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El Diablo (my working name for my pueblan, till i can come up with a better one) went into his moist hide late last night, after spending several fruitless hours trying to escape again, and has not come out. I'm worried about him spending that much time in a wet environment. I know snakes self regulate when it comes to temps, but how about humidity? it is not beyond the realm of possibility that he is just doing it out of spite. you may laugh, but i live with this snake.
thanks
Mike

If your think he is spending too much time in the moist hide then remove it.. It's really not needed anyway unless your snake is having problems shedding..

~ Mike Russo

this one has always been a difficult snake, i have several hides, both cool, hot and water, in addition to the moist hide. he doesn't regularly use any of them, and doesn't appear to thermoregulate, the places he chooses seem to be based on keeping out of sight more than comfort. as i sent out the last post El Diablo, stuck his nose out of the moist hide, but that is as far as it went. so after 24 hours in the hide i pulled him out. not a happy snake. i think the 10 gallon may just be too big for him, and he is feeling vulnerable so i'm switching him to a smaller 5 gallon, and putting black paper on the sides and back to give him a more closed in feeling. might add a few more hides too. hope this helps
thanks
Mike

Your snake is not spending too much time in its humid hide. I provide almost all of my animals a humid hide and many use it ALL the time... just like they would stay in humid underground hides in the wild.

as long as the hide is moist (not sopping wet) you wont have any problems.

the ten gallon is not too big, just give good hides. And papering three sides is always a good idea.

Young milksnakes are moisture-loss sensitive. They love and do well in moist hides. Ideally they would be underground where they do not lose much moisture and where humidity is very stable and moderate without a wet surface. In captivity that is kind of tough to do consistently.

Letting the hide dry out before moistening again is one way to average out the contact with moisture. Do that and you will not need to be concerned. Moist hides are a good thing for milksnakes, especially in glass tanks with screen tops, and my advice to you is to keep it.
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Mark

i would only maybe even begin to suspect 'too much' time spent in that moist hide box if that's his ONLY hidebox...as long as he has other options to stay/fel hidden,then let the snake decide how much is too much;or until he tells you otherwise(that last part was a joke)....milks really seem to need/prefer ample moisture/humidity and winter is primetime for them desicating/getting quicklty dehydrated.
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"with head raised regally,and gazing at me with lidless eyes,he seemed to question with flicks of his long forked tongue my right to trespass on his territory" Carl Kauffeld

Spending several hours in the moist hide is not a bad thing in itself, but if you don't have another hide or two in the enclosure that it can choose from, it will likely spend far too much time within the "moist" hide, and could easily develop a nasty fungus underneath the scales, especially the ventral scales. This is NOT a good thing, so put a small dry hide or two in there as well. That way, the snake will feel good and secure, WITHOUT the risk of developing a fungus.

best regards, ~Doug
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"Better to be silent and thought a fool, than to open mouth and remove any doubt!"

OK, now I am wondering, our adult Pueblan, sits in his water dish sometimes for hours....

Should I worry?

Also, Since I rescued him, maybe I was mis-informed. The red bands are scattered, sparse and faded. He also is nearly 4 feet.

Could there be other bloodlines, wrong species of milk snake?

He is anti social, and I would be too after spending the amount of time this one did, STUFFED in a 10 gallon enclosure, along with a SCORPION housed in a small plastic "bug Box"

The scorpion could never have touched the snake, but the bug box was taking up room in a tank that was already too small.

Thanks
Wayne

Some of our snakes - Click here

>>OK, now I am wondering, our adult Pueblan, sits in his water dish sometimes for hours....
>>
>> Should I worry?
>>
>> Also, Since I rescued him, maybe I was mis-informed. The red bands are scattered, sparse and faded. He also is nearly 4 feet.
>>
>> Could there be other bloodlines, wrong species of milk snake?
>>
>> He is anti social, and I would be too after spending the amount of time this one did, STUFFED in a 10 gallon enclosure, along with a SCORPION housed in a small plastic "bug Box"
>>
>> The scorpion could never have touched the snake, but the bug box was taking up room in a tank that was already too small.
>>
>> Thanks
>> Wayne
>>
>>Some of our snakes - Click here

****** If it does this now and then for several hours at a time, it's no cause for concern at all, snakes do this from time to time, but please understand, if they do this ALL the time, or VERY often, this is usually a sign that something isn't quite right with the husbandry. Being too hot, or too dry is usually when they use the waterbowl excessively.

An ambient enclosure temp of about 73-77, and an underneath heat source at the other end of enclosure of around 82-86 degrees should be fine. Make sure the snake has small hides of somekind placed at BOTH ends so it can thermoregulate, and choose it;s own optimum temps at any given time. Put the waterbowl at the cool end of the cage.

If the snake in your photo is the one in question as to it being a "pure" Pueblan or not,.....the answer is yes, it's an aberrant "sock-head" Pueblan that has the red bands mostly obliterated with dark pigmentation. These are commonly called "Halloween" Pueblans, because of the black and orange color combination. The genetics of these is not fully understood,and they are produced from time to time, even with two parents that look like this, it doesn't guarantee the offspring will display the trait, it just increases the odds somewhat.

Hope this helps, ~Doug
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"Better to be silent and thought a fool, than to open mouth and remove any doubt!"

It's hard to tell what the light band color is on your snake from the photo,.......so if they are an apricot/orange color, it's a "Holloween"Pueblan. And if they are creamy/beige, it's what's known as an "Oreo" Pueblan. These are just discriptive names for these genetic traits, they BOTH are 100% Pueblan Milksnake.

best regards, ~Doug

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"Better to be silent and thought a fool, than to open mouth and remove any doubt!"

I recently got into the Halloween project, and hope they produce some little Halloweenies this year.

Here is a picture of one of my female Halloweens. I got her from Ron at North Texas Reptile Breeders, and she is quite beefy!

And Doug is right, your Pueblan definetley looks like a Halloween to me!
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Aubrey Ross

©
www.SlipstreamSerpents.com

Wow Aubrey!,.....that is a superb example of a "Holloween"!!

nice and "clean" too for an older one!

best regards, ~Doug
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"Better to be silent and thought a fool, than to open mouth and remove any doubt!"

Thanks Doug! Yeah, she is a nice one and I feel very lucky to have gotten her! She also has a perfect little heart on the top of her head. LOL, I get a kick out of that sort of stuff.

My Halloween male has already been trying to mate with her, but I haven't witnessed any actual copulations yet. I'm sure it has happened, just haven't seen it. Crossing fingers!
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Aubrey Ross

©
www.SlipstreamSerpents.com

VERY nice campbelli you have there... best of luck w/ your new project!

Chris