Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Hi Guys and Girls

Yes I have asked this question before but I did not have the dimensions of the box when asked so i thought I would re post my questiosn and add a couple more.

Unlike most of you I just have one snake (Diamond Python) I read A little about them and always make sure it is being well looked after. I've been pretty lucky as a firt timer as this guy is a good eater, does not bite and has no health probelms at all as far as I can see.

Now for my questiosn.

The box I have for it (Pictured) stands 3ft tall 1.5 ft wide and 1.5 ft deep. Now that the snake is getting older (about 10 months) should I turn the box on it's side so it is wider and shorter?

Also I have been putting red sand (soil) in the bottom, it seems to enjoy this but I have seen all sorts of things in the bottom of boxes from Astro turf to paper. What's the favoured material?

I always make sure the snake has plenty of rocks and stuff to hide under, should I also have a hidey hole for it? Whats best? one of those fake rocks? or a pipe or log?

The snake is native to where I live. In the sunner should I just have a light on during the day and forget about the night heating?

Feeding, he has been on a combination of fuzzies and live mice since he was 3 months. How much and often should I feed it? At the moment I'm up to one live mouse or two fuzzies every two weeks but he has had up to one live mouse per week (when a friend looked after him for a month when I went away - I think he enjoyed watching he snake take the mice LOL).

What age will this snake be when fully grown?

When looking at the pic if you want to add any other advise please feel free to do so.

Once again thans for your help.

Cmon guys give me hand. Just a couple of easy questions

I'm certainly no expert on diamonds specifically, but I'll answer what I can.

>>The box I have for it (Pictured) stands 3ft tall 1.5 ft wide and 1.5 ft deep. Now that the snake is getting older (about 10 months) should I turn the box on it's side so it is wider and shorter?

Age is not really important. It would be more useful if you could tell us how long the snake is. But in general, if you he likes to climb, leave it upright. If he spends most of his time on the floor of the cage, turn it over. (Next time leave out the "Img src=" when you post a picture.)

>>Also I have been putting red sand (soil) in the bottom, it seems to enjoy this but I have seen all sorts of things in the bottom of boxes from Astro turf to paper. What's the favoured material?

Sand is probably not great, too dry. The best thing is probably newspaper. The best thing that looks good (if you can get where you live) is cypress mulch. Cedar, bad. Pine, probably bad. Astroturf looks good but is difficult to keep clean and therefore tends to be left dirty, bad.

>>I always make sure the snake has plenty of rocks and stuff to hide under, should I also have a hidey hole for it? Whats best? one of those fake rocks? or a pipe or log?

There are two things you want here. Easy to clean, and something he'll use. I would avoid real logs because they're hard to clean and harbor insects, almost anything else is OK. Try a few things like a cardboard box, a peice of pipe or the bottom of a bucket turned upside down with a doorway cut in it. See what he likes to hide in and then decide it you want to spend money on something similar that looks better. If he doesn't hide, then just use whatever decorations look good to you.

>>The snake is native to where I live. In the sunner should I just have a light on during the day and forget about the night heating?

I can't really give you a good answer to this one, but keep in mind that in the cage he's stuck with whatever temp it is there. Out in the wild he could go search for the right temp. The temperature under a rotting log might be signifiantly higher than the air temp outside. (But again, I don't know that much about diamonds. If they hang out in the trees all year long, then ambient temp is probably OK.)

>>Feeding, he has been on a combination of fuzzies and live mice since he was 3 months. How much and often should I feed it? At the moment I'm up to one live mouse or two fuzzies every two weeks but he has had up to one live mouse per week (when a friend looked after him for a month when I went away - I think he enjoyed watching he snake take the mice LOL).

Again, we need to know the size of the snake. I know diamonds are small, as pythons go, but I can't imagine that a 10 month old python would be small enough to live well on 1 fuzzy a week (but maybe you should clarify what YOU mean by fizzies. When WE say "fizzies" we are talking about mice that are starting to get fur, but haven't opened thier eyes yet). I have small rat snakes that eat more than that.
-----
Larry D. Fishel
Side effects may include paralysis
and death but are generally mild.

Hi

Thanks heaps for your reply. My Diamond Python is now 27 inches long.

The fuzzies I am refering to are the newborn mice with their eyes still closed and a covering of fur. I have been giving the snake two each week or one larger live mouse.

I have attached a pic of the snake and another of what I think is a full grown diamond python that sometimes hangs around our house. I think this guy is over two meters long.

Another couple of quick questions. Does a snake know if another animal is too big to take on? i.e will my snake have a go at the kids ginea pigs if they were silly enough to let them meet?

What about sunlight? should I put it's box outside during the day?

>>Thanks heaps for your reply. My Diamond Python is now 27 inches long.

Hopefully someone who knows more about this species will jump in here and tell you if this size sounds reasonable for it's age...

>>The fuzzies I am refering to are the newborn mice with their eyes still closed and a covering of fur. I have been giving the snake two each week or one larger live mouse.

I would definately go with the larger mice, if nothing else for the calcium. And if by larger, you mean around twice the weight of fuzzy, I would probably at least 2 of these a week or go with something larger. And kill them first if he will eat them that way, they can do a lot of damage with a lucky bite. You said in the first post that you were feeding 1 every 2 weeks, did you mean 1 a week? But again, someone more familiar with diamonds might tell you different.

>>I have attached a pic of the snake and another of what I think is a full grown diamond python that sometimes hangs around our house. I think this guy is over two meters long.

Now that's got to be cool having a wild python hanging out near the house.

>>Another couple of quick questions. Does a snake know if another animal is too big to take on? i.e will my snake have a go at the kids ginea pigs if they were silly enough to let them meet?

I've seen snakes not only attack things too big to eat but then proceed to choke to death trying to swallow them. Be very careful here.

>>What about sunlight? should I put it's box outside during the day?

Not IN the sun, you'll almost certainly have him overheat and die at some point. If you need to put him outside for a while, make sure he's in the shade and won't end up in direct sunlight as the sun shifts. More to the point of what you really wanted to know, snakes have no need for sunlight (UV). Some lizards do, but no snakes that I'm aware of.
-----
Larry D. Fishel
Side effects may include paralysis
and death but are generally mild.

I would turn the cage sideways, more ground surface will allow for a better heat gradient, only put about 1/4 of the container over the heat pad. As far a feeding goes, do not over feed, and don't keep it too hot...low to mid 80's at the hottest. They need to be grown slow too. One decent sized meal every two weeks is fine for diamonds. Newspaper or some non toxic chipped/shredded wood would be fine. No sun, but possibly a low wattage UVB, some say that diamonds need it, others disagree. Good luck with it. And yes that is a killer adult diamond you have slithering about your neighborhood.
-----
Jim Kuroski

i read up diamond pythons grow up to ten meters so a 4ft tank should do the trick

sorry i wrote it wrong they grow up to 10ft or 10 meters but i've forgotten know i was going to get one but i decided the spotted python whould be good for me but i love you diamond it's cute

More like 10ft. 10 meters would be 30 feet.

The big diamond python that hangs around our house during summer months. He / She has been visiting for about three years now.