Reptile & Amphibian Forums

I am a herp lover my fancy is boas but with these new laws that are being flung at us left and right make me wonder what is going to happen to people like my self and larger snake owners / breeders. The solution that the government is proposing is not right to the people like myself who are responsible owners of large snakes ( snakes over 6 ft ) I live in southern California and the awareness that the negative publicity on National Geographic and unsearched news articles misinformed john q public what about the billions in contributions that the herp organizations and education that some of us provide. I read some of the quote unquote science professionals articles on actual case studies and found that it is disturbing on the range and the species that they used the Burmese python. How could they put the boa and the ball pythons in the same category. Am I missing something here these animals need a minimal temp of 70 degrees or they develop respiratory and other ailments have people of case genera even consulted herp experts who have dealt with these animals exclusive in the wild? im sorry for my naive questions im just trying how they can figure that all large snakes can thrive at temps well below 50 to 40 degrees with out a hibernation witch most large constrictors can not do or am I informed here. Someone educate me here isnt this one sided or is it just me. the National Geographic show didnt go into how the animals survived the winters in Burma or any other mountain highlands. What bout the decline in western diamond backs in the southwest due to the could spells that have been happening over the past 10 years.

just a little disturbed bout all this not only for the herp industry which alot of my friends are involved but for the people who have these animals as pets like my self.

RB
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2 triple het sharps m/f
1 motley with attitude
1 sharp anery albino f when i get off my butt and get her from classareptilia
1 fridge with a 12 pack in it

A major differentiating point between captivity, and the wild.

In captivity, we can't expose our herps to low temperatures because we're fearful of RI's. Those RI's come from two things, usually they're a combination of bacteria and low temperatures.

In the wild, that bacteria doesn't exist either at all, or at the amount we have in captivity. Also, we don't provide our snakes with UV light which will warm surfaces sometimes 30-60 degrees warmer than the air. These snakes can bask in the sunlight which will warm their core body temp up to the high 80's or low 90's out in the wild, even though the air temp is only 55. And they're masters of heat conservation so once the sun goes down and the temp drops to the mid 30's, the snakes will make it through the night with a core body temp in the mid 70's or high 60's, and then repeat the process the next day.

I've been told that the burms being caught right now are NOT exhibiting symptoms of RI. That leads me to believe that the bacteria they're exposed to in captivity is the main culprit of RI's, not the low temps. But also the availability of direct sunlight keeps them alive.

During the REALLY cold snap in S. FL in January, it was cloudy for quite some time. That's probably the best operating theory as to why many of them died. They couldn't warm back up in the direct sunlight.

These are things I hadn't considered prior to the cold snap and thought that the cold snap would have killed them all. I'm now thinking that "sunny winter days" is probably the second most important factor to their survival in the wild next to temperature.

I used to live in Charlotte, NC and it would be overcast for months. No chance these animals would survive the winter there because they'd never be able to warm back up. I think the SREL experiment in Aiken, SC will show us that. I'm eager to see those results.

jb
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What's written above is purely my opinion. In fact, MOST of what you read on the internet is someone's opinion. Don't take it too seriously

Jonathan Brady
DeviantConstrictors.com
Deviant Constrictors picturetrail

Good point JB...... I've always seen Dirty cages and waterbowls as the #1 cause of RI's..... I think people try to compare mammalian medicine to boas to try to explain RI's as coming from exposure to cold..... Maybe it's just ingrained in people's head of mom telling you to put a jacket on so you don't catch a cold...LOL . Like you said.... these animals are masters of warming and cooling their bodies....

