| T O P I C R E V I E W |
| Se7enS1ns |
Posted - 26/02/2012 : 20:32:17
Firstly, hello  After a LOT of lurking and knowledge-absorbing, I figured I'd take the plunge, say hello, and ask a couple of questions to set my mind at rest, if nothing else.
First things first - Here is my rather originally names Royal Python, Monty (I know, I know, I'm a terrible person, I'm sorry);
I actually don't know too much about Monty as she was an xmas pressie to myself bought from a local petshop where, as friendly and helpful as the staff are there, they don't seem to know too much about the history of the animals they sell. Such is life. So, we *think* she's about a year old or so judging by her size (a little under 3'), I don't know how much she weighs as I don't own any kitchen scales (I know I know, I'm a terrible person), and we don't even know if she is indeed a she!!
Here is Monty's house...
She was bought as a "starter package" for the sum of £180, which included:
*The terrarium - 36"x15"x15" glass slidey door type.
*A 12" heat mat
*A waterbowl, plus 2 bags of beech chippings.
*An Exo Terra "ReptiGlo 5.0" Ulta Violet bulb (25W), plus light fittings and switch box...
...and that's pretty much it, apart from Monty her self 
Obviously I knew that the terrarium would be a little bare with just a waterbowl to keep Monty company, so I also bought a tree bark hide and a large tree root. I've been doing a huge amount of reading on this forum as I'm a bit worried I'm going to do it all wrong and kill Monty off with sheer inexperience, especially regarding heating conditions and stress, so more recent additions are;
*A large Exo Terra snake cave at the cold end, with some very slightly damp / clammy moss in there (will moisten more come next shed).
*A large flat hide at the hot end over the heat map / under the lamp.
*A few loose rocks to aid her next shed
*A couple of fake plants
*2 analogue thermometer guages, one hot, one cold, plus one Hygrometer
*A porcelain angled bulb holder, fitted with an Exo Terra 50W "daylight basking" bulb.
Plus the beech chippings have been binned in favour of orchid bark chippings.
Now, the last couple of months haven't been without their issues - I had a slight concern (read panic) when I put the orchid bark in, as the humidity shot up to 95%, however this settled at 55% after a couple of days of decent ventilation. Monty has been an excellent feeder since I brought her home - she feeds every 7 - 10 days (I try to randomise it a bit) and is now on adult mice. This has set my mind to rest massively, as I've come to understand (from reading this forum a few hundred times)that if they are eating regularly then they are relatively content in their surroundings and general conditions, so that's been a comfort. We keep her terrarium in the dining room so she can be left alone / away from noise etc, but also handle her for about 15 mins daily so she gets used to being handled and gets her exercise. She shed for the first time (with me) a couple of weeks ago without TOO much trouble - it didn't all come off in one go, more large strips over the course of a few days. She did retain her tail end, and didn't seem to like me touching it, but I gave her a soak in the bath the other night and she allowed me to rub it off with the towel - am hoping the next shed goes a little better.
My new panic is regarding her temperature and general acivity: The thermometers are not great (will buy better / digital ones soon) and are placed in the coldest place of the terrarium - right next to the glass, so I don't know how much trust I can put in these, but until today, they were showing the ambient temp as 20oC at the cold end, and 22oC at the hot end. Monty also seemed to favour the cold end, as this had the hide she prefers at the cold end (the large flat one), and was spending the vast majority of her time in there. On top of that, she hasn't been very active for the last couple of weeks, nor has she done a poo for 3 weeks (she won't thank me for sharing that with you!). After a bit more reading on here, I've learnt that her "constipation" (my fretting) could be caused by the low temperature...so I went back to the pet shop today...and spent even more money
So, after a shuffle around of her furniture, she now has a 50W heat lamp over her favourite hide, plus the heat mat underneath it, bringing the ambient temp at that end up to 33oC, a large tree bark in the middle, and the moss cave at the cold end, which is reading around 23oC (forgot to check what it peaked at, and now the heat lamp is off for the night). I'm hoping that the increase in temp with get her, erm, "flowing" again, however I've come to learn that 3 weeks isn't not a long time for snakes to go...or, not go, as it were...
So; Penny for your thoughts? Can anyone see any problems here? Am I doing anything disastrously wrong? |
| 20 L A T E S T R E P L I E S (Newest First) |
| Lorraine |
Posted - 28/02/2012 : 16:30:32
I think the new layout looks super. |
| Se7enS1ns |
Posted - 27/02/2012 : 23:54:44
Ah a black ash effect viv would be awesome! You don't see black ash furniture much these days - shame.
