Advice
For those of you who just need general advice on reptiles, here are some guidelines to go by. Remember, these are just general guidelines. Still look up a care sheet for your specific reptile's husbandry. If you need advice on a specific reptile, feel free to e-mail me.
This advice is compiled from over ten years of reptile experience, myself and my friends alike, and the trial and error we make along the way.
General: Know what you're getting.
Some snakes look alike, and this is where cross-breeding commonly
occurs. You also may not know how to tell the difference between a pure or a crossbred reptile, so always know the reputation of your seller. Red Tailed Boas are different from Common Columbian Boas, though some stores still refer to the Columbian as Red Tail boas. Breeding a true Red Tailed Boa to a Common Boa with a red tail is still cross-breeding. Think of it like breeding a Black bear to a Brown Bear. They're still bears, they look alike, but they are from different areas and don't normally hybridize. On Ball Python hets, make
sure the snake is recessive (i.e Albino, pied, clown, etc) and not
co-dominant or dominant ( i.e Pastel, Mojave, Cinnamon, Spider, etc) by
either papers from where they bought it from, or by an offspring that
the het produced. Co-Dominant and Dominant do not have het forms, they
either are pastel (Or any other) or they are normal. An Albino bred to a normal will produce 100% hets, but two hets bred together will produce 66% possible hets and an Albino. Most hets look like normals, meaning there are no markers and you will need to go by the word of the breeder. There are several types of Carpet Python: Irian Jaya, Jungle, Coastal, Bredli, Diamond, Jaguar, etc. Know exactly what you have, and if it's pure or a percentage, and label the offspring you produce accordingly, even if it's under 25%. Ie, a 100% Jag bred to a 75/25 Jag/Coastal, the offspring still need to be labeled that they have Coastal. Do not buy or breed anything that you don't know it's lineage, because then you will not correctly label the offspring and further mislabel and muddy the breed. Know where and whom you're getting a snake from. If you have any questions on a person or business' reputation, check the Fauna Classifieds Board of Inquiry. | True Red Tailed Boa  Common Columbian Boa  |
Housing: DO NOT house your snakes together! They are
NOT social creatures! If you are breeding, then only leave your snakes
together while they are breeding to keep an eye on their laying
schedule. ALL snakes have the capability of being cannibalistic, a few
do eat other snakes in the wild normally. If a snake ends up getting
sick, it will spread it to all the other snakes in the enclosure, or if
you find an odd defecation you will not know who did it. All snakes,
male and female, show dominance over one another. Males will combat
during breeding season, and will attempt to kill each other. If your
snakes are piled on top of one another, it's not that they are cuddling
for warmth because they are NOT warm blooded, but they are fighting for
dominance and the source of the heat pad/light. The less dominant will
stop eating due to stress and might die. In some cases, if you house two
or more snakes together, after a feeding they might still smell the
prey item on the other snake and kill them, falsely thinking it's still
prey. This includes garters who are mischievous at stealing fish when
it's already in the mouth of it's house mate, even though garters and
ribbons are one of the few social snakes. You also do NOT want to house a young male and female together because a male can safely breed at 6-12 months while a female tends not to be ready until 3+ years and if she breeds early, egg-binding can occur or the female might not be strong enough to provide for eggs, and in turn could die. Males will also combat during breeding season, whether or not there is a female in the room. |
Enclosure: For every foot of snake, there should be foot of tank. So a 2
foot snake should be in at least a 2x1x1 enclosure. A 6 foot snake
should have a 6x2x2 or a 4x4x2. If you have an arboreal snake such as a
Green Tree Python or Amazon Tree Boa, the enclosure should be adjusted
to fit the snake height-wise instead. No matter the size of snake, you
need to have a way to lock the enclosure. A pile of books on top does
not count. Why risk your snake escaping or a child getting into the
enclosure when you can buy a pair of clamps for $5? And they're even interchangeable for many sizes of tanks. Always look up care sheets before purchasing
a snake. You need to know the exact temperature and humidity the snake
requires, and they should be measured with a controlled heat source
and/or a temperature gun and a humidity gauge. DO NOT GUESS! Some snakes
require around 80 degrees basking spots, and some require 100 degrees
basking spots. The bedding, depending on the snake, should only be one of the
following: Aspen, sphagnum moss (Not Peat), cypress mulch, newspaper, or
paper towels. Cedar and pine are toxic to all reptiles and most small
mammals. Some bedding, like reptibark can harm your snake with it's sharp
edges, especially when swallowed. Sand can easily cause impaction with small lizards like Leopard Geckos and Bearded Dragons, so it's best not to use it unless the Bearded Dragon is an adult. Newspaper, paper
towels, and aspen are used for heated snakes while sphagnum moss and
cypress mulch is used for humidity loving snakes. | Temperature gun  |
Feeding: Do NOT feed your reptiles ANYTHING that is
wild caught. Wild caught mice and roaches can carry disease and make
your reptile sick. F/T lizards or toads for scenting or switch feeding
are alright, as long as you know if the type of lizard is safe for your
reptile to eat (i.e not toxic) and it has been frozen for at least a day
to kill off any disease or parasite. Do NOT handle your snake until at least 24 hours after feeding to reduce stress and the possibility of regurging. Make sure temperatures are appropriate since
