Reptile & Amphibian Forums

I would like to hear from anyone in the know: do Vision Cage setups work out well for D. angusticeps? If so, what model/size for an adult specimen. Also for Vision cage users-do you use any special foggers/mist systems when your mambas are in sheds? I normally just spray w/ hand mister but of course safety is paramount w/ mambas and this is precarious at best. Any suggestions welcome.
Drew.

I personally do not use any caging for hots that you can’t use a shift box with . As such I build all my own hot (venomous ) cages and shift boxes . David

Great point, lack of easy shift box-ing is the downside to commercial caging that always comes to mind.

Any appropriately sized cage that you are comfortable working with (ie: able to easily open and close the door, service the cage etc without having to use a lot of force to slide the door and put your hands in bad places when doing so) should work.

I've kept mambas on cypress (it has been a while) and at most I'd spray the cage a little when in a shed cycle, but I think most of the times I didn't and they always shed okay for me.

All of the vision cages I have seen have a lip above the door that would make a GREAT hiding place from which the mamba could nail you when you open the door. In addition, the sliding front doors have never been my idea of safe with venomous snakes.
-robbie

I have had more problems with my subadult E. Diamondback in a front opening cage than my cobras,etc. The feeding of the C. adamanteus in particular is extremely dangerous even w/ her on the bottom of the Vision stack she strikes out for that rat extremely fast, whereas a cobra you can just throw the thing in there and then they sniff it out and devour it almost immediately.

I've used Visions for many venomous and have never encountered the problems that others have mentioned (dangerous lips, etc...those can be very easily rectified). I am one of those that actually like sliding glass front cages - you can open from either side of the cage depending on where the snake is - much better than a large single door but that's just my personal opinion. We also have some back opening exhibits at our facility and with all things being equal, that's the way to go but not always feasible in a private collection. Custom made cages with industrial hardware and quality shift boxes is obviously the safest approach. I prefer to hand mist my hots as it gets them used to having human interaction - its a philosophy that is sometimes controversial but it works for us.

Rob Carmichael
Wildlife Discovery Center

>>I would like to hear from anyone in the know: do Vision Cage setups work out well for D. angusticeps? If so, what model/size for an adult specimen. Also for Vision cage users-do you use any special foggers/mist systems when your mambas are in sheds? I normally just spray w/ hand mister but of course safety is paramount w/ mambas and this is precarious at best. Any suggestions welcome.
>>Drew.
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Rob Carmichael, Curator
The Wildlife Discovery Center at Elawa Farm
Lake Forest, IL

Carmichael- my juvenile D. polylepis never is a problem shedder. but my angusticeps always,always no matter how much I mist- sheds in a million pieces...I always have to hunt for the eye caps in the cage and just barely found one the last shed(they seem to be getting worse and worse. I am fearing the day when she retains one. I use newspaper for cleanliness and provide plenty of humidity at shed time. Curious, do you hand mist yours in the enclosure or while handling/in the bin,etc.? I find my angusticeps more laid back when she is in a shed cycle and she doesn't shoot toward the top of the cage when I am heating up mice like she normally does. I have been misting through the top(and occasionally also inside her hid box) of the lid and then covering the top w/ a thick towel to hold in the humidity. Some snakes are just poor shedders I guess. Some you can miss the eyes going blue and not mist them a single time and everything comes off perfect, then you have your problem shedders like this girl.Anyway I talked to habitat systems about having something built, but the price is just astronomical. OK I have ranted enough, thanks for everybody's advice so far and in the future.