Reptile & Amphibian Forums

This is Kokuu at almost 3 and a half months old

ahhh ... it's so warm on this log!

About only having ONE indigo snake...would be that you can have the time to set up a nice natural display and maintain it and keep it clean...etc.

It would be way to much to keep up with if you had a large group.
Thanks for the pics...and...is that a rat pup I detect in his belly?

yep! You've got sharp eyes. Actually it is 2 rat pups. He has been eating 2 at a time and he no longer requires having them dangled in front of him with tongs. I just set one at a time in front of him and he chows down. Of course it sends him into frantic mode and he starts huffing and puffing before he swallows it down. I try to steer clear of him for awhile after that. Last time after he ate 2 pups he went straight to his water dish to drink. I still haven't gotten into the habit of feeding him in a seperate container. I should probably make an effort to do that before too long.

Here's a picture of his cage. It's all screen with plexyglass on the backside. I mist it a couple of times a day to keep the humidy 40 to 60 percent. I also keep a good amount of green moss in his hidebox and he seems to love burrowing in it for sleeping.

From the gateway to frigid New England, where you can now buy a hotdog at Fenway Park in October. Certainly an attractive setup - I'd worry that at some point he will decide to rub off his rostral scale on the screening. Enjoy raisning a beautiful hatchling to become an impressive adult.

Thanks for bringing up a good point.

The thought has crossed my mind a few times regarding the possibility of rubbing his head against the screen in an effort to find a way out of his cage. I'm hoping that it doesn't become an issue, but in the case that it does, I will be upgrading him to a new cage. I watch over him quite a bit and am keeping my fingers crossed that the cage will last for a good while without the screen becoming a problem.

If anyone has experienced problems with screen cages I would welcome hearing about them. So far he doesn't do much if any rubbing against the screen.

>>Thanks for bringing up a good point.
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>>The thought has crossed my mind a few times regarding the possibility of rubbing his head against the screen in an effort to find a way out of his cage. I'm hoping that it doesn't become an issue, but in the case that it does, I will be upgrading him to a new cage. I watch over him quite a bit and am keeping my fingers crossed that the cage will last for a good while without the screen becoming a problem.
>>
>>If anyone has experienced problems with screen cages I would welcome hearing about them. So far he doesn't do much if any rubbing against the screen.

I've seen lots of problems with screen and nose-rubbing. In general if the cage is large enough, has adequate hiding opportunities and the temperature is OK, there shouldn't be much of a problem. Indigos will freak out and trash themselves and their cages if the temperature gets too high and they can't get away from it. If the cage is too small or if they don't feel secure in the cage they will make continuous attempts to find a way out. They can see through the screen, so it makes sense to them they should be able to go out that way...so they rub their noses against it trying to get through. Also, males may do the same thing during breeding season, especially if they can smell a cycling female.

I keep a few Drys in aquariums with screen tops, but it is temporary quarters while I'm building more cages. However, I make sure the aquarium suits their space, security, and temperature requirements. I have one large male Texas Indigo in a 75 Gallon tank right now. The furnishings are newspaper on the floor, a cardboard box with and entrance/exit hole for a hide, and a water bowl and a basking light on top near the center of the cage. The basking light comes on in the morning and goes off at sundown. Basic, simple,easy to clean, and effective. He will be moving in to a permanent cage soon enough, but for now his needs are met. He spends his nights in the box and comes out and basks during the day. It really would be no problem to keep them in a setup like that permanently, but to me a front-opening cage is easier to deal with.
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We do not inherit the Earth from our ancestors; we borrow it from our children. Ralph Waldo Emerson

I have a 60gal screen top aquarium I was planning to put my Eastern Indigo in this coming breeding season when I get one. I currently have a Ball Python in that tank, but was going to move him to a different location.

If the screen tops aren't good for an Indigo, what kind of setup should I look at getting/building?
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0 of 3 goals complete, but all in good time.

- Eastern Indigo
- Redtail Hawk
- Neopolitan Mastiff

I used to keep indigos in wooden cages with sliding plate glass fronts. Even with many coats of polyurethane, they were hard to keep really clean. I highly recommend Vision cages, 3ft or 4 ft length. I don't have rom for 6 ft. length. Easy to keep clean and newspaper fits well.

i'd say fresh wc's are more prone to damage themselves in cages w/ lots of screening. i use 1/4'' hardware cloth in all my cages now, including 8' x 18'' of it across the entire back of my new dry tanks. better ventilation and light and no problems so far.......