Please critique my click-clack

[Renenet]

Hi again,

For your consideration, here are some pictures of my new snake's enclosure, a 7-litre Sistema click-clack. The snake is a two-month-old Stimmie named Zephyr. The substrate is a couple of layers of butcher’s paper. The heat mat probe is under the click clack on top of the heat mat. Temperature at the cold end changes depending on the time of day and is between 21-25; at the hot end it hovers between 34 and 35. I'm not sure if that's too hot. I’ve got the whole assembly sitting on tiles.

The hides have been a bit of a problem. She used to have a yellow hide made from a Vegemite lid with a hole melted into it. She showed no interest in it whatsoever. She tends to use her toilet roll for sliding through and curling around rather than for hiding. Additionally, her activities have moved the toilet roll, which was supposed to be her hot end hide, to the cooler side. So instead I’ve put scrunched up paper in both back corners and given her the toilet roll as a conduit between them. I’ll see if I can find something better.


I’d appreciate your comments, particularly on:

• The ceramic water bowl, which is about 4.5 centimetres high. Will Zephyr be able to access it for drinking and soaking? I think she will be fine because she’s about 35 centimetres long and I’ve seen her easily gliding along the edge. The lower dowel also gives her level access. But I certainly don’t want her to dehydrate!
• The holes I had to make to insert the thermometer probes. I’m worried she’ll be able to squeeze her head through, in which case she’d get very stuck. I think the holes are about 7 or 8 mm in diameter. I have them blocked off with Blu-tack to discourage any stubborn escape attempts. Is that a safe and effective solution until her head grows big enough to avoid this threat?
• The thermometer probe cables. Any chance Zephyr will get tangled in them?
• The thermometer probes. Any chance she’ll try to eat them, especially if I move them from outside by pulling on the cable?
• Shedding. Does she need anything else to rub against when she sheds?

Would love to hear your thoughts. Thanks!

 

[byron_moses]

whats with the paper? apart from that it seems fine by the.
way stimmies dont really need perches

 

[Snake_Whisperer]

Looks like that stimmie is disagreeing with you Ben! Other than the fact that you have not put racing stripes on it, your setup looks good. well ventillated, plenty of hidey spots. You will want to get onto some temperature control though. A thermostat or dimmer for your heat mat. They are notorious for setting fire to things if left uncontrolled.

 

[snakeluvver]

whats with the paper? apart from that it seems fine by the.
way stimmies dont really need perches

People say antaresia snakes don't climb... However I disagree. If you give something to climb they will climb it. If you ever try to find my spotted python in his 45cm squared terrarium I can almost guarantee that you'll find him high up on his plants or rock wall.

 

[JAS101]

it all looks good , the things i would do is take out is the screwed up paper and drop the temp a degree or 2 .
my ants climb all the time , mine are allways climbing around at night .

 

[Exotic_Doc]

My advice would be find a better solution then the papers all scrunched up in there. You can make a hide from many things such as an empty container but thats just my opinion. And i agree to what was mentioned earlier about the thermostat get your hands on one.

 

[JAS101]

And i agree to what was mentioned earlier about the thermostat get your hands on one.

err the heat matt has a thermostat , the reptapets black matt range have an inbuilt thermostat . i know because i have 7 of those matts.

 

[pythrulz]

Looks fine whats all the balls of paper for get rid of them use a sheet of newspaper people say stimmies dont climb but zephry is obvisouly using the perch cool name too

 

[Exotic_Doc]

Looks fine whats all the balls of paper for get rid of them use a sheet of newspaper people say stimmies dont climb but zephry is obvisouly using the perch cool name too

She is using them as a hide from what i figured..

err the heat matt has a thermostat , the reptapets black matt range have an inbuilt thermostat . i know because i have 7 of those matts.

thanks for the heads up, didnt know....

 

[moosenoose]

I've got my bag of stars ready for the best answer!

 

[abnrmal91]

I've got my bag of stars ready for the best answer!

The answer is 42 its the meaning of life that has to be worth a star

 

[Jackrabbit]

They are notorious for setting fire to things if left uncontrolled.

Really? I haven't heard anyone complain of that yet? When my stimmie was young, her CC was on a heat mat without any thermostat and I had no problems with over heating, let alone catching fire.

 

[Chris1]

regarding hides, my baby darwin is loving her egg carton, just a double bit broken off the end of a normal one,.....

and paper towels make a good substrate, softer and more absorbant.

 

[Snake_Whisperer]

I've got my bag of stars ready for the best answer!

Ahem! It was clearly mine!

Really? I haven't heard anyone complain of that yet? When my stimmie was young, her CC was on a heat mat without any thermostat and I had no problems with over heating, let alone catching fire.

Woke up one morning to the stench of burning synthetics in my house, followed my nose to the herp room to find it filling with acrid smoke. Dived head first into the power control box and switched everything off. Found the mat under my timber Julatten enclosure had burned a hole in the carpet and singed the bottom of the enclosure. When I shared this story with my Herp Club mates, half of them had similar stories. Ergo, they are notorious for setting thing on fire. It was a piddly 14W mat BTW.

*EDIT* Jackrabbit...Lol Strangles! Love it!

As far as this particular brand of mat goes, I think it's fantastic that they have control built in. Should not be available without IMO.

 

[ashisnothereman]

i have some of those mats and they work a treat. reasonably accurate and very handy. havnt had a problem yet.

 

[Renenet]

Thanks for all the comments. The scrunched up paper is indeed temporary until I can find a proper alternative for a hide, although I think Zephyr likes hiding in the paper and climbing on top of it, so I might leave some paper in there. I might try that egg carton idea. Zephyr hasn't used the dowels to perch yet but she will climb on them. I'm happy that she finds them interesting.

As JAS101 said, the heat mat has an in-built thermostat. I should have mentioned that. I've bumped the heat down a notch but haven't quite managed to get the right temperature yet. I'm working on that.

I have now seen her access her water bowl so I'm not concerned about that anymore. I've also become more relaxed about the security of the cage. I've found her in there every time so far so I'm pretty sure it's secure.

Thanks again!

 

[atothej09]

KIS - Keep it simple
All your stimmie will need is water, newspaper, a hide and some alone time.
Getting the heating right will take some fiddling, but nothing to worry about, Zephyr will work out when it's time to cool down and when to warm up. I'd keep container away from glass window as to make regulating temps easier...and not to cook her. You could also consider putting a tea-towel between melamine and heat mat.
Stimsons are ground dwellers, so no real need for climbing apparatus.
All looks good

 

[No-two]

Looks fine to me. A toilet roll or globe box is a perfect hide, I don't provide any of my hatchies with hides as they go under the paper. I think most young ants enjoy climbing abit. I don't generally bother but this season I gave about 50% of them some new perching to see what the usage was like, I find them on it fairly often. They mostly use it for sloughing also.

 

[AM Pythons]

i think its mainly a certain heatmat that catches fire, the ones with the green plastic cover around the heat mat.. URS ones i think... get rid of the screwed up paper & just use paper towel, over than that its fine..

 

[Renenet]

Thanks everyone.

Zephyr uses her dowels all the time now. She doesn't wrap herself around them like a GTP would, but she will climb on them and even sleep on them. I'm happy to leave them there.

I've cut back on the scrunched up paper but left a few bits because she seems to like hiding under them. I've tried a lot of different things for a hide - egg carton, small boxes - but will probably one day buy or make a more naturalistic looking one.

She's settling in very nicely.