| T O P I C R E V I E W |
| prozacbear |
Posted - 03/10/2010 : 19:41:12
Hi these are some pics of Cassi who never fails to strike feed like a ninja (so far touch wood). This week she chose to eat her rats while hanging from her vine, oh and backwards 
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| 15 L A T E S T R E P L I E S (Newest First) |
| prozacbear |
Posted - 12/10/2010 : 20:48:40
quote:
Originally posted by hiper2009
quote:
Originally posted by prozacbear
quote:
Originally posted by hiper2009
Thank you for putting lovly pics of the set up , Very faintly i can see Cassi in the moss box , Do you keep the mossbox on the cold side or warm side ?
It's between the cold side and the middle, mostly because this seems to be Cassi's favourite location (when not hanging from ceiling).
Oh right i keep my moss hides on the warm side is this wrong then ? And my cold ends are just orchid bark but just slightley damp from the misting.. 
As much as possible I let the snake chose, I make sure there is a good selection of hides at both both ends and middle so the snake does not have to chose between the security of a hide or thermoregulation. Cassi seems to like the middle to cold end when sleeping, so that's where I put the moisture box, but she still has caves at each end. Quite often she will just bury herself under all that moss. Finding her can take a while sometimes  |
| Snakesitter |
Posted - 12/10/2010 : 19:02:33
No, not wrong; it's really a matter of your taste and your snake's preferences. I move mine depending on the season: during the hot summer, the hide is on the cool end; during the cold winter, it is on the warm end. So long as your snake is not burying him or herself under the substrate on the opposite end of the cage, your hide is probably fine where it is. |
| hiper2009 |
Posted - 12/10/2010 : 00:43:50
quote:
Originally posted by prozacbear
quote:
Originally posted by hiper2009
Thank you for putting lovly pics of the set up , Very faintly i can see Cassi in the moss box , Do you keep the mossbox on the cold side or warm side ?
It's between the cold side and the middle, mostly because this seems to be Cassi's favourite location (when not hanging from ceiling).
Oh right i keep my moss hides on the warm side is this wrong then ? And my cold ends are just orchid bark but just slightley damp from the misting.. |
| Snakesitter |
Posted - 11/10/2010 : 20:53:12
LOL! Beautiful setups, I'm jealous! |
| prozacbear |
Posted - 11/10/2010 : 20:43:05
quote:
Originally posted by hiper2009
Thank you for putting lovly pics of the set up , Very faintly i can see Cassi in the moss box , Do you keep the mossbox on the cold side or warm side ?
It's between the cold side and the middle, mostly because this seems to be Cassi's favourite location (when not hanging from ceiling). |
| hiper2009 |
Posted - 10/10/2010 : 20:40:52
Thank you for putting lovly pics of the set up , Very faintly i can see Cassi in the moss box , Do you keep the mossbox on the cold side or warm side ? |
| prozacbear |
Posted - 10/10/2010 : 09:09:33
quote:
Originally posted by hiper2009
Thank you Susan that would be great and thanks for the link your a star !! 
Sorry for the delay (work and stuff ). Here are some viv pics:
Cats were feeling left out
Cassi is on the top
Lots of moss
You can see the sandwich tub with moss Cassi can use for extra hummidity (she is often in there at shed time), she is very milky today and although you can't see in pic I can see she is in there.
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| hiper2009 |
Posted - 07/10/2010 : 12:37:22
Thank you Susan that would be great and thanks for the link your a star !! |
| prozacbear |
Posted - 05/10/2010 : 20:05:52
quote:
Originally posted by hiper2009
Yes if its not to much effort can you post some pics on here of the viv and also can you tell me where you bought your vivs from as i will need to buy two of them , although my two are not quite big enough to move in to a viv yet i would like to seal the vivs so they are ready when needed to move but they are both tiny , Mayhem is a fussy feeder and only feeds when assisted and bow is feeding great so she will grow much faster.. .
Also what prey and size do you feed cassie ?
