• Responding to email notices you receive.
    **************************************************
    In short, DON'T! Email notices are to ONLY alert you of a reply to your private message or your ad on this site. Replying to the email just wastes your time as it goes NOWHERE, and probably pisses off the person you thought you replied to when they think you just ignored them. So instead of complaining to me about your messages not being replied to from this site via email, please READ that email notice that plainly states what you need to do in order to reply to who you are trying to converse with.

  • IMPORTANT! PLEASE READ!! About the Google Adsense ads being displayed

    =====================
    Posted 08/15/2025
    =====================


    Yeah, I know. They are a pain in the butt. But they pay the bills to keep my server running. Just a fact of life, I am afraid.

    Want to get rid of them? Simple. Just become a Contributor level member or above and they will be gone. -> Please click HERE."

    Is that too much for me to ask of you to keep this site running? Well, sorry about that. I too wish I could get everything for free. But alas.....

    =====================
    Addendum: 01/10/2026
    =====================


    Google Adsense ad revenue for December, 2025 was just $30 over the cost of the lease for the server running this site. So, in effect, the money providing the incentive for me to continue running this site is coming SOLELY from the paid memberships and sponsorships here. Which honestly ain't much....

Breeding Newbie asking some questions (we all have to start somewhere!)

redtailboa12 said:
What are the genetics of a sunglow?
Click to expand...

A Sunglow is basically an Albino Salmon. To make one you'd need either...

Albino and Salmon Het Albino (aka DH Sunglow) or
Salmon DH and Salmon DH, or
Salmon DH and Normal Het Albino.

The Normal could also be a Pastel Het Albino if you wanted, and possibly add some more color in addition to what the Salmon would bring in. Or Arabesque Het, Motley Het, etc. People have also used the orange tail line of Hypo DH to make Sunglows. A Sunglow bred to anything with an albino gene can make a Sunglow also. AND, if both parents are Salmon or both Orange tail, all Hypo offspring have an equal chance of being a Super. (homozygous...2 Salmon genes paired up)

So much to know, it's like, where do you start. LOL
 
On the question of housing them together or separately, I'm also just a pet keeper, but in my ignorance (blissful!) used to keep a Boa, 2 Ball Pythons and a Corn snake in the same tank and never had an issue. Now I keep 3 Fiji boas together (littermates of similar size) and also haven't had problems.

I can see it would be a problem if you were constantly introducing new snakes, as many breeders may do, but for a small number of pets I'm not sure I see the problem. Maybe I've just been lucky so far.
 
Haha! I would not recommend keeping different species of snake in the same tank. But yeah, I'm just thinking for space saving and the hassle of buying a new cage for him. Thanks for your reply, and I wish I would live in the Fiji Islands!
 
Helenthereef said:
On the question of housing them together or separately, I'm also just a pet keeper, but in my ignorance (blissful!) used to keep a Boa, 2 Ball Pythons and a Corn snake in the same tank and never had an issue. Now I keep 3 Fiji boas together (littermates of similar size) and also haven't had problems.

I can see it would be a problem if you were constantly introducing new snakes, as many breeders may do, but for a small number of pets I'm not sure I see the problem. Maybe I've just been lucky so far.
Click to expand...

The main concern with housing snakes/reptiles together would be their health. If one is sick, but not showing signs yet, then by the time you see these signs, the others in the enclosure will likely be sick as well, showing signs yet or not.

Then you also have that off chance of ophiophagous activity happening. Boa are not cannibalistic, but there have been more then one report, and I've seen pics of it, where a Boa ate a ball python, and regurgitated it later, then became pretty ill itself, and later died.

Competition for hiding places, warmth or cool spots can cause stress in non social species. Feeding time can be a problem sometimes too. You feed each their own item, but after they kill it and start looking where to start eating it, they find the one their cage mate has already started on. You can imagine the problems trying to convince them to let go and get the other one instead, or what if you couldn't supervise and didn't catch it?

