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Vivian

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Hi all, so recently I've been looking into getting a snake (specifically a Stimson's Python) and I've done a buttload of research but still have some questions.

1. How often should I mist the enclosure? I've seen several different suggestions, from only when the snake is shedding to every couple of days and I'm not sure on what the best option would be?

2. Substrate-wise, I've been looking into Kritter Crumble. Is this any good? Should I use fine or coarse or does it not matter/depends on the snake?

3. Does feeding time matter? I understand the routine of once a week to every 7-10 days or so varying, but does the time of day matter? (Given that some animals nocturnal and prefer to only feed at night).

4. I've got a list of what I would need but want to make sure I haven't left out anything crucial- water bowl, hidey holes, climbing branches, heat mat/coil (I haven't decided yet), thermostat and thermometer and heat lamp and cage. I haven't decided on the type of enclosure or anything like that yet, that'll come once I get an idea of what age of snake I'm looking at getting.

5. For cage cleaners and vitamins/supplements, what should I get? And when should I be giving the snake vitamins/supplements? Are they even needed unless recommended by the vet?

6. If I put the enclosure in a spot/room where the room is pretty well lit without lights on, do I still need a light on the enclosure? Or would the daylight be enough? I've gotten mixed answers on this, too.

Is there anything really obvious I should know? I've got an idea of what size the enclosure should be, and what the temperature will need to be on either end, that I will most definitely be bitten at some point or another (I'm a newbie- it's gonna happen).

Apologies that there is so many questions (and if these questions come of as stupid), but I've never owned a snake before and I want to make sure I know everything I need to before I go through with getting one.
 
Hi.
I have no idea where you have sourced this "buttload" of information from, I suspect it has been from the internet. Buy good books and learn about the animal that you are keeping.

  1. You don't need to mist the enclosure when keeping stimsons pythons. As long as the water bowl is of sufficient volume, the combination of water bowl and heat source will create enough humidity to assist shedding.
  2. No idea about that type of substrate, I use newspaper. I have been using newspaper in reptile enclosures for over 20 years and cannot fault it.
  3. If the snake is not a problem feeder, time of day does not matter. If the snake is a problem feeder you will have to experiment and work out the conditions in which the snake will feed. The 7-10 days (with consistent sized food) is good for a hatchling in the first year of it's life. After that vary the time frames and the food size. Don't overfeed, monitor the condition and body shape of the snake.
  4. Most states have husbandry guides that list minimum enclosure dimensions, start there. Include hides at different temperatures so that the snake can thermoregulate and feel safe.
  5. Cage cleaner, F10. Dilute as instructed on the bottle. Use weekly. Snakes don't require vitamins or supplements. When possible (due to animal size) vary the type of food intake. Rats, mice and quail. Each food type has positive and negative points.
  6. This is personal preference.
My honest advice to all new keepers is to buy books before buying an animal. Build up a good library, don't search for information on the internet.
 
Hi Vivian,

I'm in the same boat as you - maybe a few weeks further along, so I'll throw in my 2c worth.

While not an answer to your question, here are my tips. (Bulleted not numbered as they don't reflect answers to your questions but hope they help)

  • Get your cage setup first - and tested that all is working property BEFORE buying a snake. I'm currently having issues getting the heating right. If I had have purchased a snake at the same time as setting up an enclosure the poor little guy would probably be frozen stiff by now.
  • Get your food source sorted. Do you have somewhere locally that you can buy. Have you purchased some food in advance so you won't be stuck short. Obviously it's hard until you know what type (and what size) snake you're buying but still something good to have in mind.
  • I purchased a book about taking care of Australian pythons. Honestly - while it's interesting reading - I wouldn't say that it's any better than stuff I've read online. I guess the only difference is that for someone to write a book they're putting their money where their mouth is so the advise is probably pretty solid, whereas anyone can put information up on the internet and some of it could be quite wrong so there's more risk with internet based advise than books.
  • Don't be worried about stupid questions. Check out my other thread re heating woes if you want to see someone with egg all over their face - however I'd happily rather show my ignorance publicly and get it right instead of hiding my ignorance, and let my pride run wild and end up with a injured or dead snake!
Oh - BTW that F10 cage cleaner that @nick_75 mentioned - well it saved me $25,000!

