Can you buy in?

[Jhill001]

Alright so here is what is actually said for those that don't have the 2 hours to listen to this.

He does specify that if you have something in your living room and don't have absolute control of the ambient temperature everything he said pretty much goes out the window.

He mentions that a basking spot of 88-90 is not necessary as long as the snake can get up to 75-82 degrees and that is the optimal temperature for morelia (carpets/diamond python) and green tree python species to live at and that these are ambush predators and these species moving around all the time is actually a sign of stress. He mentions that with this species some people are keeping are giving much colder temps because that's what happens in their natural habitats which is what's causing RI's.

His mention of humidity is actually quite interesting. He says what is actually important is the hydration of the snake, these overly high basking temps are what is causing snakes to get dehydrated which is in turn the thing causing various disease/issues including RI's and bad sheds. The high temps are causing overactive metabolism and things like that.

Overall I recommend a listen, this is quite interesting and he makes a lot of interesting points. I'm certainly going to take some of his ideas and maybe lightly test them for my own snakes as they seem to drink ALOT of water and have had some occasional stuck shed in the tail region and it makes me think that maybe my overall ambients my be too high.

[jclaiborne]

So it wasn't a catch all statement for every snake species?

[Black Hills Reptiles]

He does state that this is how he keeps all his snakes not just his morelia.

[Black Hills Reptiles]

He used morelia for an example and most of the taking but he was also on morelia raido

[Jhill001]

So it wasn't a catch all statement for every snake species?

I feel as if that is probably where he'd start off any new species he keeps if he hadn't kept it before. 75-84 is really the middle range of most species kept anyways so unless someone has a snake that has specialized situation I'd imagine it could be used as a catch all. He mentioned thats what he keeps his commercial snake collection at, that includes the following species:

Green Tree Pythons, Woma Pythons, Jungle Carpet Pythons, Blood Pythons, Diamond Pythons, Inland Carpet Pythons, Boa Constrictors, and Ball Pythons.

He did say that it was what he keeps all tropical pythons/boas at though.

[JoshSloane]

After listening to this fully, I definitely agree with a lot of this. If you think about it, any tropical/sub-tropical species of snake in the wild will never truly "bask" under 90 deg heat. Multiple layers of jungle canopy don't allow for hot spots and cool spots, making an appropriate ambient temp the most important factor.

I do think though that the dogmatic hot and cool spot husbandry is likely a result of something that "worked" and became standard.

So, with this theory, you could simply keep ambient temps in a snake room at 80 deg and have unheated racks?

[Black Hills Reptiles]

After listening to this fully, I definitely agree with a lot of this. If you think about it, any tropical/sub-tropical species of snake in the wild will never truly "bask" under 90 deg heat. Multiple layers of jungle canopy don't allow for hot spots and cool spots, making an appropriate ambient temp the most important factor.

I do think though that the dogmatic hot and cool spot husbandry is likely a result of something that "worked" and became standard.

So, with this theory, you could simply keep ambient temps in a snake room at 80 deg and have unheated racks?

The way I understand it is in his private collection not at reptile gardens he keeps the ambient temperature in his basement in the 78-82 range with no hot spot.


I just downloaded the episode via iTunes so I'm going to listen again just to make sure I heard what I remember

[M.P.C]

Just a little take on my expierence, ive been staying at my girls house to help with her kids, ive brought my 2 snakes with me because i dont feel comfortable leaving them in someone elses care at my house, im using printer paper as substrate, gave them a hide and a bowl of water.... both went into shed the day after coming here and the only thing i did was take a paper towl wet it with some warm water and put it in the hides.... both of them gave me a perfect skin sock, i have both of there temps at 85 no misting or anything, all i did to the cages is covered half the screen top with foil... ive gotten some pee, some poo,and they are both nice and content inside there hides only poking there face out every once in a while

[jclaiborne]

I am listening to it right now to try and fully understand what he is actually saying.

[jclaiborne]

Just now getting through the part that this thread is about. I understand what he is saying, and he makes some valid/interesting points. I do not keep Morelia, and obviously what he is doing is successful for him. However I still have my own doubts just from my experience, that being said I have not ever nor will I really every have the ability to experiment with this as I do not plan to keep a room at that high of an ambient anytime soon.