My Bioactive Arid/Desert Enclosure for Trans-Pecos Rat Snake

This topic will be for updates on my planted arid bioactive enclosure, which has native desert plants and blue death-feigning beetles as the clean-up crew. I wanted to document this here, as it has taken me a ton of research and I have not found an equivalent tutorial or how-to anywhere online yet.

I initially assembled this terrarium on 10/31/2020, after doing much research. It is NOT fast, and I do not intend to say that you can quickly assemble this; however, you could probably speed up the process by purchasing plants instead. I chose to use native desert plant seeds because I wanted something that actually looked like a desert landscape rather than the plants you can find at most garden stores.

This is a very long post, but I wanted to share it as essentially a tutorial for those who may be interested in making something similar. Again, it is still a work in progress and I do not consider it "finished" as of yet. I will edit this main post and/or add posts below to show my progress, but wanted to explain the process I have gone through so far, before adding other posts below.





The Substrate:
My substrate/soil is a mixture of:
- Play sand - 50 lb bag (anything non-play sand has sharper edges and can scratch your snake, from what I have heard... not sure how important it is, but I didn't want to have to redo my enclosure. Play sand is cheap and available at most hardware stores.)
- Coconut coir - I bought three "bricks" but I think I used one and a half or two of the three bricks for the mixture.
- Worm castings (4q bag)
- Terracotta clay (I used leftover potter's terracotta; I think purchasing a small jar of 100% clay for cosmetic face masks would work well, too.)
- Some generic Tums/antacids, maybe like half a container? I did this to add calcium to the soil, both for my beetles and to change the pH of the soil to be more like the soils of the Southwestern United States. Grind/crush them up first.





The Plants:
Why seeds?
You can purchase plants for this enclosure. I chose seeds because I wanted native desert plants, and, not living in the Southwest, I cannot get those. Seeds do have some advantages, though.
- Growing from seeds allows the plants to be better adapted for their environment. Because I bought a big mixture of seeds, this allowed me to see what responded best to my particular lighting setup, ambient and under-tank temperatures, and watering habits, and this method will allow the best-suited plants to grow, without you having to purchase a plant, troubleshoot, and watch it slowly die lol.
So, I bought:
- Native desert seed mixes - I bought a few from Native Seeds/SEARCH.
- Brittlebush seeds - They have these at Native Seeds/SEARCH too. Many of these sprouted, so these would be good to try.
- Creosote seeds - I bought on eBay. These tolerate dry conditions well and take pruning well, but need some moisture to sprout. They can dampen off and die kind of easily, as seedlings, in my experience. However, I got two of them to live, so it may be worth a try.


https://ball-pythons.net/gallery/files/8/3/8/3/4/13.jpg
(Brittlebush seedling)

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https://ball-pythons.net/gallery/files/8/3/8/3/4/14.jpg
(A grassy plant that did well in my vivarium; please help me ID it if you know what it is)





Plant Care and Watering:
- Kelp meal - this helps germination and is a good fertilizer for plants. Native Seeds/SEARCH also sells this I think.
- Ollas - You can DIY these from small terracotta flower pots (would have to be two tiny ones glued together; there are tutorials elsewhere for this), purchase them (Etsy has smaller ones and custom ones), or make them yourself if you have access to clay, a kiln, and a couple of hours. I am going to emphasize that these are one of the most important elements of the enclosure, because ollas:
A) Keep the top of the soil dry.
B) Encourage the blue death-feigning beetles to lay eggs in the soil.
C) Keep the soil evenly moist to aid in the above, as well as prevent root rot of plants and prevent humidity spikes in the enclosure.
D) I had a problem with bagworms getting into my enclosure. If the soil is not moist on the top, then it will discourage/not attract pests to the enclosure. Bagworms are easy enough to just scoop up and throw outside (or, if you are feeling evil, you can squish them and your beetles will eat them). I try not to kill things, and, prevention is better anyway.
E) They also are nearly undetectable and are buried underneath the soil, with an opening up top to put water in.
- - Ollas work through porous clay. The water inside of them slowly hydrates the soil around it as it seeps through the clay. If you make them yourself, don't glaze the water-holding portion, and use a porous clay body like terracotta.
- As an alternate to ollas, you can use those glass plant-watering globes, but I did not have good results with them consistently draining water out of them. Also, they don't look as good because you can see them.
- If you don't go this route, please water by digging a little hole with a stick or your finger, watering in that, and covering it up again with soil. Do not leave water on the surface of the soil.





Blue Death-Feigning Beetles:
- I chose these because I saw one tarantula forum talk about them for a bioactive tarantula enclosure. I liked that they are long-lived and would be more like a small group of pets rather than a nameless assemblage of an unknown number of insects cleaning my tank. I purchased seven beetles for my enclosure.
- I will not post a ton about their care here, because that can be found on other sites. However, I have a few observations I wanted to share:
A) I feed mine almost exclusively vegetable scraps (leftovers from my own meals or from my iguana's vegetable mix on top of his food). They love corn, peas, squash, but do not like greens of any kind.
B) I do not see them breaking down leaf litter or chewing on dead or live plant leaves or parts.
C) They seem to eat bits of soil, but I think they are drinking moisture from the soil. They will pick up a small piece of moist clay and put it in their mouth?
D) I have read that they will become darker if they get too humid. One of mine has stayed dark forever, but it may be because she sleeps in the humid hide and returns to the same place each day. This has not affected her survival as far as I can tell? Going on six months of that, so I think they are okay, at least in my sheltered environment.
E) They seem to have set places they sleep in, and have some kind of little social order. I wish I knew more about it. They're cool.
F) Buy "imperfect" beetles for a discount; you can tell who is who and give them names like "Stumpy."
G) I will feed them dead insects sometimes. If I find a dead cockroach or something (I promise my house isn't that disgusting, but I do live in Florida), I will put it in the cage, and they will rip it apart and devour it. But, because they are scavengers, I do not believe insects are an essential part of their diet. Meaning, I wouldn't go out and purchase insects for them to eat.
H) It is apparently difficult for them to reproduce in captivity, but not difficult for them to make larvae. Mine have produced larvae. The larvae, I hope/think, replace the need for an invertebrate in the soil. The larvae should aerate the soil and keep it healthy by eating... whatever they eat, and creating little larvae poops. In this way, the blue death-feigning beetle can inhabit both the soil and the terrestrial portion of the terrarium, without you having to buy another species that lives under the soil.
I) They can't climb smooth surfaces. I never see them climb on my plants, or attempt to climb plants. They can get a pretty good grip on the rocks I have, but sometimes fall off the pieces of driftwood I have. They can right themselves on their own, fortunately.

https://ball-pythons.net/gallery/files/8/3/8/3/4/5.jpg




A Few Notes on Humidity:
- Trans-Pecos rat snakes require pretty dry conditions (with a humid hide available). You can be less stringent about this with other somewhat arid/desert species, probably, but this enclosure is for a very low-humidity, high-ventilation setup. I mitigate the humidity by:
A) No moisture on the surface of the substrate.
B) Screen top.
C) Glass terrarium.




