A few ?s

Would a baby GTP or ETB do well in a rainforrest display vivarium? or would It to better in a no frills enlcoser with just a pvc and paper on the floor? I was thinking of building a 75 gal size cage. and getting two snakes same species. and my second question is , at what age can they be sexed? I would like to get a male and female and raise them up and breed when they are large anough. any other tips or information would be great ! thanks in advance.

The whole arument about cages is simple, here are the two best cages on the market. They are exactly the same:
<img src="http://members.aol.com/chondrosforsale/cagee.jpg">
<img src="http://members.aol.com/chondrosforsale/tub.jpg">

Well they function the same, I dident mean looks. I personally use both, and will put a 7000 animal in a tub no problem. Its just the acrylic is 200 and the tub is 3, which ever you like.

Next diatribe, DONT HOUSE ANIMALS TOGETHER?????
First, feeding each animal is a pain in the a$$. If you have ever had to unlock emeralds from the same prey item it is a very unenjoyable experience, and never ends well.
Second, the diasese factor is a major problem. No matter how healty you emmy may appear they can harbor illness for a number of months not showing any sign and them bam you have a full blown terminal resp. infection. That sucks loosing one animal but loosing two animals sucks alot more, alot more.
Thrid, It makes keeping good records impossible. You never know who shat when and makes a fecal analysis un-reliable.

When sexing, trust the breeder, if you go to a experienced breeder he should be able to guide you on the right path. It is not a perfect science but looking at tail lengh, spurs, and how the animal is situated can give good indications of sex. Always remember no one is perfect and we all make mistakes, but for the most part there are clear indicators of sex at 2 months of age.

Joe
www.emeraldboas.com

thanks, that really made a lot of sence about houseing two animals together. I really like that fist cage, but im guessing the second one is a lot cheaper and even easy to make your self.

If you have any questions feel free to email me:

joe@emeraldboas.com

thanks

joe

www.emeraldboas.com

I'll agree with Joe about everything he said, except that they can be sexed within the first month if you get a VERY EXPERIENCED person doing it. That's the key, it has to be someone who really knows what they are doing.

On caging, babies don't generally do well in a large cage, they usually won't eat. We and many other breeders work them up in cage size as they grow. We don't put ours into adult size cages until 18-24 months of age. They start out in shoebox size plastic containers then go from there.

To add to this post, I'll say, baby chondro should NOT be sexed before 1 year of age. These snakes are tine delicate creatures and their spines are easily seperated. My chondros aren't even held until they are one year old. There are lots of people that claim they can sex baby chondros, but I wouldn't risk it. I've seen too many kinked and mangled adults from people that have tried sexing animals under a year. Good luck with which ever you decide on.

Brandon Osborne

Originally Posted by Karen Clark

I'll agree with Joe about everything he said, except that they can be sexed within the first month if you get a VERY EXPERIENCED person doing it. That's the key, it has to be someone who really knows what they are doing.

On caging, babies don't generally do well in a large cage, they usually won't eat. We and many other breeders work them up in cage size as they grow. We don't put ours into adult size cages until 18-24 months of age. They start out in shoebox size plastic containers then go from there.

karen you say you used shoeboxes, but Im not a big breeder, I want to be able to look at and show off my new snake. How do you feel about useing a 10 gal fish tank?

If it's a well established, feeding baby, then a 10 gal would be fine. However, if it refuses to eat, the first thing I would suggest is putting it back in a smaller container until it is well acclimated and eating.

With that said, glass aquariums are not the best thing for ETBs given the lack of ventilation. You need to have air circulation and that requires air holes at more than one level (i.e. the top in an aquarium). Mold goes hand in hand with the high humidity required and it's easier to control if you have adequate ventilation. Aquariums are also not the easiest to clean given the weight. If you go ahead and use one though, I would suggest making removeable perches - a jungle gym type thing - out of PVC so that you can move the animal in and out without any stress.

There may have been some confusion about my previous post pretaining to sexing animals at 2 months of age..
heres what was posted:

"When sexing, trust the breeder, if you go to a experienced breeder he should be able to guide you on the right path. It is not a perfect science but looking at tail lengh, spurs, and how the animal is situated can give good indications of sex. Always remember no one is perfect and we all make mistakes, but for the most part there are clear indicators of sex at 2 months of age."

what is ment by this passege may be misconstrude as probing for sex, WHICH WILL GIVE YOUR EMMY A KINKED TAIL or KILL IT. What is ment by the passege is that sex at a young age of 2 months can be made into a "educated guess" by examining the animal without accupuncture. I do not want to be liable for someone breaking some tails.

I tend to disagree with Karen about the cage idea. I dont believe that the size of a cage will change the feeding habbits of a already ravonous feeder, as long as it is being fed of tongs either PK or FT. Rather if feeding off live they may not find the chow, in this case a smaller feeding container may be in order.

Trust me when I say that if you place a neo in a fish tank you are just asking for trouble. Mold, mildew, bacteria, stagnet air, this all takes us to the wonderful land of respatory infections, then on the the isle of neumonia, and finally a stay at the relaxing resort of premature death.
I am being silly but if you decide to go with the 7 dollar fish tank you better get used to the 100 a vial word of pepircillin(spelling??).
If i were you than make something like this and place a small heat pad under the end with no water dish on a reostat set at 84 deg. Bam under 100 and you have the perfect neo setup.

<img src="http://www.emeraldboas.com/neocage.jpg">

sorry Im a little slap happy, way to much coffee

later
joe