Not-Really-Colubrids: African House Snakes! Discussion and Show-off

Oh how exciting! I hear they can be prolific off of even one good pairing.

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Crossing my fingers for you!! You know if you do we’ll be absolutely delighted to hear about their progress. I’d love to breed housies someday, but I’m new to the hobby in general so I’m taking it very, very slow and making sure I know what I’m doing before even considering bringing home a mate for Chester, so I’d particularly value updates on how everything’s going with your noodles.

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Yeah, I’m kind of new to the house plant game too, hah! We researched and bought a bunch of appropriate plants from a garden centre a couple months ago and have been monitoring/quarantining them for issues or pests, but wow, plants are a whole new world of “what on earth is happening” for me.

We’ve also got our isopod/springtail culture set up in a little side tank and are intending to keep a backup culture there in case anything goes really hinky with the big viv. Been considering other clean-up crew, too, but I’m not sure. Do the millipedes cause problems for your other CuC?

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The millipede was a hitchhiker, and it’s a common lil dude, nothing fancy. He’ll be lucky to hit 1.5 inches, so I’m not too worried about him. At that size he and the other detritivores will be fine neighbors.
My isopod culture mostly live in their box as their own lil enclosure but I used them to seed the Bioactive too. Armadillidium vulgare are amazingly tough, and so are the Trichorhina tomentosa. So much so they can be a contagion to take precautions with if there is any enclosure you do NOT want them to get to by accidental cross contaminating.

Today Sangfroid moved into his new bioactive forest floor home. He went under the leaves and we’ll see if I ever see him again. Will update with pics eventually.

Edit! PICS

here’s how the bioactive turned out. it’s a Kages black pvc, vinyl wrapped on the front and sides, and the seams painted in white.
The light is a grow light so the plants have some UVB and it’s weak but if Sangfroid wants a lil he can have some. He’s nocturnal so strictly speaking he could live without it but still.
Plants on the far right are fake, because they’ll smell familiar to him since they were in his old home, but also because nothing that wants that much shade will stand being that warm.
The plant in the front flowering madly is one of two African Violets.

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My vulgare culture has exploded recently and I’m pretty sure I could drop them in a volcano and come back to find them breeding like crazy :rofl:

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I’ve heard the same, but I paired late last year (late fall time frame) and haven’t gotten any eggs yet. I suspect maybe it was a bit too cold and she was off of her cycle, so I’m trying again now that it’s spring!

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If she does go and you don’t want her to keep going, don’t feed her after she lays. She’s going to look terrible but resist the urge. Double clutching them is fine but they’ll lay 3 or 4 if you keep feeding them after they lay each time.

I’m taking my last house snake to a show this weekend and it’s bitter sweet but I need to narrow my focus down to ATBs, Hognose, Kingsnakes, Boas, Carpets, Heloderma, and Rattlesnakes. That’s me focusing :rofl::rofl:

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Very pin point, if I do say so myself lol :joy:

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Well you’re certainly still welcome to advise in this thread- you’re one of the few people around here who has bred many AHS, and you’ve been very kind helping me.
Laser like focus indeed, Sir.

I have introduced Sangfroid to his Bioactive and at first I thought he was hiding because he was stressed by the adjustment-
Nope.
He was in blue somehow and now he shed. He’s been putting on lovely growth since he began to eat more regularly.

Today I am fine tuning the UTH mat- the previous one suddenly didn’t seem to have enough power to warm his burrow enough to be a good digesting heat. In addition to letting him settle in I’ve been tweaking that and not feeding him until I get it right- but I’ve replaced it with a better one. He seems pleased to have a new warm burrow but he also likes the very dark corner behind the thick stand of African violet at the back of the cool side.
Overall, I think he’s interested in his new surroundings and likes how much COVER there is. (So much cover)

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Chester continues to grow and thrive. This good good girl is nearly four times the weight she was when she arrived with me!

Got some shots of her in the blue evening light and it really makes her patterns pop. She just gets prettier and prettier as she grows.




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Cheering for Sangfroid and his growth spurt! How’s the little man enjoying his bioactive?

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Wow, she has gotten so big! That color is just amazing!

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How is Sangfroid? Are you seeing him much these days? His home looks fabulous, so there’s that at least.

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Aww, I just love their sweet l’il faces!

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She’s gotten so big! And it looks like her colours have only gotten better. What a gorgeous little snake.

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@caryl He quite likes his warm little dugout burrow but I am not happy with the consistency of the temperature he’s getting in there.

I think that’s why he’s a little finicky about eating right now. (I’m glad! I’d rather he be picky than for him to eat if he hasn’t got the perfect digestion heat.) Like, it’s warm enough in there but his hot spot digesting-spot hide needs to be perfected. So I have changed out the heat mat I was using and I am going to use a third and better thermostat, one more likely to be able to stay within one degree of the chosen temp.

@kabre Chester looks amazing! What a good peppernoodle.
Thanks for the encouragement! I need to take pics. He is getting quite long. Soon he’ll be almost his adult length if he’ll just get back to eating reliably. There’s always something to fiddle with in that enclosure but the african violets and the calathea are doing well.

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Hey y’all… guess what? :grin:


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YOOOO I’M SO EXCITED FOR YOU!!! I’m no breeder (yet) but those look like good eggs, huh?

Cheering for a batch of gorgeous, healthy babies!

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Thank you!! Totally took me by surprise, I was doing my normal daily water checks and saw something white. They all candled well! I hope they stay good!!

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This will be a really fun adventure. 9 good eggs, a couple that didn’t have good veins yet but I’ll check again in a couple of weeks. I’m so excited about this. It will be a bit of an adventure - my incubator is currently filled with ball python eggs, which incubate at 87 degrees and is way too warm for the house snakes. I’m planning to incubate them on the top shelf of my closet, which is generally 76-80 degrees. And I’ll need to figure out how I want to keep the babies secure as well, since I’m not sure there’s any rack system I would trust with these little escape noodles.

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