Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Hello to all again,

My Thayeri babies are coming soon!!!! Two for starters and I couldn't be more thrilled.

I read the "best kingsnake/best starter snake" debate on the other forum. My first snake was a wild adult cali gopher named "Houdini" (for obvious reasons - one of which was his amazing death-defying escape from a cat! Then multiple escapes from his tank whenever our guinie pigs had babies). My first captive bred snakes were W. Hogs...talk about finicky charmers. After that introduction I'm sure these Thayeri will be little angels...with scales

We've never had more than three snakes at any given time over the years. How do you house all of them? I've read about all sorts of different systems for this, but I'd love to know which you've chosen.

Also, what's are good dimension for the adults? I always feel like the plastic sweaterboxes look so thin....

Thanks for sharing,
Rose

Hello Rose,

I love your excitement! Great feeling isn't it?!! You are going to enjoy that young thayeri pair headed your way and from your question it appears as though you already know you won't be satisfied with just two!

I've never particularly been a big fan of keeping snakes in plastic tubs, but as many generally do I ended up that way. I primarily use a rack system... shelves with the shallow plastic tubs. Now that I am here, I clearly see the advantages and appreciate them but I am doing things on a fairly large scale. The primary advantages are ease of cleaning, and if the tub is ventilated properly the water bowl maintains a more appropriate humidity level. A clean, dry but somewhat humid environment is a plus. It really depends upon what you plan to do with your collection, how big it gets, how much space you have and how much free time you have on your hands to manage it.

If I had the expanse of space required and the massive amounts of free time involved in cleaning and maintenance, I would prefer all the animals to have large display type enclosures for a better life but it wouldn't be practical for me. I do still maintain 5 of these for a very lucky select few. Nice to look at, you can give the critters lots of things in cool and warm areas to hide in, climb on and investigate and they love it. I would recommend you stay with something like this if you only plan on a small thayeri collection, they will have themselves on display most of the time and you will enjoy them more.

Most references suggest a minimum enclosure size which will allow the animal to stretch out fully around the perimeter and cover no more than 2/3 to 3/4 of that perimeter length. Of course, they will appreciate much more room if you can give it to them and you will see a more natural behavior which is interesting. My display tanks are fairly large and my plastic tubs are big enough to allow them to stretch out around the perimeter and cover no more than 1/2 of it. And being snakes, they don't seem to mind too much that the tubs are shallow but you are absolutely right with your thinking... I wish I could give the tub animals more room and things to climb around on.

Mike

Mike K. has got the right idea. If you only plan on keeping a few and want to display them 20 gallon tanks are ideal. The big drawbacks though are security and cleaning.

A rack system is not only convenient but very secure. And as you already know snakes are escape artists.

I keep my adults in sweater boxes. I've got a heat strip that runs the length of each shelf.

Here is a lousy picture of my rack system. Notice the 20 gallon tank setup on the top of the rack. I do let them stretch out in the tank or just take them out for a "walk" in the yard sometimes. They really do seem to like human interaction.

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Vichris

Vichris Variables

I have an extra 20 gallon long that I'm thinking about setting up to house a Thayeri. One of my colleagues at work has had snakes for several years, and we've discussed the issue of housing a Thayeri. Our conclusion is that a Thayeri would be so beautiful that someone who wasn't breeding them and only had one or two should always keep them in a nice display aquarium. There's no sense in having a snake that attractive and not displaying it to full advantage. My 20 gallon is nothing special, but with the right accessories, it might be good enough. First, I'll have to learn to operate it to get a good temperature gradient. I'm already buying extra of accessories so that I can set up the aquarium soon.

Bill