Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Hi,

I know someone posted a question similar to this awhile ago, but it was a slightly different scenario so I figure I'll ask anyway.

The room that I have my snakes in is a nice, small, isolated closet in our bedroom that gets ZERO traffic and is the calmest room in the house. For that reason, I figure that it's the best place to have the snakes. They all eat well and don't seem too stressed, however, the stairs leading from the apartment above us to the front door are directly above this little closet room. Whenever the upstairs neighbors go downstairs, it sounds in the closet. Last night they seemed to be throwing things down the stairs and at the floor, rattling the windows. It was so bad we had to call the police.

Is there any chance that this noise could be quietly traumatising my snakes? The building is old, so any footsteps from above can be heard pretty clearly through the ceiling. The stairwell is especially bad though -- whenever the neighbors leave, it must sound like thunder to them, and last night must have sounded like the apocalypse.

I like having the animals in the closet because it's fairly dark and quiet most of the time, and gets no traffic unless I go in there deliberately to visit them. However, I've also heard that things such as having a drum set in a snake room can be stressing the snakes without them really showing it. Is there a possibility that this might be happening with our (LOUD) neighbors?

Thanks for any help,

Kitt
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Kitt

Hey,
I personally don't think that your snakes will suffer any ill effects from the noise, as snakes don't have external ears to pick up on the noise. I have played loud music for years and have yet to see any of the herps exhibit any stress that I can detect from the music or noise. They eat and behave normally for the most part, which IMO, is a clear indication that they are well. They do however, have internal ears and apparently utilize the mandible as a means to transmit sound to the inner ear. How clear or audible this is to them, I am not sure of, but if your herps aren't behaving differently, and not showing signs of stress then they are probably not. Stress is usually one of those things we can detect, showing up as a lack of appetite, and or as a depression. Yes, snakes exhibit depression when stressed. If none of the above is applicable, then they are IMO, ok.

-Angel
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"Until we lose our self, there is no way of finding our self."
-Henry Miller.

Angel -

Your completely right as always, I was thinking of it from a totally different angle tho. From what I've been told tho they dont actually "hear" noises much at all, but that they can be sensitive to the vibrations caused by inherently loud sounds. I've never noticed any long term stressors from loud sounds but if by chance I was a moron and had my stereo right next to my snakes blastin Bassy music they would be more nervous from the vibrations of the bass, while the music was playing, ie curled up looking like there ready to strike etc.. it would of course have to be loud enough to make large vibrations so in this case it doesn't really affect the animals at all aside from if their jumping up and down on the steps right above them or something. So basically its still nothing to worry about regardless, just food for thought (can you tell im posting to put off doing homework? )

J
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"It's my snake, I trained it, so I'm going to eat it!" - Mad Max, The Road Warrior

Kitt,

I wouldn't be too worried about it, but some sound dampening material in the closet wouldn't hurt. My house is fairly large, but incredibly old and sound travels very easily. Our music room which is right down the hall from my bedroom (which is where I keep my snakes) gets very loud on occasion. We have amps putting out upwards of 3000 watts and multiple sets of drums being played at the same time. I usually just try to leave my snakes alone when all this racket is going on but sometimes I will look in to see if there ok, occasionally they might seem a tiny bit more edgy but nothing I would consider traumatic not that there is really anything I can do about it anyways. If you think there is somewhere that there would be less interference you could move them there too but it doesnt sounds like its anything to worry much about.

J
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"It's my snake, I trained it, so I'm going to eat it!" - Mad Max, The Road Warrior

I wasn't sure if it was stressing them or not; it's good to hear others' experience! They don't seem to be at all aware of the sound; movement, or thumping directly on their display case, gets them much more agitated. I think I've got them in a good, calm place, since they're only disturbed here when I want to interact with them.

Thanks again!
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Kitt