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cosmicwolf4

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:DHi all, I just got my first reptile after many years of wishing.
My baby is an 8 month old Tanami Woma and is beautiful. I would appreciate any and all advice as I am just learning as I go along. Elvira is in a nice vivarium with 150w red light, good heat mat and other stuff to make her life comfortable. I think I have most of the gear to keep her fit and healthy lol
She is on either 2 large weaner mice or 1 pinkie and 1 weaner rat a week and seems to be doing well with them for now. I'm not sure when to upsize her food, so would appreciate assistance from the experts.
Thanks guys and so far I love what I've seen of the site
 
Hi, and welcome.....this is a great site, lots of friendly people and advice and lots of fun. I don't have any advice for you..lol...I'm pretty much a beginner myself, have had my 17 month old stimmie for 5 months, so still have lots to learn. But I hope you enjoy it here.


Cheers, Annie
 
:DHi all, I just got my first reptile after many years of wishing.
My baby is an 8 month old Tanami Woma and is beautiful. I would appreciate any and all advice as I am just learning as I go along. Elvira is in a nice vivarium with 150w red light, good heat mat and other stuff to make her life comfortable. I think I have most of the gear to keep her fit and healthy lol
She is on either 2 large weaner mice or 1 pinkie and 1 weaner rat a week and seems to be doing well with them for now. I'm not sure when to upsize her food, so would appreciate assistance from the experts.
Thanks guys and so far I love what I've seen of the site

Where did you buy your woma? Do you have a thermostat to control your heat or do you monitor you temperatures with a thermometer etc. 150watt glbe plus a heat mat would be way to hot with out these.
 
Where did you buy your woma? Do you have a thermostat to control your heat or do you monitor you temperatures with a thermometer etc. 150watt glbe plus a heat mat would be way to hot with out these.


I got her from Reptile City at Christies Beach, SA, she was born 29/01 this year.
I do have a thermostat, but having trouble with it, I can't get the settings right. It's the MicroclimateB1 and the heat mat seems too hot no matter where I set the temp. I wonder if I have it in the right place. I put it in the vivarium under the substrate with the thermostat directly on it at first, then moved it off the mat when I upped the heat light from 100 to 150. I have now temporarily removed the mat untill I sort it out. I'm not sure and don't want to hurt her. I was ok at first, but then started getting different things said to me, now I'm confused, does the mat go under the tank (melamine with glass front) or under the substrate? AAAAARGH:?
 
welcome womas are beautiful snakes

I have liked them for a long time, could never afford to have a proper set up till now thou and didn't feel that I would be doing the best for a snake if I didn't have everything for it.
I'm in heaven now, she is such a pretty snake and my grandkids and kids love her.
We are trying not to handle her much as she is starting to shed also, but it's so hard to explain to the kids lol
 
Welcome aboard, nice to see another south aussie, and a granmother as well, we seem to be getting a lot of "old birds" joining us lately, :D if you are unsure you can always go back and talk to the guys at reptile city, they've always been more than helpful when i've asked questions. i'm hoping you got the heat mat and lamp from them after you told them what size enclosure you have got your baby in, a heat mat & lamp seems a little exessive to me, and the last thing you want to do is heat stress (or worse) your new baby, you can always PM me if you don't want to ask "dumb questions" in public, I've only been a snake owner since Jan this year so i reckon i've asked all of the dumb quetions and had some fantastic answers,
Let us know what size enclosure you have her in and maybe a pic of the enclosure so you can get some informed answers,

Have fun, enjoy, its a brilliant hobby/obsession :lol:
 
Thaks for the welcome guys, it's appreciated heaps. I'm not scared to ask 'dumb' questions lol, I've had practise. :)) I didn't get the set up from Reptile City, I got it from Pet Stock on South Rd and the assistant there is fabulous as he has reptiles also and really knows what he's talking about. My problem is different people tell me different things, I want to know the major vote on setting up the tank properly. It is a low set up with the light, mat etc. Measurements are 900x600x450, high, low vents with mesh at the top back end also. She is feeding well on 2 weaner mice Saturday and thinking of upping to a pinkie rat and weaner rat soon.
Thank you so much for the help, you are fantastic
 
the hardest thing to get right is the thermal gradient, as long as she has somewhere cool to escape the heat you can fiddle a bit with the hot end, i bought an 'old fashioned' mecury thermometer and laid it at various points around the enclosure, (including branches) to make sure there was a variety of temps available, (sticking to the wall didn't seem logical) i don't run a thermostat, just a 60w heat lamp, i then know that the hot spot is as hot as it's going to get, and worked back to the cool end. even though my 'hot end is only 35c she spends more time at the cool end 18c, i don't know what temps womas prefer, but they are all individuals, mine is a coastal but she prefers the lower end of the "recommened temps'

How long have you had her?
 
