Roe progression thread!

[dakski]

Thank you guys! I agree, was defiantly a rollercoaster! But her temps are great, and she's great! I should've made it clearer that she ate overnight lol. I will certainly get a much larger tank for her over time. BCI's are slow growers, so I do have time to save. I want to get something really nice for her! She will be a big girl, so a nice big viv for her would be wonderful. She is in only a 10gal now, but that is because her tank was meant to be for a hognose! So DEFINATLY upgrading soon. My bp May needs a bigger tank here soon so ill probably give Mays 20gal to Roe (for the time being). But yes, I am actually pretty ecxited to do some tank shopping for her! Her tempratures have been staying where they are.


But... if you know me I'm always gonna have another question! Roe has two lights on her tank, one normal light and one with a dimmer. I had the dimmer on the cool side on low to keep it warm and the normal light on the warm side (does that make sense?). So I usually just turned off normal light at night so dimmer would keep tank warm and be low light so she can rest. But now, so temps are ok, I have dimmer on hot side and normal on cool side. Dimmer is all the way up. What do I turn off tonight? I want it to stay warm, but I want her to be able to sleep!

But thank you so much guys. I was kinda freaking out tbh but everyone helped me get though it! I love this forum so much!

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Replace the light with either a red bulb of the same wattage or a ceramic heat emitter of the same wattage.

Red bulbs are like moonlight to snakes and CHE give off no light.

Ideally, heat and light would be separate. Difficult in a small tank.

I have flourescent bulbs in my tanks for light and RHP and two separate UT heat sources. One for warm side with RHP and one for cool side.

I have nothing for night lights but the heaters run all the time.

I turn on a low light in the room for feeding so I can see what I am doing. The snakes do fine with very little light at night.

Not sure what to do tonight though.

[GpBp]

Perfect! Thanks!

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[Sauzo]

Sheesh, you still havent gotten that boa to eat regular!!?? Boas are like foolproof. They would pretty much feed themselves lol. Thats why i say its best to just start out with a PVC cage. It so much easier to get stuff right. Tanks work for quarantine pretty good but unless you have had experience making them 'snake friendly', they can be kind of tricky especially in winter when the weather is against you too.

[GpBp]

Sheesh, you still havent gotten that boa to eat regular!!?? Boas are like foolproof. They would pretty much feed themselves lol. Thats why i say its best to just start out with a PVC cage. It so much easier to get stuff right. Tanks work for quarantine pretty good but unless you have had experience making them 'snake friendly', they can be kind of tricky especially in winter when the weather is against you too.

Yeah, I think she'll eat next week since ill thaw correctly and her husbandry will be good. May and Geno are both in tanks, so I have some experience. But, yes. I am defiantly saving up for some kind of PVC! Not just for Roe, but for everyone

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[Sauzo]

Yeah, I think she'll eat next week since ill thaw correctly and her husbandry will be good. May and Geno are both in tanks, so I have some experience. But, yes. I am defiantly saving up for some kind of PVC! Not just for Roe, but for everyone

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Trick to thawing out stuff the right way......get a bucket of hot/warm, not boiling, water. Throw everything in zip lock bags. Throw it all in the bucket and let it sit for an hour. Change out the water to fresh warm/hot water and pull out the small stuff that has thawed. Continue doing this every hour until the largest stuff is thawed.

[Zincubus]

Trick to thawing out stuff the right way......get a bucket of hot/warm, not boiling, water. Throw everything in zip lock bags. Throw it all in the bucket and let it sit for an hour. Change out the water to fresh warm/hot water and pull out the small stuff that has thawed. Continue doing this every hour until the largest stuff is thawed.

I've used to do this when I didn't have as many snakes and it works real well ..

I started off years ago , thawing in warm water but then I realised that simply washes away the rodent smell which seems important to many Royals/Ball pythons ( less important to my Kings lol ).

Now with 20 snakes I let them thaw out slowly on a radiator which works well if you don't 'forget' about them


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[Sauzo]

I've used to do this when I didn't have as many snakes and it works real well ..

I started off years ago , thawing in warm water but then I realised that simply washes away the rodent smell which seems important to many Royals/Ball pythons ( less important to my Kings lol ).

Now with 20 snakes I let them thaw out slowly on a radiator which works well if you don't 'forget' about them


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I havent had a problem yet with the lack of smell. And i even rinse them off under warm water and fluff them with paper towels. But then again, it seems all my snakes are garbage cans and eat anything anytime except Dottie. She goes through phases where she eats anything and then turns her nose up to anything for 2-3 months. Then out of the blue, decides to eat again. I seriously bet they would try and coil and ice cube if i rubbed a mouse or rat on it haha.

[Zincubus]

I've used to do this when I didn't have as many snakes and it works real well ..

I started off years ago , thawing in warm water but then I realised that simply washes away the rodent smell which seems important to many Royals/Ball pythons ( less important to my Kings lol ).

Now with 20 snakes I let them thaw out slowly on a radiator which works well if you don't 'forget' about them


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Yeah theyre all so very different ...

I sometimes put a rat over a vent and blow through .... and watch their reactions

The Royals will flick their tongues and some Kings will lunge into mid air ...

Snakes are fascinating creatures for sure !

[CloudtheBoa]

Man a lot has happened while I've been away! (Been working the past few days.)


