Questions for the C. Hortulanus owners.

[eatgoodfood]

I will likely be getting one for my birthday(in a few months). I wanted to see how everyone is keeping them, what size terrarium, wether you have it bare minimum i.e. some perches and news paper or in a vivarium, pics would be great, im planning a vivarium in a pvc terrarium, still trying to find whats right. Do you spray to keep humidity up or do you use a rain system with a humidity controller? Handeling, do you handle yours or do you work with them with a hook? I do not know if I will be getting an adult or a baby, seeing as how it will be coming from the owner of a pet store I am friends with and breed balls with. Seeing as how he has adults currently I am guessing that will be most likely. Is there anyone that breeds them here? I am considering getting a pair. I guess that is about it, any tips or tricks or anything special I should know please do tell.

Thank You,
Andrew

[gardenfiend138]

Hi! I only have one ammie--an adult female. I have her in an 18"x18"x24" exoterra now, with plexi on top and a dimmable heat lamp for a hotspot. I heat the snake room to ~78*, and give her a hotspot of about 90*, which she only really uses when digesting.

I use about 3 inches or so of shredded cypress, because it holds humidity very well and doesn't mold too easy. I also use removable PVC perches, with a grid so she can have multiple points of contact. I have a live pothos in there for my own pleasure, a large water bowl, and a hide (she very rarely uses this--maybe 4 times in the 2 years I've had her). For me, removable perches are a must, because when I used wooden ones that were fixed in the cage, I would always get bit a few times trying to get her unwrapped... go figure! Now, I just pop out her perch with her on it and let her come off in her own time, which usually does take at least 10 minutes. I don't handle her much at all, maybe once a month, but she is darn pretty to look at! I love keeping them, and want to get a male for her as well.

I hand spray her enclosure with a fine-mist hand pump 2-3times per day, and she only really drinks from her water bowl when it is fresh, so I try and change it every other day. One thing I noticed with her is that if the environment is too arid, she will burrow her nose into the substrate, presumable to get to the water on the bottom of the enclosure (even though she has water)...this was noticeable when I came back from vacation the other day and my friend who was watching over the snakes was too intimidated to do any real work with her besides spray the cage down once through the top of the cage, and that was only or a week. This also happened before when she was boarding at a local shop and was kept on coco coir, which resulted in the coco becoming lodged in her mouth and she was blocked up for about 2 months before she passed it all through...I learned from that to use cypress, and mist multiple times a day! I'd send pictures but I'm too lazy at the moment. Check out amazon-alliance.com for some great resources on atb's, as well as caging suggestions and the like. There are a couple other people on here who keep c. hortulanus, so hopefully others will chime in. Happy Keeping!

[LLLReptile]

I have two juveniles I've raised for about a year now. I started them as neonates in a 12 x 12 x 18 ZooMed cage, with sand blasted manzanita for perches and pothos planted directly into the substrate for foliage and decoration. I kept a 60 watt red bulb on them and a 5.0 UVB light as well during the day. Substrate was and still is eco earth mixed with cypress mulch and orchid bark, and I spray them about once a day, sometimes twice a day, sometimes I skip it. I moved them up to an 18 x 18 x 24" ZooMed terrarium a few months ago and keep a thick layer of sphagnum moss along the bottom on top of the eco earth/bark mix. Keeping that moss nice and damp makes monitoring their humidity a piece of cake - I haven't had a problem shed from them since their first month with me, and I really don't always mist them daily. Depending on ambient temps in my house, they either get a 25 watt basking bulb during the day during summer (ambient house temps 80 degrees) or a 75 watt bulb in winter (ambient temps 70 degrees). I let them cool down at night and they do well.

Danny Mendez is a really great guy with a lot of experience with ammies, and I found his article on their care to be helpful. He keeps them relatively cool, especially when we are accustomed to housing tropical snakes with basking areas in the high 80s to low 90s. Instead, Danny keeps his with a high temp at most of 85, and lets them drop down to the low 70s at night. Mine aren't getting super huge super fast, but they are definitely growing and thriving, and I highly recommend following along with the advice in this article.

http://www.urbanjungles.com/atbbasics.htm

"Gorgeous" when she first arrived this time last year:


Her brother, "Sh*thead", in September last year - Sorry, non PC name, but he really is...


Their cage - I moved them up in Sept, so this was when it was freshly made. They were clearly thrilled.

I run a fogger on them occasionally as well as mist them down. Like I said, usually I spray them once a day, once in a while twice a day, and at least once or twice a week I skip misting them entirely. They have a water bowl to drink from as needed. I built the entire cage from items I brought home from work.

Gorgeous in September - she has developed even more vivid patterning from her tail upward, but I haven't had the chance to take more pictures yet. She's about to go through another shed cycle, once she's done I should snap more pics.


Hope that was helpful!

-Jen