Write up - my Live jungle enclosure

[Insane]

Gday all,

Thought I would post a bit of an update, and some new photo's, as it's been about 9 months since the last one.

Medusa is growing well, and eating every week or two, whenever I feed her. She and the plants are thriving

I planted a few new plants in there yesterday, as she's getting bigger, and the plants weren't really large enough to give her a proper environment.


_MG_0048 by insane phototography, on Flickr


_MG_0050 by insane phototography, on Flickr


_MG_0051 by insane phototography, on Flickr


_MG_0058 by insane phototography, on Flickr


_MG_0061 by insane phototography, on Flickr


_MG_0071 by insane phototography, on Flickr


The heat lamp decided to stop working, and I got a new one, but never put it in. She is fine without it, when she wants to heat up she spends some time up on the fluoro (it's safe as it's enclosed by wire) it never gets hot up there, just a gentle warmth rising. And I live in newcastle, so it never gets really cold here.

It has proved to be extremely extremely low maintenance, this enclosure. I still literally stir a little bit of the substrate around, change her drinking water (not that I ever see her drink from it) and water the plants once a week, or just when I remember. The enclosure always smells really good, like plants, nature and earth, and to be honest I don't think it looks bad either. I'd prefer it at a decent height and with glass instead of plastic, but that's all for her next enclosure, I'm planning something pretty epic.

EDIT: also, I no longer bother to monitor temperatures or humidity levels in the tank, it is what it is, and she adapts to the conditions, as in nature. If the ground is too wet for her to lie on? she just sleeps inside one of the ferns. if she's cold? she moves up to the light to find some heat. Hot? she moves away from the light. I see no reason any longer to try to dictate her conditions to her, I just give her a range and she finds what is ideal for her.

Any questions, feel free to ask.

Dan

 

[Snakeluvver2]

Looks good no problem with humidity?

 

[Insane]

nope, not at all.

 

[snakes123]

That looks heaps good. I want to do something like that with my diamond when i get it. Just not so many plants.

 

[ezekiel86]

tripped out lil set up

 

[harley0402]

I am always bemused why some people create such high humidity in their enclosures. IMO, 70 - 80% is WAY too high even for a tropical rainforest species. Keep you eyes on your snake, blisters, scale rot, etc., are usually results of excessive humidity.

hi can i just ask, sorry for interrupting, but is about 60 % alright for a black headed python ?

 

[hornet]

Any updates on this? One thing i would suggest is more ventilation, i would cut a decent sized hole on each end and cover with mesh. High humidity and low air moment is perfect breeding grounds for fungi and bacteria

 

[Melusina]

Interesting, very interesting. I went to Detroit Zoo yesterday and noticed many, if not all of the snake enclosures have live plants and dirt/sand/ leaf litter as the substrate- and this made me wonder if I could do it. Thanks for walking us through your experiences with this, gave me a lot to think about.


And Medusa is absolutely stunning, I'm hoping to find a gem like her (love the black and white jungles) if I get a python. Sorry to diverge from the topic but how does she handle?

 

[hornet]

Interesting, very interesting. I went to Detroit Zoo yesterday and noticed many, if not all of the snake enclosures have live plants and dirt/sand/ leaf litter as the substrate- and this made me wonder if I could do it. Thanks for walking us through your experiences with this, gave me a lot to think about.


And Medusa is absolutely stunning, I'm hoping to find a gem like her (love the black and white jungles) if I get a python. Sorry to diverge from the topic but how does she handle?

no reason why you cant do it yourself but its not easy, it does require knowledge on not just the snakes requirements but the plants requirements aswell

 

[pythrulz]

You have obvisouly put a lot of thought and effort into the new encloser but needs way more air holes/ventilation and to humid but looks great

 

[syeph8]

hi can i just ask, sorry for interrupting, but is about 60 % alright for a black headed python ?

id be going for 20% for a black headed personally and just give a misting at shedding time. in fact i would recomend this for a vast majority of pythons including jungle carpets. jungles can handle higher humidity though but i keep all of my jungles between 20-30% with nil issue. i personally wouldnt want to keep humidity at or above 60% unless they are shedding.

good luck with your living enclosure, id try to find a way to decrease that humidity though.

 

[Leeloofluff]

This is amazing! Your snake must be very happy!
Is that a Juliatten Black and White? I'm so smitten by then ^_^

 

[Insane]

yes it is

she is quite happy! I just moved her to her new enclosure last week, i'm doing the write up and build log right now!

Cheers,
Dan