Reptile & Amphibian Forums

My 08 trio got moved up to a larger moss hide yesterday. Two of them are at least three feet long and one is three and a half feet long.

They also recently got a new 4 foot long tank.

There is another big moss hide under a piece of fiberglass with their water bowl on top, but they really like to cram themselves into that little Glad container.

They made babies for me in a three foot tank; should do well in this bigger tank. It is on the floor in a cool spot as they prefer cooler temps. I've been trading mice for big reptile tanks and have moved all my snakes into great accommodations, although now every square inch of flat surface in my living room is occupied! LOL!

The wire top is a cat proof device; underneath is a regular sliding screen lid. The cats don't bother the snakes, but cats do like to climb on things and I have some bowling ball cats that could fall through a screen lid.
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Bob
Pyromaniac AKA Greatballzofire
Keeping cats allows man to cohabitate with tigers. Keeping reptiles allows man to cohabitate with dinosaurs.

Its what they do, they normally live in very very tight places in total darkness.

Occasionally when conditions force them out, we get to see windows into their lives.

At times, there are several stuffed in there together.

These places, like in the picture, are NOT where they live, but are like your poarch, if the weather permits, you can sit out and enjoy the view, until your home dries out. hahahahahahaha

The vast majority of their habitat does not include these types of situations, so they use something else that allows the same behaviors. These situations are merely fun for us humans.

In these area, I have three main rookeries. That is where groups of pyros stayed and bred and laid eggs. There were many females and several males. I watched these areas for many years.

While your doing good, plastic does not allow them security. That is, its like placing you in a glass bubble in a lion cage.

Give them dark places with openings to see out and feel like they can jump in and be safe. That is what they pick in nature.

In your cage, it only means a dark solid colored box, instead of a clear plastic one. Congrats

The Arizona soda box is the cover for their plastic moss hide, so it is dark for them. They also have stacked terra cotta saucers under this box which sit over the UTH, so they can have a choice of heat levels. To take their picture I had to lift the soda box off. All my snakes get either these big boxes to cover their moss hides and other hides, or in the case of the baby pyros, deep aspen and a solid color moss hide over the UTH, or they can go under their water bowl, another popular hide out. I also have 8 ten gallon tanks with deep aspen and multiple stacked plant saucers for my pyro yearlings, too. But this fall those will be changed for three big tanks so I can set up and brumate my new trios. Lots of aspen, lots of nooks and crannies, and big boxes to make things dark seem to work very well. They are more prone to come out and be seen if they know they have a lot of good cover readily available.

An improvement I did make just now is I replaced the piece of fiberglass under the water bowl with a big baker's pan, so now that hide is dark, too. I had noticed they were not using it that much, so hope darker will make it more attractive. Thanks!
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Bob
Pyromaniac AKA Greatballzofire
Keeping cats allows man to cohabitate with tigers. Keeping reptiles allows man to cohabitate with dinosaurs.

Hi Bob, actually they pick these areas in nature by feel. And by mass temps.

For instance, there are millions of those cracks, yet they only use a few that are very very similar to eachother. In feel. in thickness, etc.

Thickness allows for an even change in temperature. That is, it will not cool to quickly or heat up to quickly.

In a cage, that does not matter, but feel does.

Something for you to think about. I have a husbandry tool with varanids that was named by others, RETES stacks. Its a stack of wood to duplicate different layers with different temps. Its famous in the varanid world. I say that because I developed it for pyros. Its really fun to see them work it.

Thank you for reminding me about the Retes tacks. I have seen those before. I think I will build some for my snakes. I am planning on using tiles as wood would be harder to clean when they soil it. That would be easier than the saucer thing, although they do like their saucer stacks.
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Bob
Pyromaniac AKA Greatballzofire
Keeping cats allows man to cohabitate with tigers. Keeping reptiles allows man to cohabitate with dinosaurs.