Hello & intro

[Hypa Sonic]

Hi all,

Thanks for having me in your forum. My name is Tristan 37, family of 5 and live in Western Sydney.

I've been interested and somewhat fascinated with snakes & lizards since young age, hopefully I can now turn that into a hobby.

I'm researching what I need for my first snake and lizard, I'd prefer smaller variety, so I'm leaning towards a Stimson and would start with a hatchling or a few month old if possible. Definitely be a Bearded dragon for lizard.

Being a tradie, I'll make my own enclosures, most likely a two tier 1200x600x400 timber with glass front panels.

My main two questions are why is there a need to house the snake initially in a click clack rather than a full enclosure and 2nd is their any breeders or facilities where I can view the reptiles, handle and learn a bit first in Western Sydney or somewhere near?

Thanks in advance

Hypa

 

[Buggster]

Hi, and welcome to the hobby!

To address your first question on why many people chose to house hatchies in a click-clack system, many people feel it is safer.
Small snakes (particularly hatchie stimmies) are able to escape through impossibly small gaps. A large enclosure gives them a lot of options as to where they may escape as they are built with a larger snake in mind. I know that some of the gaps in my older snakes enclosures that are there to pass cords through, a small hatchie would have an all too easy time getting out of.
Other people will also argue that putting a small snake in a large enclosure will cause feeding issues. Snakes like small places to squeeze into- thats where they are safest, and they can feel very exposed in a large enclosure. That being said, I've put all of my hatchies straight into a mid-sized enclosure with plenty of hiding spaces. If i feel they were overstressed I do have a mini-terrarium on hand to put them in to.
With my newest (Diamond yearling), who is in a 60x45x45, i will have to admit the amount of times i have lost the snake inside the enclosure simply because he can squeeze into the smallest spaces and completely disappear. That being said i've also been unable to find my 4f Woma inside his enclosure (note: he like to bury himself underneath the waterbowl).
If you want to go ahead and build a huge terrarium- go ahead! But i would definitely consider something smaller for the first year. My stimmie started in a 30x30x15 mini terrarium and got moved into a 45x45x60 after a year. Hopefully he'll be getting an upgrade soon.

You're going to struggle to find someone who will allow you hands-on with their collection as many people are very protective of their collections and cautious of any disease that could be introduced by people.
You can check out the upcoming expos (tend to be at the beginning of the year), Kellyville Pets has a huge reptile section with some very helpful people in the reptile department. I've also heard Camo's Reptiles allows a lot of hands-on.

best of luck

 

[Bl69aze]

My main two questions are why is there a need to house the snake initially in a click clack rather than a full enclosure:

The main reason is because as a young baby they like to feel secure and this can be achieved as it is a small area and easy to put hides in.
Technically you can put young snakes in a full enclosure but you need ALOT of spots for them to hide, however it is easier to just put them inside the click clacks








2nd is their any breeders or facilities where I can view the reptiles, handle and learn a bit first in Western Sydney or somewhere near?

I would definitely have to recommend "camos reptiles"
Super knowledgeable guy, call him up (info on his Facebook page) and say you're coming in and would like a beginners class, as far as I know it's free and he teaches you how to save $ etc.

He also lets u hold his babies

 

[kittycat17]

Kellyville pets is also a good bet, they are very knowledgeable and the staff are lovely, they also run reptile handling courses


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[crawfie1234]

Hi Tristan.

Just thought I'd back up BL69aze comment to go to camos reptiles In Pendle Hill.. check out his Facebook page and give him a heads up your going.. gets pretty busy on weekends but he'll let you handle just about anything in his collection [emoji4]

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