Keith
- Everglade Orange Rat Snake
Choosing
a snake
Feeding
the snake
Housing
the snake
Links
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Keith - Everglade Orange Rat Snake
- Keith is my pet snake, he was a birthday present from Bex
and my younger sister Helen (I know not the best way to
get a new pet but I had been looking into getting one for
a number of years but not had the cash). He is an
Everglade Orange Rat Snake, a sub-species of the Red Rat
snake, originating from Florida in the US. The species is
on the endangered list as most of Florida's reptiles are
but he had been born in captivity. There is a large trade
in illegally imported reptiles, which have been
wild-caught, but these tend to be aggressive and more
often die of stress in captivity so it is VERY important
to check that any potential pet is captive bred. I
believe that wild animals should stay in the wild.
- Keith was about one year when I got him and about 2'
6" long, 12 months on he is now 3'4" in length
(and very greedy). Although he was a bit timid at first,
he is now very tame and does not mind (too much) being
handled. He is very inquisitive and will try to explore
anything in his immediate vicinity. One of his favorite
pastimes is clambering and if he is not watched he will
attempt to climb behind the posters I have tacked to my
wall (causing me grate distress when he successes in
evading me only to fall down). People often think that I
am a bit strange when I tell them that he loves to watch
telly, the X-files is his favorite. He will coil around
my arm hiding up my sleeve with just his head poking out,
and not move while the show is on.
- I feel that it is very important to try to keep pets in
surroundings as close to their wild habitat as possible.
I keep the temperature at a constant 80-82 F in the warm
end and about 77-79K in the cooler end of the tank. I
drop the night temperature to about 75 F in the warm end
and 73 F in the cooler end. I use a man made substrate (I
don't know what it is called) and I try to keep it 3-4'
deep to allow Keith to bury himself as his sub-species
does tunnel in the wild. I also include a large
clambering branch for him to perch on again they spend
time in the trees in the wild. For more information on
how to house snakes see the housing the snake
section.
-
- The information I have given below is only a rough guide
to choosing and keeping a pet snake, the information is
through my own observations so do not take it as the
final word.
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Choosing a snake
- Before you buy a pet snake (or any pet for that matter)
read as much as you can about it. People will all tell
you different things so try to take a balanced view on
anything you are told. I can only tell you what I have
learnt from my own experience, and from what I can tell
from people I have talked to it is different for every
animal.
-
- These are some points to remember:-
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- How big will it grow?
- Snakes can grow to many different sizes, just because it
is the size of a pen when you buy it, it may still grow
to be 20'
-
- What does it eat?
- All snakes are carnivorous, most eat cute furry animals!!
If you object to feeding it what your little sister would
like as a pet then there are some fish eating species
(i.e Garter snake)
-
- How old is it?
- Snakes can live to be older than 20 years old if properly
looked after. If you are getting an adult snake then you
do not want to pay £200 for an animal that could die of
old age in a year or two.
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Feeding the snake
- The first thing to remember is that all snakes are
carnivores, most eat small rodents. Remember that you
will have to feed the animal regularly so you will need a
regular supply of what ever it eats. But don't panic,
most good pet shops will supply frozen mice (or rats).
Young snakes start on very small baby mice, these are
often referred to as "Pinkies" because they a
day old and a cm long and with no fur. As the snake gets
bigger it needs larger food, "Fuzzes" are young
mice with a bit of fur in them and "Weeners"
are young mice. Larger snakes may need fully-grown rats
or even rabbits!
- It is difficult to say how much a snakes should be fed as
this depends very muck on the snake. Peoples I have
talked to generally agree on feeding twice a week when
little, moving to once a week when they are older to once
a fortnight when they are fully grown. I feed Keith 4
weeners every week (he will not usually take any more).
It is a difficult to say when to move the feeding cycles,
but as a rule, change from twice a week when you move
from pinkies to weeners and to once a fortnight when your
snake is fully grown. These are just guide lines and only
what I have found from talking to people and observing
Keith if anyone has any ideas or objections to these then
please mail me.
- I keep my food in an old margarine tub in the freezer,
this is probably more hygienic (plus it keeps my mum off
my back) than having them loose or in a paper bag. I try
to keep a few weeks supply in so if I wont run out. If
you are as sadistic as me try battering and deep fat
frying pinkies and then offer them to people as pork
scratchings (sick but good for a laugh).
- Please note that in the UK it is illegal to feed live
vertebrae animals to other animals, it may also be
illegal to kill them your self (if some one knows then
please mail me). It can also be dangerous to the snake,
if he is not hungry then an angry mouse or rat could
injure or even kill your pet.
