I'm going to be trying an experiment with a few cornsnakes. They are brand new babies now being raised in cages that would be thought of as being too large for hatchlings by most people. As adults they will be put into cages that are big enough for adult boa constrictors.
I want to provide a temperature gradient in the adult cages of say 90 deg on one end to room temp on the other if possible to see how the snakes make use of available temps i.e. do they try and maintain their body in the 80-82 deg range all the time (like they would be exposed to in a sweaterbox), or do they like it cold sometimes or much warmer sometimes.) Will they make choices for temps that approach more of what they would do in the wild?
If given a large box of loose soil to lay eggs in with the more moist soil being deeper and the drier soil on top (just like in nature) will the incidence of egg binding be reduced or eliminated because the female can choose what mositure level to lay eggs in by where she lays them?
Yes, the sweater-box method has enabled mass production and has been proven time and time again as a way to keep snakes, but is it the best way? Maybe any given female can be far more productive if husbandry were different, with more varied offerings for temperature and moisture. Or, maybe we'd find out that they prefer things on the cooler end most of the time. Or the warmer. Maybe they don't reach their health or breeding potential when kept at 82 deg all the time (yes they will breed, but is it optimum?) These are things I wonder about. Any insight by anyone?
