Reptile & Amphibian Forums

And just when we thought it was safe to go to the beach. What do you think of the new tank home? Baby is one week old albino lavender Brooksi male. Do you think he will attract the "chicks" here?

Oh my gosh!! That is too cute. I think I am going to set up my tank like that one. I also have a brooski baby but she is a girl. I was there when she came out of the egg and she was the only one that bit me. So i kept her. She would love to live at the beach. Thanks for the idea... Good luck with your baby.

Good thing that you "regular" posters to this forum don't see *MY" vivarium setup!

I bought the 60-gallon terrarium used many years ago. It now has screened river sand as substrate, a main hiding den, 3-4 other hiding areas, and numerous natural rocks, wood, petrified wood, climbing branches and a Mexican calcite crystal. The watern cistern contains purified, distilled water, and is covered.

My vivarium looks just like a mini view of the Sonoran Desert. Heat pads are underneath, at both ends. I have a 160-watt basking lamp with broad-spectrum light, but don't need to use it as most Kingsnakes are nocturnal.

I exercise almost daily, and feed live, with an emphasis on variety and long-term health of the "animal companion" (I despise the term "pet".

My Mexican Black handles and eats so well that I almost named him "Amazing".

I feel so sorry for all you "regular" people with your newspaper substrate and bored snakes!

I love natural setting in enclosures for any animal. Your MBK is lucky indeed to have such an environment to inhabit. And you must enjoy seeing him in such comfortable quarters. I hope you will post a pic so we can see too.

I took some just last week, but the lighting and shade (and reflection) did not produce good output.

My vivarium is a nice setup, quite deluxe for a desert dweller. Some of the rocks were gathered from the Rocky Mountains (some have fossils), some were gathered along the Columbia River. Each piece in my vivarium has a story.

I don't yet have a digital camera, but will try to borrow one for a photo sometime this summer.

A lot of times, when someone asks to see my herp room, their first reaction is, "Those don't look like very happy snake homes." No matter how I try to ignore it, this always gets under my skin and offends me. My LIFE'S PASSION is providing the best possible care for my animals. It's a sick obsession, I know, but every free minute of the day I spend studying and trying to find new ideas that might improve the care I provide for my animals. Lots of others seem to have the same passion; hence, this forum. Therefore, I take offense to someone telling me that not only am I doing it wrong, but that I don't care. If you have a suggestion, make it, but you'd better be able to back it up with either research or experience. What "we" are doing with the "newspaper setup" is applying years of research and collaberation to find the best way to care for a large number of snakes. What you are doing with the natural setup is attempting to do your best to provide the healthiest environment you can for an individual snake as long as you don't have to sacrifice aesthetic beauty. From your description of your setup, you seem to have done just that. Congratulations. However, you seem to be implying that aesthetics is as important to the snake as it is to you. On this point, I am incredibly doubtful. While I and others are basing our setups on some form of the scientific method, you have gone beyond that and based it on your own opinion and what can best be described as a superstition. You believe snakes need natural setups in spite of all of the evidence to the contrary.

For the record, I love a good natural setup and your's sounds great. I have a few of them myself and I spend as much time maintaining them as I do the entire rest of my collection put together.
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Martin Whalin
My Email

Quotes from guys named Carl:

"Science stops at the frontier of logic. Nature does not, she thrives on ground as yet untrodden by theory."
-Carl Jung

"It is foolish to let singleness of purpose deprive one of the joy and delectation of the many wonderful sights and sounds incidental to the quest."
-Carl Kauffeld

i love that set up can i copey it plz.?? for my little girl.??here she is.