Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Are they arboreal, terrestrial, or fossorial? Thought I read they were fossorial (burrowers), keep at room temp, and 50-60%RH.
Anybody using naturalistic viv for habitat? If so can you describe or post pic? Currently just have a water bowl, some hides, and 4" aspen. Anybody try the coconut eco-earth stuff?

>>Are they arboreal, terrestrial, or fossorial?

I suspect they are terrestrial and partially fossorial in the wild.

>>keep at room temp, and 50-60%RH.

I keep mine in my snake room (which varies from 70°-78°F) without any other form of heat and they do just fine.

>>Anybody using naturalistic viv for habitat?

I keep mine is aspen as well. I think they would be pretty hard on a "naturalistic" setup because when mine eat, they tend to drag the rat around the cage and twitch and thrash (even though I feed F/T). They would trash a naturalistic setup during this process.

You could remove them for feeding, but anyone who puts his hands into a Black Milk's cage when there is rat smell in the room is taking his life into his hands, IME!

>>Anybody try the coconut eco-earth stuff?

I bought a bunch of that stuff a few years ago in bulk from LLL. I used it for all my snakes and after a few weeks I sold all the unopened packs at an expo. That stuff is VERY dessicating and I found that most of my snakes (including dry tolerant species like Trans-pecos Rats, Sandboas, Western Hogs, alterna) had shedding trouble and generally didn't fare well on it unless I sprayed it down (i.e. SOAKED it) every few days.

I finally longed for good old aspen, and went back.

It did look good, it just was too much work to prevent dessication. If you want something dark that holds moisture a little better, try cypress mulch if it is available in your area. It is cheap and as long as you remove the big chunks and keep it moist, it is a great "naturalistic" substrate.

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Chris Harrison

>>>I keep mine is aspen as well. I think they would be pretty
>>>hard on a "naturalistic" setup because when mine eat, they
>>>tend to drag the rat around the cage and twitch and thrash
>>>even though I feed F/T). They would trash a naturalistic
>>>setup during this process.

Thanks you answered several of my questions. Supposed to get a female today but FedEx tracking hasn't changed When I first got my male, I inquired about their feeding habits. I assumed they were constrictors but this guy would bite hard into the pinky and thrash the beejeezus out of it. Maybe he was started on live prey - he's calmed a bit since then.

Guess I'll pass on the eco-earth stuff. He does fine burrowing in the aspen. Thanks again.
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I keep my baby female on aout 2 inches of cypress mulch, I spray it about once a week, never had a problem with a shed. Temps stay between 70 and 75 degrees. As far as ingesting substrate, I always put the F/T pinkies on a sheet of toweling paper, works well. Best of luck with your new snake! I love mine!