Reptile & Amphibian Forums

do you guys trust lidless commercial neo racks to house neo milks, esp coastal, reds etc
if not what do you use?..
if yes, what brands?
thanks, norm

Norm,

I keep primarily smaller, temperate forms: Lampropeltis triangulum multistrata, gentilis, celaenops, taylori, syspila, and nominate triangulum. I also keep a solid group of locality specific Latin American forms of L. triangulum and some L. zonata. I don't trust lidless racks with ANY of them.

I keep all of my hatchlings in shallow deli cups with ventilation holes melted in using a soldering or wood burning tool. They are kept on a paper towel substrate and provided with a plastic portion/nut/condiment/pill cup (whatever you want to call them) for water. I'm also careful not to house them in too large an enclosure, because in my experience, regardless of whether hides are provided, the animals "freak" and stop eating. Here's an example (sans water dish) of my typical hatchling setup. The snakes hide between the layers of folded paper towel. Sometimes I also add a piece of cardboard as a hide.

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-Cole

I have to agree with Cole on the lidless thing and the freaking in larger cages. That said I house my temps in lidded shoe boxes. I provide approx a half inch of bedding, a piece of folded newsprint and a deli cup water bowl. Generally the bowl is set on top of the newsprint. This gives it some weight which allows the neo to make a secure hid by forming a hollow in the bedding under it.

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“Nothing is at last sacred but the integrity of your own mind.” Emmerson

WWW.TDSNAKES.BLOGSPOT.COM

I just hatched some syspila that I might try your method out on, Tony. One cool thing about herpetoculture is that there generally isn't just one "right" answer - there are multiple different approaches that work for different people.
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-Cole

Indeed and what works for most animals doesn't work for them all. If I would say there is one rule its that most of these animals acclimate to whatever conditions we provide as long as basic needs are met. I even find that my hold backs will quite often take a bit of time to settle into their new digs when I move them into their adult cage.
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“Nothing is at last sacred but the integrity of your own mind.” Emmerson

WWW.TDSNAKES.BLOGSPOT.COM

np
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-Cole

I do not consider any commercial baby rack to guarantee that hatchlings of the type you have mentioned will not escape. Those snakes are just too small to go lidless in most cases, especially considering that boxes flex, snakes flex and box height can vary 1/16 inch. After the snakes grow out some, then OK.

I use racks designed by PM herps. The tubs are really small and fit very tightly into the rack. I put newborn NA milks in these with no problems.the tubs are maybe 3 inch by 6 inch by 1.5 inch high.

Here is a pic of the rack in one of my snake rooms on the left side of the picture.

Also, google PM herps and check out the website for more info.

Dave
DNS Reptiles - Milk Snakes

Great post, Dave... that rack at that price is exactly what i'm looking for at the moment.

I noticed the site states that you have to supply your own heat for the rack... Do you use flexwatt, and how do you have it set up?
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1.1 Argentine Boas
1.1 Dumerils Boas
1.1 Black Milk Snakes
2.3 California King Snakes
1.1 Nelsons Milk Snakes
2.2 Corn Snakes

they work great....I used racks for years from PM Herp...Paul is a great guy too....I can't remember any snake escaping that was not my fault.....(holes too big )...

they don't supply heat due to the American habit of suing people when products fail....no matter who's fault it actually was....
I used no heat...but I heated the whole room....

.....I would say Flex-Watt 3" down the back...but I never did it so it's just a thought....>
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........JY

Hey Aaron,

I do use flex watt on the back of each rack (that's actually two neo racks stacked). Each rack has a 8" by 20" (guessing measurements but you get the idea) sheet of flex watt on the back of the racks controlled by a Helix 10000.

Seems to work great. There are small ceramic water bowls you can buy that fit in there nicely as well.

Dave
DNS Reptiles - Milk Snakes