Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Hi everyone,

I'm new to the forum so thought I would say Hi.
I'm getting my first Chondro in about a weeks time, its an 8 month old, Biak. I have read up as much info as possible on Chondros so I can provide the best care possible. I have been keeping herps for around 15 years now, mainly boids.
I have a quick question about cage set-up.
I have purchased a 24" x 18" x 18" acrylic viv.
I'll be using a reptile UV spot bulb (with guard) on a habistat dimmer thermostat to create a hot spot and a heat mat at night to keep the ambient air temp up. Does this sound ok so far?
I need help on advice about perches. I would like to use acrylic or PVC perches. Having trouble finding them, I live in the UK. Do any of you know any sites that are UK based or will ship to the UK?

Also for a basking spot, how far should the perch be placed below the lamp? I will place the probe at this point for the thermostat.

Any advice will be great!
Thanks in advance.

Mark

Mark,

You might want to seriously reconsider using such a large enclosure for such a small animal. Your baby chondro will be around the sice of a quarter perched. If you deside to place it in a large enclosure realise that you might run in to stress and or feeding problems in the imediate future.

Here is a thread that points to just such a case.
http://forums.kingsnake.com/view.php?id=1130572,1130572

If you still deside to go against the grain (you may still have sucess) consider that you are going to have to keep replacing perches. You are going to want a perch about the girth of a plastic coat hanger. PVC and be found at any hard ware store, just to into the plumbing section. Acryic can be found there, as well. The screen and heat lap top should work but be aware that most keepers use heat tape or heat panels to avoid dry out in the enclosure. I use heat panels for the simple fact that the constant flux in power on a normal light bulb will put strain on the bulb and shorten its life. Which may cause the bulb to die randomly, which could spell disaster.

I seriously reccomend you read all of GM's site @ www.finegtps.com and RW's site www.allchondros.com . These 2 combined will more than answer all your husbandry questions.
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Julian Garcia
Chondros Exquisite
Seattle,WA

Thanks Julian,

I had the same fears as you, I was sure the cage would be to big. I was planning on keeping in a small container with 1 perch and heated with tape or a mat.
I was advised against this by the shop I am buying the chondro from. They have been great in the past, so I took it that what they said was right.
Maybe I should wait and see how big the snke is when it arrives, then decide how to house it.
They may have the age wrong.

Cheers

Mark

The cage size seems a bit large for such a young GTP, but I don't think it hurts. Perch size is more important. My experience has been that GTPs prefer the smallest perch that will support their weight. I have one GTP that is about 10 months old and prefers a perch of 1/4 inch, which is less than half its own diameter. Perches of 3/8 and 1/2 are also available, but rarely used. The 1/4 inch is bending but not breaking. I use wood dowels and bamboo sticks, but I don’t believe the snakes really care about the material.
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Dennis

It could be that the branch it prefers is only because it's in the spot it likes to be in. It might hang out on the 3/8" perch if it was in that spot. My chondro likes to hang out in the same places depending upon nite or day, just fed or about to shed. She doesn't pick the size branch that's there, she picks the spot. If the branch is small, she'll still use it as it's the only way to be in the temperature gradient she wants. I'd be willing to bet that if you changed the perches so that the larger perch was where he normally hangs out, he would stay on that.
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1.0~amel corn~C.S.
1.4~Aztec Okeetee corns~Coatl,Maya,Acatl,Tepin,Minuet
1.0~Zigzag Bubblegum~Bazooka Joe
0.1~Neon het motley~Lumiere
1.1~Green tree python~Whisper, Tempest
0.2~Rhodesian Ridgebacks~Akilah, Ona
0.1~Old black Lab~ Callie (RIP)
2.0~fat cats~Topper, Briscoe
3.0~Horses~Zaarah,Galliano,Achilles.....
www.franclycac.com

All three perches run the full width of the cage at roughly the same height with the full range of heat gradient. I guess it just likes the little one. It use all three when carousing, but uses the small one almost exclusively when just hanging around.
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Dennis

but I will try switching them around just to see. who knows, there my be something totally obscure (maybe it's the view, LOL) that causes it to prefer the thin perch.
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Dennis

Here’s a photo of it hanging on its 1/4 inch perch. It's in the midst of a color change. It was a red baby and started turning orange/yellow a couple of months ago. It’s a jayapura I bought from Frantz Herp last fall.

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Dennis

When I switched my Sorong's perch around she ended up sitting in the exact same place where the small part of the branch used to be. She just like that spot. I got a Jaya (and my Sorong for that matter) from Troy also. I ended up getting my Jaya from the breeder because Troy didn't like how the babies he had were feeding and didn't want me to have to wait until they were feeding better. Troy is AWESOME and I'd recommend him to anyone. His animals are all healthy and they eat like crazy. Never had a food refusal EVER since I got either of them. Here's Whisper my Jaya. He's just finishing his color change. Your's is looking good!

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1.0~amel corn~C.S.
1.4~Aztec Okeetee corns~Coatl,Maya,Acatl,Tepin,Minuet
1.0~Zigzag Bubblegum~Bazooka Joe
0.1~Neon het motley~Lumiere
1.0~Lav het motley/hypo~Storm
1.1~Green tree python~Whisper, Tempest
0.2~Rhodesian Ridgebacks~Akilah, Ona
0.1~Old black Lab~ Callie (RIP)
2.0~fat cats~Topper, Briscoe
3.0~Horses~Zaarah,Galliano,Achilles.....
www.franclycac.com