The costs, man! The costs!

[distaff]

I’ve only owned one bird, ended up with the ex-boyfriend’s bird when he enlisted. I can’t imagine having multiples...the mess and especially the noise were not my thing. I’m not a neat freak by any stretch of the imagination, but seeds and poo everywhere were not to my liking. Not to mention that they do require daily attention or a partner. My snakes aren’t terribly concerned if I don’t take them out as long as they have fresh water, clean cages, and the rat god comes regularly. That said, I usually take them out once a week, even if just for a few minutes.

I have my quarantines in secure tubs. Links below. No body is getting out of these. I used a wood burning tool to add the ventilation holes, and the tubs are sitting on shelves with Ultratherm heat mats on a thermostat. If I can’t afford to redo my cages like I plan, these setups will work long term for the bps though I will still need an larger enclosure for my carpet.

Ball pythons:
https://www.target.com/p/sterilite-3...s/-/A-51872701


Carpet python:
https://www.target.com/p/ziploc-60qt...60#lnk=sametab

The larger species of parrots would definitely get on my nerves. Budgie chatter, canary song, and dove coos are all good in my world, but a 'too or mackaw screaming/screeching....I wouldn't be able to handle that. My goats are pushy and demanding enough, and I don't much care for people, so a parrot that talked - I have zero interest in THAT!

I re-furbished a Sterilite 104 (?) quart tub for the new snake (P. emori, great plains ratsnake, shipping this week?), but the guy who sold him to me said the snake is 4 1/2 to 5 feet long. I added a generous shelf half way up for basking, but I'm not sure that will be sufficient floor space for this animal. The Colubrids do like to roam. Worst case scenario, I'll clear out smaller kingsnake's 40L gallon viv, and temporarily house the Emori in the 40L.

This hobby for me is about long term projects, and basically budgeting a little bit for it most months. My next projects will be taller enclosures made of pond epoxy sealed rigid foam board for some of these more arboreal snakes. The Pit is outgrowing her 40L, and she climbs on whatever I give her. Rigid foam in the amounts I want gets (plus epoxy paint) expensive, and there are some set-backs - the hot wire cutter I got for shaping foam won't maintain temperature - I almost never return stuff, but Amazon is going to have to take that one back.

The fun is problem solving. I spent almost $1,000 on my first bio-active planted tank, for a $100 snake. Years later, it looks better than ever, with so much lush planting grown in. I made two more smaller planted tanks with the extra materials, and spent almost nothing, except for one new glass tank, and another $5 thrift store 30T-something gallon fish tank, and a sourced a fitted cover. I like real plants in tanks, but bio-active has some disadvantages...you can loose track of your snake. The beautiful king isn't tame at all; I'd literally have to dig him out, so I NEVER interact with him. I wanted the new tub to have lots of living photos (spell?), but I didn't want the drainage layer, the dirt, the heating challenges, etc., so maybe run the plant stems out of a sealed container of hydroponic solution (Kratky style - no pumps)...I've made some cuttings, fitted the net pots to plastic jars...suspend the jars from 2" holes drilled into the rigid foam shelf (ugly Exo-Terra background re-purpose) a little silicone, and so far, it looks workable...we'll see. Again, all from stuff I already have. I thought a hydroponic hybrid viv might be a world's first, but the folks on Dendroboard had some past discussions about it. Those frog people always end up with the best vivs.