Reptile owners, Advice, Please!
Thread originally posted on the Aeclectic Tarot Forum on 04 Sep 2002, and now archived in the Forum Library.
| DarkElectric |
04 Sep 2002 |
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Hello!
I need some advice, here, from any other Snake/reptile people, or any one who knows about the care of reptiles.
My dear familiar is an amber albino Gopher snake (Amber eyes, not red.) She was bred in captivity. She's 4 years old now.
My question is this...She lives in a large aquarium modified for reptile habitation. But I would like to make it a more natural environment for her. She is a rat snake, this means she would burrow if she could. But because she's domesticated, if I just go out and dig up some dirt to floor her home with, it could cause innumerable health problems. (Parasites, fungus, diseases transmitted by wild snakes..) I think she'd be a lot happier with a natural environment. Does anyone know of a place which sells sterilised earth for this, or any other purpose?
I love her a lot, she's a great snake and I want her to be happy.
(Her name is Merlin :) )
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| truthsayer |
04 Sep 2002 |
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why not contact a museum or zoo that keeps snakes as live exhibits and find out what kind of soil they use in reptile habitats? another thought is to go to a search engine or about.com. i think more expensive garden soil is sanitized but whether it would be safe for a snake like merlin i don't know. my bother has several iguanas. i found lots of info for iguana habitats for him just by using a search engine like yahoo.
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| DarkElectric |
05 Sep 2002 |
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That's a great idea! Thanks, Truthsayer! (Merlin thanks you too! :) )
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| jade |
05 Sep 2002 |
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i used to keep my mice (80 of them) in dirt. i used plain, no additive, potting soil but you need to open the bags and let them air out so that any spores that may be in them are allowed to diffuse in the air.
other than that, my mice were never happier. :D mind you i mixed the soil with 50% aspen shavings to make it less compact.
AND make sure the soil is not moist or it WILL mold!
love
jade
ps i never had snakes though, but my mice did great in this dirt.
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| DarkElectric |
05 Sep 2002 |
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Thank you everyone!
Potting soil is a very good suggestion! Thank you, Jade. I guess it has to be relatively sterile, so as to prevent infestation of plants. And Laurel, I will check the link out, ASAP! Thanks again!
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| jade |
05 Sep 2002 |
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purchased potting soil is sterile but you need to make sure it doesn't have any of the fertilizer additives.
in light,
jade
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| VmprGokuboi69 |
24 Sep 2002 |
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i have an iguana and i did research to find out what is poisonous to them and she now has logs and limbs to climb on.... as for your snake, potting soil is a good idea, but jave you thought of like fish tank things... or buckets that have a hole cut in them so she/he could crawl into it? it wouldn't be burrowing... but it would give it a place to hide
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The Reptile owners, Advice, Please! thread was originally posted on 04 Sep 2002 in the Chat board, and is now archived in the Forum Library. Read the active threads in Chat, or read more archived threads.
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