snakes can only digest properly when their temperature is optimal. Always feed the correct prey and size to your snake. Not all snakes eat mice/rats! DO NOT feed insects to your snakes, this is a HUGE misconception for King snakes and Corn snakes. Some main diets also include: Minnows (NOT goldfish), worms, frogs/toads, lizards, and forms of bird. Know what is healthy for your snake as mice/rats can be unhealthy for some. If you are feeding mice/rats/quails/chickens then only feed a large enough prey item to make a small lump in the center of the snake. Normally it is a prey item that is 1 1/2 size the largest part of your snake. Several smaller prey items can be substituted for one large item, which tends to be healthier. If what you are feeding does not leave a sizable lump, it's time to move up to the next size! If you are feeding minnows (Rosy reds or silvers) or worms then feed as much as the reptile can consume in 15 minutes every 3-4 days. Please use tongs and not your fingers! It is just fine to feed inside of their own enclosure. It's a misconception that it lessens the aggression of the snake by moving it into a separate enclosure. In my opinion, none of my snakes are aggressive, they are all fed in their own enclosures, and some snakes, such as ball pythons, feel more comfortable hiding when catching prey. If you have flaky bedding, like aspen, then simply place a piece of newspaper or a lid down and place the prey item on top. |
Sexing: There are three methods of sexing. Probing,
popping, and sight. Sight only works for the few species that have a
distinct difference between male and female (dimorphic), such as markings, head
size, or tail size. Popping should only be done by an expert, since you
can easily damage the vent and internal organs of a snake. Males will have two distinct hemipenes when popped,
and females will just have pink/white flesh. If you
want to learn how to pop, find an expert in your area to visually show
you. Probing is the most accurate and as well should be only done by an expert, since this could
severely damage the internal organs of a snake if done improperly.
Probing the correct sex is successfully done when both sides of the tail
are probed, to make sure you get the same distance on both sides. A
female probes a very short distance, while a male may probe most of the
length down the tail. For a specific scale count, look up a care sheet
of the reptile in question. |
Breeding and Incubating: Do not just place two snakes together and see what happens. Make sure you have ONE male and ONE female in an enclosure at a time. Depending on the snake you will need to make sure your female is the appropriate size and/or age BEFORE you attempt to breed her, not during. Such as, a female corn snake or king snake should following the 3x3x3 rule. At least 3 feet, 300 grams, and 3 years. Or a female ball python, who should be at least 1200 grams though preferably 1500 grams. Some snakes, like Children's Pythons, can be bred at 3 years, no earlier since they will not ovulate. King snakes, which are cannibalistic, should not be left alone together. They should be separated when done. On the other hand, Ball Pythons and Common Boas can be left together for 5 days, giving 2 days of rest, then put back together. Snakes such as Carpet Pythons sometimes need the shedding or the scent of another male in the enclosure in order to stimulate breeding. Know if your snake needs to be cooled before breeding, and what temperature, which
will reduce infertile eggs and egg-binding. Do not ever feed during cooling time, because they can not digest at cool temps. The incubating temperature and length depends on the species.
The way I set up my incubator is simple. For reptiles that hatch at my
snake room temps, I just set the eggs in a sterilite container with a
perilite/vermiculite and water substrate, make sure you squeeze all the
excess water out, with a small hole on each side of the tub. For eggs that need
a higher temp of incubating, I just use a Styrofoam cooler with the
same sterilite container and a heat-pad inside, but not under the
container. Test the temperatures several days before you have the eggs
to make sure they are appropriate, and keep the vermiculite
moist.
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Lizards: 1 Male to 1-4 Females, all same size, and never put two males in the same enclosure. Bearded Dragons and Iguanas Bearded Dragons can be housed together, just make sure there is enough room allotted for each animal and that each animal is roughly the same size. An adult Bearded dragon may kill a baby Bearded, or cause tail/toe nips and stress. Iguanas need a large cage even as a juvenile, such as a 6 feet high by 4 feet wide cage. Bearded dragon babies should be in AT LEAST a 20 Long gallon tank, and juveniles + should be in a 100 gallon tank. It needs to be long, not tall, because they are runners and not climbers. All climbing material must be nailed down in the tank, or immovable, to reduce tipping over and killing the reptile. Bearded Dragons require UVB light, a dry climate, and very hot temperatures. Make sure you can provide all three. Lettuce should NOT be fed to any lizard, since it promotes dehydration and has no nutritional value. Bearded Dragons and Iguanas should have an array of vegetables to choose from as well as different types of insects, such as silk worms, roaches, crickets, meal worms, etc. Young bearded dragons should stick to soft shelled insects, instead of hard shelled. |
Crested Geckos Crested Geckos need a relatively small enclosure, and more climbing surfaces. They can do just fine in a 2' x 2' cube. Crested Geckos need only a light misting so that the substrate dries in between misting. They do not need a UVB light, but they do still need warmth. Crested Geckos should solely be fed on Crested Gecko Diet (Mixed with baby food if you like) and crickets.
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