>>Great info on rat snake caging, Terry! I noticed the newspaper in your cages, in the last photo you sent me, and had given it some thought. It gives me good ideas for feeding, as I don't like to feed mine directly on aspen , either, but have found it difficult to keep them from dragging their food off of paper plates and onto the aspen.
>>
>>-Toby


Thanks, Toby.

I believe this is the photo you're talking about...

Notice the large water jug the snake is crawling on. One of my strategies is to empty the water out and put a mouse in the empty jug. The snake later crawls into the jug and eats the mouse. I often put crumpled newspaper on top of the bedding to increase the layers, etc. If the snake pulls the mouse out of the water jug onto the paper it still doesn't get into the aspen. I've been known to put a dead mouse at the entrance to the hidebox to tempt a snake also. One more feeding strategy is to take the snake out of the cage and feed it in a setting with no bedding.

Notice in the second photo the snake is coiled on top of some newspaper crumpled up to fit the extra space bt. the hide box and side of the cage. He chose that spot because of the time of the year and the sun was hitting that corner of the cage in the early morning and heating it up...

Most ratsnakes like a lot of security and tight spots like these meet this requirement. Their need for lots of space for exercise is overrated, imho. They don't move around that much and it's mostly to eat, drink, or change locations for some reason. Some folks even like to put a false bottom in their cage, but you would hardly ever see your snake in that case I would think. I prefer to watch the snakes a lot in order to learn more about behavior and hope that it's as natural as possible.

PS: One reason I shy away from large snakes is because they require larger cages...LOL! My moellendorffi were getting close to six ft, and could've gotten to seven ft. They were in 20 gal. tanks, which they were outgrowing and are difficult to clean.

Happy Holiday Cheers...Terry




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Ratsnake Haven...researching ratsnakes since 1988

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