Posted by:
Bluerosy
at Mon Feb 17 11:04:05 2014 [ Email Message ] [ Show All Posts by Bluerosy ]
Putting the snakes into a larger cage with decorated stimulation still come to what WE think is better for the snakes and what WE think makes the snake happy or creates a better enivornment.
If I had to choose between he two:
A) a 10 gallon aquarium which make "me" (the keeper) feel better.
B) or putting the NEONATE in smaller a cage so it can grow faster and reproduce.
I choose B because I see more success.
Lets take it a step further. What if I put the snake in one of those large troughs they use for feeding cattle. The choices the snake would use would be much greater. But since it is still in a box how can it choose a place to hunt food? In nature they seek out lizards, snakes ect. In other words they know where to go, because they will chooses the same places as the skinks and what not.
But pinkies don't seek out those places. They plop wherever you put them. If the wander away from a baby neonate chances are the snake does not have its God given instincts to hunting it down..
(am I reaching here of does this make sense?)
SO for me. Success is about how much the snake feeds and grows in the shortest amount of time. I am not saying a larger cage is not a good idea. But I have yet to see how it actually helps the keeper or the snake.
Back in the 70's we all kept snakes in huge beautiful wooden units with light bulbs for heat. We used bark , rocks, plants, created caves. But we also fed our snakes lizards which made the connection between the seeking out and "hunting" was natural for the snake in a big cage. Today know this is not a good idea to feed reptiles to other reptiles because of parasites. So pinkies is the way to go.
No matter how much you try, you cannot emulate the natural conditions without "forcing" the snake to adjust to its unnatural "ethology"  . Most of my adult kingsnakes get 3 clutches per year. That is not natural! 
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"I guess newbies cannot understand, those who build the foundation, are not the ones with great opportunity. Those who buy the latest generations, have the greatest opportunity to create new morphs. "
Frank Retes
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RE: who makes the choices - Bluerosy, Mon Feb 17 11:04:05 2014