Sure I will try and take some pics for you. I bought the viv's from a local reptile dealer to where I live in Southampton. His name is Steve and he runs Reptile Connections, his given me lots of good advice in the past
http://www.reptileconnection.co.uk/Home2.html
When I got Cassi she was on small mice, but now she is eating two rat fluffs a week, she could eat one small weaner, but to be honest I have a load of fluffs in the freezer I need to use up. When I bought Cassi the shop told me that they had trouble getting her to feed on anything without fur, so they were chopping up fluffs for her rather than feeding her pinks  |
| Snakesitter |
Posted - 05/10/2010 : 19:43:03
quote:
Originally posted by prozacbear
Talking of horror films my husband was just spraying Cassi's viv (not knowing where she was) and her head silently came down from the ceiling just like that scene from Alean
LOL that's great! (Hopefully no one got eaten.)
quote:
Originally posted by hiper2009
Mayhem is a fussy feeder and only feeds when assisted
How so? Maybe we can give you some ideas. |
| hiper2009 |
Posted - 05/10/2010 : 19:01:49
Yes if its not to much effort can you post some pics on here of the viv and also can you tell me where you bought your vivs from as i will need to buy two of them , although my two are not quite big enough to move in to a viv yet i would like to seal the vivs so they are ready when needed to move but they are both tiny , Mayhem is a fussy feeder and only feeds when assisted and bow is feeding great so she will grow much faster.. .
Also what prey and size do you feed cassie ? |
| prozacbear |
Posted - 05/10/2010 : 18:44:18
quote:
Originally posted by Snakesitter
quote:
Originally posted by prozacbear
When we bought Cassi the guy in the shop told us that they never strike feed, you show them the food, put it on the floor leave them alone together and the food will disappear. So the first time we feed her my husband showed her a nice warm mouse, let her have a sniff, moved to place the mouse on the floor? As he moved the mouse away from her BANG she flew off the wood she was on (again near the ceiling) struck in mid air, wrapped a few coils still in mid air, and landed with the mouse completely intwined. I still laugh when I remember my husbands face standing there stunned with the empty tongs still in his hand.
I think if we were naming her now Ninja would be appropriate
Never strike feed?! I have one and only one snake that refuses to strike feed on a consistent basis. Wow.
In a perfect show of irony, the very night I said none of my snakes feed like Cassi, one of my yearlings (Bixbite) proved me wrong. She was hanging out on the side/top of her water bowl (which is in turn on top of her hide), and grabbed the rat pop I offered to coil it against the side of the water bowl. Unfortunately, she did it on the back side, so pictures were out of the question.
I also had an amusing feed session with Spessartine, who insisted her food be re-scented and re-warmed at least twice before her majesty designed to accept it; and one of my new big males, who re-created a scene out of a horror movie: I saw the rat get struck, and then suddenly YANK -- like literally a fraction of a second -- it was dragged right out of sight behind the water tub, never to be seen or heard from again.
It is amazing to see the dexterity they show sometimes when they feed, especially when you consider what duffers they can be on other occasions (taking 20 mins to find the right end etc). Talking of horror films my husband was just spraying Cassi's viv (not knowing where she was) and her head silently came down from the ceiling just like that scene from Alean |
| Snakesitter |
Posted - 05/10/2010 : 18:32:51
quote:
Originally posted by prozacbear
When we bought Cassi the guy in the shop told us that they never strike feed, you show them the food, put it on the floor leave them alone together and the food will disappear. So the first time we feed her my husband showed her a nice warm mouse, let her have a sniff, moved to place the mouse on the floor? As he moved the mouse away from her BANG she flew off the wood she was on (again near the ceiling) struck in mid air, wrapped a few coils still in mid air, and landed with the mouse completely intwined. I still laugh when I remember my husbands face standing there stunned with the empty tongs still in his hand.
I think if we were naming her now Ninja would be appropriate
Never strike feed?! I have one and only one snake that refuses to strike feed on a consistent basis. Wow.
In a perfect show of irony, the very night I said none of my snakes feed like Cassi, one of my yearlings (Bixbite) proved me wrong. She was hanging out on the side/top of her water bowl (which is in turn on top of her hide), and grabbed the rat pop I offered to coil it against the side of the water bowl. Unfortunately, she did it on the back side, so pictures were out of the question.
