Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Ive found a few non specific milksnake care sheets but they all seem to differ in the temps.What temps are best for a Sinaloan?
Ive got her in a ten gallon at room temp 80-83 with a 90 degree basking(uth).She is about 10 inches long.
.Ive only had her since Friday and she did eat a live fuzzy mouse yesterday.I think that was why she was pacing the cage(I thought maybe it was the temps).
She has settled down since she ate.
I know this is newbie stuff, sorry.This one of those snakes Ive been wanting for a long time.And since I sold all my boas and my one blood python Ive decided smaller snakes fit my situation better.
Colubrids for the win...

A temperature range of 75 at the low end, 85 at the high end is fine for Sinaloans in a single enclosure... your room temperature alone is well within their comfort range... I myself would turn off the uth with those room temps.

Gerry

IMO lose the uth and the heat above, unless your room temps go down to the 50's. All my milks kept in the mid-70's. In the winter it goes to the low -mid 60's with no problems.

Mike

Good choice on the sinaloan...they are one of my favorites. I think your temps are a little on the high side. Mine are kept with a heat gradient from 83 degrees to about75 degrees. Those temps keep them active, eating and digesting just fine.

Good luck with yours!

Dave

DNS Reptiles - Milk Snakes

Those temps are a bit too high. mid-70's on one end to low/mid 80's on the opposite end is much better. And in a ten gallon tank there isn't much room to avoid the hotter temp. end anyway.

BTW, ....AWESOME Cosala's!!

~Doug
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"a snake in the grass is a GOOD thing"

serpentinespecialties.webs.com

Congratulations on the Sinaloan!

I picked one up last April as well and am really happy that I did (this is my first snake though in almost 30 years). She is an absolute sweetheart. I purchased a package deal from a local reptile shop that included a 5.5 gallon cage, but ended up getting a 40 gallon after a couple weeks plus a ‘dimming’ dome lamp. The dimming lamp is really cool for fine-tuning temperature. I’m a complete greenhorn here but am happy to see the temps I’ve been running seem to be in the proper range (82-83F under the lamp during the day, an inch over the substrate, and 74-77F during day on the cool side depending on room temp).

Here’s a picture from May, about 6 weeks after I brought her home. She was about 12" in early April and I'm guessing today she's about 15-16". I've been feeding her 2 frozen/thawed pinkies a week but would LOVE to switch her over to a single fuzzy. The frozen ones I have though (Arctic Mice) seem to be bigger than she is at her thickest point...

on your Sonaloan and for getting her a larger enclosure and for seemingly doing a little research of your own in regards to assuring her a proper temperature range.

I am going to assume though when you say pinkies you mean pinkie mice and when you say fuzzies you're thinking fuzzy mice... go with pinkie rats instead... they average twice (and more) the size of pinkie mice and most folks here would say your snakes get "more bang for the buck" on rats.

Most would also argue that a single fuzzy mouse or larger pinkie rat is not enough. I currently have three milks that are less than a year old eating four pinkie rats each and every week... I gauge how often to feed them based on how they react to their last feeding... if they take the rat in a manner that makes me fear for my life I'll offer a meal every other day... if they eat but seem disinterested in doing so I'll hold off the next meal to 3 or 4 days... once a week with a fuzzy mouse or pinkie rat is just not enough for your growing baby.

Congrats again and hope you have many years together.

Gerry

Thanks Gerry! I'll try fuzzy rats. I have a box already of frozen fuzzy mice, so I'll try one or two of those tomorrow evening (would be a day early from the weekly feeding). Is it possible to overfeed these snakes? If I give her two fuzzy mice, but she only 'needs' one, will she still eat the second?

Thanks again, Gerry! Your message was extremely helpful!

Brian

Sorry, last night I meant to say I'll try pinky rats, not fuzzy rats.

I may see if she'll eat one of the smaller fuzzy mice that I have tonight. Thanks again for the insight!

Brian