Thanks Jason, I agree, they are gorgeous snakes.
I've only had her since last Saturday and am still playing with the temps to find the right one. I'm thinking I might go back to my original set up for now, which was the thermostat on the heat mat and set at 32, also back to the 100w light, then dual thermometer at the ends to grade heat settings. when I had it like that it went from around 32 down to about 20 and she seemed comfortable. Since I changed it she's a bit unsettled and I'm not happy.
 
PS, , :) do you remember all the conflicting advise you got when you were pregnant with your first child, this will be no different, if you look after her like you did your first child you won't go far wrong, its all trial and error, what works for me might not work for you,

when you get another snake what works with Elvira may not work with the new one, even if it is the same species. in a few months you will be more confident and able to read her 'moods' (that they apparantly don't have) I personnaly would lean to the cooler end of "recommended" then build up, you wont kill her with 'cool' but you may with 'hot'

You'll be fine, you now have grandchildren so you obviously did something right with your kids, Elvira is your 'first child" you will be super fussy and worried, in a few months you'll be chuckling about how worried you were.
 
Awesome advice Jax and I know you are so right. I'm a stress head when it comes to my animals and kids.
She does have 'moods' I've already seen it in just a few days, but it's part of the love I think. I want to spoil her and hubby says I have gone overboard with the tank, I have a tree in there for her as well as rocks, a vine and plant (artificial). As she grows, I will remove some, but want her to have plenty of places to hide for now.
I did similar things with all my animals and they survived lol.
I'm confident as far as handling etc is concerned, I'm just so scared of doing something wrong with her habitat, Stress, stress, stress lol
 
i am a keeper of blackheaded Pythons same family as Woma and very similar in needs, firstly how big is your enclosure i use a 1200mm x 600 x 600 and my heating is a 450mm x 450 heat mat at one end under a slate tile running on no thermostat creating a surface temp of 33' also in the enclosure above the tile i use a 40 watt heat lamp running on a microclimate B1ME dimming thermostat that is set at 30', this type of thermostat has a "magic eye" that sensors night time in relation to your UV day-night(24-hr timer on 2 foot floro UV) and turns back to 27' in night mode, creating a basking spot of 33-34' and ambient temp at hot end of 27-28' and at the cool end ambient 20' during day mode. And at night the tile is always 33' and ambient temp of 20' at hot and 17 at cool, i know this is a lot to take in but trial and error is the only way good luck my advice would be try lowering your heat lamp wattage ,change to blue globe and run it on thermostat, put heat mat under slate tile, also where is your thermostat sensor and wat sort, im happy to help you
 
Hi Gavin, I liked your post and understood it all after reading through it slowly. I have a mat in the centre which is static at around 30-32, the temp stays around 26-27 and the cool end is around 18-22 dpending on day or night. She has her hide half on and half off of the mat toward the cool end. I had a 100w light then upped to 150 because I felt it was a little cool, I have since gone back to the 100 because she seemed happier there and explores a bit more then in the evening. . The sensor is on the mat and I have a thermometer at both lit and cool sides to keep a watch on that. I don't have a timer on the light yet, that's tomorrow's job when I get to the shop. She also has a rock to bask on that is near the light and another at the cool end. As she is still quite small I have set the tank so that she has a few places to hide and others to climb or lay on and she seems to have accepted it well and is eating beautifully.
How am I doing so far? My tank size is 900x600x450, high, low vents with mesh at the top back end also. It's one of the melamine ones, hopefully I'm not doing too badly lol
 
try the mat under the rock at your hot end doing this will provide basking spot of 30-32 and a cool end of 18-20 you must remember that you cant regulate her temp she must regulate her own . for instance if she can bask at 32-34' at the hot end and she has a cool end of around 18-20 she will be where ever she is most comfortable and thats wat you want is a happy snake otherwise you are doing great. for picks add me on your facebook
 
put the mat directly under stone or tile at hot end and hide at or near cool end so she can regulate her own. thats the common mistake made by most people they try and regulate the snakes temp but you cant you can only provide a basking spot of the perfect temp and a cool end, so the snake can regulate its own
 
If you have a basking light over a piece of slate or tile there should be no need for a heat mat. If you use a 60-75 watt basking light the heat mat would not be required (that is if the cage is not sitting directly on concrete).
 
It's not on concrete, but I don't have a basking light, only red UV and heat mat. I may get the others at some point, but for the moment if I can use what I have it would be a better option for me as I'm off work due to being rear ended by a truck a couple of weeks ago and really don't wish to go to further expense right now until I find out when I can work again.
 
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