Suitable for a Woma?

[GeneralDisarray]

Hello all.

Have just bought myself an enclosure for my first Tanami Woma and am wondering if the enclosure I've grabbed is suitable. It's 800x480x800mm and currently has coir peet for sub, though that will be changed out for nylon grass in about a month or so. The snake is about 1.5-2 yrs old and roughly 800mm. It's pretty sparse at the moment but I have a ceramic half log I need to clean to use as a hide and will be getting a few branches for climbing in the next week or so.

Also wondering whether you peoples have any recommendations for automatic temp control for 240v heat lamps.

Cheers ay.

GD.

Edit: Whoops, forgot the pic!

 

[Jacknife]

If you want to put a woma in there don't put in fake grass, give them coir peat or aspen as bedding. Womas are terrestrail creatures and love to burrow and dig.
As for temp control, a good thermostat is what you need. Habistat or Microclimate are pretty much standard top of the range. They cost a bit more but are well worth it and then some in the long run.
Note; as your enclosure is glass you'll be putting out a lot more power to the heat lamp than normal, so think of maybe insulating the glass, or perhaps switching to a heat matt or cord as your heat source - pretty ideal if you have a woma...

 

[GeneralDisarray]

I have been looking on the URS site for thermos and you're not wrong about them being a bit pricey. I'll prolly take your advice and grab a mat at some point and put it on a timer so that it'll be warm through the day and cool at night. With the tank being as high as it is unless the snake is arboreal I can't see it making the most of the power I will be using.

I've read through a couple of care sheets but you got one you would recommend?

 

[Jacknife]

No care sheets as I don't own womas, just have a look around the net, though they have pretty standard python requirements really.
Thermostats are like anything else, you pay for what you get. Both those brands are especially good also as they come with 5 year full cover warranties usually at no extra cost.

 

[GeneralDisarray]

Sweet. Cheers for your input Jacknife.

 

[Lawra]

[MENTION=40535]GeneralDisarray[/MENTION] I wouldn't pay too much attention to advice from someone who doesn't keep womas.

Coir peat is a pain in the rear end in my experience. I have heard pros and cons about fake grass and have a roll waiting to be cut up for my woma's tank.

Womas are terrestrial however do enjoy climbing, mine is often exploring the ledges on his rock wall and branches.

 

[Riffherper]

Any snake will climb given the opportunity. It may just be them checking the cage for potential exits - something snakes are very adept at. Womas spend much time in burrows in the wild and digging is in their instincts. Substrate which allows this is optimal rather than a slab of fake grass they sit under and bulge up however either will get the job done.

 

[Bart70]

Fyi.....Not sure if you are in NSW or not....but that enclosure is marginally under the minimum size (0.384mSq Vs 0.4mSq) for a Woma as per the NSW CoP's.

 

[Jacknife]

@GeneralDisarray I wouldn't pay too much attention to advice from someone who doesn't keep womas.

Coir peat is a pain in the rear end in my experience. I have heard pros and cons about fake grass and have a roll waiting to be cut up for my woma's tank.

Womas are terrestrial however do enjoy climbing, mine is often exploring the ledges on his rock wall and branches.

I don't have to keep womas to be right.
Synthetic turf is an awful substrate for a woma. A hard, rough and synthetic base for an instintively burrowing creature is an awful idea, common sense dictates.

 

[Rogue5861]

I don't have to keep womas to be right.
Synthetic turf is an awful substrate for a woma. A hard, rough and synthetic base for an instintively burrowing creature is an awful idea, common sense dictates.

Ive found it to be a horrid substrat for any species, even my dragons hate it as they get claws caught. The texture of fake grass isnt nice to feel, im sure most species would prefer any other easily available substrate instead.

Im using coco coir for my jungle python and it seems to work well, the "coco bark" would probably be better due to the bigger size pieces.


Rick

 

[Lawra]

I don't have to keep womas to be right.
Synthetic turf is an awful substrate for a woma. A hard, rough and synthetic base for an instintively burrowing creature is an awful idea, common sense dictates.

Not sure about the turf you've experienced, but my turf is silky smooth

Coir peat presents other problems and as I keep all my pythons on paper towel I perhaps shall bow out of this discussion for now.

What I will say though, is that other keepers agree with me so there are definitely many pros and cons to each option available. The tried and tested method I still fall back to every time is paper towel

 

[andynic07]

Not sure about the turf you've experienced, but my turf is silky smooth

Coir peat presents other problems and as I keep all my pythons on paper towel I perhaps shall bow out of this discussion for now.

What I will say though, is that other keepers agree with me so there are definitely many pros and cons to each option available. The tried and tested method I still fall back to every time is paper towel

What I have found lately since keeping vens and using newspaper is that terrestrial snakes don't particularly like such a smooth surface when trying to move fast as they don't get good traction but paper towel would have a better surface for this as would astro turf. I can't see why this would not be a suitable surface for a ground dwelling species as you have stated.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[GeneralDisarray]

Hhmm...seems there is a bit of conjecture about substrate choices. I guess in the end it comes down to the individual choices as each seems to have pros and cons. I may end up with a misture of bark chips and coir peet at some point, but for now will keep the sub that it came with.

For now, I will leave you with a couple of happy snaps I caught after dropping her in her new home. She is doing her damnedest to find a weakness in the enclosure and I am hoping that there aren't any that she can exploit. Will leave her for the next 36hrs to settle in and get comfy then will drop in a feed and go from there.

Is a shame that AP flips pics the way it does. If anyone knows how to flip 1&3 90º that would be tops. Cheers.

 

[Woma_Wild]

Won't comment about any other comments as every one has their way of doing thing so I'll just tell you how my girl's setup is.

I house mine in a 2 story 4ft enclosure. Lower level has a ramp up to top floor.
I don't have branches as mine doesn't climb.
For substrate I use hemp and find it great and my woma seems to like it.

I leave her in her enclosure when feeding but to avoid her getting any substrate on her food, I always place her rodents on kitchen paper.
Not saying that you have to have an enclosure as large as mine - it's my choice as I don't like the idea of keeping a python in a drawer sized box.

My Pygmy is housed in an enclosure that's about the size of yours.