These are just a couple of the potential problems that can arise when housing different species, or even the same species together. Common occurrences? Probably not. But the fact that it HAS happened to others is enough for me to go ahead and house them separately. :yesnod:
 
A very good point! Well I mean, I always take my boa out to feed her, and it would just make sense to feed them separately. And the idea of housing them together came from some people that seem to house two burms together. I guess some people are just lucky and never encounter any problems with it. But you do have a point - the fact that it HAS happened in the first place would steer me away from it.
 
Oh, and another random question - I bought a 4' boaphile with a Ranco double thermostat and probe and radiant heat panel from Jeff (VERY nice cage btw). I was told to set one temperature to 85 and the other to something like 90 so I would know if the first thermostat failed. However, the thermostat keeps reading different numbers on BOTH displays. Its just plain weird. I set it back to 85/90 and it still displays different numbers. Is it broken?

And the thermostat came with a power strip - this may be a stupid question, but for future cages that I get, can I just plug the heat sources into that one thermostat? Or do I need a thermostat and probe for each cage? Or is it just like the racks - one for the top and one for the bottom cage?
 
Ranco thermostats are non-proportional. Meaning, when the circuit is closed, it has full power to the flex watt. So likely, if the difference you are seeing is a couple degrees higher, it's probably due to the flex watt still being on it's warm up when the Ranco shuts it down. The probe is on the inside of the cage, or should be, and the flex watt should be outside. Don't forget the cage material it'self, it's still on the warm up too, and likely to get a couple degrees higher then your settings, then it cools off and the circuit closes again to reheat. A proportional thermostat, like HerpStat and Helix, adjusts the power to the flex watt, dimming or brightening if you will, to maintain your settings a little closer and more constant as well, rather then the fluctuation you'll see with the Ranco.

If you are going to run more then one cage off the strip, you have to use all the same heating materials (ex. 2 ft Flexwatt each, or what ever) same lengths of cord to each 9so they all draw the same amount of current) to keep them all within the same temp ranges, since you only hae one probe. In addition, you need to turn it all off until it's all room temp, then start them all at the same time. But don't be surprised if you get a stubborn unit that gets warmer or cooler using this route.

The above is my personal experience, opinions may vary, or someone may know something I don't. Keep that in mind. :D

What are you checking the thermostat readout with? If you don't have a temp gun, I highly suggest one. I found out a couple of my Rancos were a few degrees off what the read out said. Never would have known had I not checked them. I also use an addition thermometer to independently check everything.

Hope that helps.
 
Breeding multiply housed snakes?

I get the point about disease and isolating snakes, and the idea of a boa eating a python is very nasty.....:ack2: I do feed them outside the cage so I don't have the issue of them snatching the same food animal.

The advantage of housing multiple snakes in one enclosure is being able to give them more space than would be possible of housing them separately (my semi arboreal snakes like to roam the tank quite a lot), and they do have lots of hides.... one to ponder.

I have a related question: I am considering trying to breed from my males and a friend's (much larger) female). Is there a maximum period of time that breeding groups/ pairs should be housed together? When breeding some mammals it's better for males and female to be housed apart and then only put together for short periods. Does this apply to snakes also?

Also if breeding using multiple males (recommended by many breeders of the Candoia species I have) is there ever any competition amongst the males? Are they likely to hurt each other in a breeding frenzy or anything????:shrug01:
 
The thermostat reading is just different between the two, it is a linked double thermostat. I always thought they should read the same things, I just wondered if there was something wrong with mine 0.o

I use a radiant heat panel for my boa, does that mean I cannot used flexwatt for any of them? I cant use heat lights, cuz it opens and closes the circuit, right?

I do have a temp gun, which read out slight differences in temperature throughout the cage.
 
If the sensor probes are next to each other, they should read the same, or at least pretty close. Check them with the temp gun and see if it agrees with one of your thermostat readings, and make your adjustments from there for the unit that disagrees.

Ranco's are designed for HVAC, but adapted to our use, I think they are like +/- 2° F. If so, two units could potentially read 4° different. Make sense? Adjust the thermostats to fit the temp gun, until you have it where you want it.
 
