Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Hello. I was reading a couple of posts of unfortunate mistakes and started thinking. Most everyone who has had snakes since they were young, or might have a large collection have probably made an error in judgement at one time or another. This might be a good time to admit to any, as a bad experience by you can help others from making the same mistake. I have a couple i'll share first...30 yrs ago I dropped a live mouse into a cage with a boa. Although the boa constricted,killed and ate the mouse, he had suffered a bite that soon turned gangenous and killed him. It was my first purchased snake(had kept garters,gophers). Now all my snakes get pre-killed or stunned. Havent had a mouse bite snake since.
One other mistake was breeding kingsnakes without first brumating them. I had a non fertile clutch. I have always brumated since and have been perfect 4 for 4 with fertile clutches...so come on, what mistakes have you made or will admit to? Dave. And I havent even gotten to escapee's!

When I first started breeding kingsnakes, I opened the eggs and pulled the babies out of my first clutch when they started piping and cut their cords. 2 of them died. Looking back on it, it was really stupid. I was just too anxious to have them out and about. Now I just let them leave on their own. Hopefully the right people will read this and not make the same mistake I did.

Here's that clutch. These 3 lived. One crawled upside down for a while. This was a special clutch too because these were f1's with 2 Newports from one of the last localities in Los Angeles to find them. I held back the Newport on the right and will attempt to breed her this year for the first time.

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I did the same with a cornsnake egg a few years back. It hadn't pipped, and most of the rest of the clutch was out. It was perfect, and still alive, but died after I removed it from the egg.
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Kent

1.1 Hypo (het lavender, striped) corn snakes, 2010
1.1 Gray-banded king snakes, blairs phase, 2008
5.8 Gray-banded king snakes, 2011
2.1 Oregon rubber boas, w/c 20??

That sucks. Too bad we had to learn the hard way, but at least we learned.
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I once thought I might have been wrong, .....but I was mistakin'...

Seriously though, I don't think I want to make a LOOONG laundry list of stupid herp-related mistakes I have made over the course of 46 years of owning them, because there have been many..LOL!

Back around 1969 or so, I left a mouse in with a killer 5 foot Indigo I had and I figured it would only be a matter of a minute or two before he caught it and that would be that. Well, I come back a couple hours later, and the freakin mouse had eaten the Indigo's entire length of it's tail completely down to the bare vertebrae all the way from the tip to the cloaca!!!. It was one of the grossest things I ever saw!. Well, the snake died several days to a week or so later even though me and my mom kept the tail dressed with antibiotic ointment. What a horrible death that had to have been.....I was sad as all hell after this because my once noble beast Indigo perished because of a STUPID mistake like that. Needless to say, from that day forward I NEVER left a live rodent in with a snake unattended......NEVER!!, and I see and hear about these horror stories all the time to this very day.

I think the latest stupid mistake was probably killing one of my original het anery Hondos I got from Brian Barczyk (BHB) back in 1996. About a year or two ago, I went to soak the ol' girl in a pillow case to help get some shed off that was stuck pretty good on her. Knowing better than to do this, I went ahead and put her in the bag and tighed a knot in it, then gently set the pillow case in a very shallow container of water, maybe only 1/2 to 3/4 of an inch. Well, I came back a few hours later, opened the bag and she was dead as a door nail. See, the very tight cloth weave of the bag got so saturated with water as she struggled around and pushed the bag around in the water, that the water completely saturated into the cloth and prevented any air from getting into the bag and she suffocated or even possibly drowned while trying to escape the bag.

Needless to say, I was really bummed at the loss of one of the only original BHB anery line animals left in the hobby. I felt like a real idiot because I knew of this very thing happening before too...

About five or six years ago I purposely left the lid off of a deli cup of a tiny ghost Honduran milk hatchling as to not spook it while it was finally feeding on it's own, then I slowly backed away and went to do something else for ONLY a couple minutes while it worked the pinkie down, then I would come right back and snap the lid on and all is well. Well, not quite. I forgot to ever come back, and the freakin ghost Hondo was gone forever...LOL! It had countless THOUSANDS of places to hide and I tore the place apart as best I could to no avail cursing like a sailor most of the time I was searching and tearing things apart. That tiny hatchling eventually crawled along the wall and found the two big gaps in the side of the huge garage door towards the floor and was on it's own forever!. Well, at least I gave it a small head start on life I guess...LOL!......geeeez!

Anyway, I could go on and on, but I'd rather not..HAHA!!..

