My rack idea, comments?

[Eric Alan]

Depends on the animal, most of mine don't have a hide however several use one when offered.

Pretty much this for me too. I have a few of my animals that use hides like "baby blankets". They just aren't comfortable without one and eat a heck of a lot better when I keep a hide in there for them to disappear into. Most of them, however, could care less about having a hide or not.

[f22raptor95]

Pretty much this for me too. I have a few of my animals that use hides like "baby blankets". They just aren't comfortable without one and eat a heck of a lot better when I keep a hide in there for them to disappear into. Most of them, however, could care less about having a hide or not.

Maybe that's why my new females aren't eating then? There could be a million reasons I suppose haha when I bought them they were being fed lice, but I'm making an attempt to switch them to frozen for the safety of the snake. It's been about 2 weeks so far, and I've tried twice. Maybe I'll stick some hides in and try again

[OhhWatALoser]

I have a handful of snakes that need hides, rest couldn't care. While feeding live has risks, it's not as bad as you might think, these animals have been doing it for millions of years. My suggestion would be to offer what they were eating, then after a few successful feedings try to switch after. At least they will be use to the new environment.

[chrisv]

How so?

The logic here is that if ambient temps dip lower than you expect in a cool room, belly heat will more efficiently heat the snake itself if the tub as a whole briefly dips below where it ought to be. back/side heat wont give the snake the same warm spot. Also, I've had great luck using large-ish but quite short hides that cover the majority of the hot sot that are capable of maintaining hot hides with appropriate ambient temps even when the temp in the tub isn't ideal. Its a backup for when things dont go as planned. you wouldnt be able to put a hide over top of a hot spot generated by tape on the side or back of the tub.

[aLittleLessButter]

Different situation might make someone favor one over the other. For example if a room is cold, you might need belly heat since you can get more surface area heated, compared to back heat. If getting your ambient temps up is not an issue, I have found back heat to be more consistent because there is no substrate on top of it ( I use cypress), just the back of the tub. Also it doesn't get worn out from a sliding.

Ok cool. Thanks for the knowledgable response. I've never used back heat before so this will be interesting. I like that I won't have to worry about tubs rubbing on the heat tape. That's the one thing I don't like about my other rack

[OhhWatALoser]

The logic here is that if ambient temps dip lower than you expect in a cool room, belly heat will more efficiently heat the snake itself if the tub as a whole briefly dips below where it ought to be. back/side heat wont give the snake the same warm spot. Also, I've had great luck using large-ish but quite short hides that cover the majority of the hot sot that are capable of maintaining hot hides with appropriate ambient temps even when the temp in the tub isn't ideal. Its a backup for when things dont go as planned. you wouldnt be able to put a hide over top of a hot spot generated by tape on the side or back of the tub.

Quite the rare chain of events to require belly heat. I could worry just as much about an unexpected rise in room temp. I'm sure my fully enclosed melamine back heat racks could hold temps better than most belly heated open ones. There too many variables to be making a blanket statement.

[Viol8r]

I think I'll do bellyheat since I don't have a specific room for them. As far as hides go, if they're in a rack do they really need a hide since it'll be dark in the tub?

Mine use them, but there are no sides or back to my racks. That helps with throwing food in there for them since they don't know which way the food will come from...although they almost always head straight to the front.

[f22raptor95]

finished product

[Spoons]

Do you mena you use an electric heating rock? Because I thought I'd read that those were bad to use as they tend to burn snakes. Or am I wrong?

[Spoons]

do you mean, nor mena. Editing window is passed.