How could it save me that much? Quite simple. A bottle of diluted 200ml cage cleaner costs $25 down the street. 200ml of F10SC costs roughly the same ($25). However, F10SC is diluted 1:1000, which means 1 bottle of that makes the equivalent of 1,000 bottles of $25 retail cleaner in the shop. Do the maths. :)

Now I've got to go tell the misses that the guys on the internet saved me $25,000 so I have $24,975 available for all my herp needs. :D

While not a direct answer to your above question - I hope it helps.

Cheers

-Adam-
 
Hi Nick.
All my info came from mixed sources- so books, breeders, owners and a little from the Internet when I couldn't find answers elsewhere, all though I made sure to try and cross reference everything and make sure I was getting the same info from each place I looked, but with everyone's different opinions I wasn't sure (like being told not to worry about misting by some breeders/owners, then finding some "official" care sheets for Stimsons that said to do so.)
I do have a couple books on the way that I've ordered, they should be here in the next week sometime so I can and will read up more. There were a few I ended up getting from a library, but all those were just overall care/facts and didn't really help.

Thank you for the advice!
[doublepost=1569826230,1569825466][/doublepost]Hi Adam,
I don't plan on setting up an enclosure until I know for sure what I'm doing and have read up more. I definitely will make sure everything works and I have the appropriate food and such before getting a snake.
There are plenty of pet shops around that I can easily get to (that was one of the first things I checked), so access to food and what not is no problemail. I can work around what food I'll need closer to getting a snake, as I don't know if I'm going to be looking at a hatchling, or adult or what yet. I'll speak to a breeder when the time comes. I do have a few books I've ordered and are on the way, but all of my information I made sure to double check. I spoke mostly to breeders, and only really used the internet when I had to- but what I did find on the internet was similar to what I'd read in books and such, so yeah, you have a point with that.
I'll also be looking into F10 for sure, sounds like a good choice.
Thanks so much
 
Yep, F10 seems to be the winner for disinfectants. Admittedly I didn't realize it diluted to 1:1000 at the time, so I got Chlorhexidine instead that I have been diluting, but I imagine F10 would go further.

I must admit, I am curious as to which breeders and care sheets would recommend you mist a snake such as a Stimson's Python considering they come from a relatively arid climate. But yeah, don't go doing that on a regular basis unless you want scale rot or respiratory infections.
The advice above about state laws for enclosure sizes is good. A Stimmy will probably do well in something roughly 90cm wide and say 40-ish deep if you want a nice comfortable size for it to move about in. I keep one in an enclosure around that size and it does well.

Lighting is kind-of, sort-of optional. I would suggest following a day/night cycle to provide the snake a somewhat natural timescale, might be useful for snakes that like coming out at night. No need to start worrying about UV globes or anything like that though - It tends to be a discussion point with some people advocating it, but they are by no means necessary in the slightest.

In regards to heating, a Stimmy tends to do well with belly heat. I would recommend creating a heat tile with heat cord if you have the skills.
Here is one I made up a few days ago:
IMG_20190926_182344.jpg IMG_20190926_182348.jpg
Essentially, just route a channel in some wood wide enough for the heat cord to sit in. Seal the wood with a water-based sealant and then use a nice fume-free liquid nails to glue a ceramic tile over the top.

If you don't have a wood router, or it sounds too hard then you can use corflute instead (might be the wrong spelling). You can get it from Bunnings cheaply, and would make the channels with a stanley knife. Like so:
IMG_20180515_161046.jpg IMG_20180515_163104.jpg
That is one I made last year. I ended up using 2 tiles in this case, mostly to help hide the sharpness of corflute.

Just some thoughts.
 