I also had an amusing feed session with Spessartine, who insisted her food be re-scented and re-warmed at least twice before her majesty designed to accept it; and one of my new big males, who re-created a scene out of a horror movie: I saw the rat get struck, and then suddenly YANK -- like literally a fraction of a second -- it was dragged right out of sight behind the water tub, never to be seen or heard from again. |
| prozacbear |
Posted - 05/10/2010 : 16:42:03
quote:
Originally posted by hiper2009
quote:
Originally posted by prozacbear
quote:
Originally posted by hiper2009
Great pics , Quick question for you - how do you keep the humidity right in that viv don't your viv rot and wrap from the high humidity ??
Hi, I have so far found the humidity much easier to maintain in this big viv than the rub that I used to keep her in. I also had a problem with mould in the rub but that is no longer a problem since I moved to the viv, better air flow I guess. I use lots of moss as well as the orchid bark substrate. I spray mostly the moss about once a day and humidity stays between 80-90. The viv is a large Vivexotic (they come with good thick chipboard walls all the way round) the chipboard is coated in water repellent vinyl and after construction we put bathroom sealant around all the edges. We made sure that the sealant was completely dry before we putting Cassi in as the fumes while it drys can be toxic.
So far the viv has meant less day to day maintenance for me and more fun for Cassi
Thank you for sharing that with me you may have just saved me alot of money now i was going to buy two exo terra glass tanks for my two but they are expensive ..  , You said the bords are water repelant is that how it already is when is bought or did you have to paint this stuff on to the chipbords ?
Also the sealent you used can't i use aquarium sealent or does it have to be the bathroom silicone stuff?.
How big is your viv and is it a LX or VX ?
Hi I am by no means an expert and can only give you my experiences so far. The viv is a VX48. The viv came with vinyl coated chipboard I then used the sealant on all edges to stop water directly getting to the chipboard. I only used the clear bathroom stuff because it is a lot cheaper, and so long as you make sure it properly dry before adding animals is safe to use.
The chipboard on these viv's is half inch thick on all sides unlike some of the cheaper makes whose backs are made out of hardboard and warp in about a year. If you want I can take some pics for you. Personally I have found the better air flow that you get from a viv over a tank has made keeping it clean much easier, the whole environment feels fresher compared to the rub. With daily spraying you are constantly replacing the water rather than letting it go stagnant.
A moisture retaining substrate plus LOTS of moss also seems the key. I know moss is expensive but in the viv it lasts for ages with just spot cleaning (again because the water stays fresh), and Cassi loves to burrow into it. I have put a small moisture box made from a sandwich box and moss inside the viv in case Cassi fancies extra humid. The wood inside the viv is coffee plant, so wood that is used to humid conditions and won't go soft and mouldy.
The best thing about a big viv is it allows your snake to chose. You can provide them a good range of temperatures, environments, and conditions and then they can just move into what is best for them at that time, which saves me a lot of worry.
But again thats just the way I've done it
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| hiper2009 |
Posted - 05/10/2010 : 15:40:09
quote:
Originally posted by prozacbear
quote:
Originally posted by hiper2009
Great pics , Quick question for you - how do you keep the humidity right in that viv don't your viv rot and wrap from the high humidity ??
Hi, I have so far found the humidity much easier to maintain in this big viv than the rub that I used to keep her in. I also had a problem with mould in the rub but that is no longer a problem since I moved to the viv, better air flow I guess. I use lots of moss as well as the orchid bark substrate. I spray mostly the moss about once a day and humidity stays between 80-90. The viv is a large Vivexotic (they come with good thick chipboard walls all the way round) the chipboard is coated in water repellent vinyl and after construction we put bathroom sealant around all the edges. We made sure that the sealant was completely dry before we putting Cassi in as the fumes while it drys can be toxic.
So far the viv has meant less day to day maintenance for me and more fun for Cassi
Thank you for sharing that with me you may have just saved me alot of money now i was going to buy two exo terra glass tanks for my two but they are expensive .. , You said the bords are water repelant is that how it already is when is bought or did you have to paint this stuff on to the chipbords ?
Also the sealent you used can't i use aquarium sealent or does it have to be the bathroom silicone stuff?.
How big is your viv and is it a LX or VX ? |
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