Assembling the Enclosure:

These amounts are for a 48" x 18" x 18" Carolina Custom Cages enclosure, which is 67 gallons.

I planned what side should be the humid side and put the under-tank heater on it. I waited like an extra two weeks because my heater wasn't here yet, but I knew it would be too hard to get it under the tank once I had like 100 lbs of soil and rocks in it.

I think I used either one and a half or two bricks of coir (moisten it in a bucket and mix up). I used almost all of the play sand bag, leaving maybe 5-10 lbs left over. Put in the whole bag of worm castings. For the terracotta, I really don't know how much I used, and it wasn't a whole lot... I would guess no more than 5-10% clay maximum. I mixed these in one of those 5-gallon buckets you can get at hardware stores. I also put in crushed up Tums. Mix it well. The coconut coir will be moist, but the soil as a whole should not be noticeably moist once you add in everything else.

At this point, I assembled the rocks and made the hides. I bought the rock slabs at my local garden store. I made two hides, one on each side. I can't really give a tutorial on this. It took a lot of trial and error. I have not yet glued down the rocks because I thought I may rearrange them, but at this point I think I will keep them. Before I get the snake, I will "glue" the rocks together with aquarium silicone.

>>>Something I would have done in retrospect at this point: before spreading the seeds, plant ollas in the parts of the enclosure you want plants in.<<<

I spread a TON of seeds, every variety in every place I planned to water (this way, the most suited varieties will sprout in the best areas for them). I then sprinkled the dried kelp on top and misted thoroughly. I roughed up some parts of the soil because some desert plants germinate better in disturbed soils.
- A note here: I saw, on a desert animal website, that blue death-feigning beetles eat seeds. I did not (and still have not) witnessed them eating any of the seeds, or trying to eat the seedlings, or anything.

I then introduced my beetles to the enclosure!


https://ball-pythons.net/gallery/files/8/3/8/3/4/1.jpg
(initial hardscape of vivarium - 11/01/2020)

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https://ball-pythons.net/gallery/files/8/3/8/3/4/2.jpg





Notes on Seed Germination/Plant Lighting:
To germinate the seeds, I used a plant grow light in addition to the 4500K daylight fluorescent tube in the Carolina Cages fixture. I would run the regular fluorescent 12 hours per day, and the plant grow bulb a little less (I would plug it in at some point and then unplug it later in the day). After the seeds sprouted and I had a couple seedlings (3"-4" tall), I ran the plant grow light for fewer hours because I noticed the plants were getting a little "sunburnt" or were drooping for just part of the day. This showed me I could start easing off on the light. In around February (so, 4 months), I started leaving the grow light on about half of the time. Starting in April and May (6 months), I am trying to leave the grow light off almost all of the time, since my tallest plant (the brittlebush) was too close to the light.


https://ball-pythons.net/gallery/files/8/3/8/3/4/12.jpg





I will post more updates below as I add more to the enclosure, and may edit this main post (if possible?) with other anecdotes that could help others wishing to build this.


Just wanted to be clear that I don't have the snake yet, lol, so that could bring a few modifications to the setup. One modification I will have to make, will be a relatively shallow/small water bowl. I have already sculpted a shallow one that would prevent my beetles from drowning if they climb into it. I have also considered a somewhat taller water bowl with slippery sides so the beetles could not climb into it.


Chronological progress photos:


https://ball-pythons.net/gallery/files/8/3/8/3/4/1.jpg
(initial hardscape of vivarium - 11/01/2020)
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https://ball-pythons.net/gallery/files/8/3/8/3/4/2.jpg
(Blue death-feigning beetles exploring shortly after initial set-up - 11/01/2020)
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https://ball-pythons.net/gallery/files/8/3/8/3/4/3.jpg
(Backdrop added, some seeds sprouting. Grow light is off, fixture on - 11/12/2020)
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https://ball-pythons.net/gallery/files/8/3/8/3/4/4.jpg
(Brittlebush seedling and some grasses; these "won" against the other seedlings and were best suited for my environment - 01/02/2021)
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https://ball-pythons.net/gallery/files/8/3/8/3/4/15.jpg
(Two blue death-feigning beetles hiding under a rock - 02/08/2021)
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https://ball-pythons.net/gallery/fil...4/img_2250.jpg
(Vivarium pictured with the LED plant grow light on - 03/27/2021)
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https://ball-pythons.net/gallery/fil...4/img_2251.jpg
(Brittlebush and creosotes, pictured with the LED plant grow light on - 03/27/2021)
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That's just looking amazing! :sweeet: And I can sure see why you like those beetles too. This is truly a top-notch effort on your part. Your future :snake: will be very lucky. :D

Today, I planted the ollas I took out of the kiln this morning.


I made the ollas out of a terracotta clay. The only glazed parts are the lid and around the top, to prevent moisture from absorbing onto the surface of the soil. Here they are out of the terrarium.

https://ball-pythons.net/gallery/files/8/3/8/3/4/7.jpg


I made the long one to water all three of the "grasses" as well as the brittlebush, as there was a rectangular space open next to the back wall of the vivarium. In retrospect, I would have just put in a few round ones before I ever spread seeds and before anything sprouted, but because I didn't, I made the ollas to fit my current plants.



https://ball-pythons.net/gallery/files/8/3/8/3/4/8.jpg
(Planting the small olla)


Here are the parts of the ollas you can see above ground. I may actually redo the tops and make them a non-shiny glaze, and make them more rock-shaped instead of a circular sort of dome shape.

https://ball-pythons.net/gallery/files/8/3/8/3/4/9.jpg
(The two "round" ollas)


https://ball-pythons.net/gallery/files/8/3/8/3/4/10.jpg
(The longer olla)



While "planting" the longer olla in the back, I saw my first ever blue death-feigning beetle larva in my vivarium! I carefully put it back after I planted everything. I hope there are others, and am glad this is a good sign the environment/soil is at least suitable enough for this stage to develop.

https://ball-pythons.net/gallery/files/8/3/8/3/4/11.jpg

Wow, talk about attention to details...:bow: Very impressive. (You should be doing this for a living somewhere- not that a "labor of love" doesn't have it's own special remuneration anyway.)