I do like the cabinet style terrariums, however if I could rewind a couple of months, I wouldn't buy mine as a starter package - half the stuff that came with it I've learnt isn't required (UV lamp). Can't complain too much though, it did include the snake, which is £80 on her own! I do wish I knew how old she is though! |
| n/a |
Posted - 27/02/2012 : 23:47:30
Ah same here - I got a black viv secondhand and it's so stylish. Shiva came with his own tobacco viv and I liked it so much that I bought one for Shahi.
Monty is lovely, Sevens - as you go on you will find out what she prefers and of course she will train you in what she likes lol.
One of my mottos -
If the snake won't do
what you want it to do
THEN
The thing to do
Is what the snake wants to do!
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| hayes |
Posted - 27/02/2012 : 23:41:04
love the tobacco walnut effect! i wish they did a piano black one... there needs to be some more contempory vids made rather than just standard wood colours. |
| Se7enS1ns |
Posted - 27/02/2012 : 23:23:32
quote:
Originally posted by hayes
that looks mint mate! it will take a while before monty will explore his/her surroundings. I've had mine for about 2 months and he has only just started to move around and come out of his hides. i like your viv. what make/model is it?
Thanks Hayes! This is the viv I have - http://www.reptiles.swelluk.com/reptile-supplies/vivariums-416/vivariums-572/vivexotic-36in-vivarium-tobacco-walnut-61756.html - I'm pretty pleased with it, ideally I would have liked the bigger one (48") as I kinda believe in providing pets with as big a living space as you can afford, but I read a lot that Royal Pythons can become stressed in too large an area, so went for the 3 foot one as a compromise. |
| Keg |
Posted - 27/02/2012 : 23:18:05
She looks lovely though |
| Se7enS1ns |
Posted - 27/02/2012 : 23:13:58
Ha! And I thought mine was crowded!!
I might cut the bark down a little and put it back in yet, we'll see. Monty has been very active this evening, I've checked in on her a few times so far and she's been out and about each time, which is nice to see as I've been worried about her inactivity lately. She still seems shy of open ground though - I watched her literally force the tree root out of the way so that she could get behind it. Stubborn sod!
Here she is again;
 |
| richard v |
Posted - 27/02/2012 : 22:52:20
You should have kept the hide in the middle
You should see my viv
There is one hide on the right under the heat lamp
A bark tunnel behind the logs, a hide in the cool end and a piece of bark also
as a hide in the cool end. And he is fine. |
| hayes |
Posted - 27/02/2012 : 22:29:04
that looks mint mate! it will take a while before monty will explore his/her surroundings. I've had mine for about 2 months and he has only just started to move around and come out of his hides. i like your viv. what make/model is it? |
| Se7enS1ns |
Posted - 27/02/2012 : 21:31:39
So I'm back from the petshop again, complete with lamp cage, and a bit more info on the heater set up I'm using. Turns out, the heat lamp I bought yesterday is, for all intents and purposes, exactly the same as an IR bulb, just with a visible spectrum of light, rather than non-visible to the human eye. The temperature at a 12" distance is 35 degrees C. My thermometer is reading 33 degrees C. It is a narrow area basking light, to be used in conjunction with a heat mat to raise ambient temperature locally. This however will mostly likely be ditched along with the heat mat in favour of a 100W IR bulb and dimmer stat.
I also decided to have another shuffle round of the décor, and reluctantly got rid of "the big thing in the middle" (tree bark) to open up a bit of space - I'll just have to see how Monty gets on with the lack of centre-hide as she doesn't particularly like open spaces it seems. I also decided to get rid of the moss from the cold hide, as someone raised a valid point about this getting soaked with urine, and I'd rather she didn't sit for a few hours (or longer) in her own filth, so I've ditched this and partially filled the cave with orchid bark chippings instead.
Better?
Of course, I couldn't resist another photo of a rather inquisitive Monty;
She seems to like having her house re-arranged!!
Thanks again for all the replies, it really has been a massive help, I'm now much more clued up as to what I'm going to be needing on my next shopping trip! |
| reptilemadd |
Posted - 27/02/2012 : 16:38:34
Thanks for correcting me boomslang mine must be faulty as it's hot enough to burn a snake that won't let go of it imo but hey ho was only trying to help... |
| Se7enS1ns |
Posted - 27/02/2012 : 15:36:46
I'm glad you've just said that Boomslang - I've caught Monty climbing on (and pulling down) the UV strip many times, it gets warm to the touch, but not hot by any stretch of the imaginiation! However, I'm warm blooded (depite common opinion) so what feels warm to me might feel hot to a cold blooded snake (so why climb on it then?!).
