Reptile & Amphibian Forums

OK, I changed my Jalisco's habitat to the Cypress Mulch and he seems to love staying submerged in it as much as when he was under the newspaper. He never comes out. Day or night as far as I can tell... I removed all his hides because he doesn't need them (not using a single one). I mist the mulch fairly often and am just using the heat pad underneath.

What is the quality of a snake's life if he spends 90% submerged and the other 10% being handled/fed? My other snakes (daughter's corn and son's king) explore their habitats (for escape, mostly), use different hides, climb branches, etc. Is this just normal for a milk snake? Is he getting the exercise he needs? I'm trying to do what's best for him. If I force him out by providing a bare floor and some hides it sounds like it'll go against everybody's advice but force him to be exposed more and travel about more. But, I don't want to stress him. Should I leave everything as-is??? Right now he has like an inch or so of mulch, some lava rock, and his water dish.

BTW, I dug him out and handled him yesterday. His vent was bulging, so I knew he needed to poop soon. He was in a position in my hand such that I could gently massage the area with my finger to see if he'd go on the paper towel over my lap. While I was doing it, I saw something pink start to stick out, and I wasn't sure what it was, but after a couple minutes the poop came out like a shotgun! It really ejaculated rather than oozed out! Quite a bit, too. Anyway, was the pink thing protruding from his vent part of his colon? Was that all normal?

Thanks for help on both questions...

Walt

I have milksnakes, and they are much more secretive than corns and kings. I would let him hide if he wants to. Sometimes when you pick up a baby snake, they will kind of open up their vent area getting ready to splat you if it chooses to. The pink thing may have been his hemipenis if it is a male. If you squeeze or rob this area, it would probably cause feces to spray out. One of my milks will throw his tail around while he poops, causing a mess. All snakes have different personalities, so don't let it worry you if it hides too much. He'll come out when he wants to. I unhide mine also when I want to hold them. Derek

Walt remember that with snakes there is a cause and effect. Or a If... then... For instance.
If the snake spends all its time on the warm end under the mulch then the snake is trying to heat up and the cage is to cold. If the snake is under the mulch on the cool end all the time then the hot end might be a little warmand the cage might be to small. If the snake is fossoral and spends all its time in a branch then something is wrong down below. If the snake is fossoral and spends its time under the mulch going from one end to the other depending on its feed schedule and only comes out at night to roam around then things are OK.

In other words you are at your house and you can look at the cage and the snake. What do you see??? What does your mind tell you the snake should be doing?? What is it doing compared to the heat source and other factors involved.

As far as the heat source goes I like a small UTH and a bulb with a climbing branch or something going right up to the bulb. It gives a wider range of temps for the snake to choose from. A UTH alone only goes up to 90-100 degrees but with the bulb and small UTH the range on the hot end goes up higher and depending how the climbing surface is set up it can get to 140 degrees at the very top. The snake may never use it but it is available. The problem with this setup is you need a big cage. Like a 55 gallon.

I had a setup like this before I moved and whatever I put in it grew like mad. For the most part the bulb was not used much at all but the option was there. I also didn't watch it all the time. I also never had any health problems out of any snake in this cage. The cool end was at about 75 degree which is a little warmer than I would have liked but my house never got any cooler in Florida. LOL I am thinking about setting up a multi level cage with a best case scenario having a cooling device in the bottom and a very hot upper level. Like about 100 degrees ambient and about 5 feet from top to bottom. The levels being 6-12 inches top to bottom. I just need to get off my butt. Anyway am glad you are interested in your snakes health and I hope it goes well.

Later Jason

Quality of life, hmmm Well, you're giving the snake safety from predators and from extreme weather, and in return the snake can't put all of its resources to work living in its natural habitat. It seems like a compromise, but not a bad one. If the snake isn't stressed, then its life can't be that bad.

Considering that wild kingsnakes/milksnakes spend most of their time hidden from view, then I would suspect that hiding in captivity is not a problem at all.

In setups where snakes hide most of the time, you find that the snakes in those cages are doing well (again talking about kings/milks.)

Sometimes captives can get very bold and openly cruise when hungry or else follow your hand along the cage. Sometimes captives may cruise at night looking to get out of the cage, driven by some behavior. And then you have the activity when conditions are not OK and the snake is trying to get away from its area.

I'd say your snake is probably getting all it needs, and so it doesn't have to or want to do alot of open activity.

1) you've got a snake which by its behavior would seem to be expressing a need for security. it's probably ill advised to handle it to the point of massaging its fecals out. that's quite unnatural for the snake.
2) the feces come out the cloaca from the HEAD end of the snake; hemipenes emerge from the TAIL side of the cloaca, where they're "housed". If you massaged something pink out of the snake from the head side, you can be sure it wasn't a hemipene.
terry

Yeah... I'm not going to make a habit of it.

Walt