This is awesome, I'm going to use this and slightly modify it (soil makeup) for egyptian tortoises.

I'm aware this is supposed to be about the entire enclosure, but those beetles are super super cool. It's prompted me to do a little research on them. I'm wondering how it would look to just have a colony of them on their own, not as a clean up crew but just as stand alone pets. Thanks for sharing!

People make colonies of them and they are super cool, I'm going to try to make one since I see them everywhere and they are amazing.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Bogertophis

Wow, talk about attention to details...:bow: Very impressive. (You should be doing this for a living somewhere- not that a "labor of love" doesn't have it's own special remuneration anyway.)

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Unfortunately, our society is generally terrible at placing people in jobs that reflect things they actually enjoy, lol. But thank you. This is my first setup like this (don't have any other pets who live in... containers), but I do think my history as a plant hoarder and artist has helped me in planning it out. I am enjoying having a small bit of desert in my home, and wanted it to be a visually nice display rather than a "typical" habitat with substrate, a pre-made hide, fake plants, etc

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Hugsplox

I'm aware this is supposed to be about the entire enclosure, but those beetles are super super cool. It's prompted me to do a little research on them. I'm wondering how it would look to just have a colony of them on their own, not as a clean up crew but just as stand alone pets. Thanks for sharing!

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I do think this enclosure would definitely be suitable as a death-feigning beetle-only enclosure. They are so easy to care for. I feed them like, the equivalent of three small vegetable pieces a week (like, three pieces of corn, three peas, stuff around that size). There are usually one or two out and about throughout the day, and they are really fun to watch, and cute. I am not sure how old mine are, but I do like the fact that they can live 17+ years, because I would not like to be purchasing new ones to "replenish" my supply. It would certainly be a big bonus if mine successfully reproduced (like, not just larvae but ones that grew into the beetle stage) but I'm not pursuing that. There was a Youtuber (Aquaramix or Aquaramixpets is the channel I think?) who was the first to make a captive-bred one, but he incubated the larvae, which is more than I want to do right now. But maybe in the future, if I get bored.

Oh, I wanted to mention, they will eat rabbit poop. I have given them a few of my rabbit's poops, and they will chew on the outside and leave a sort of little hay ball, but now I no longer see the remains of the remains, lol, so they either ate it all or hid it somewhere--either would be good for my setup. I have only tried one or two "pellets" at a time, and it takes them a while to break it down.

My biggest concern with them would be whether they even break down snake poop (rabbit turds are more like, already dry balls of grass). I am okay with picking up snake turds and having them clean up any microscopic or little bits left over, though. That is what I will be most interested in seeing when I introduce my snake.

Just a thing I forgot to mention in the main post: I use distilled or spring water to water the vivarium. This is to prevent mineral deposits from crusting in the soil. My knowledge is limited on whether the minerals would adversely affect the plants, beetles, soil make-up, etc, but I just know from potting soil that it looks bad and would be difficult to fix in this setup.

My creosote plants are not growing as quickly as they should. I had grown a few from seed about 7 years ago while living in the Midwest, using just cactus soil. They grow slowly, but I want mine to be a little stronger before I introduce a snake into my vivarium. Because I now have what looks like a solid lead on an adult Trans-Pecos rat snake, giving that he will be quarantined for 3 months, I probably have minimum of that long to see if I can get my creosotes a little larger. I am hoping they can withstand a smoosh by my snake by then. If not, oh well. I may try growing in a pot and transplanting it into my enclosure at a later date if they get destroyed.

I found an old pH tester in my house. I got kind of a blue result, which I'm guessing means like, too alkaline to be on this test strip (which is acceptable for these plants), or it's just old and confused lol

https://ball-pythons.net/gallery/fil...4/img_2822.jpg


I wanted to research why my creosotes may not have optimal conditions, and found a thesis that mentioned two things: calcium carbonate, and coarse soil. So, today, I dug a trench around the creosote seedlings, added a little kelp meal into the trench, and moistened that with a spray bottle. I then crushed up five calcium carbonate antacid tablets (aka Tums) and sprinkled that into the trench. I added some coarse mixture that I use for potting succulents (Bonsai Jack's "gritty mix," but please note this is only in this small section of the habitat as an experiment), and then mixed that in with the existing soil. I am hoping the slight added course texture, kelp, and calcium will help them get a better hold. I will also try turning on the plant LED light again for a time, although the growth they do have seems to be compact and looks healthy. I'm just not sure why they are not branching much, and why the one seems to have a longer base stem.

https://ball-pythons.net/gallery/fil...4/img_2824.jpg
Mmm... powdered Tums.


https://ball-pythons.net/gallery/fil...4/img_2829.jpg
Tums sprinkled around creosote.


https://ball-pythons.net/gallery/fil...4/img_2832.jpg
Everything mixed in with gritty soil amendment added.


In other news, yesterday I got in contact with someone wanting to sell their 9-year-old blonde male Trans-Pecos rat snake. I am really excited about this and hope it works out. It will not be for probably another 3 weeks or so, as we have to arrange a time to meet so I can pick up the snake, and I have to drive a bit. But I am happy to find a seller I actually feel good about, and also to acquire an older, adult snake. Here is a photo he sent me.

https://ball-pythons.net/gallery/fil...4/img_6874.jpg

Can't help you with growing creosote, but that's a handsome Trans Pecos! :love:

Be sure to ask them what he prefers to eat- just in case they've been feeding them something other than what you plan to. They'll normally eat mice or rat pups, & usually take f/k or f/t just fine, but if you want to see them "smile" just offer a live fuzzy... (I get the same look with See's candy, lol.)

A few updates...

So, I didn't end up getting the snake I mentioned above. A few days before I was supposed to meet the owner, he said that three snakes in his collection had suddenly died over a few days, and he was going to bring them to the vet. He had them tested, and some of the snakes had cryptosporidium--including the suboc. That particular snake was asymptomatic, but we both didn't want to complete the sale because of the crypto, for obvious reasons.

In addition.... ants found my enclosure. I put diatomaceous earth around the legs to the enclosure (the only part where tehy could climb up), as well as the legs on the dresser it's sitting on. This seemed to help, in terms of not letting any new ants in, and there were a couple in there just walking around without a clear purpose (like, unorganized--not tracing the same paths etc). For about a week, things were okay. But, then I added another few pieces of tape to secure the bottom heat mat better (it isn't one with a sticky side). At some point, a corner of one piece of tape touched the top of the dresser and somehow this allowed a billion ants to come in. I saw organized ant lines and some of them carrying brood. At this point, I unearthed some old Terro bait. I feel bad about this (I am a beekeeper and ants are kinda, just walking bees, and ant queens can live 100 years, so it just feels bad). But, it was this or my beetles. I didn't want the ants taking their food, or bothering a future snake, or whatever.