GpBp, do you happen to have a weight on your mice? That could give us a better idea of their size. Even if they were hopper mice, I can't imagine them being that big for a 75 gram boa...my 80 gram boas take hoppers no problem with little to no bulge left over. Every source will size their feeders slightly differently (and some wildly different). Hoppers should be 7-12 grams and fuzzies 3-6 grams.




So sorry to hear about the panic with the heat tape! I had something like that happen last year when one of my Hydrofarms clunked out. It had the red warning light on, and said something about the temp being too hot. The temp gun read 125F, the Hydrofarm hadn't even shut off the heating pad, just continued to heat it like normal. Needless to say, I threw that out. Luckily the snake I had in there was completey unharmed.

Ok. Tempratues are:

Hot side 74°F-75°F
Gradient 73°F-74°F
Cool side 72°F-73°F
I know its a little chilly, I'm bumping hot side to low 80s rn.

Humidity is 63%


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She needs much warmer temps. I keep my boas' ambients 80-85F with a hot spot/side of 88-90F. I don't offer a cool spot unless there's enough room for them to fully coil up in a cool area, ambient area, and warm area. You don't want it to jump from 75F all of a sudden to 90F, or they may never use one or the other side due to the sudden skyrocket in temps (to them). Hot spot would be the area directly above a UTH/heat tape, and hot area is only important if you're using an ambient heater as heat pads won't raise ambient temperatures efficiently.

Thank you guys! I agree, was defiantly a rollercoaster! But her temps are great, and she's great! I should've made it clearer that she ate overnight lol. I will certainly get a much larger tank for her over time. BCI's are slow growers, so I do have time to save. I want to get something really nice for her! She will be a big girl, so a nice big viv for her would be wonderful. She is in only a 10gal now, but that is because her tank was meant to be for a hognose! So DEFINATLY upgrading soon. My bp May needs a bigger tank here soon so ill probably give Mays 20gal to Roe (for the time being). But yes, I am actually pretty ecxited to do some tank shopping for her! Her tempratures have been staying where they are.


But... if you know me I'm always gonna have another question! Roe has two lights on her tank, one normal light and one with a dimmer. I had the dimmer on the cool side on low to keep it warm and the normal light on the warm side (does that make sense?). So I usually just turned off normal light at night so dimmer would keep tank warm and be low light so she can rest. But now, so temps are ok, I have dimmer on hot side and normal on cool side. Dimmer is all the way up. What do I turn off tonight? I want it to stay warm, but I want her to be able to sleep!

But thank you so much guys. I was kinda freaking out tbh but everyone helped me get though it! I love this forum so much!

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Turn off any and all lights at night. Any light we can see, they can see, too. Even red and blue/black lights are too bright and they're fully capable of seeing those wavelengths, and it can disrupt their day/night cycle.

[GpBp]

Man a lot has happened while I've been away! (Been working the past few days.)


GpBp, do you happen to have a weight on your mice? That could give us a better idea of their size. Even if they were hopper mice, I can't imagine them being that big for a 75 gram boa...my 80 gram boas take hoppers no problem with little to no bulge left over. Every source will size their feeders slightly differently (and some wildly different). Hoppers should be 7-12 grams and fuzzies 3-6 grams.




So sorry to hear about the panic with the heat tape! I had something like that happen last year when one of my Hydrofarms clunked out. It had the red warning light on, and said something about the temp being too hot. The temp gun read 125F, the Hydrofarm hadn't even shut off the heating pad, just continued to heat it like normal. Needless to say, I threw that out. Luckily the snake I had in there was completey unharmed.





She needs much warmer temps. I keep my boas' ambients 80-85F with a hot spot/side of 88-90F. I don't offer a cool spot unless there's enough room for them to fully coil up in a cool area, ambient area, and warm area. You don't want it to jump from 75F all of a sudden to 90F, or they may never use one or the other side due to the sudden skyrocket in temps (to them). Hot spot would be the area directly above a UTH/heat tape, and hot area is only important if you're using an ambient heater as heat pads won't raise ambient temperatures efficiently.



Turn off any and all lights at night. Any light we can see, they can see, too. Even red and blue/black lights are too bright and they're fully capable of seeing those wavelengths, and it can disrupt their day/night cycle.

Ok, a lot here! So, the mice are 10-11 grams! Woahhh they are hoppers! I ordered fuzzys I swear! Sorry for arguing, I should've weighed them! Should I keep feeding her them? If your 80g boas will take them, should Roe be able to? Again, there was no big bulge on her.



I was so worried! I've checked temps all twice a day now, and thankfully its stayed 87°F-88°F on the UTH. Everything is duct taped now, hopefully no more loose probes! I'm glad your snakes was okay



As for temps, I got that all down. Idek why I thought those low 70's temps were OK! But yes, her temps now are:
Hot side: 90°F
Ambient: about 84°F
Cool side: 81°F

She's all good now, sleeping in her hot hide as we speak




So, here's what I do for my balls:
Geno: All light go out
May: White light goes out, low blue light comes on

It only drops their temps 3°F-4°F.

But for Roe, I think I have to keep something on! For example, last night when I put in the blue bulb, there was a burning smell. I immediately unplugged it! I let it sit, but I was so tired. I got back at like 3:00 am, and was exhausted! So I just turned her dimmer down so there was heat, but low. Only to find this morning, her temp had dropped into the low 70's! I need the blue night. (Her temps are back to normal this morning)




I hope this answers some questions!