John E Dove said:
Um, Mr. Kilburn,
I can agree with you that UVB is not required for Heterodon nasicus sp., they can assimilate the calcium from their food without it, but they are not nocturnal. They are primarily diurnal in the wild, I see Heterodon nasicus nasicus commonly in my area, and they seldom go below the surface to a depth that provides humidity as high as 60%. In our desert environment they can usually be found on the surface or barely covered in very dry conditions. Our avg humidity ranges at about 20% tops.
You are correct sir! I'm sorry for the confusion. Yes, they are dinural, but are most commonly active during the night in captivity because of the lack of light induced stress (or at least when i am home they are not active). Wild Caught are active all the time.
Humidity, as i said, should be low, but they can burrow up depths that reach 60% humidity, but almost never do. If it is too dry they will let you know by dumping some of their water out, or just plain soaking in their water dish. In the wild they are found near lakes, streams, rock formations (which can retain and filter water naturally), and plant-life. All of these geographical markers retain some moisture so they can adjust the humidity level on their own. Although as Mr. Dove stated, they will hardly, if ever dig that deep in order to get such high levels of humidity, and if they do so frequently there is a problem with the snake.
Easterns are a different matter. They are good swimmers and need fairly high humidity. They are almost always seen in swamps, or by streams (makes it easy to find toads and newts), and are primarily active at night. Once in a while you will find them in forest type areas, but it is very rare unless there is a nice pool of water someplace close.
I live in New Jersey and you can find easterns all over the place (because NJ is a giant swamp). All, (western, easters, and mexicans) wild caught take roughly two years to adjust to captivity. Most mexican and western species you find for sale are captive bred, and therefore need no additional time to adjust to captivity. Around me, most easterns are wild caught. They thrive in my area so noone attempts to breed them. I noticed when i lived in Arizona the reptile shows always had captive bred easterns and a few wild caught mexicans and/or westerns. I think it all depends on location, location, location.
Thank you, Mr. Dove for making sure i give correct information!