deciding is hard work

[Brandon.O]

ok as some of you know on my list of snakes i have a bci another ball python (a morph) and maybe a jungle carpet python but since my mom doesnt want another big snake i am (again) thinking about getting a ribbon snake.Ive read some care sheets but i havent found any good ones, does anybody have some with stuff about thier enclouse ?

[luckylexxi94044]

Sorry I don't know about their enclosure a whole lot. I do know, however, that they are excellent escape artists and that they need secure (VERY secure) cages.

[luckylexxi94044]

They also stay very very thin and can wiggle out of cracks and stuff so get a cage with locks and clamps and that is deep.

[luckylexxi94044]

Hope that helped you a little bit! Good luck with your ribbon~

[Eve]

Cool! Ribbonsnakes are very nice pets (a bit more jumpy than the average BP, but never the less nice pets and they will not injure you, even if they bite) I recommend a tank, with a secure fitting top door if you get a baby. As said before: they can wiggle out of VERY tight spots when babies! If you´re getting a more mature one, frontal sliding doors will do fine! Make sure the snake gets a BIG bath! (I use an old earthenware lasagna dish) It loves to get wet and swim around a bit. Also the big bath will keep up the humidity when combined with a 25/40 Watt bulb.
Put in some nice plastic plants (real ones will get uprooted pretty quick) and create some little hiding holes with rocks and branches. For floor coverage I like to use a turf like substance (here in Holland it´s called Repti bark. Don´t know if you guys have that) because it is kind of like a forrest floor and not too wet. If the tank is too humid, the snake can develop some thing that looks like chickenpocks. It is a kind of pocks and it can cause the snake to itch and when they open they give a nasty wound that is hard to heal. If it does heal it leaves an ugly scar. :? So when cleaning, dry of the interior very well.
Clean out the cage every week to fortnight (depending on how messy the snake is. Mine is rather messy, but my brother had one that messed in a single corner and he scooped that out every other day, so the whole tank was done once every 3 weeks).
For food: babies can eat small earthworms and crickets and small guppies. Mature ones can also eat earthworms and crickets (but in much larger sizes and quantities) and (gold)fish up to about 4 cm in length. (depending on how large your snake is.) A nice guide line: if the fish is lager in hight than twice the width of your snakes head, it will probably be unable to swallow it. As a goldfish is mostly for decoration, it will be checked for nasties (at least here they are) and it does not cost a whole lot. I feed my snake once every 3 to 7 days, depending on how hard it is looking for food while swimming. Guppies are easy to breed, so that could also be a nice idea. My brother fed a small frog to his ribbonsnake once, and that went down nicely too, but with a little effort. Some people will give their ribbonsnake tinned catfood, but I am no fan of that. Catfood contains a LOT of vitamine B, which causes the snake to shed rapidly while not growing very fast. This tires the snake up to the point of exhaustion. If you´re not carefull, the snake can die of it!

Hope to have helped you a bit here

Love Eve

[Brandon.O]

breeding guppies will be very easy for me ive done it in the past, in fact i have three pregnant females right now. if (more like when) i get permission from my parents i will buy a bunch and put them in my tank and let them do thier "buisness" and i wont have to worry about going to the fish store to get food for the snake. as far as crickets go.....i guess ill buy a bunch every week and put them in a tank or bucket somewhere with gut load (right?) and im sure i can find worms at a pet store too becuase iheard not to feed them wild caught insects.Oh and i saw guppies and gold fish up in where you posted,do they eat both or just what you decide to feed them ???

[Brandon.O]

ok,i think i got my mom convinced to let me get a ribbon snake,i have everything i need exept for a undertank heater and a light.My mom thought feeding would be a issue but i told her about crickets and that since they eat guppies i will continue to breed my own. now i just need to find a healthy one, the pet store that has them is an hour away and they didnt look that healthy so either ill ask the guy at the pet store i volunteer at to order some of them or i can go to the pet store that is 3 hours away (and i really dont want to do that so..)

[luckylexxi94044]

Guppies are for when they are younger, and as they get older they can eat goldfish.

[Brandon.O]

well i dont know how to breed gold fish but i know i can get them REALLY cheap at the pet store i volunteer at. and since you cant only feed them fish i will be getting crickets and all that other stuff for him.

[luckylexxi94044]

Yeah, and I THINK they can eat meal worms, I can be absolutely wrong but it's possible.