Reptile & Amphibian Forums

For some time I’ve found that standard racks are somewhat inadequate for holding a nest box that is large enough or deep enough. I’ve contemplated making a chamber out of a 5 gallon plastic bucket say three quarter full of bedding material and moving the female to it to lay her eggs. I’m wondering if anyone else has tried this and, if they have, when they’ve found the best time to move the female from her routine cage to the laying chamber is? Thanks in advance.
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“Nothing is at last sacred but the integrity of your own mind.” Emmerson

WWW.TDSNAKES.BLOGSPOT.COM

For some time I’ve found that standard racks are somewhat inadequate for holding a nest box that is large enough or deep enough. I’ve contemplated making a chamber out of a 5 gallon plastic bucket say three quarter full of bedding material and moving the female to it to lay her eggs. I’m wondering if anyone else has tried this and, if they have, when they’ve found the best time to move the female from her routine cage to the laying chamber is? Thanks in advance.

That is a good one. Let me know how it turns out!

I have filled entire blanket boxes and put slabs of wood or even plastic sterlite tops on top. When i put some in to early don't like it and are constanly trying to get out. So i move them to a typical lay box.

Also they tend to deficate all over the place if put in to early-this attracts flies and those pesky little nasty knats we have here in the humid south.
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www.Bluerosy.com

I got rid of my fly problem
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“Nothing is at last sacred but the integrity of your own mind.” Emmerson

WWW.TDSNAKES.BLOGSPOT.COM

I'm still fighting my ant problem...little buggers are everywhere. It's absurd. I've had to start moving some animals on an outside wall to newspaper, which I HATE, because the ants kept trying to nest in the cypress. We're giving in and getting an exterminator soon; the ants have just about taken over. We've had to quit keeping any open food in the cabinets cause they'll find it and swarm it. I can't even safely thaw rodents out in the open; ants get on them before they're all the way thawed and they just become this giant moving blob of small ants....I've put no pest strips and glue traps along my racks, all over the floor...*sigh* Stupid bugs.
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We wouldn't have 6 and a half billion people if you had to be beautiful to get laid.
6.6 African House snakes
3.2 reticulated pythons
.1 corn snake
4.2 Florida Kings
1.2 speckled kings
1.2 ball pythons
0.0.1 Argentine boa

FYI, we tried to control them on our own - not good. We caved and hired an exterminator. What a difference! The ants will come back eventually, but it takes a long time for full force, and when they do, call the exterminator. He was like the FR of ants, knew where the queen was most likely to be, etc.
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Mark

Normal flies or the damn egg eating carrion knat types? HOW? I got no pest strips and glue traps....

Normal flies or the damn egg eating carrion knat types? HOW? I got no pest strips and glue traps

I asked this question before on here. Basically there is no effective pest control for those knats. Here is the south they get and and mutilpy fast. I used pest strips. Dozens of them. hardly any knats land on it.

Unless you have a completly sealed snake room and /or some airpurifer. I think it is impossible to keep them away. Maybe a giant vacumm to suck all them buggers out.
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www.Bluerosy.com

This is what I did.

#1 declare all out war on them. Not a winpy ass Bush type war where you're mostly worring about the the stock price of Wall Mart, no wait I digress. By war I mean give it your all out effort. Clean every cage every day, remove all fecal matter as soon as is practicable. Go through your cages two three times a day if need be.

#2 remove all trash from the room each time you clean. Seal it up and put in in a trash can far away from your snakes.

#3 keep all surfaces wiped down and clean. Put a light spray of provent-a-mite on any surface a fly or gnat might land on.

