to the half log hide haters

i had a nice size half log hide that i pretty much threw out because everyone in here says there worthless.

i shouldnt listen to everyone.

if you have one of these hides i suggest you put it on the cool side packed with aspen,almost to the top.

DUDE! my lil girl will not come out of it.she has a nice cozy cave hide on the warm side that is pretty much not in use now.i would switch the hides but there is too much aspen for the heat to transfer.

this is just a lil hint to those that bought the log hides and are either not using them or using them empty as i agree there is a lack of security.

its not fun to throw money away and i thought this could ease a few minds

the only thing I can see wrong with this is that now she has a favorite hide and might not be thermo regulating..

I had some of those hides and they worked fine, I went to a hobby store and bought a small sheet of balsa wood, I cut it out in a half circle the same size as the hide and stapled it to one end of the hide... They worked well.

But from another stand point, those things cost $10 to $20 each, and when you have 10 snakes and you need 2 hides each thats $200-$400 just in hides, I can go to the dollar store and get all the hides for $20, that would leave me enough money left over to buy a cool new snake..

If your snake likes those hides and you want to use them go for it, I suggest buying another one for the other side of your enclosure though..

If you have to stuff it with aspen for her to use it... uhm... kinda says a lot doesn't it?

Why not just use an appropriate hide and stuff to your heart's content. At least this way she can still have access to heat.

All this post proves is that, as people say, and the reason they hate half log hides, is that they don't offer security.

Half log hater till the day I die. :)

Bruce

im just sayin if you spent the money on one,you might as well use it somehow.

lil girl is now chilling under the lamp.snakes arent stupid.when they need to regulate there heat they will.she knows theres a few warm spots and she uses them.just now more under the lamp than the uth.

i guess i misnamed the title a lil bit.im just trying to give a pointer to anyone that has them

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Originally Posted by Butters420

im just sayin if you spent the money on one,you might as well use it somehow.

lil girl is now chilling under the lamp.snakes arent stupid.when they need to regulate there heat they will.she knows theres a few warm spots and she uses them.just now more under the lamp than the uth.

i guess i misnamed the title a lil bit.im just trying to give a pointer to anyone that has them

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Well snakes arent the sharpest tool in the shed either, ever heard of thermal burn? Snakes can sit in one area for a while even if its bad for thier health, it happens... If you like the hides that much then why not have another one?

sure ive heard of thermal burn and mostly it happens from a uth that is not under control(different thread totally).

i have these snakes as pets and a plastic bowl is not gonna cut it for me.i want my snakes to live in a more natural place than a tub with a dog bowl and 2 bowls as hides.i have nothing against people that do either.its just my choice to make it as real as possible for them.

the point of this thread and ill say it again (shoulda been named differently) is that if you spent money on a log hide,this is an option to use it instead of throwing it away.

Hey Ive been telling you all along to use the hide if you want to, i didnt tell you to use plastic bowls. I suggested using two half logs if your going to use them.

And my point of thermal burn was if the snakes were so "smart" why wouldnt they move off of a spot that was hot enough to burn them?

Im glad you found use for your hide, and by all means keep using it, the thing I miss about them the most is they are a great shedding surface...

i gotcha.
they could be sleeping when being burned????i dunno

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Originally Posted by Butters420

im just sayin if you spent the money on one,you might as well use it somehow.

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I agree - my rats LOVE their half log hide that they inherited from my first snake! :D

Only thing I do not like about them is that they are almost immpossible to disinfect properly unless you bake them, and that STINKS (literally)!! After a few poos on them they become a breeding ground for bacteria.

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Originally Posted by FloridaHogs

Only thing I do not like about them is that they are almost immpossible to disinfect properly unless you bake them, and that STINKS (literally)!! After a few poos on them they become a breeding ground for bacteria.

