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

[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...