The UV bulb is an Exo Terra "ReptiGlo 5.0" Ulta Violet bulb (25W) - bit of a waste considering its being used just to light the viv up! |
| boomslang |
Posted - 27/02/2012 : 15:20:54
quote:
Originally posted by reptilemadd
The problem is those Uv and any tube fitting will still get quite hot, hot enough to still burn Monty so if you want a light in there during the day using LED's would be best loads of light with very little heat certainly not enough to burn Monty....Not a lecture just some advise
Uv tubes don't get hot.I just put my hand on one,thats been on for 8 hours.Its warm but not burning hot.
Anyway don't consider replacing the heat bulb,just do it when you order the rest.
quote:
The UV lamp is being used purely as a light now, as the other "multi-purpose" heat lamp I have is fairly dim and doesn't light up the terrarium all that well. Aparently the UV bulbs expire fairly quickly, a year max, but will continue to work, just not kick out any UV.
Just replace the mat and basking bulb,with another type of bulb.And what rating is this uv tube? it looks very blue so its not a 2.0.point is there's other types of tubes out there,that are cheaper if you just want light.
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| Kelfezond |
Posted - 27/02/2012 : 15:10:22
I wouldn't stress yourself out over an unguarded light- it is needed but it's not a "rush out in the middle of the night to get" kind of thing, Savina pulled her guard off about a week ago and I've not go around to getting the screws to put it back on yet but she's completely stopped interacting with the bulb since the guard came down, I very rarely see or hear about snakes actually interacting with the bulb so it's more a precaution against what could happen. |
| reptilemadd |
Posted - 27/02/2012 : 14:59:41
The problem is those Uv and any tube fitting will still get quite hot, hot enough to still burn Monty so if you want a light in there during the day using LED's would be best loads of light with very little heat certainly not enough to burn Monty....Not a lecture just some advise |
| Se7enS1ns |
Posted - 27/02/2012 : 14:48:39
quote:
Originally posted by reptilemadd
Hi Se7ens and welcome yes your bulb holder will be fine and as long as you get a guard for it so will your snake, as for the Uv studies for Leopard Geckos (who are also nocturnal) have shown that they benefit from the mild Uv rays at dawn and dusk so I'm guessing it wouldn't do a snake any harm either, but if your going to keep it I'd recommend changing it for a 2% bulb which is the lowest you can buy I know it's not much less than the one you've got but you never know lol
The UV lamp is being used purely as a light now, as the other "multi-purpose" heat lamp I have is fairly dim and doesn't light up the terrarium all that well. Aparently the UV bulbs expire fairly quickly, a year max, but will continue to work, just not kick out any UV.
It is quite bright though, so was thinking of replacing it with a general strip lamp at the lowest wattage to dim it down a little. I'll definitely need some sort of bulb in there if I replace my current heat bulb with an IR bulb. |
| Se7enS1ns |
Posted - 27/02/2012 : 14:42:34
A lamp guard is getting purchased tonight on my way home as a matter of urgency! |
| reptilemadd |
Posted - 27/02/2012 : 14:16:47
Hi Se7ens and welcome yes your bulb holder will be fine and as long as you get a guard for it so will your snake, as for the Uv studies for Leopard Geckos (who are also nocturnal) have shown that they benefit from the mild Uv rays at dawn and dusk so I'm guessing it wouldn't do a snake any harm either, but if your going to keep it I'd recommend changing it for a 2% bulb which is the lowest you can buy I know it's not much less than the one you've got but you never know lol |
| Se7enS1ns |
Posted - 27/02/2012 : 13:26:25
Hi Lotabob - you're right about the thing in the middle, it's a hollowed out tree bark, which she likes to hide under as a midpoint between the hot and cold sides. Without it in there, she seems very reluctant to move from one side to the other. It is a little on the large side though, so I might look at cutting it down a little.
The bulb - yeah, I'm sat here at work today panicking about her burning herself during the day. I only bought the bulb and fitting yesterday, I do need to get a guard ASAP - plus a stat.
Thanks to Burned and the very helpful links, I'm now considering placing an order for an IR bulb to replace my heat bulb, plus a dimmer stat. I think I can continue to use my bulb holder as it is porcelain (correct?). |
| Lotabob |
Posted - 27/02/2012 : 13:14:07
I'm going to swim against the tide and say that thing in the front should absolutley be left in for the reason you described, it gives a route between the hot and cold side and also a mid point hide should be choose to be not too hot, not too cold.
In the picture your bulb is not guarded and a nosey snake will easily burn itself on an unguarded bulb that and if they climb up they can actually smash bulbs just by gripping them. So you get cuts, burns and electrocution all from one incident. No guard = no bulb.
Unfortunatley shops seem to do this all the time and I cant figure out why, they'd still get their money if they set it up correctly from the get go and would prevent the worry and unexpected extra costs involved in setting it up. |
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