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Housing the snake
- A VERY important consideration before buying a pet snake
is you will keep it. The tank, or vivarium as they are
usually referred to as, will cost as much if not more
than the pet itself if you are setting up from scratch.
To give you an idea, the 5' tank I currently use for
Keith (featured below) cost about £150 to setup. It is
very important to get the correct viv as your pet will
suffer and probably die if it is not setup correctly.
- The first thing to consider is how secure is it. No
matter how secure the tank is your pet will try to
escape. Recently Keith got out and eat the pet gerbil!!
Luckily he was not injured but I have now taken to
locking the tank doors, the device locks between the two
sliding doors at the front of the viv and stops them
being moved, these can be bort from the pet shop that
sold you the tank.
- Another important consideration is the temperature and
light controls. As reptiles are cold-blooded, they need
to be kept at a constant temperature. It is a good idea
to use an adjustable thermostat in the tank to control
the heat, is the snake is to hot or to cold than it can
stop feeding and even die. I use a simple thermostat,
which contains a thermometer that is lowered into the
tank and a light fitting, the thermostat turns the heat
bulb on and off when required. You can use an infrared
heat bulb but I found that the flashing light drove me
mad (the tank is in my bedroom) and is not really good
for the animal, so I now use a ceramic heat bulb. These
are quite a bit more expensive than ordinary bulbs (about
£20 compared to £5) but are a lot less stressful on
both the animal and the owner. It is important to drop
the temperature at night because snake can become
infertile and even stop feeding if there is not a night
period in it's daily cycle. I keep Keith at about 80-85
degrees during the day and drop it to 75 -78 during the
night, these temperatures were obtained from an atlas on
the area where he would live if in the wild. These will
very from species to species so it is important to find
out about your pet before you buy it (if you do not have
access to an atlas then visit your local library but the
pet shop should be able to advise you). Just as important
is the consideration of lighting. Again snakes need a day
period and a night period, absence of these can lead to a
lack if eating and infertility. Personally I use a strip
light designed for reptile use, these produce UV in the
quantity from the sun. The retile needs this for the
production of vitamin D and calcium. You can get powders
to add to the food but the light should be sufficient,
unlike lizards, snakes eat mainly mice and get calcium
from the bones.
- Another very important consideration is the size of the
tank. There is no point getting a 1' tank for a snake
that will grow to 4' in 12 months. There is no real rule
about how big or small the tank should be but a general
rule of thumb is not to have the tank any less than 1/2
the length of the snake. No matter what you are told the
snake will not just grow to the size of the tank if they
grow to 8' in the wild they will grow to 8' in captivate.
A friend once caught a pet shop trying to sell a boa
claming it would only grow to 4', in actual fact it would
grow to 4' in the first year and 10' in the first 3
years. Personally I like my tank to be as long, if not
longer than the snake it will house.
- Once you have set up the heating and lighting in your
viv, then you must try to consider how to decorate it. It
will really depend on your snake as to how you lay it
out, but there are a number of things you should include.
The animal will need a water dish, this must be kept
clean with the water changed at least every couple of
days (preferably every day). Snakes often like to bath
(especially when they are shedding) so try to select a
dish that is large enough to totally submerge the animal.
You should make sure that you provide a suitable area for
the animal to hide and feed secure in. You can buy hide
boxes but I just use a large amount of plastic foliage
(the type you can buy for fish tanks) at one end of the
tank. Keith hides in this and looks out, the advantage if
this is that you can still see the animal, when it is
hiding in a box you may never see in. The only thing
about using this method is never dig your pet out from
under the plants, it must feel like it is safe there. I
like to include a basking rock in the tank, it is
positioned under the heat lamp so it absorbs the head
throughout the day. You can buy heated basking rocks but
these designed for lizards and are not a good idea for
snake as they can burn them. I include a branch for Keith
to climb and coil around, this has to be strong enough to
hold his weight without collapsing.
- The substrate (floor covering) must be chosen very
carefully. The simplest and most hygienic method is to
use absorbent paper. I think that this looks unsightly
and prefer to use a manmade substance bought from my
local pet shop. It is important that you use a material
designed for reptiles, as some things (such as cedar
wood) can be poisons to some snakes and lizards. The
manmade substrates tend to be the best as they are
designed to dissolve if swallowed. No mater how hard you
try, your snake will swallow some if it is fed whilst in
the tank and wood chip can cause a blockage. See the
section on feeding
the snake for more information.
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Links
- These are just some usfull links to other herp pages I
found usfull when I first started.
Kingsnake.com
Melissa Kaplan's Herp Care
Acme Pet
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You can E-Mail me at:- longhairedman@fcmail.com