So, I removed my beetles. I am grateful because, instead of something like an isopod colony, where I wouldn't be able to find them all, I could just count that I had all seven of them. I put them in a temorary 5-gal with the same substrate (but a freshly made mix minus the ants) and a few rock slabs they could hide under. Then, I put one Terro outside and one inside the original enclosure.

The thing is, my beetles eat dead insects, right? I don't know if they would eat or find the dead ants. What I plan to do is keep them out of the enclosure for at least two weeks. For me, though, I will just wait till I get back (I will be on a trip till early/mid-July) to put them back in, and that'll be more like almost a month. I am hoping that, by then, whatever poison the ants ate will be inert or something? I am also going to mix up the substrate really well and add some new substrate on top. I know there is no way to really research whether having dead ants in there is safe for my beetles. Granted, there were not a /ton/ of ants, and I likely even caught them before the queen moved in (but I'm not sure), so... I don't know. Kind of a bummer, but I'm glad my beetles are safe so far. I just wish I could research what to do in this situation, but I guess I'll have to be a "pioneer."

I should mention that the DE will definitely kill beetles (it advertises as such), so I did not put any inside the enclosure. I did have some on the top inside ledge where my beetles can't reach, and I mixed in any (TINY) particles of it that got onto the substrate, and also watered well to neutralize it (it says it is neutralized when wet, but... what about when it dries again? Hm). I'm not so worried about this--more about the dead ants that have been poisoned. Maybe I should water the cage really well again, sometime before I reintroduce my beetles? I'm not sure if that would help or not.

I will still look for a suboc, potentially later this summer. I was planning to go to the Daytona show in late August. I do have concerns about diseases at such a large show (but I suppose that is a risk anywhere), and also unsure whether vendors there would have any subocs, as new ones are typically born in fall and winter... I know previous years' snakes could be on sale, though. I do know whatever quarantine I do will be insanely strict, because I want to protect the other two reptiles in our house...

DE will become active again when it dries. Generally when you are using it, they recommend reapplying after rain and such because a lot of it gets washed away. I'm not sure if your beetles burrow or not. If not, watering several times might be able to flush enough of it out that the DE can't hurt them.

As far as the bait, from the terro website "The liquid ant bait, whether in our dropper bottle or pre-filled bait stations, does not have an expiration date. The effectiveness of the active ingredient, Borax, does not diminish over time." Given that it's designed so that the ants carry it to their colony, share it with other ants, and poison more of them, I would assume that beetles eating the dead ants could be poisoned as well. If it were me, I'd rather replace the soil that risk killing the beetles. If that is a huge chore and you can be really patient, you could let the ants decompose, and give your plants time to pull some of it out of the soil. Some plants really like boron and do well from supplementing with borax (what terro is made from).

Sorry to hear about your set-backs, both the snake & the ants invading your set-up. :( But I'm glad you didn't get the snake first & then find out about the crypto, or have the ants invade once the snake has already moved in. So, it could have been worse...

Quote:

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Originally Posted by nikkubus

DE will become active again when it dries. Generally when you are using it, they recommend reapplying after rain and such because a lot of it gets washed away. I'm not sure if your beetles burrow or not. If not, watering several times might be able to flush enough of it out that the DE can't hurt them.

As far as the bait, from the terro website "The liquid ant bait, whether in our dropper bottle or pre-filled bait stations, does not have an expiration date. The effectiveness of the active ingredient, Borax, does not diminish over time." Given that it's designed so that the ants carry it to their colony, share it with other ants, and poison more of them, I would assume that beetles eating the dead ants could be poisoned as well. If it were me, I'd rather replace the soil that risk killing the beetles. If that is a huge chore and you can be really patient, you could let the ants decompose, and give your plants time to pull some of it out of the soil. Some plants really like boron and do well from supplementing with borax (what terro is made from).

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I did water pretty heavily a few times (also to try to discourage the ants from staying), and it was such a small amount, that I don't have a lot of concern about the DE. My beetles dig around the surface of the soil, but do not burrow. However, they do have larvae in the soil (their fate is unknown as of right now, lol)

As for the borax... oof. I think what I'll do is replace as much of the soil as I can. I did make a new batch of soil, so I can probably take out most of the dead ants by just scooping out most of it and replacing it. I can't completely empty out the soil because there are plants rooted in there, but I can take out almost all of it without causing much damage. I wonder about the death-feigning beetle larvae that I saw in there previously. I will remove any I see while doing this and put them back in. I assume most are still in there, unless they already ate some dead ants and died as a result.

Does anyone know if there would have been a better way than using the terro? I want to look into more ant barriers as well, as a preventative measure (although that's what the DE was, and it didn't work 100% because that tiny strip of tape unpeeling gave them a new path)

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Bogertophis

Sorry to hear about your set-backs, both the snake & the ants invading your set-up. :( But I'm glad you didn't get the snake first & then find out about the crypto, or have the ants invade once the snake has already moved in. So, it could have been worse...

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I agree. I'm glad for my current reptiles that I didn't introduce a new one with an illness, and also glad the ants weren't in there with the snake. I'm wondering what the best way to prevent this in the future is. If I weren't looking at the enclosure every day, it could have been much worse.

A minor update, I did email Terro customer service to ask if borax is still active inside the body of a dead ant. I explained my situation but I'm not wholly expecting a useful answer from either an outsourced or minimum wage customer service employee, lol. But it's worth a try.

I also am reading about ant barriers that ant keepers use to prevent escape of their workers. Perhaps I can put them in mine and it would cause the opposite effect so they would not come into my terrarium.

On my ants' formicariums I use a very thin layer of petroleum jelly just below the lid. It needs reapplied every so often, and needs to be on a vertical surface they would need to climb on. I don't see why this couldn't be applied on the stand of the enclosure to prevent ants climbing past it aside from needing to wipe it off and reapply a bit more often because of dust settling on it. There is a product made specifically for that, but petroleum works fantastically so I've never bothered trying it. The idea is that it makes the surface too slippery for the ants to get any traction.

Another thing I use in the house to deter wild ants is sprinkling cayenne pepper in the crack wherever they are coming into the house from. I've had pretty good success with it, but it does require a bit of detective work sometimes.

