Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Hey guys,
sorry if this is asked all the time, but i am looking for some tips on caring for these guys. i recently was given an adult pair of black tailed cribos for free from a friend and i was planning on breeding them this year. (male 6 foot, female slightly smaller 5.5 ft.) tell me what you think of my set up and plans 4 breeding.... as well as any good websites (indigosnakes.com doesn't have any care sheets and i dont trust all sites on the internet)
just to let you know i have a lot of experience w/ snakes, and i work at a petshop specializing in reptiles, so i would be to cover every aspect of care...(i care for and breed many more species of snakes and geckos as well)

SET UP
they are together now and in 40 gallon glass cage. i have cypres mulch as bedding and a moist hide box on the cool side. the hot spot is like 70-72 and cool side around 68. they have water at all times.... at night it drops to probably 67-68 degrees. are those good cooling temperatures?...if needed i can separate the male and female into separate tanks....

what do you reccomend for humididy levels?
do they feed while brumating?
???? Any tips would be greatly appreciated... thanks@!

right off the bat i'd say that a 40 gallon tank is kind of small for an adult pair of drys. you can get much more spacious, lighter boxes at home depot [storage area], for under $30. you could also raise the warm side to say around 78*. 72* is a bit low for the dth. other than that, everything sounds good, keep 'em togeter and you'll have eggs by spring. best of luck!........

so breeding takes place during the colder period? correct? and how long should they be at these lower temps? thanks again!

I still like the idea of connecting those big Rubbermaid plastic containers with large diameter PVC pipe from Lowes or Home Depot. You could heat one container with a heating pad and keep it humid, heat another and keep it dry, and do the same for the 2 cool continers. The snakes would have a lot of diverse habitats to pick from and a lot of real estate to move around through. Like those plastic rodent setups but for snakes.

crested, yes, they are fall/winter breeders. since drys do not brumate, they'll eat during this period albeit smaller, less frequent meals. as far as humidity goes, a waterbowl will suffice. your temps are low enough to induce breeding right now, just make sure your male isn't hungry and they'll probably get right to it. good luck!........