2'x2's, and downright painful when it's time for the "grown up" 6'x2'x4's).

So I don't need to be reminded about Mike's WOW-line Jungles. Or his ocelots. OR those tiger-y looking caramel coastals Owen's got for sale. OR the tiger Darwins, Papuans, and the one striped coastal Nick's got on his website. And Lord help me if Eric actually decides to sell the Papuans that he hatched this year, especially those banded ones.

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Originally Posted by WrongPython

Yeah, Adelita seems to be a bit on an odd one in terms of snake personality. She's a hungry hungry peachy wallflower who's main joys in life are gastronomy, judging people, cinema, and that after-the-rain smell (she really likes to sniff around after I mist her enclosure). I picked her out because she seemed very curious and intelligent (on top of being a friendly little peach), but the degree to which she truly is has surprised me. She's very "with it," aware, and openly expressive around people compared to other snakes I've worked with. Finding forms of enrichment that truly "click" with her and satisfy her mental needs has been a challenge.



Mate, don't tempt me. The only real reason I haven't pulled the trigger on a Morelia anyway this season (against my better judgement) is snake housing. Both the fact that I don't have spare snake housing on hand, and that I would probably be upgrading Kuzco and the alleged carpet at the same time (that'll suck when they both need 4'x2'x2's, and downright painful when it's time for the "grown up" 6'x2'x4's).

So I don't need to be reminded about Mike's WOW-line Jungles. Or his ocelots. OR those tiger-y looking caramel coastals Owen's got for sale. OR the tiger Darwins, Papuans, and the one striped coastal Nick's got on his website. And Lord help me if Eric actually decides to sell the Papuans that he hatched this year, especially those banded ones.

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I honestly doubt they’ll ever ~need a 6’ enclosure and 4’ tall might be a bear to control temps. Although you could absolutely maximize the variety of little micro climates available in that space. I’m also certain they wouldn’t turn it down either. I’ll admit I’d be pumped to see how you’d deck out a 6 footer. Adelita’s enclosure is pretty sweet

That jungle carpet though... and a quarantine tub for a juvenile carpet wouldn't need to be more than 15qts... [emoji57][emoji48]
https://ball-pythons.net/forums/cach...7dao/giphy.gif


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Originally Posted by jmcrook

Fwiw, the T8 is a quick(er) ship item. Shouldn’t take as long but even with their products being as great as they are I have a hard time justifying waiting half a year or more for goods I’ve purchased.

Ordered three big cages from Herptastic Reptiles recently, got very prompt responses, and was quoted 10-12 week lead time or sooner. Worth it to me to try another manufacturer even if I don’t necessarily ~need the cages right away at all. Rather have them and not even need to assemble them for a while after receiving and then have them on the ready than be on the edge of my seat waiting for cages I needed 3 months ago.


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Yea I ordered AP because of the great reviews and even with the lead times the positive reviews sold them to me. That being said though I'm with you, I have a hard time justifying waiting 6 months or more to get something. I won't complain too much about the company because everyone says they do great work, but I mean.. I've found forum posts going back to 2011 complaining about their lead times, which tells me two things. One, they're worth the wait as people are clearly still buying them regardless, and two the company is taking their time fixing the problem.

Regardless, I'm looking forward to getting it and getting it set up, but I think if I bring home another snake, I might give another company a shot.

Great blog post, and good timing. I am right in the middle of assessing and re-working enclosures for my crew - it's such a priority that I recently decided not to keep a beautiful HCQ Tiger Carpet Python produced by Will Bird that I actually won in a raffle. Even as I write this I am having a hard time believing that I'd turn away a great snake like that (I am giving him to a friend who wants to start a breeding project), but I really, really want to be sure that every animal I currently have is being kept in the best possible conditions.

I'm waiting on a 4x2x2 enclosure for my garter group, and 30x15x15 enclosures for the Children's Pythons and the Anthill Python. The young Dumeril's Boa is also going into a 30x15x15 for now - he's a slow grower so I have time to decide on what he'll need once he's at his adult size.