Hopefully your larvae are doing fine but if not, the beetles will make more I'm sure.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by nikkubus

On my ants' formicariums I use a very thin layer of petroleum jelly just below the lid. It needs reapplied every so often, and needs to be on a vertical surface they would need to climb on. I don't see why this couldn't be applied on the stand of the enclosure to prevent ants climbing past it aside from needing to wipe it off and reapply a bit more often because of dust settling on it. There is a product made specifically for that, but petroleum works fantastically so I've never bothered trying it. The idea is that it makes the surface too slippery for the ants to get any traction...

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How about some silicone? https://mail.google.com/mail/e/1f3bf

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Bogertophis

How about some silicone? https://ball-pythons.net/forums/cach...m/mail/e/1f3bf

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Something like silicone caulk wouldn't work, they can climb that easy. A silicone based lubricant might though, not sure.

So just an update: I took out the soil today, applied a Fluon barrier, and reintroduced my beetles.

I had applied the Terro on 6/12, so it has been almost a month.

I took out like, maybe 1/3 of the soil total. As I was removing soil, I kept finding larvae, and I didn't want to kill them (I removed them and put them in a plastic leftover container with some soil while I was doing all this). I basically removed the top half of the soil for the deeper parts because the ants were mostly in these areas. For the more shallow parts, I still removed a good amount of it or just mixed it in. The blue death-feigning beetle larvae were generally in the more moistened parts, but I found the two biggest ones (like, the biggest I have ever seen, so they have probably been growing for a long time) in a pretty dry section of the terrarium that I never water--shallow and in the front and center.

I broke up a few of the small branches because I read the larvae need to eat wood to pupate. I have no idea if this is their wood "preference", though, lol.

So, the Fluon... I applied it around the top horizontal part where the lid rests. I also put a layer around the outside of the lid, as well as on the lid itself. I put some in the track area where the doors slide (not sure if that'll help) and some on the cord going into the light fixture. I also did this for our Japanese rat snake's enclosure, although he hasn't had an ant problem. Here is a picture of where I applied the Fluon ant barrier on the inside ledge (the coating isn't on it yet in the photo). I think the ants were coming in through here as well, and I didn't think to remove the lid and coat this part with anything. (sorry if it's sideways or a squished aspect ratio; dunno why that happens with only some of my images, but you can get the idea of where I put the barrier)

https://ball-pythons.net/gallery/fil...4/img_3688.jpg


Oh, also, I did actually get a response from Terro customer service a few days after I contacted them. The person who replied to me only said that they haven't done any studies on "secondary" ingestion of the ant bait, so weren't sure how it would affect my beetles. I am hoping that, given the fact the beetles don't really dig a significant amount, and the fact that my larvae are still alive after a month, this is a good sign. I have basically removed my beetles' access to dead ants, and although I couldn't see where any of the dead ants were because they are so tiny, they should be all covered up by new soil at this time. Either the larvae don't eat dead ants, or they are unaffected by the poisoned dead ants.

Just dropping in to say that all of my beetles are still alive, and I have had no ants since using the ant barrier.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by TofuTofuTofu

Just dropping in to say that all of my beetles are still alive, and I have had no ants since using the ant barrier.

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Glad to hear it.

I have added four "hullburnt" morph diabolical ironclad beetles to my setup. I thought, hey, it's overnight shipping; they'll be fine: of course, FedEx smashed the box right over where the beetles are. I think they only survived because these guys can survive being run over by a car. They were a little weirded out of me opening them in the FedEx pickup location to check that they were okay ("are they in some kind of container?").

They have promptly disappeared but also dug up a carrot I had buried for the blue death-feigning beetle larvae, and munched off one small branch of one of the creosotes. I dunno how useful they are in terms of being a clean-up crew, but, I like them and many people house them together in desert beetle enclosures. They eat the same stuff as my beetles (but if they decide to decimate my plants, these guys are getting their own setup).

https://ball-pythons.net/gallery/fil...4/img_3929.jpg



Also, my ongoing saga to get a TPRS: I have connected with a breeder in Virginia who has placed me on a waitlist for a pairing of his two gorgeous blondes (my husband joined the Facebook group so I could look at the TPRS group). I am still mega mega hesitant to ship a reptile, though; I seem to have a curse with boxes getting crushed (it happened with my both of my beetles, and also with a crayfish I bought years and years ago; every animal I have ever had shipped has gotten crushed in some way, although not died--unless you could one of the BDF beetles). So, I'm still going to search for a local option until then. But, I do have a baby TPRS lined up in case I don't find anything.

Cool looking beetles. :cool: Hope they don't decide to munch on a captive-snake though? Just because something exists together in the wild doesn't mean it will be okay when confined. :confusd:

Just remember that snakes don't even kill rodents when they aren't hungry, even when the rodents munch on THEM. They don't seem to know they're in danger. :O

Glad you got on a wait list for a TP hatchling. I'd also prefer not to ship snakes, but never had any "disasters" either.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Bogertophis

Cool looking beetles. :cool: Hope they don't decide to munch on a captive-snake though? Just because something exists together in the wild doesn't mean it will be okay when confined. :confusd:

Just remember that snakes don't even kill rodents when they aren't hungry, even when the rodents munch on THEM. They don't seem to know they're in danger. :O

Glad you got on a wait list for a TP hatchling. I'd also prefer not to ship snakes, but never had any "disasters" either.

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Hmm, they are similar in relation and habits to my other beetles from what I understand, and I doubt they would chomp on a snake (they too do a "curl up and act dead if anything touches me" like the blue death-feigning beetles). But, just like with my blue beetles, I am going to closely monitor them. Also, this is a much larger enclosure than most people keep TPRSes OR beetles in (67 gallons), especially this low of a number of beetles, and there are plenty of little nooks and stuff for them to retreat from my snake in, so I'm hoping it works.

But again, I'm going to keep a close eye on everyone at the time I do introduce my snake, and ongoing after then. I would in no way try to force a cohabitation if I got any sort of indication it wasn't best for either party. I have more space to separate out my beetles if I need to (like, in a separate beetle-only enclosure). But it'd be cool if it worked! Hoping they will ignore each other similar to an isopod/springtail setup, and being timid detritivores I am hoping they'll just like hide from my snake or ignore him (but again like, if my beetles seem stressed and I never see them again once my snake is in there, I'll know something is up).

One of my reasons for making this thread is to share my experiences and let other people know that what I did worked or didn't work, since I have not found anyone else using the blue death-feigning beetles as a reptile clean-up crew--only scorpions--and I think from observing them for so long without a snake in there, I am hoping I would notice any signs of stress or changes in habits at the time I do introduce my snake.