Helenthereef said:
I have a related question: I am considering trying to breed from my males and a friend's (much larger) female). Is there a maximum period of time that breeding groups/ pairs should be housed together? When breeding some mammals it's better for males and female to be housed apart and then only put together for short periods. Does this apply to snakes also?

Also if breeding using multiple males (recommended by many breeders of the Candoia species I have) is there ever any competition amongst the males? Are they likely to hurt each other in a breeding frenzy or anything????:shrug01:
Click to expand...

I believe in separating them once the male loses interest, and keeping the female in her own quiet environment.

As for combat amongst males, I believe that to be the norm for most species if two males are vying for the same female. It's usually just a wrestling match, and as long as the loser can retreat, I don't know why it would escalate beyond that. :shrug01: My best guess anyway. I've only seen it once.
 
I didn't read many replies, so this probably has been mentioned, Vin Russo of Cutting Edge Herps has written an incredibly informative book, The Complete Boa Constrictor.
 
it was just weird because the thermostat read 83 and 83 for the longest time and then started going all over the place. The two would have completely different readings that seemed to fluctuate all over the place. The sensor probes are right next to each other and the readings still fluctuate between 83 and 93. Its really odd
 
Ok, stupid question: so if I order a cage from another company and they have 30 watt under tank heating, I have to connect it to another cage with 30 watt under tank heating too? I have a boaphile with a 50 watt radiant heat panel.
 
crotalusadamanteus said:
I believe in separating them once the male loses interest, and keeping the female in her own quiet environment.

As for combat amongst males, I believe that to be the norm for most species if two males are vying for the same female. It's usually just a wrestling match, and as long as the loser can retreat, I don't know why it would escalate beyond that. :shrug01: My best guess anyway. I've only seen it once.
Click to expand...

Thanks a lot, I'm off to experiment!:thumbsup:
 
redtailboa12 said:
Ok, stupid question: so if I order a cage from another company and they have 30 watt under tank heating, I have to connect it to another cage with 30 watt under tank heating too? I have a boaphile with a 50 watt radiant heat panel.
Click to expand...

I'm not sure to be honest. But it seems to me that if you have a 50 watt panel and 30 watts of flexwatt, then the one that draws the most current, heats up faster. So if the panel heats faster then the flex, and your probe is in with the panel, then the Ranco will shut down before the flex reaches its settings, vise versa and the panel gets too hot. Using two different kinds of heat on one thermostat has never worked well for me. Only when everything plugged into the strip had the same current draw.

Have you set the differential on the units? Press set once, you want to see F. Press it again, and set your temp, press again, and you'll get a number that you want at 1 or 2. This number is the amount of degrees you want the unit to get above or below your setting, before it turns off or on. :shrug01:

Maybe someone who uses those dual units will speak up. I've never used them, and personally don't feel they are as fail safe as they are made to sound. (my own opinion again) I used the single units for years, and still use a couple. But the differences amongst the units has caused me to start buying the Herpstats. They are less problematic, more accurate, and they're proportional, so they use less power, and hold the temps more steady to your settings. And they were designed by a reptile keeper, intended for reptiles, so that did it for me. They ain't that cheap, but they are by far the best I've used so far. The pro unit is 4 thermos in one, each with their own probe and settings AND night drop built in. The pro unit cost about as much as 4 single Rancos with strips as well, so it's really a good investment.
 
I will have to just follow your advice and get something with the same wattage and then experiment and find the optimal temps. I will also have to just get one unit next time so I don't have to deal with this stuff! And yeah, I have set the differential on the units, reset it a few times and still nothing. It will say the same temp for a day or two after resetting and then would get all messed up again. I'm just worried if there's a temperature fluctuation that I'm not aware of, I don't want my baby to get too cold or burned.

Speaking of which - I talked to Jesse and he reminded me that she was a White Group Pastel, 50% het for anery. So my breeding plans have changed to a male hypo, 100% het ghost.

Thanks for all your advice! :)
 
Back
Top