Sorry I responded to the wrong comment, I believe you were the one who recommended the rack system (thank you I will most likely purchase it). I posted a comment clarifying what my original post meant and apologizing for the misconceptions and that it sounded rude.
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I was the one who gave you the link for the rack vs vivarium thread.
@logar is the one who recommended ARS and sizes
@solarserpents is the one who recommended the metal shelving units.
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All great links and advice, I believe my initial post was just read the wrong way by some and I do apologize for that. I thank all for the advice and information.
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No problem Nathan. You just got started off on the wrong foot. I use a combination of utility shelving and small bookshelves for my tubs. I don’t have a lot of space either, but as you, I love reptiles in general, snakes in particular. I was an “accidental boa breeder” once, but I am just a keeper. I also have about a dozen tarantulas, a couple of jumping spiders, a scorpion, 3 geckos and adding a fourth soon and of course isopods. Expensive hobby but worth every penny!
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So it sounds like you have things in order as well as a lot of experience on board. Rescuing ailing reptiles is hard. I am glad you already have a vet. I just hope you don’t have to use him/her too often as it can get a bit pricey.
However, it is evident you care about your animals, which is the bottom line……
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Yup! That’s what this community is all about!
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Definitely worth every penny, been breeding my leopard geckos and crested geckos for the last few years. The greatest experience ever. I have just wanted to breed ball pythons for years and years now. It’s like a puzzle trying to fit the perfect morphs together for an awesome snake except somehow no matter what pieces you put together you always get something awesome. I love that there is a whole forum dedicated to reptile lovers.
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Yup! You are definitely in the right place for pretty much anything reptile! Do you sell your geckos somewhere? It’s against the community rules to promote sales pitches on this side/forum but I am just curious…… I don’t think geckos produce too many offspring at once?
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Since you’ve clearly bred ball pythons and have lots of them. Have you ever dealt with an aggressive one? I figured I’d just ask you rather than make a whole new thread. I have a large almost 3000 gram female. But she’s the meanest creature I’ve ever come across on this planet. As soon as anyone walks in the room she starts striking at the glass, she strikes at her ceramic bulb, and she has bitten before and when she does she constricts right away with no sign of letting go any time soon. My vet has nothing to say other than she is just aggressive. And this was odd as it randomly started up around a year after I got her and up until then I held her all the time and she had never so much as hissed. It got so bad I needed to get padding for the top of her enclosure because she cut her nose striking at the lamp. She’s a pretty pastel possible her clown and I would’ve loved to breed her with the banana pastave clown I have arriving soon but I feel like I can’t. I have tried everything from hook training to feeding her until she won’t eat anymore as my vet said it could possibly be an astronomical food drive. I had to stop feeding her because she actually ain’t so many rats and so few days I was worried about her (the vet said to do this btw, I didn’t just go and try to overfeed my snake randomly). I have heard of weird cases where snakes that are super aggressive and refuse anything but live (just like her) randomly become docile when they breed and stay docile. Have you ever experienced something like this? I would just feel to nervous about putting a little 1100 gram male in the same place as her considering how enormous and aggressive she is. Would that be too risky? I feel like it is but I’ve never done something like that before.
Didn’t realize I was ranting for so long, sorry for the damn essay lol
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I’ve actually kept most of them, the ones I haven’t I gave away to friends that I know will take good care of them. And no they do not produce much, both crested and leopard produce one to two eggs around once or twice a season depending on how soon you breed them. They’re all just wild type except for one of the crested geckos being a brindle type, so nothing too special but just a really fun experience. And they are super easy, not overwhelming at all as you only end up with one to two babies at a time and believe it or not the crested geckos are barely any larger then when they hatched after a year of having them. They are super slow at growing, probably partial to their diet consisting mostly of fruits. I highly recommend, super easy, fun, and affordable. But they don’t sell, ever, I tried posting a two of them two years ago on MorphMarket and they are still there lol. Don’t plan on selling, definitely to keep them.
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She’s stressed and defensive.
She’s one of the ones I would absolutely try putting into a large rack or tub enclosure. She’s not feeling safe or comfortable enough where she is.
I have a girl just like that and anytime she was tried out in a vivarium, even putting a blanket over the front for two weeks, she would go striking at anything as soon as she saw movement.
This is one of those cases where the animal’s personality and health are a bigger concern than the want to have perfect size ratios and extra enrichment. Putting my girl in the tub definitely helped mellow her out. She still becomes defensive when out of her enclosure for too long, but she allows me to do work around her and spot clean without me worrying she’s going to break her jaw or neck. She’s not fussy about meals anymore except when she’s gravid now and she’s put on so much more size after the move. She was a very small yearling when I first picked her up.
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How late in the season were you breeding? My girls would lay 1-2 eggs multiple times and my largest leopard gecko had 12 eggs in one season. My other 4 were around 8 eggs
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I know I am answering for @caron right now but she actually hasn’t bred them before. She does seem to have a nonstop flow of them going into her household 
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Thank you for the info, I have tried everything except for a tub only because spends almost 90% of her time as high up as she can even though she has a very good heat pad and her lamp is definitely reaching the bottom. I will have to definitely move her into the rack system once I get it. As much as I love seeing her out and about I do want her to feel safe and comfortable.
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Oh lol, well any advice is helpful so thank you
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That’s definitely stress. My girl was pretending to be a tree python until we moved her. The only time she left the high branches was the 3 times we got her to eat in the viv and she would curl up on the belly heat for a day before back to striking
They seem to feel like the higher up they are the less likely anything is to get the drop on them.
Glad somebody has experienced this before, it’s great to get some advice on this.
I try not to breed often, I know I could definitely breed them more but I don’t want to overwhelm myself. I also try to only really breed them over the summer once or twice even though they have a very large mating season just because I’m free during that time and it’s easier to tend to the babies and the moms in case something happens to them like they get egg bound.
So one of the big things is that she sounds very stressed. The constant climbing could be due to her feeling exposed and unsafe.
One thing you have to realize is that before the snake made it to your care, it most likely spent its whole life in a tub. I would try it out, even just for a couple months, and see how she responds to it. If you could get one that is about 36x18x8 inches or really any height under a foot and over 5 inches. Once she is in the tub, leave her alone for 2 weeks and then start feeding. Give her 2 meals and then try and start handling her.
Some tips with handling that are really important are you must be confident. When handling a snake, a lot of times they will match your energy. If you are nervous then they will become nervous. Even if she is striking at you, try to just ignore it. And do not put her back until she stops striking and seems to have calmed down a bit.
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Will do, she was my first snake and she was from an expo so I would agree she probably was in a tub of some sort since she was from a breeder. I’ll have to try this with my other female who tends to be a little stressed. She hangs near the top and hisses here and there. But I also don’t know for sure with her because she was form an expo and I got her for free with another snake. If you saw my other posts I got two pythons from the same breeder. One had a serious RI which I wasn’t aware of as he was so tiny and lethargic I thought he was dehydrated, the guy said he didn’t had a female with a minor upper RI that he didn’t want to treat and would throw in for free (sort of hate that guy for that, wish he would care enough to treat them). I obviously wasn’t going to leave them with Jim’s o I took them both, the female is the one that’s a little stressed and hissy but that might just be from the constant soaking and misting to keep her humidity up and help her. She’s doing okey, less wheezing than before so I’m hopeful. It’s interesting, the only reptiles I’ve ever received that weren’t sick rescues or abandoned reptiles were ones I bred myself. You should see the typ of ■■■■ I get. I received an abandoned leopard gecko in an 8”x8”x12” viv with nothing but a red lamp, green carpet, and a stick.
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