A minor update on my plants:

So, I'm not happy with how my brittlebush is looking lately. It looks healthy, but the lower leaves drop off (you can see this a tiny bit in the older photos I posted). At first, I thought it was a watering issue or a fertilizer issue, but I have made changes on both those fronts with no changes in the plant. I am starting to suspect that the plant actually has "outgrown" the enclosure and that its roots do not have enough space. I have signed up for a Zoom meeting with a 'master gardener' from the Arizona State University garden extension or whatever, which will be a few weeks from now. I will see what they say.

It's possible I can add more substrate to the back of the enclosure and move the plant "up" so its roots have more room. Possibly, I could trim the roots, which is not sustainable in this setup. (Trimming the top of the plant wouldn't fix the problem, from what I understand.) So, I'm thinking now that I should have gone with a deeper bottom enclosure... However, I do think I can add more substrate above the "cutoff" line where the enclosure pieces together, without anything bad happening (because I will not be watering against the back end of the glass at all, so nothing should leak). I also signed up to ask why my creosotes aren't growing, lol.

It's possible, if these don't work, that I'll plant a few other seeds and try again with some new plants. The grasses I had in there actually grew really well and stay tiny, but I have now succeeded in killing all three of the ones I kept (there were more, which I thinned out early on because they were everywhere), once I redid the substrate. I think whatever those grasses are, are a species that doesn't like being transplanted. They did, however, flower! Which was cool, and I think shows they do well with minimal care. I would be okay with re-seeding the enclosure to try to encourage these more. I might do it again anyway, because they added a good variety in texture.

Or, if I can manage to uproot my brittlebush, I can keep it in a small pot, which I could empty and root trim as needed (like a bonsai, which I have a good amount of experience with as well--but not all species take well to bonsai treatment). I would be willing to "plant" a pot hidden in there if it meant I could keep this focal plant in my setup.

Anyway, just some thoughts and problem solving on my plant situation. I will keep you updated when I have my gardener meeting.

Just had my Zoom meeting with the master gardeners. So, the lady I talked to basically said that my brittlebush actually looked healthy, and that they will naturally lose their bottom leaves. However, she also said that, in the long run, it wouldn't be happy in this setup because of the space restriction. I think it would live in there, but probably wouldn't look as good as I want it to. She recommended I put it in a regular pot and keep it outside, but not to let it get rained on. I'm in Florida, so I'm not sure it would be happy with the humidity here. The rainy season is not over yet but maybe it'll be okay outside over the winter when there is less humidity. All she said about creosotes was that they are "difficult to get started" uh... so I'll just leave mine where it is for now. (the one is pretty much dead, but the other still looks good).

In conclusion, I'm going to re-seed with my "short stuff" mix from Native Seeds/SEARCH, as well as my "desert tortoise mix" to see what groundcovers will grow.

I also found out the name of the short grass that did well and flowered in my terrarium: Indian wheat.

In other news... one of my blue death-feigning beetles, Stumpy, died. Stumpy was the most active and was always out and running around, and I didn't see him for a couple of days. I found his thorax and abdomen under one of the hides. Uh. I'm not sure what happened, but I'm sad about it. I don't think anyone... ate him... because his exoskeleton is intact? But it's a murder mystery otherwise. RIP Stumpy.

The one thing I noticed about that beetle was that he was darker in color for a while... I have one other beetle who has stayed a little darker and I wonder if this is a kind of health indication.

It's ironic that the desert is such a harsh environment, yet so many things that thrive there are SO hard to grow. When I lived in the desert, I had some huge bladderpod shrubs (about 7' tall & around) that flowered for a long time, which thrilled the hummingbirds & bees. But do you think I could grow more of them to plant around my property? Tried all sorts of things, but had very limited success, eventually getting only a few off to a slothful start. Good luck!

Sorry to hear about Stumpy. It's likely to remain a mystery.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Bogertophis

It's ironic that the desert is such a harsh environment, yet so many things that thrive there are SO hard to grow.

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When you think about it, it's the plants that live in temperate regions that are probably among the hardiest of all. Sure something like a desert plant can thrive in extreme conditions, but that's just it. Those thrive in those specific extreme conditions. So even a small amount of change is likely to end badly.

On the other hand, the plants and trees right in my backyard here in the midwest, in any given year, have to deal with pouring rain, dryness, snow, ice, wind and highly erratic temperatures (sometimes a 20-30 degree difference within mere hours).

Well here is an important update: I got my snake today! His prior owner said he purchased him at the 2015 Daytona show, so I'm guessing he is likely about 6 years old or maybe more. I did have him shipped, and thankfully everything went fine (apparently... I'm still in denial something won't go wrong somehow lol). The lady in the FedEx hub said I could check on him in the office, so I opened up the snake bag, poked at him a little, and saw this little face with two big eyeballs peek around a fold in the fabric. It was cute. All I did was verify he was alive, though; I didn't want to just take out a snake in a public place and stress him out.

He is in quarantine and I plan to leave him there till the end of the year and test him a few times for any issues. I only handled him long enough to take these photos, but he seems to be totally delightful. He moves very slowly (carefully, I would say?) compared to our Japanese rat snake, and will just sit there in my hand, which is something I really wanted in a snake to be honest, lol. He has been in one of his hides for the past few hours, but that is okay; he has had a weird 24 hours. Anyway, say hello to Chico! (and a cameo of my foster rabbit in the background lol)


https://ball-pythons.net/gallery/fil...3/4/image3.jpg


https://ball-pythons.net/gallery/fil...3/4/image1.jpg


https://ball-pythons.net/gallery/fil...3/4/image2.jpg
https://ball-pythons.net/gallery/sho...mageuser=83834
https://ball-pythons.net/gallery/sho...mageuser=83834


https://ball-pythons.net/gallery/fil.../image0_1.jpeg



In vivarium news, I wanted to show a photo of the seeds sprouting right now. I can pick out three or four different varieties that have sprouted (the grassy one, Indian wheat, is the most prominent, but I am unsure what the others are as of yet). I have been reducing the plant light output because, last time, it burnt some of the seedlings, and they seem to be doing better with just the tube daylight bulb and only about 4 hours of my LED plant grow light per day. I mist directly over the seedlings every day and pour a small amount of water (like some droplets) every few days.

https://ball-pythons.net/gallery/fil...3/4/image4.jpg

Welcome Chico! :D From what you describe, he's just like all the TPs I've ever known- a very gentle, curious snake that moves yes, "carefully" when handled. Just a delightful pet that I'm sure you'll love living with. Looks like you picked a winner- 6 years old is a nice age to get a snake- he's well-started, not so delicate as a hatchling. I'm glad his shipping went well- it generally does. I guess we'll have to see if "blondes have more fun", eh? :gj:

I don't know about you, but I'll never get tired of these TP faces. :love: Or their mellow personalities.