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Very good point Jenea. I've found a lot of our snakes use their hides as a convenient toilet area. Once you've scrapped a few 100 hard urates or smeared feces off a hard to clean hide - well it sort of loses it's charm. :rolleyes:

In the end, whatever choices a keeper makes you have to think first of the snake. What works for that snake species best and what can you keep hygenic in the bacteria breeding ground that is a snake's home (those germs love the dark, warmth and higher humidity of a hide unfortunately). There are so many choices out there sometimes you just have to be creative. :)

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Originally Posted by frankykeno

Very good point Jenea. I've found a lot of our snakes use their hides as a convenient toilet area. Once you've scrapped a few 100 hard urates or smeared feces off a hard to clean hide - well it sort of loses it's charm. :rolleyes:

In the end, whatever choices a keeper makes you have to think first of the snake. What works for that snake species best and what can you keep hygenic in the bacteria breeding ground that is a snake's home (those germs love the dark, warmth and higher humidity of a hide unfortunately). There are so many choices out there sometimes you just have to be creative. :)

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True, thats why I do not use hides at all. I could not stand trying to clean and disinfect them. I keep all of my ball pythons is rack systems with no hides. They do not seem to mind. If they want to hide, they just hide under the unprinted newspaper.

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Originally Posted by Butters420

im just sayin if you spent the money on one,you might as well use it somehow.

lil girl is now chilling under the lamp.snakes arent stupid.when they need to regulate there heat they will.she knows theres a few warm spots and she uses them.just now more under the lamp than the uth.

i guess i misnamed the title a lil bit.im just trying to give a pointer to anyone that has them

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When I first got Vincent, I had a half log hide that I stood up against the glass of the tank. Vincent loved that thing.. now he's way too big to fit in it.

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Originally Posted by FloridaHogs

Only thing I do not like about them is that they are almost immpossible to disinfect properly unless you bake them, and that STINKS (literally)!! After a few poos on them they become a breeding ground for bacteria.

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Totally agree Jenea. I bought one of those stupid log hides when I first got my BP because I was an idiot and listened to the pet store girl when she said that the ball pythons just loooved them :weirdface lol and after about 2 weeks it was nasty lol. I just wound up throwing it away because she refused to use it and I won't give stuff like that to my rats since the bark is where the majority of the harmful chemicals are in trees. Maybe it wouldn't actually hurt them but I wouldn't take that chance.

Did you hear about the Bearded Dragons who tend to have seizures and the like from sitting on those half-logs? When those nasty things are heated up(such as by a HEAT LAMP, HMM), it seems they emit some sort of chemical(possibly from the coloring, the treatment, I don't know), which causes seizures.

They don't hide under half-log hides made by Zoomed in the wild. Go build a termite mound or get some cork bark for them to hide under if you want to be "natural".

All of my snakes are my pets first(50 plus) and they are kept happily and properly in an easily-cleaned/easily-heated environment(ie tub in a rack heated with flexwatt).

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Originally Posted by Butters420

i shouldnt listen to everyone.

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sometimes ur advice is the best advice. i used a bamboo for 2-3yrs with my bps. they loved until it cracked in half. then i use the half bamboo for the smaller new ones i would get. only reason i stop using it, it started to splinter. half logs are fine. i wouldnt have thrown it in the garbage, i put everything away in a big tub with all my snake stuff...

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Originally Posted by FloridaHogs

Only thing I do not like about them is that they are almost immpossible to disinfect properly unless you bake them, and that STINKS (literally)!! After a few poos on them they become a breeding ground for bacteria.

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My snakes loved these half logs when I used them.But,the statement above is so true.I use some vision hides now that are natural looking and are durable and easy to clean/disinfect.

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Originally Posted by SatanicIntention

Did you hear about the Bearded Dragons who tend to have seizures and the like from sitting on those half-logs? When those nasty things are heated up(such as by a HEAT LAMP, HMM), it seems they emit some sort of chemical(possibly from the coloring, the treatment, I don't know), which causes seizures.

They don't hide under half-log hides made by Zoomed in the wild. Go build a termite mound or get some cork bark for them to hide under if you want to be "natural".

