Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Jade spends most of her time out in the open rather than in her hide, pretty much always on one side of her enclosure... so Saturday morning I picked up a Birds Nest Fern and put it on the end she never uses... buried it in mulch so you couldn't see the pot and went out for a few hours to run some errands.

When I got back home she'd dug around the plant, had tried to dig into the pot itself and had herself coiled around the pot... it's three days later and she has yet to leave that spot... funny how a simple little change altered her behavior. I'm guessing even though she has preferred to be out in the open for years the plant is also offering something of a hide for her... best of both worlds... now I'm thinking she needs a bigger enclosure, more plants and other open "hide" items.

Redid my Gray Tree Frogs set up a few months back as well, they also seem to appreciate the more natural setting.

Any of you with suggestions on how to provide a more realistic set up that still allows things to be easily cleaned please speak up, I'd appreciate the feed back.

Gerry

Nice snake. I wonder if she was digging into the pot seeking a moist hiding place since she is going into shed.

I usually just keep it simple, with aspen like you have, and cardboard box hides at both the cool and warm ends. Both get utilized.

The corns and rubber boas will sometimes use a moist hide, but my alternas rarely do, even when in shed.

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Kent

1.1 Hypo (het lavender, striped) cornsnakes, 2010
1.2 Gray-banded kingsnakes, blairs phase, 2008
1.1 Oregon rubber boas, WC, 20??

She actually shed less than two weeks ago, the blue look in her eyes is due to the flash I think... like red eyes in people, yellow in cats etc. Happens with most of the pictures I take of her.

Gerry

My guess to what she wants - a big box of soil to dig in.

It isn't the aesthetics of the plant so much, its that nice cool, slightly moist dirt, and possibly the cooling factor or slightly raised humidity of plants.

I look at the pic of the dry, course wood substrate. Milks love soil. Even coconut husk mixed with a little calci sand is awesome.
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Mark

The substrate is damper than it looks, I lightened the image in photoshop because the original is just a little too dark... cameras built in flash just isn't cutting it.

Until she started digging around the plant pot the substrate towards the backside of her enclosure was about 4" deep, it slopes to about 2" deep towards the front... plenty enough for her to cruise "underground" if she so desires and I mist every 3 to 4 days, enough to keep the substrate at the lower depths with a slightly damp feel. She lacks for nothing in the "basic" needs... except perhaps more food in her opinion.

Gerry

Hiya Gerry,
Nice setups you have there. I don't have any suggestions on easier clean up in naturalistic settings, but the joy of having the gaigeae out to look at would be rewarding for sure and make clean up worth it.

Do those Hyla require cleaning up after also? I've got a naturalistic setup of Poison Dart frogs and there only requirement is to feed them. Super easy to care for them and always a conversation piece when friends come over.

-Dell

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the frogs require little maintenance, during the winter months when I'm forced to feed them store bought crickets I'll occasionally find a little "pellet" of wings and hind legs. During the warmer months when I can feed them moths and other insects I catch (in addition to earth worms) I find nothing for fecal matter.

I use ZooMeds Repti Bark as their substrate, about 3" deep and moistened to the point where I just start seeing standing water at the bottom of the 10 gallon aquarium I keep them in. I still change over the substrate about every 4 months because even if I can't see fecal matter there has to be something... food just can't be processed 100%.

The hyla with the cataracts I found on the down spout of my gutters one evening about 8 years ago... forgot to turn off the outside flood lights one evening and she was taking advantage of the insect life it was attracting. I was amazed to find her as neither my yard nor the surrounding area is prime habitat for them.

Gerry

not quite in the sense your suggesting with the toads... been almost 5 days now and she's yet to leave the company of that fern, think I'll pick up another one this weekend and put it on the opposite side of the tank and see what happens

Gerry