So, inside the cage I have just been thinning out some of the more crowded seedlings and allowing certain ones to grow. Hopefully by the beginning of next year, they'll be strong enough to handle an adult snake moving in! There are a few species doing okay and I want to facilitate a variety if I can. I blast one half of the vivarium with my grow lamp for 2-3 hours per day but otherwise just leave the fluorescent daylight tube on a 13-hour schedule. I water a small amount every couple of days by unscrewing the top of the mister bottle and just pouring it rather than misting.

As for Chico, I have made another topic for this, but just wanted to put in here that he hasn't yet eaten. He was previously on rat pups and I'm trying to get him switched to mice; he is also a little chunky. I tried scenting a mouse with used rat bedding last week, and tonight have tied a mouse fuzzy to a rat pinkie with my hair to see if he'll eat it. So far tonight, he just wanted to explore and is sitting next to me on a table as I type this. I'm not worried about this, though; I'm optimistic that he'll eat for me eventually.

Chico is being trained with choice-based handling and I plan to target train him once he is switched to mice and is eating regularly. Tonight is actually the first time where I sat next to his cage and he willingly climbed onto me in order to explore the table next to the chair I was in. I have otherwise not actually "handled" him in the sense that most people picture handling, and have never just gone and picked him up from anywhere. While exploring, if he goes somewhere undesirable (such as behind his tub and on top of the modem box), I will redirect him with a hook and one hand if I need to. He is doing well with this and I hope it builds his confidence; so far, I think it is working, since he willingly climbed on me today. He is really slow and this helps a great deal in giving him "choices," as I don't have to constantly be redirecting him in the way that I would a frenetic snake.

Well, it's a little strange that he's not eating yet, especially since you tried the scenting too, but I guess he's in no hurry. I've never had a new TP that didn't eat quickly, & regularly, but snakes all do have their own personalities.

Trans Pecos rat snakes are strange creatures- they can actually move quite fast when they want to nail prey, but in handling, your observation is the same as mine- that they move slowly & very cautiously & gracefully- as if tiptoeing, which is hard to do without toes. :rolleyes: It makes them a real pleasure to handle, and I don't know of any other kind of snake that behaves this way.

Oh, so, just fyi, he did eat today! I left it in overnight. He still had not eaten this morning, though, and I think he ate around midday. That is kind of gross, and the mouse/rat creature I created was sitting out probably 16 hours at least. I hope he doesn't get sick from it? May be a discussion for another topic, but I'm glad he ate at least.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by TofuTofuTofu

Oh, so, just fyi, he did eat today! I left it in overnight. He still had not eaten this morning, though, and I think he ate around midday. That is kind of gross, and the mouse/rat creature I created was sitting out probably 16 hours at least. I hope he doesn't get sick from it? May be a discussion for another topic, but I'm glad he ate at least.

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Great! And I wouldn't worry about it. That's probably what he's used to doing. :rolleyes: It's possible that the person you got him from thawed rodents in ways that allow more "ripeness" before they were handed out to the snakes, & as I recall, you said he was taking either fed live or drop-fed, right? And he probably PREFERS live, but if nothing live was forthcoming, he's used to eating the funky stuff as a last resort.

At least he ate for now, & I hope you can get him eating when it's a little fresher- I wouldn't offer food again for at LEAST 2 weeks, & see if that helps also. He's still settling in, & the older a snake is, the weirder (more stressful) it is thought to be for them when they're re-homed. I wouldn't worry or hold it against him, & since you're not willing to do fresh-killed (which he'd probably be happier with) just be patient.

When I've raised TP hatchlings they take f/t prey easily, but if they've been raised for a while on fresh-killed or live, it makes them harder to convince. It's no different than changing our own food "tastes" from what we grew up eating. ;) He's still an adorable :snake: & in the future, he might start eating it faster, especially when "what he ordered" never materializes.

When you offered him prey previously, it might be that you picked it up too soon when he didn't seem to want it right away, lol. I've seen a few snakes in the past that did the same thing, & each learned to eat faster with subsequent meals. TPs are not known for eating carrion either- they're NOT like king snakes that way. I'm so glad that he at least ate. :gj:

It has been a while since my last update, but I wanted to post a sort of “final” larger update post for this project.

https://ball-pythons.net/gallery/fil...4/9_412592.jpg
(the enclosure today)


https://ball-pythons.net/gallery/fil...4/8_918493.jpg
(Chico in his new home)

Rocks:
My Trans-Pecos ratsnake, Chico, was too big for the rock hides I had initially constructed. I removed my beetles, rearranged the rocks, and secured the rock formations with marine epoxy (probably does not need to be marine epoxy, but I had some in my house from another project). In doing this, I also had to move the existing plants, and I moved the ollas as well to better suit the plants.

I don’t have much guidance for making the rock hides; it took me hours of rearranging and pondering, and I bought a few extra rocks that were flatter in shape. My only concern about this was, in an emergency, how would I get him out of a hide? But the rocks are not glued to the floor of the cage, so I could technically life the entire rock hide if the house was burning down or something; it is just pretty heavy.

One hide was constructed above most of a heat mat (the heat mat I have is honestly pretty small, and takes up about 1/4 of the cage or less). The hide only has a thin layer of soil between it and the glass/the heat mat underneath. In both hides, I put a thin layer of (completely dry! Don’t dampen) sphagnum moss. Also, I did pack some sphagnum moss into any gaps in the rock hides that I thought my snake might get stuck in and hurt himself. This was a messy process where I dipped the sphagnum in the epoxy and packed it into the gaps, but it has worked out well.


https://ball-pythons.net/gallery/fil...4/1_709578.jpg
(before epoxy and rock layering)

https://ball-pythons.net/gallery/fil...4/4_321182.jpg
(sorry if this one shows up sideways; I can't fix it lol)


https://ball-pythons.net/gallery/fil...4/3_494197.jpg
(Chico in the non-heated hide)


https://ball-pythons.net/gallery/fil...4/6_376011.jpg
(heated side overall view)


https://ball-pythons.net/gallery/fil...4/7_185603.jpg
(non-heated side overall view)



Water:
There is a space in the back right corner for a water dish. I tried to position it so beetles couldn’t fall in; in addition, I put a rock in it so they wouldn’t drown and could climb out if they fell in. I haven’t seen one fall in yet (if they get wet, you can typically tell because some of their powdery coating is missing), but I will leave it like this permanently.