All of my snakes are my pets first(50 plus) and they are kept happily and properly in an easily-cleaned/easily-heated environment(ie tub in a rack heated with flexwatt).

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im not talking about beardies for one.second i didnt say im going to mimic the wild.i said make it as real as i can using the stuff i have or can get.

and those nasty things? give me a friggin break.i wouldnt put anything nasty in my tanks.you need to lighten up and stop downing everything i say in here.

I use half logs for small stuff. But i have the plastic molded hides for everyone else now. i cant justify cheaping out and buying dollar store stuff * sorry to those who do, its just not for me! :D

Zillas products are cheap enough that i dont mind spending an extra few bucks. And the things are dang tough! plus... they look NICE!

Hi,

I often thought about building a vivarium with openable "tunnels" and "chambers" under a false floor - never could work out how to get the heating right though as I suspected they would be cooler than I would have liked.

Might be possible with well controlled flexwatt etc.

The other problem was I could forsee a beautiful naturalistic viv above it being hardly ever used.

Just mentioning it for input. :oops:


dr del

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Originally Posted by Butters420

im just sayin if you spent the money on one,you might as well use it somehow.

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I don`t know about that. If you can find a use for it great, but personally, if something isn`t functional and doesn`t work. I toss it and buy something that does.

Cannot help but think of that poor guy in my grade six class that had to wear his sister`s old jeans after her growth spurt. His mom figured she`d spent good money on them... why let them go to waste?

B

Why are people so adamant about 2 hides? I have only one and my snakes thermoregulate and aren't stressed out...

All snakes are different some stress over stuff others wouldn't even notice(kinda like people).

Not everybody uses aspen, I myself use newspaper which they will hide under too.

To each his own.

Alot of the recomendations here are to cover a wide group of animals and potential problems they may encounter.

I remember a guy said he let his room get down to 60 degrees and his snake was fine. I wouldn't recommend that to anyone but yet he thinks those temps work and evryone else was just being a jerk.

So when you give advice it is always best to lean on the side of caution and everyone will be fine. No one is saying you are wrong. Snakes in tubs in enclosed racks can probably get away with less, larger or no hides. A snake in a large glass tank in the middle of your living room with lots of traffic might want alot more privacy and more enclosed hides. It depends on the snake, the enclosure, location and ones experience. When giving advice to newbies it is always best to lean towards the most effective. why take it personally? The reality is you never know the exact conditions so thats why many choose what works MOST of the time. isnt that just logical?

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Originally Posted by Mochelem

And my point of thermal burn was if the snakes were so "smart" why wouldnt they move off of a spot that was hot enough to burn them?

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I don't think it has to do with intelligence, I have heard they do not sense pain from heat. I have heard if they come in contact with a very hot surface (like a stove) they can burn themselves so severely their innards fall out but they don't feel it.

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Originally Posted by rabernet

I agree - my rats LOVE their half log hide that they inherited from my first snake! :D

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lol :rofl:

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Originally Posted by Sonya610

I don't think it has to do with intelligence, I have heard they do not sense pain from heat. I have heard if they come in contact with a very hot surface (like a stove) they can burn themselves so severely their innards fall out but they don't feel it.

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ive seen pic,s of a redtail with half his tail eaten to the bone by a rat someone left in with him for a week i dunno if they feel pain or not but if somethings bad for em they will just put up with it to the point of death thermal burns included

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Originally Posted by Sonya610

I don't think it has to do with intelligence, I have heard they do not sense pain from heat. I have heard if they come in contact with a very hot surface (like a stove) they can burn themselves so severely their innards fall out but they don't feel it.

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That was my point, read my posts well, what Im trying to get at is if they cant "feel" the heat what makes you think they can "feel" the cold.... A snake can very well have a favorite spot in an enclosure... Thats the point Im trying to make... If people like it or not I will say snakes are not that intelligent, they are instinctive... Im not saying anything bad about the creature just that some creatures have mopre smarts than others... Every creature knows what it has to do to survive though....