Bottom line is that anyone who has had snakes long enough has made quite a few stupid mistakes.

Oh!!...I have also let snakes crawl around in my back yard while I cleaned the leaves out of the swimming pool many years ago, glancing over at it from time to time as he slowly cruised the grass, and pooped, etc..So I heard the phone ring inside the house and ran in as fast as I could to answer it, then planned to keep the call to only a few seconds and I would run back out and it would still be about where I left it.. Well, I got talking about something very important and got totally side-tracked regarding the snake that was still outside. Several hours later I go into the snake room and notice the lid off of my huge "sunglow" cornsnake. When I realized what I just did, it hit me like a freakin ton of bricks and I felt my heart sink down like a big freight elevator. Well, it was now totally dark outside, and I freaked and got the flash light and searched everywhere in my back yard until eventually I had to come to grips that this awesome specimen was indeed gone forever, and I never saw it again. This was around 1990-91.

Yes, I will stop this time, but there were many dumb mistakes made over the years..............

~Doug

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"a snake in the grass is a GOOD thing"

serpentinespecialties.webs.com

"some are just born to troll and roll"

That was a great post, Doug. I love hearing stories like that. hahaha I've left cages open like that and have lost snakes too.
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LOL!!,.....yeah, we have all done it before.

I just remembered I almost lost one of my male Outer Banks kings about 3 years ago doing the same thing while I fed the rest of the snakes. The big two-car garage is LOADED with all sorts of big boxes stuffed with clutter on the opposite side of the snake racks, and after a good while of feeding the other snakes I looked over and forgot that I left the freakin lid off while he ate.....GEEEEEZ!!!!

Well, he was GONE! among all the tons of clutter and boxes full of crap. I spent about an hour and a half tearing things apart and finally gave up after I searched about everywhere I could think of looking, and going through every single box of clothes, tools, etc.... As I was pouring sweat and looking down as I was just about to walk inside to the main house to call it quits, I miraculously saw him about a foot away from where I was going to take the step into the house and admit defeat!..LOL!. Man, I was one HAPPY camper to have gotten him back Ross..........I was PI$$ED and really panicking the entire time I was looking for him thinking that I let one of my prized classic OBX escape. I almost wanted to do cartwheels after I looked down and gently picked him back up like nothing ever happened. Gosh I was happy to find him after all that nonsense..

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

serpentinespecialties.webs.com

"some are just born to troll and roll"

hahahaha Classic story, Doug! Its the worst feeling to know a snake has escaped and now you are looking everywhere for it, because you know there's a very good chance you are not going to find it. I had a striped king that was really special to me because I found it in an area I had hunted for years and didn't know they were there. It even had a solid brown belly, which to me was pretty cool considering most of them don't. It was pretty small, about 18" I was keeping it in a ten gallon aquarium with a screen lid. After having it for several months I noticed there was a gap in that lid that the snake could possibly get through, but it would be a very tight squeeze. Well since it had never escaped all those months, I figured it probable couldn't fit through there. Well as I'm sure you can guess, it did get out and I never found it. I know it was just a striped king, but to me it was a bigger loss than an expensive snake because it could never be replaced no matter what. I still kick myself for not being more careful. And the funny thing is that when something like that happens, I'm afraid for months to walk around in the house when its dark (like getting up to use the restroom in the middle of the night) for fear I'm going to step on the escaped snake. LOL
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HAHAA!!!,.....BOY! can I relate to that story!!

....that's a good one MANY other's here can relate to as well.....

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

serpentinespecialties.webs.com

"some are just born to troll and roll"

Doing cage maintence while drunk. yeah, that was...bad. Lost 2 snakes that way the same night. Haven't done it since.

First time I used heat tape I didn't really understand how hot it could get and my proble placement sucked--wound up melting some tubs and had some deaths and some escapes (this was 2-3 years ago).

Buying imported, WC, adult Amazon Tree Boas and Tokay Geckos when I was a kid. SCREW THAT!
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We wouldn't have 6 and a half billion people if you had to be beautiful to get laid.

Funniest mistake: Putting two male pyros together expecting them to mate. No, Dear, this is not Castro Street! Pretty funny, no harm done.

Saddest mistake: Causing regurge in young gopher snake and eventual demise due to not having understanding of feeding and temperature needs.
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Bob
Pyromaniac AKA Greatballzofire
Keeping cats allows man to cohabitate with tigers. Keeping reptiles allows man to cohabitate with dinosaurs.

Not bonding kingsnakes.

