Question for Chris K.

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Posted by Rob Carmichael on January 27, 2003 at 07:02:42:

In Reply to: Re: Eastern Indigo Blue for 2 weeks posted by Chris Ken on January 26, 2003 at 10:55:20:

Do you actually keep eastern indigos? The reason I ask is that I have read your comments below and while I don't necessarily disagree with some of your opinions (as they do occasionally hold true with other snake species), I do question whether you have much (if any) experience in keeping indigos. As Doug mentioned, peat moss is an excellent source of providing localized, high humidity microclimates for indigos and other herps (I use it in plastic storage boxes which serve as hide/nest areas). And as he mentioned, if you cannot tell that an indigo has defecated, you probably need to get your nose examined....it is very easy to distinguish even in dark peat...and it is very easy to replace which I recommend doing on a regular basis). I have also had success using dampened towels which are cleaned as needed (or even shredded newspaper which is misted, paper towel, etc). In many ways, I keep my drymarchon much differently than my other snakes (pythons, boas, colubrids, venomous) and their care is much different (feeding, cleaning, maintaining, heat control and monitoring, egg maintenance, etc.)....don't take this personally, but I wonder if your comments would be better served towards questions not having to do with indigos.

::Thanks Chris for your thoughts. Not having moss in the cage would only mean that he wouldn't be damp at all. At the present time I am only using paper towels on the bottom. I can spray this as much as I want but and hour later it is all dried up. I mist the moss in the morning before I leave and it stays damp all day. I tend to use the moss mostly when they are in shed. A lot of times when they do shed I will remove the moss. If they choose to take a dump on the moss it goes immediately. I don't even try to clean the feces off, I just throw it out. The other option I have is aspen substrate, but this being damp all day I am sure will cause similiar bacteria problems.

::Also, usually after my snakes shed I tend to clean their entire cages out. Thanks for your post and your suggestions.

::Greg
::

:
:You're welcome.It is my experience that most snakes will lay in their waterbowl if they are either too dry to shed or too hot.It's important to have a sufficient amount of clean water at all times.Usually if I want more moisture in the cage,I'll place a larger water supply close to the heat source.At any rate,I still advise against moss.How do you know it's not wet from urates?Moss also encourages the growth of mildew and fungus in a very short period of time.If you are adamant about using moss,you should change it every day.Take care,
: Chris
:

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