HOW TO BREED SNAKES AT HOME?

Breed snakes at home. How to make boa not become a noose around his neck? Sergei Novikov shares personal experiences.

Bring any animal home parents never forbade me. While many of our new settlers were not the most pleasant way. What was worth one bat Ty that when the light in the room suddenly strove to land on the first available head, or hedgehog Topotun waking up after sunset and rumbles through the night in search of mice ...

 

 

But perhaps the most spine tingling mom ran at the sight of snakes. Snakes, snakes and other were my special passion.How much fun it was to watch their graceful movements, amazing molt when their skin crawled like an old sock ...

 

On the eve of the New Year Water Black Snake on the eastern horoscope, I consider it necessary to share some thoughts, if you also pleases make any zmeyuku.

 

Let's start with the habitat. Have to shell out a terrarium - glass house for all reptiles. It will create the conditions necessary for your pet. Needless need a lamp that simulates daylight. Plus ultraviolet light necessary for healthy inhabitants of the glass house.

 

 

The size of the cage depends on the size of the occupant: the larger the snake, the larger the terrarium. And more. For species living on trees, more important height than the bottom area. For terrestrial snakes - all the way around. The main thing that the reptile had the opportunity to choose the most needed her temperature. For which the lamp warms one corner, the other, opposite, must be cooler.

 

I remember I started to keep snakes in an aquarium covered with glass top. However, to access the air had to leave the crack ... So this schelochkoy willingly used to escape a particularly tricky inhabitants. Conclusion: if you want to protect themselves and their pets, pay attention to the structural strength of the cage and the ability of ventilation!

 

Humidity and soil substrate is very important. But, again, for each species - their requirements, so before the new pet perepolzet threshold of your home, you just need to know all about his natural habitats.

 

For example, for a kite is very important humidity. It can be supported, if you put in the cage any container with water. In this case, its size should allow the snake to stay in a warm area out of the water.

 

Remember that drinking water in one way or another is needed most species of snakes. Many terrestrial snakes, especially of arid areas, small enough capacity for drinking, whereas waterfowl species, especially foraging in water, need large pond where the snake can completely free to stay.

 

 - Sergei Novikov, a biologist, host of "Living History", "Flower of history"

 

 How would you not want to continually watch your snake in all its glory, without shelter can not do. And here's why. No possibility to hide leads to stress, increase aggressiveness, refusal to feed, and even - to disease and death. The main requirement for shelters for snakes - they should not be spacious. Snake feels secure when the body comes into contact with the walls of refuge. The rest of the design and material of shelters are not of fundamental importance - it can be made ​​of cardboard, wood or plastic containers of appropriate size with an input that allows the snake to crawl into it with a large prey in the stomach, that is about 3 times larger than the maximum thickness of the snake in the ordinary state.

 

What we put on the bottom? It is almost universal substrates suitable for the content of various kinds of snakes are moss (sphagnum and other) and newsprint or paper towels, etc. But second place is occupied by the universality of wood shavings (hardwood), fallen leaves (especially oak), coconut substrate and crushed bark. Sand is applicable only in some cases, when the content of desert species of snakes that live in the nature of the sand and buried him.

 

What a terrarium without plants? They do not just decorate it, but also provide the necessary moisture and serve as home to the wood species of snakes. What to choose? It is at your discretion, most importantly do not forget that it is useful to get special Phyto lamp that will feel like a real greens sunlight.

 

Now about food. The vast majority of snake species feed exclusively on animal food. They eat snakes, usually rare or very rare, but can one eat a big meal, relative to their size, their prey. These features in the first place and will dictate to us the basic rules of feeding snakes at a content in the terrarium - necessary as often as possible to use natural feed, animal nutrition should be as diverse as possible, but at the same time "underfeeding better overfeeding."

 

As a kind of "golden mean", you can take the frequency of feeding 1 per week, with breaks for molting. Adults large species, boas and pythons are extremely prone to obesity, so it is better to feed every 30-40 days. Obesity adversely affects the general condition of the animal.

 

The optimum size of food item is different for different species of snakes. As some averaged quantities applicable in most cases, can be called the length of the production equal to twice the length of the head of the snake. Weight of food eaten at one time should be around 20% of the weight of the snake.

 

Well, in a nutshell, it is - a necessary minimum. If you are still willing to give their care and affection scaly beauty, then nothing you will not stop. So - good luck!