This takes the guess work out of breeding and having to remove and replace pontential mates that could eat each other.

It is also a lot less work.
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www.Bluerosy.com

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It seems this thread should have been titled have you ever had a snake escape or eaten by a mouse.

My gosh there are a lot of other mistakes we have made besides those we made over 15 years ago. Thing is, do you realize them ?

Thing is some of these methods still owrk. But are they optional for the snakes and herpetoculture in general...

10)Forced heat temperature restrictions-Keeping an entire room heated to 82F-85F thinking this was perfect temps to keep snakes in not allowing them to thermoregualte and choose their own body temps.

9)Forced 2-3 month cooling for winter brumation.(Does this work? Yes it does. But is it optional and is it the best for the snakes? NO!). Unless you live in Florida or other warm climate where it is hard to get the snakes room temps below 60F. I would suggest turing the heat tape down and sporadically feeding throughout winter.

8)Thinking snakes cannot eat chicken (chicks). ..It's cheaper than two large jumbo mice as chicks are .13 cents each. More of a financial suggestion. Call it a mistake if you want.

7)Thinking females have to reach a certain size to ovulate (I had a new record this year with a 15" female Florida king that layed 3 good eggs.)
Good rule of thumb here is do the snakes do the breeding or DO "I" breed the snakes.

6) Light bulbs or overhead lighting as a heat source (dehydrates snakes).

5) Limit feeding to growing kingsnakes thinking they will get fat. Or limit feeding to kingsnakes that you intend to breed.

4) Feeding to small a prey to a kingsnake thinking they might choke on it if it is to big.

3) Not listening to experienced herptoculturists who pioneer new methods based on a snakes ecology.

2) Listening to breeders who have done things only ONE WAY for over 30 years. Cause they know everything, right?

1) Do you beleive what you observe or observe what you beleive?
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www.Bluerosy.com

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I think you meant to say optimal, not optional, you could put that as number 11. How's my female NE doing, are you going to bring me her in Daytona?
He wants to Breed her.....

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Gerard

"Ten minutes to wapner..."

www.livebaitclip.com

GONE FISHING!!!

I think you forgot one? Listen to people with integrity, and who don't have an agenda. Oh yeah, housing many snakes together and feeding them together, lol. Which could cause a number of problems.
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What's wrong with using CAUTION?!?!?!
King Snakes! Who can make a better mouse trap?
~ Jorge Sierra www.SierraSnakes.com

What is the bonding process exactly?

I've heard the term, but have never gotten the details and a quick google search didn't turn anything up.

With kings, i've always kept them stuffed and then watched them for about 20 min after putting them together and assumed they were good to go.

Just email me.
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www.Bluerosy.com

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was wondering if you ever bond your breeders if/when you did any hybrid breedings? Or know anyone who does? Or if not, why?

:Mark
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Surrender Dorothy!

crimsonking.piczo.com/

I was wondering if you ever bond your breeders if/when you did any hybrid breedings? Or know anyone who does? Or if not, why?

That was sevral years ago but..

To get the unrelated spp to get used to each other i inadvertantly bonded them by leaving them togther for the winter. Sometimes they bred other times I had to do the switcheroo trick.
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1) Do you beleive what you observe or observe what you beleive?

www.Bluerosy.com

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Thanks...I figured each pair might have some uniqueness to them..
:Mark
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Surrender Dorothy!

crimsonking.piczo.com/

Thanks...I figured each pair might have some uniqueness to them..

Well ya..

Some spp of milks, kings and rats are very easy to hybridize while other are not. It all depends what pairings one is thinking about.

i can tell you the honduran milks are one of the most difficult. They are very strong and thrash around to much for a males advances.
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1) Do you beleive what you observe or observe what you beleive?

www.Bluerosy.com

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yeah I know a guy who says his big female thrashed very hard and just right...and with enough force to knock out the male....He thought it was dead but it recovered later in the day......needless to say he didn't try that pairing again...

:Mark
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Surrender Dorothy!

crimsonking.piczo.com/

I really appreciate these kind of stories. I have only been doing this a little over two years now. Time flies when your having fun. I know I will probable make mistakes along the way.
I almost made a mistake last week. I was feeding, cleaning, watering and I had just feed my striped cal king and put her back in and put fresh water in and walked away. I went to start defrosting for my next snake, came back and realized I did not put the top back on. Just happen to see the tip of her tail as she was crawling behind the dresser that the cage was sitting on. Had to call for my wife cause all I had a hold of was the very tip of her tail.

