patchnose enclosure question

Captive care and husbandry.

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herpseeker1978
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patchnose enclosure question

Post by herpseeker1978 »

I have a mountain patchnose in a natural looking enclosure and was thinking about putting some pine cones and pine needles in the cage. Is this safe for the snake?

Josh
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geckoguy747
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Re: patchnose enclosure question

Post by geckoguy747 »

the phenols in pine can be quite dangerous actually. unless the needles and cones are completely dried out and your substrate doesn't retain any moisture i wouldn't do it.
josh
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herpseeker1978
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Re: patchnose enclosure question

Post by herpseeker1978 »

I thought there was something about pine that was bad. Thanks for the info.

Josh
Zach_Lim
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Re: patchnose enclosure question

Post by Zach_Lim »

Instead of some pine cones and needles, maybe try some shreded cypress fibers? Totally not the same as needles or cones, but I have found that it kind of adds a "kick" to naturalistic vivaria.
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monklet
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Re: patchnose enclosure question

Post by monklet »

Interesting snake to keep I would think. What are you feeding it? Ya know, it may enjoy a basking lamp even IF it doesn't really need it as they love to bask. How about a pic of your setup once you get it together?
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herpseeker1978
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Re: patchnose enclosure question

Post by herpseeker1978 »

I have the cage together, it is pretty simple, but here are some pics:
Image

Image

Image

Image

I have a basking light for her. My friend has a male and we are going to try to breed them next year. These are really fun snakes to work with. The hard part can be getting them the proper food. Mine took a f/t pinkie right off the bat. My friend had to scent with lizards and things. Every once in a while I feed her a live lizard and boy is it fun to watch these things hunt! Here is a video of her eating, next time I will video her chasing it down.


Josh
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monklet
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Re: patchnose enclosure question

Post by monklet »

Man that is a great presentation! Thanks. Awesome that is eats f/t! Setup looks nice too. Only one thing that I might do is block off at least the back side of that glass or part of it to provide a little more sense of sercurity rather than exposure as if in a fish bowl. BUT, not sure that is really an issue. I've done it with numerous tanks and not with others and haven't noticed a significant effect if any on behavior.
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herpseeker1978
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Re: patchnose enclosure question

Post by herpseeker1978 »

I've thought of that as well, I'm thinking of getting a pine forest background of some sort that could add to the foreground. It's funny, she won't take a live pinkie, but she will take the f/t and I tried f/t fuzzy and she wouldn't take it, so she gets 2 pinkies.

Josh
Jimi
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Re: patchnose enclosure question

Post by Jimi »

Hi Josh,

Good meeting you and your wife this weekend, I had a very good time on the Chapter trip. Hope you both did too.

Considering the security problem for this visually-oriented animal, have you considered a fake-rock background? This guy:
http://www.lizard-landscapes.com/Fake-r ... level.html

produces some useful little videos to get you started. (There are other, more sophisticated resources online if you really dive in.) Caution - it's totally addicting! Building these things is great winter work. The materials are so cheap, if you don't like how something turned out, or your skills develop and you think a do-over would be a good time investment, it doesn't cause any pain to just trash a build. I'm thinking of scaling up to landscaping projects in the yard, ha ha.

Anyway, you could probably bust out a decent-looking little wraparound-with-hidey-hole, in a tan or gray grout, in a few after-work sessions. Just an idea to play around with.

Cheers,
Jimi

PS - oh, and on the broken-bottom aquarium - if you look up "vert" in the frog forums you might get some ideas on building a top (or front, if you go vert) for that old tank. For the bottom I'd probably just epoxy in a sheet of acrylic or pvc.
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