. I must admit said:
yeah I am curious about that too. But I don't know about using corflute (yes spelling is correct). I can't see how using heat with plastic is going to have a positive outcome. 2 possible outcomes here; 1, plastic melts and fumes affect your snake or 2, plastic melts and starts a fire
 
You have concerns over the usage of corflute? I believe it was originally recommended on here of all places, on one of the older threads. I don't think a heat cord would get hot enough to melt it to be honest, we trust heat cords under tubs, in hatchling/breeding racks and with many other plastic items after all.
Unless of course heat cords have been setting people's click clacks and tubs on fire and I am unaware.

Edit: Some random googling shows a lot of plastics withstand well over 100*C before melting, with some specific types melting at 60-70*C. If your heat cord was reaching that I think your animal would have other problems too surely.
(a random source: https://education.seattlepi.com/hot-water-melt-plastic-3626.html)

Edit 2: You got me way too curious. Corflute is corrugated polypropylene. Melting point of 130-171*C.
Capture.PNG
 
Last edited:
Hi Nick.
All my info came from mixed sources- so books, breeders, owners and a little from the Internet when I couldn't find answers elsewhere, all though I made sure to try and cross reference everything and make sure I was getting the same info from each place I looked, but with everyone's different opinions I wasn't sure (like being told not to worry about misting by some breeders/owners, then finding some "official" care sheets for Stimsons that said to do so.)
I do have a couple books on the way that I've ordered, they should be here in the next week sometime so I can and will read up more. There were a few I ended up getting from a library, but all those were just overall care/facts and didn't really help.

Thank you for the advice!
[doublepost=1569826230,1569825466][/doublepost]Hi Adam,
I don't plan on setting up an enclosure until I know for sure what I'm doing and have read up more. I definitely will make sure everything works and I have the appropriate food and such before getting a snake.
There are plenty of pet shops around that I can easily get to (that was one of the first things I checked), so access to food and what not is no problemail. I can work around what food I'll need closer to getting a snake, as I don't know if I'm going to be looking at a hatchling, or adult or what yet. I'll speak to a breeder when the time comes. I do have a few books I've ordered and are on the way, but all of my information I made sure to double check. I spoke mostly to breeders, and only really used the internet when I had to- but what I did find on the internet was similar to what I'd read in books and such, so yeah, you have a point with that.
I'll also be looking into F10 for sure, sounds like a good choice.
Thanks so much

Start with this book.
upload_2019-10-1_11-26-25.png
 
Edit 2: You got me way too curious. Corflute is corrugated polypropylene. Melting point of 130-171*C.
View attachment 327771
Ok ,I didn't realize it was so tough, I think of corflute as being flimsy plastic as it falls apart easily- just look how much rubbish is lying around after elections when lazy wanna be politicians don't clean up their sh17
Tubs and things I wasn't worried about.
 
Ok ,I didn't realize it was so tough, I think of corflute as being flimsy plastic as it falls apart easily- just look how much rubbish is lying around after elections when lazy wanna be politicians don't clean up their sh17
Tubs and things I wasn't worried about.
Haha no worries, as I said you got me curious so I just had to have a look.

Now that you mention it, perhaps next election I can do everyone a favour and raid all the signs and posts for my heating collection.
 
My honest advice to all new keepers is to buy books before buying an animal. Build up a good library, don't search for information on the internet.

+1 for this I have gotten a few books such as Keeping and breeding Australian pythons and it defenitly gives you the right sort of headspace you need while dealing with snake husbandry.
 
Hi @Vivian,

If you have some spare time - can I recommend a youtube channel to you called Snake Discovery that I've come across recently. Emma on Snake Discovery has a whole lot of different shows from how to handle an "aggressive" snake, through to pro's and con's from feeding in the enclosure to out, handling tips, tips on finding an 'escaped' snake, through to all sorts of tips that I didn't even think of asking but found very educational (and entertaining) to watch. As a fellow newby myself - I have found these video's to be one of the best source of information besides people on this forum.
 
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