Funny: Later that week my wife had a dream that I left all the lids off and all our snake were gone. LOL

DAVY

all of my mistakes the last 16 years...

Buying imported ball pythons... epic pita

Leaving a mouse in with a yearling ball for 10 minutes. I had fed live for years and thought "mice kills snakes" story was bs... boy was I wrong. 10 min go by and 3 nickle size holes were chewed into the snake. Couldn't sleep that night because I was so angry with myself.

Improper temps... got a new house and decided to keep my snakes in my new basement with not enough heat. Had about 12 regurges... thank god none of them got sick/died.

Feed by hand, holding the mouse/rat by the tail. Did this for years with no problem... not even a close call until one day a nice 5' carpet python decided to get ahold of my hand. Could not get it off! Tried water, listerine, prying it off, staying still for 5 min... all the while it's chewing and squeezing. It was very painful and scary and i still have scars from this disaster. For those of you that just have little guys, it's not a problem, but if a snake is big enough to hurt you, feeding by hand is stupid. I use various tongs and long tweezers now.

Not taking action on mites right away. Noticed mites on a baby jungle carpet. Thought "i'll get it tomorrow", tomorrow came but things with work and school kept coming up. Finally 4 days after i noticed a couple mites, there was a swarm of the bastards... the cage was crawling with them. got everything treated, but the snake remained stressed and never ate again and of course died.

Been entertained by everyones stories. My wife will never let me forget a mistake I made about 30 years ago. I foolishly kept a baby corn snake I found in a 10 gallon tank in our bedroom WITH NO LID OR TOP. Every night for a couple of weeks we would watch him stretching out his length in the corner and eventually falling over. I said, "don't worry. I'll get a top before he gets long enough." Well, he disappeared one night never to be seen again. Pretty stupid, huh?

--Dennis

Some of you had mistakes I didn't make which was kind of surprising to me because I thought I messed up in every way shape or form at least once lol... Glad I never had a mouse destroy a snake though, that's rough. I used to thaw mice off on this little heat pad with some newspaper on top of it, the one day I got sidetracked cleaning cages and the heat pad started cooking the mice (grilled mouse burgers anyone?), when I came back they were all bubbling about to burst.

One mistake I made was trusting a friend to do simple snake maintenance while I was out of town, he ended up doing everything right except he turned the a/c off which made the room get way too hot for a week. 2 of 3 striped ringneck snakes I had dried up by the time I got home. Granted another mistake was keeping ringneck snakes in critter keepers... or keeping ringneck snakes at all lol.

Countless times I forgot to snap lids shut on containers.... After feeding a nice GA eastern back in 2005 I put the lid back on but didn't snap it, next day I realize there's no snake in there. She was found a week later crawling down my back steps, somehow went unnoticed by 4 other people on her trip out. Needless to say I did not learn from my mistake, she went back in the same cage, where she got loose a couple weeks later. Haven't seen her since.

Another mistake I made was thinking a tank was escape-proof. I had a 10 gallon tank with a slide in screen lid... I really don't see how any snake could get out of this, I had 3 small ringneck snakes in the tank, 1 albino, all 3 were under 14 inches. The one day I look in and see the bigger normal one in there hanging from the lid, it found a way to escape but wasn't small enough and my guess is it died struggling to get out. I should've moved the albino and the smaller normal to a different enclosure but I didn't, and those 2 managed to get out and never be seen again.

Lucky for me I've had A LOT less escapes since I upgraded to snake rack systems. The only escape I've had so far was a 2009 spotted mexican milk male last fall. I took the lid off the tub because it was too humid inside, I figured it would air out good by the next day then I could put some more air holes in the tub and put the lid back on. But the spotted male didn't wanna stick around and the opening between the tub and the rack was somehow enough...

There was that time like 7 years ago when crypto destroyed almost all of my collection for a whole year, because I was an idiot and didn't know how to deal with it, and by the time I smartened up a lot of the collection was already infected. I started off that year with close to 70 snakes and ended the year with 11. Worst, year, ever.

Right after that I went to war with mites... Horrible. I also went about treating snakes the complete wrong way, should've just used provent-a-mite (if it was around then?) instead every snake got the baby oil treatment. Lost a couple snakes there.

Everybody's going to make mistakes, hopefully you learn from them though.
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www.kingpinreptiles.com

" when I came back they were all bubbling about to burst"

HAHAHA!!!!!..

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

serpentinespecialties.webs.com

"some are just born to troll and roll"