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

[TofuTofuTofu]

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




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.


Mmm... powdered Tums.



Tums sprinkled around creosote.



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.

[Bogertophis]

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

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.)

[TofuTofuTofu]

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...

[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).

[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...

[TofuTofuTofu]

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).

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)

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...

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.

[TofuTofuTofu]

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.

[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.

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.

[Bogertophis]

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...

How about some silicone?

[nikkubus]

How about some silicone?

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