Reptile & Amphibian Forums

het albino

albino tiger

superjamp

het anthrax

Those cages are nasty.

dont worry man they have fresh water and a good housekeeper (me)...

i'll clean them after they lay eggs.... i dont want to risk disturbing them while they are gestating and risk them absorbing their follicles or retaining ova, which is worse than a dirty cage.

try breeding some retics and you will understand... they are very perceptive.

thanks for your concern.

retics in the wild live in dirt, filth and nastyness... the technical word for it is called earth, or humus... i am sure over the millions of years of life history the reticulated python has developed ways to protect itself from a "nasty" environmet.

... just thought i would share that.

The soil and humus on the floor of a tropical forest environment would not have anywhere near the concentration of pathogenic bacteria that would be found on a cage floor that has been damp with urea and fecal material for more than a few days. The organic compounds found in these waste products is much richer in nutrients than any soil or humus and it acts like prime agar in a petri dish with respect to bacterial growth. Additionally, soil and humus have other naturally occurring organisms that keep the pathogenic bacterial numbers at low levels. These other organisms are not present in captive cage flooring substrates.

Kelly

I'm going to have to agree with Kelly here. Its not just the micro-organisms taht you have to worry about. You have to rememebr that the amount of uric acid in any snake's waste *IS* essentially an irratant that can have a negative effect on the animal's belly scales, and can quite readily contribute to the introduction of a bad case of septicemia, which can quite quickly become necrotic.

Personally, I clean my retic's cages religiously. I share a room with my snakes so that if they go in the middle of the night, I can quickly clean out the cage, and hose them off in the shower if they are particularly foul. (have you ever seen the size of feces from feeding G.Pigs? i swear they come out bigger than when they go in!) Nothing says "GOOD MORNING" to your roomates quite like having them walk in on you hosing off a 16' retic in the tub at 4 o'clock in the morning!
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Deserve's got nothing to do with it! -(Unforgiven)

i undersand that urea is an irritant... i also took microbiology and understand microorginisms... i think maybe your being a little critical???... i do put down clean paper on one side of the cage so she can move around...but i am not going to handle a retic that is ovulating.. that in itself is an irratant to the snake... also understand that in order for bacteria to thrive there must be water present... my cages dry out at least once a day - i just misted her cage, also dont forget in the tropics it is 90% humidity 100% of the time... so instead of critisizing me you could congratulate me... i am gonna get some eggs!

Sorry Brian, I'm not trying to come off as overly critical. I share many common aspects with you, such as our love for RETICS, and I applaud anyone who loves and keep them. I do understand what you are saying (in respect to how reticulated pythons live in their natural environment), however, I personally feel that for them to not just survive, but THRIVE in captivity, it is much more prudent to err towards the side of caution and providce them with an environment closer to the "sterile" side of the spectrum. I think many people would agree that the minimal- if not negligible amount of disturbance you would cause the animal from moving it from one side of the cage to the other while cleaning is insignificant when compared to the taxing effects of a "less than ideal" environment such as depicted. (sorry if I am being critical, but this is my genuine opinion on the subject).
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Deserve's got nothing to do with it! -(Unforgiven)

...and then i put down fresh newspaper... beleive me i put a lot of time, love, effort, and money into my retics and i would never keep them in substandard conditions if i can help it...

... here i am looking at getting two possibly HUGE clutches... both with lots of potential... so try and put yourselves in my shoes...

maybe a simple inquery instead of an assumption would be more appropriate from a snap shot. yes i know a picture says a thousand words but that is very subjective... please... if i thought i were harming my retics i would take immediate action.

both female are getting very plump... i hope the next round of pics are of some huge pearly white eggs...