Transitioning into the enclosure:
I moved my Trans-Pecos ratsnake, Chico, into this enclosure in January. I did this gradually, by allowing him a few hours at a time to play in the enclosure while out for his regular explore time. I put one of his hides in there on top of the rocks. After about a week of explore time, where I let him stay in there for longer intervals of time, I let him stay overnight in the enclosure. Then, after a couple more days of explore time, I left him in there (still with his prior hide in case he wanted to use it). After about a week, I took out his old hide.

https://ball-pythons.net/gallery/fil...4/2_748722.jpg
(I love his face)



Poo:
It dries out so fast in this enclosure. I remove it but if there are little bits of urates etc left over, I mix them in to the soil. I think the beetles do eat the urates? I haven’t seen whether they eat the poop yet, but I would think it would be much too slowly for me to want to leave it in there. This isn’t completely self-cleaning (and no bioactive enclosure is) and wasn’t intended to be.

Soil maintenance:
Several months apart, I think a small amount of my soil mix will need to be added. I judge this by the level of the ollas I can see above the soil, which tends to settle a bit over time. The blue death-feigning beetle larvae and the ollas themselves help prevent compression of the soil (watering top-down will flatten the soil faster, I think, and also I didn’t want surface soil moisture for this species). I plan to fertilize with kelp meal every 3-6 months or so? Bury this under the soil near plants.

Light:
I replaced the fluorescent tube light at the beginning of the year; the prior one had been in use for a little over a year. It hadn’t burnt out yet, but you are supposed to replace them and I thought it was no longer giving off the full daylight spectrum for my plants.

Plants:
The brittlebush (the largest plant previously) is living in a pot on my porch now. The other plants, which were seedings, were moved to more the middle of the setup. When transplanting, it is important to “mud in” the plants: make a hole for the plant; fill the hole with water; put the plant in the hole; put soil around the plant. They will look upset and take more water for about a week (if they look sad, water). I recommend understanding plants if you’re going to do this lol, or try to make sure you don’t need to move them. Normally, you shouldn’t need to move any of the plants unless you have to rearrange something in the enclosure, like I did.

Watering, I only do when a plant looks sad. If I see a SMALL amount of droop in the leaves, I will fill all of the ollas with water (this seems to be less than once per week but I’m honestly not keeping track). I emphasize “small” amount of droop because you don’t want the plants to look like they’re dead before you water.

https://ball-pythons.net/gallery/fil...4/5_989226.jpg
(My current plants from the desert seed mix. Unsure of the species yet)


Plantless:
I want to emphasized that overwatering would be really damaging to this setup. You can do this setup the exact same way but without plants, if you aren’t sure you want plants. I would recommend occasional (every two weeks or so) water on one side of the enclosure’s soil for the blue death-feigning beetle larvae (dig a divot/hole and fill up with water a few times, allowing it to disappear/drain between)

A special note about captive breeding blue death-feigning beetles:
In January, I saw a beetle that looked a little different; it seemed to have some clay soil on it, so I thought maybe had just dug around a but. I didn’t really investigate until the next day. To my complete shock, this was a new beetle. My blue death-feigning beetles have bred in captivity, without me even trying. I am completely sure this is a new beetle; all of my other beetles (despite me being able to identify them individually because of this), are “imperfect” ones missing limbs and parts of limbs; this new guy is totally “perfect.” The beetle is a little on the smaller side, about the same size as my smallest beetle of the group before it died, and it has a lighter powdery color than the others. After it emerged, it chomped on the shed skin for like a week straight, and is often running around with apparently lots of energy.

https://ball-pythons.net/gallery/fil.../12_493181.jpg
(the new guy!)


https://ball-pythons.net/gallery/fil.../11_174907.jpg
(new beetle above an existing beetle)


Also, while rearranging the hides (a day or two after I found the new guy), I found an absolute chonker of a larvae (whom I carefully put in a container while messing with the rocks and soil). Hopefully this means I will have another new beetle soon! My tally is still the same, as I did find a dead beetle while rearranging the cage; the number stays at 6 beetles now.


https://ball-pythons.net/gallery/fil.../10_460145.jpg
(big larva!)


To recap, all I have done for these beetles is:
- Bury a baby carrot or two in the soil every couple of months
- Feed the beetles vegetable scraps from stuff I cook
- Soil is mainly watered via the ollas and is not ever wet, but is occasionally damp in a smallish area
- I did bury small pieces of (live oak tree) twigs in the soil because I read they need wood to develop as larvae, but I’m really not sure this was needed, and also I would see the twigs come to the surface of the soil and they did not appear to be chewed on at all. There is no other wood in my soil mixture.

For something I could achieve accidentally that was previously made to sound difficult and precise, I now believe there is no good reason why blue death-feigning beetles cannot be captive bred. Hopefully in the future, CB blue death-feigning beetles will be widely available.

Socializing Chico:
Aside from the enclosure aspect, I wanted to make a short mention of my snake’s behavior and training. I followed choice-based handling with him, as he was initially shy and had never seen the outside of a tub his entire life. Following choice-based handling, he was a completely different snake in about a month, and even more of a different snake in three months. My Chico is curious and active and loves to explore. He is less shy about eating in that he will eat within about 5 minutes of me placing food, but still doesn’t understand what tongs are, so I just place the thawed mouse on a target. While we were able to easily target train our Japanese rat snake because he takes food from tongs, Chico will likely take a bit longer in this regard. However, the practical use of targeting (like unforcefully convincing them to exit their enclosure if you need to maintain something in it), has not yet applied to him, as he will freely approach me and come out to see me if I open the cage door for him. He is the least food-motivated animal I have ever seen lol. His personality is great and I’m happy he has learned to trust people and learned that exploring is fun.

In conclusion!:
I hope this series of posts helps anyone trying to make a similar enclosure. Unfortunately I will not likely be checking in to be able to answer any questions—I’ve been off of "reptile social media" because I find it depressing overall—but hopefully I’ve explained my methods enough to help someone hoping to recreate this setup or make something similar.

I’m very happy with this project overall and am glad I took the chance in making a setup that I love, that looks the way I envisioned.

That enclosure is gorgeous! Congratulations on your beetle husbandry, & why am I not surprised that Chico is very lovable? :D Around people, every Trans Pecos I've ever known has been mellow, curious & so adorable to live with. I'm so glad this is all working out so well- what a GREAT job you did, & thank you for sharing all this- it's very educational & inspiring. :gj: