Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Hi all! It has been a BUSY year with my wedding, working full time with four new classes to teach, and graduate school. Anyways, I have around 50ish snakes currently, and I keep them all on aspen. I find that in order to keep the cages mold free in my AP racks I am replacing the aspen on a weekly basis. Anyways, it has been very time consuming. My vision racks however do not tend to have as much moisture.

Does any one drill holes in the tubs to increase ventilation/decrease moisture? Also, what type of cleaning schedule do you have with your big collections?
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Thanks,
Amy

My Boids

not really a huge collection but with roughly 150 animals, here is my cleaning schedule.

if I'm not working, I spot clean daily. If I am working I spot clean. I do total cleans when needed. I never let water get nasty. Run water bowels through dishwasher once a week. Feed every 5 days. I throw away alot of poopy aspen but I'd rather do that than have unhealthy snakes.
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Josh & Krysty Hutto
J&K Reptiles

Various Ball Pythons, boas, dogs, cats, fish, an amel tiger retic female, a couple sulcatas and a few other odds and ends.

a BAD dog is MADE not bred, support the American Pit Bull Terrier as the greatest breed of dogs on Earth!!!!!

We drill holes in all of our bins for air circulation and to keep moisture to a minumum. We use newspaper in all of our cages. We do the rooms in sections. We feed babies on Mondays and Thursdays and clean on Saturdays and Fridays. The adults only eat once a week on either tuesdays or wednesdays, and we clean them as they mess their cages up. The babies seem to make more of a mess in a shorter amoun t of time, they have a higher metabolism and are feed more often I am not sure how many snakes we have but it is a never ending cycle. I know we have at least 300 adults, and the babies just seem to pile up with holdbacks We also have 2 full time jobs and a bunch of four legged friends. It can be very tiring exspecially this time of year Good luck with your collection, I hope you have a great Holiday

Kim
N.A.R.C
NorthAmericanReptileConnection.com

My collection is about the same size as yours and my cleaning schedule is very similar to Josh's. I spot clean, spot clean, spot clean. Everyday if I can. It keeps major cleanups to a minimum.

And I have vent holes in all my tubs -- front, back, and sides. I use a regular little $7.00 wood burner from Wal-Mart. Creates neat holes flawlessly.
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Cheers!
• Chelsea Lynn Gardiner
(and Frank M. Wood)

I don't fully clean out all aspen till it is dirtied or really wet like you said...it might take months...

...I have holes in the Boaphile RAXX....

...no holes in the open topped racks...homemade....

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....you need some quarter inch holes in them boxes....start with 6 in front back and sides......

drill slowly.......use something to place under box while drilling...(I use a 4 x 4 nailed to the workbench)....hang box on 4 x 4 and drill away....
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I use aspen for my adult Ball Pythons, newspaper for my bigger snakes (Anacondas, Retics, and larger Boas), and paper towels for my babies. I do full cleanings on the babies on Fridays, spot clean the adult ball pythons on Saturday (probably do a full change of aspen maybe twice a year, but I've also got open top racks), and fully clean the big snakes on Sundays. I feed adult Ball Pythons on Monday, babies on Tuesday, and big snakes on Wednesdays.
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Luke Martin
Bronze Serpent Reptiles

I have a Vision hatchling rack, for the babies. I use paper towels for all the hatchlings. I feed them at least once a week, sometimes twice a week. I clean the babies tubs almost daily. The babies need to be cleaned at least every other day.

I use newspaper for the adults, and clean them once a week. Complete cleaning, water, and new newspaper.

We drill holes on every side in our closed home made racks. You need the vetilation.
We keep everyone on newspaper and clean the racks completely every week and spot clean when it's necessery.

Wow! Thanks for the awesome responses! We have a little dremel tool that will work perfect to create some ventilation in the AP racks.

Thanks again for all of the great suggestions.
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Thanks,
Amy

My Boids

is this the same Mikkla that got a Fire verse an engagement ring? and i wa supposed to link up with at the Hamm show?

Ptoon

Yes it is! What's up Pitoon?
Btw, I got the rings (after the fire) and we got married this summer

I have about 120 balls give or take and we spot clean about every other day and do complete tub wash outs right before breeding season, then after the females lay, and for any big messes. We have 6 holes in the front and sides of our tubs in our vision racks and none in the back to better hold heat in. I feed every 3,5, & 7 days if I see one of them at the front of the tub after they smell the rats in the room then I offer until they dont come back. But on top of the snakes we have vermin breeding racks in our garage that we use cell-sorb on and clean every week. 2 dogs 2 birds 2 cats some fish.
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Damian Macioce
www.strongholdreptiles.com

I have close to 200 animals and I break my week down as this:
Monday- feed everything
Tuesday- spot clean and water change
Wednesday- spot clean
Thursday- feed big snakes and females again
Friday- spot clean and clean rat house
Saturday- spot clean
Sunday- clean retic room

I keep my babies in homemade melamine racks without holes in the tubs. Usually replace the aspen every 2 weeks in the those racks. Adults and sub-adults are kept in ARS 3033 and 3030 (i believe) racks. Never have a mold problem in them and aspen is changed when needed in them. Retics make a mess and usually takes a full day for a COMPLETE cage clean.