My focus is on optimal lighting, establishing options for microhabitats insofar as it's possible in an enclosure, and on enrichment activities both in and outside of the enclosures including food puzzles, scent-trail 'hunts', and doing target and station training so that the snakes can voluntarily shift to a holding station or temporary enclosure when I clean, rather than having me just reach in and grab them. Plus I've noticed, just based on their behaviors, that the training activity itself seems to act as enrichment for most of my snakes.

I've never been really crazy about bioactive setups (that's a whole separate topic) but am seriously considering setting one up for the garter group. We'll see.

Just as an aside, I've got several enclosures from Focus Cubed Habitats, and like them so much that I also ordered the ones I am currently waiting on from them. My Ball Python and Brazilian Rainbow Boa are currently in their 36x18x18, and my GTP is in a 30x24x24. I was originally going to go with the classic 24 cube for the GTP, but even though he is a smallish male, he is so active at night that I wanted to give him some extra room. I'm glad I did. Like most good enclosure producers, they are hammered with orders right now and are struggling with materials supply issues thanks to shipping hassles due to COVID. Current build time on enclosures at the size I've mentioned are about 12 weeks. Less for smaller enclosures; more for larger ones.[IMG]https://ball-pythons.net/gallery/fil.../jadefocus.jpg[/IMG]

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Originally Posted by Caitlin

Great blog post, and good timing. I am right in the middle of assessing and re-working enclosures for my crew - it's such a priority that I recently decided not to keep a beautiful HCQ Tiger Carpet Python produced by Will Bird that I actually won in a raffle. Even as I write this I am having a hard time believing that I'd turn away a great snake like that (I am giving him to a friend who wants to start a breeding project), but I really, really want to be sure that every animal I currently have is being kept in the best possible conditions.

I'm waiting on a 4x2x2 enclosure for my garter group, and 30x15x15 enclosures for the Children's Pythons and the Anthill Python. The young Dumeril's Boa is also going into a 30x15x15 for now - he's a slow grower so I have time to decide on what he'll need once he's at his adult size.

My focus is on optimal lighting, establishing options for microhabitats insofar as it's possible in an enclosure, and on enrichment activities both in and outside of the enclosures including food puzzles, scent-trail 'hunts', and doing target and station training so that the snakes can voluntarily shift to a holding station or temporary enclosure when I clean, rather than having me just reach in and grab them. Plus I've noticed, just based on their behaviors, that the training activity itself seems to act as enrichment for most of my snakes.

I've never been really crazy about bioactive setups (that's a whole separate topic) but am seriously considering setting one up for the garter group. We'll see.

Just as an aside, I've got several enclosures from Focus Cubed Habitats, and like them so much that I also ordered the ones I am currently waiting on from them. My Ball Python and Brazilian Rainbow Boa are currently in their 36x18x18, and my GTP is in a 30x24x24. I was originally going to go with the classic 24 cube for the GTP, but even though he is a smallish male, he is so active at night that I wanted to give him some extra room. I'm glad I did. Like most good enclosure producers, they are hammered with orders right now and are struggling with materials supply issues thanks to shipping hassles due to COVID. Current build time on enclosures at the size I've mentioned are about 12 weeks. Less for smaller enclosures; more for larger ones.[IMG]https://ball-pythons.net/gallery/fil.../jadefocus.jpg[/IMG]

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Excellent post, Caitlin! Those are some cool looking enclosures for sure. We demand snake room documentation as things get upgraded hah!

Target training is a really cool concept that I hadn’t ever really considered until the last year or so. Not sure that I have the time to devote to that but it’s fascinating to see you and other folks using it with good results.

As for giving away that HCQ Tiger, look at it as an investment in the next generation of critters produced by it. Surely you wrote up a clause stating you are entitled to first picks after holdbacks are selected or that you get the snake back if the project is abandoned? Haha!


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