#4 bait them. I do this by placing a few dead uneaten pinks in a deli cup and spraying them with provent-a-mite. in the absence of of fecal matter or other uneaten foods they go here and ban its game over.

it takes a few weeks of this but you can break the cycle. problem is that if you ever let thigs go for even just a bit they easily come back. I saw a few in the room yesterday. if I don't declare war again soon they'll take over again. its one of those things you just have to have constant vilelence about.
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“Nothing is at last sacred but the integrity of your own mind.” Emmerson

WWW.TDSNAKES.BLOGSPOT.COM

I'm not sure if pest strips still contain the same chemicals they did 20 years ago but those things used to be very toxic. They were a favorite remedy for mites. We would put just a sliver on the wire mesh of a cage and in a day all mites were dead. Problem is if you used too big of a piece or left it too long the snake would die too!
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King Snakes! Who can make a better mouse trap?
J Sierra

They're bad for hognose and diamondbacks!
:Mark
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Surrender Dorothy!

crimsonking.piczo.com/

>>Normal flies or the damn egg eating carrion knat types? HOW? I got no pest strips and glue traps
>>
>>I asked this question before on here. Basically there is no effective pest control for those knats. Here is the south they get and and mutilpy fast. I used pest strips. Dozens of them. hardly any knats land on it.
>>
>>Unless you have a completly sealed snake room and /or some airpurifer. I think it is impossible to keep them away. Maybe a giant vacumm to suck all them buggers out.
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>>www.Bluerosy.com
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John Lassiter
Poor planning and procrastination on your part does not constitute an emergency on my part...
www.coastalbendcaptivebreeding.com

>>Normal flies or the damn egg eating carrion knat types? HOW? I got no pest strips and glue traps
>>
>>I asked this question before on here. Basically there is no effective pest control for those knats. Here is the south they get and and mutilpy fast. I used pest strips. Dozens of them. hardly any knats land on it.
>>
>>Unless you have a completly sealed snake room and /or some airpurifer. I think it is impossible to keep them away. Maybe a giant vacumm to suck all them buggers out.
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>>www.Bluerosy.com
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John Lassiter
Poor planning and procrastination on your part does not constitute an emergency on my part...
www.coastalbendcaptivebreeding.com

is it grammer or grammar?
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www.Bluerosy.com

>>
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John Lassiter
Poor planning and procrastination on your part does not constitute an emergency on my part...
www.coastalbendcaptivebreeding.com

either way
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www.Bluerosy.com

You didn't click on my post to read it did you?
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www.Bluerosy.com

I kept clicking "Next Message" in the thread, so I ended up reading your post.

np

I have taken to digging out half of the bedding on each cage and just filling the other half with the peatmoss/sand mixture.
I had a gophersnake that laid underneath the waterbowl for several seasons in a row with what I percived as a "perfect" nestbox on the other end of the cage so that prompted the change.

Knowing that I cannot reproduce their "perfect" nest I have tried to just increase the chances of getting the eggs laid in a somewhat suitable place.

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Chris Jones
King of Kings Reptiles

http://www.kingofkingsreptiles.com/

"All the fancy names in the world will be of no help if you do not know the difference between chocolate pudding and pig poop." -Frank Retes

Frank posted photos of his chambers last year. see if you can get him to repost.
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Herp Conservation Unlimited
Conservation through captive propagation
Mexicana Group Directory
Photography by Joseph E. Forks

Last year I put several females into a larger nesting container to lay eggs (not at the same time). I used a 12qt Rubbermaid filled about 2/3 full of moist peat. I placed an opaque piece of plastic in the container for them to nest under if they wanted, and at least one female did.

I had provided smaller nest boxes for them in their cages, but if I saw them continually pacing their cages around the time I expected them to lay (>10 days after they shed), I'd move them to this larger nesting box. Most females would lay within 24 hours. One female I didn't do this with ended up just dumping the eggs all over her cage, even though she had a smaller nest box available. Most of the eggs still hatched, but she damaged a couple in the process.

What kind of peat is that? Where did you get it?

Mine doesn't look like that. It is all smooth. I stopped using it because the snakes just don't seem to like it.
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www.Bluerosy.com

I'm pretty sure I picked it up from Walmart's garden center, though it could have been Menards. I see big bags like these for sale all over the place, though I'm not sure if its the same brand.

Back in 2003 my first Florida king clutches ever were incubated in peat moss with a 100% hatch rate. I bought it in smaller bag, and it was of a finer grain. Last year I had trouble finding vermiculite or perlite (without additives) so I tried using peat moss again. I don't know if it was because it was a different product, or a moisture issue, but I immediately lost several eggs to sweating and mold and had to switch them to perlite.