Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Okay, here's my situation, Me and my dad love all reptiles and amphibians, and my dad went through literally hundreds of species during his childhood and beyond, and I want to start breeding something, particularly Pueblan Milksnakes. but, my mom barely tolerates snakes, and does not allow snakes in the house, no matter
how much we plead, beg, persuade, promise, or otherwise reason.
But, we have a fair-sized shed/storeroom that would be perfect for housing snakes. we just need some way to accurately control the temperature, and the climate. Inexpensively.

It would help to know where you are from..

~ Mike Russo

I live in central Louisiana.

Mom or Dad or BOTH?.....

she can stay in her rooms and Dad and you can have snakes in yours....

sounds like a plan to me....

my Mother was/ is afraid of snakes and turns the channel if they are on TV.....yet I brought them home.....I actually didn't ask......I had a 12 foot burm behind the bed on the floor, 50 Gal tank,no heat, wooden 2 part lid..lift big half , pet burm....lift the little half and tap.....do not put hand in.LOL.you can train them......also had like 4 other tanks....mom said no more.so I doubled up on housing....!...

anyways.......build a secure room......it might just take making your bedroom door totally secure......and get one rack.

as for shed.....gonna take more than one ceramic heater and ALOT of insulation......I run 2 ceramics at 1000 watt and in winter ,in cellar they both run non-stop.....(summer one heater and it shuts off half the time or more.)..

good luck.......

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Insulate, insulate, insulate! There are a lot of efficient heating and cooling option but I would do some reasearch on passive systems as your primary means of climate control first utilize small conventional systems as backup.
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Darwin Rocks!

Heating will be easy, since you can use heat pads, Flexwatt, etc. Use a thermostat to protect against overtemp conditions (dimmer plus ON/OFF controller is a good setup.)

The problem with outdoor sheds (I have one) is during heat waves. So providing a means of cooling is paramount to avoid overheating the snakes when outside temps are in the 90s or above. A window A/C unit is rather inexpensive and will do nicely to protect the snakes during very warm days. Portable A/C units that do not require a window (just a vent hole) are available but are more costly.
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Mark

Building a room in a basement has got to be your best bet. You can justify the expense(tell mom it improves property value as an extra bedroom)easily, and moderating temps are easy too. Build it NICE, VERY TIGHT, let mom be inspector. Its essentially a workshop, something basements are for....

I don't have a basement. here in the south, it's to damp to have a basement.

where you are, summer cooling is the problem. The shed needs to be pretty air thight and well insulated. Then a small window unit should suffice. Again, close all the cracks and insulate extremely well. Your winters aren't that bad; it's the summer heat you have to guard against. I live in Southeast Tx and my snakes are in a screened in porch for overwintering. I am on an AP rack, and I set the thermostat at 45 degrees, though it almost never gets that cold here. Good luck!