If you want to avoid RI's... CLEAN and disinfect your cages... and keep those water bowls clean. .. all it takes is some poo to get in the water bowl... get into the snakes mouth... then colonized the broncial tubes......
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Marc Duhon
Lafayette, Louisiana
SURINAMBOAS.COM
kaiyudsai@SURINAMBOAS.COM

no i was in response to the wild animals im anal on the cleanliness of my cages but they are passing laws with out field study on boas and other midsized reptiles i feel that the study that they made was one sided and controlling and very belligerent to U.S herpiculture and the industry
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2 triple het sharps m/f
1 motley with attitude
1 sharp anery albino f when i get off my butt and get her from classareptilia
1 fridge with a 12 pack in it

makes sense keep me posted on the results
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2 triple het sharps m/f
1 motley with attitude
1 sharp anery albino f when i get off my butt and get her from classareptilia
1 fridge with a 12 pack in it

You've always been a smart guy JB, but lately you've really stepped it up. I am impressed!!
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Chris & Alliey
www.bloodyleopard.com
E-mail Us

Sounds like a good argument to add UV light fixtures to our enclosures.

This could also be a great research topic, set up cages with and without UV light and record the incidence and prevalence of RI in each population. Other variables could include temperature, frequency of cleaning the enclosures, and size/age of the animal.

well the original topic was about the one sided argument that fish and wildlife was stipulating bout the case studies of burms in the wild lmao but now we are in a different topic and this one is even better than the first lmao as for my snakes during the winter i keep them inside and in their enclosures but summer they are put in a more lighted enviorment
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2 triple het sharps m/f
1 motley with attitude
1 sharp anery albino f when i get off my butt and get her from classareptilia
1 fridge with a 12 pack in it

It's infrared, not UV, from the sun that is warming them-UV is VERY inefficient at imparting heat to a surface. That's why those "radiant heat" reptile lamps are IR instead of UV. Conversely, the Fluorescent "UV" lamps in herpetoculture produce very little warming effect.
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Brad Chambers
WWW.HCU-TX.ORG

Breeder of:
Green Tree Pythons
Jungle Carpet Pythons
Pastel, Pinstripe, FIRE, Piebald, Clown, Lavender Albino, Leucistic, and Spider Ball Pythons
Striped Colombian Boa Constrictors
Kenyan, Rufescens, and Conicus Sand Boas
Red Phase Western Hognose Snakes
Spider Western Hognose Snakes
Albino Western Hognose Snakes
Locality Trans-Pecos Mexican Hognose Snakes
Southern Hognose Snakes
Eastern Hognose Snakes
Tricolor Hognose Snakes
Hypo Checkered Garter Snakes
Eastern Blackneck Garter Snakes
Stillwater Hypo Bullsnakes
Patternless Bullsnakes
S. GA Eastern Kingsnakes
Locality Desert Kingsnakes
Albino Desert Kingsnakes
Hypo Desert Kingsnakes
Mexican Black Kingsnakes
Desert Phase, Striped Desert, Newport, and Coastal California Kingsnakes
Locality Mexican Milksnakes
Spotted Mexican Milksnakes
Tangerine Mexican Milksnakes
Locality Alterna
Abbott Okeetee Cornsnakes
Mexican Baird's Ratsnakes
Cape Housesnakes
Tangerine Albino African Fat -Tailed Geckos
Locality Spotted Turtles

>>It's infrared, not UV...

You're right! I thought infrared and it came out UV. lol Thanks for correcting that!

jb
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What's written above is purely my opinion. In fact, MOST of what you read on the internet is someone's opinion. Don't take it too seriously

Jonathan Brady
DeviantConstrictors.com
Deviant Constrictors picturetrail

Now I'm forced to completely retract my above statement....sheesh!

:O)
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Chris & Alliey
www.bloodyleopard.com
E-mail Us

UV to kill the bacteria in an enclosure.

lmao no a good cleaning in the enclosure once every week kills bacteria lmao
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2 triple het sharps m/f
1 motley with attitude
1 sharp anery albino f when i get off my butt and get her from classareptilia
1 fridge with a 12 pack in it

UV light is an excepted method of sterilization, I'm not sure how effective it is in our hobby but it could be useful with reducing airborne based bacterial infections.

http://www.peteducation.com/article.cfm?c=16 2148&aid=2855