Reptile & Amphibian Forums

I just got my 2 baby bairds in today, and they ae living in two seperate kritter keeper type enclosures. 15 inches long, 7 inches wide, 5 high. I set up a desk lamp so it's shining a blacklight on top of them. They are both next to each toher lengthwise, and i'm shining the light on one end, even kina off the end and angled off the end, but there is no temperature change from one side to the other. any ideas on how to heat this? both sides are staying around 80 degrees...it's just that they're too small to put in my 10 gallon tank yet, ya know?
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The reason mainstream thought is thought of as a stream is because it's so shallow. -Unknown

Battling ignorance one stupid person at a time.

Current snakes:
1) Female Licorice Stick Black Ratsnake - Lola
2) Neonate Black Ratsnake (Het for Lic Stk's) - Frankie
3 & 4) 2 Bairds Ratsnakes - Rosie and Jose

I don't like kritter keepers at all just because you can't really heat them to well since they are plastic,heat lights will definately melt them and UTH could maybe melt them also. 10 gallon enclosures are perfect for any hatchling snake IMO as long as you provide enough hides.
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Reptiles
0.1 - Early 2002 Anery Motley Corn 33 1/2"
1.0 - Late 2003 Yellow Rat Snake 15 2/3"
1.0 - 2003 Banded California King Snake 29 2/3"
1.0 Green Anole
0.0.0 House Gecko
0.1 Painted Turtle

Mammals
4 female ferrets,1 male cat,1 female rottie and 1 male doberman...and a few kids!

A friend of mine had a six month old Yellow Rat in one of those cages. It has been missing in his house for about six weeks now. Take the hint and put them in something more secure. Young rats can use their bodies to pry open the feeding hatches on those plastic cages. At the very least, glue the feeding hatch closed.

Good luck with your new snakes.

Rick

I keep really small snakes in them, like hatchling rat snakes and African House snakes (the ones that I can't trust in my rack due to the small gap between the tubs' lip and the shelves). The only excapes I've had from Kritter Keepers have been my fault, not making sure the tops are completely down. I never use the feeding hatch and make sure they are tightly closed before putting the snakes in. I use UTH on a thermostat (set at 84F) with just the edge of the mat under the back of the boxes. It's pretty hard to get a gradient on small cages, and I don't think you can do it as easily with a heat lamp. I would also worry about a lamp possibly softening the plastic on the top and creating a gap. A quick spot spot check with my temp gun on my cages shows the back of the boxes at 82 and the front of the boxes at 74.
Lora

Here's a picture of the two kritter keepers. I have a stack of blank CD-R's on top of each feeding hatch...I wasn't too sure of how secure those were. Guess I was right to worry, lol.

As you can see, I have the lamp well above the cage, however they're only getting about a half degree difference between the hot and cold side. Is this enough, or at this age do they really need to have that difference?

I have a 10 gallon enclosure, but I have two worries of putting them in there. One is that the clips dont hold the lid too securely on the tank, to the point where the lid actually will lift up about 1/4 of an inch, and i'm afraid that they could escape. I can't have escaping snakes...my grandma lives with me and is so scared of them she wont come in my room (childhood fear). The other problem with putting them together (besides the disease transfer) is I don't know how to tell the two apart, lol.
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The reason mainstream thought is thought of as a stream is because it's so shallow. -Unknown

Battling ignorance one stupid person at a time.

Current snakes:
1) Female Licorice Stick Black Ratsnake - Lola
2) Neonate Black Ratsnake (Het for Lic Stk's) - Frankie
3 & 4) 2 Bairds Ratsnakes - Rosie and Jose

I've kept quite a few baby snakes in these cages over the years and have never had an escape due to the snake. I have left the lids unlocked and lost snakes that way. IMO if your bairds are eating and eliminating well, your ambient temp of 80-82F is comfortable enough for them. Feed them in these enclosures a couple of times and see how they do. If they don't eat or poop well, you'll need to change the conditions. Good luck and let's keep Grandma on the right side of the herp arguments.

Bryan
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Last night I was laying in bed looking up at the stars in the sky and I thought to myself, "Where the hell is my ceiling?"

lol, thanks. I'm going to try feeding them their first meal tomorrow. freakin a....6 pinkies for 13 bucks....what a rip off.

they are musking the heck out of those kritter keepers though....any idea whats causing that?
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The reason mainstream thought is thought of as a stream is because it's so shallow. -Unknown

Battling ignorance one stupid person at a time.

Current snakes:
1) Female Licorice Stick Black Rat snake - Lola
2) Neonate Black Rat snake (Het for Lic Stk's) - Frankie
3 & 4) 2 Bairds Rat snakes - Rosa and Jose

Make sure they have a secure hiding cave of some kind. Even an upside down yogurt cup with a hole cut in is better than nothing. Sometimes a little security will calm them down a lot. Also, give them a little time to get used to your place. They haven't been there all that long yet. Good luck.
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Last night I was laying in bed looking up at the stars in the sky and I thought to myself, "Where the hell is my ceiling?"

yea....they got those upside down deli cup they were shipped in, now another....2 per cage
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The reason mainstream thought is thought of as a stream is because it's so shallow. -Unknown

Battling ignorance one stupid person at a time.

Current snakes:
1) Female Licorice Stick Black Rat snake - Lola
2) Neonate Black Rat snake (Het for Lic Stk's) - Frankie
3 & 4) 2 Bairds Rat snakes - Rosa and Jose