| T O P I C R E V I E W |
| Mike80 |
Posted - 02/09/2012 : 02:09:50
I'd like to share with you a few of the pieces of bad advice I was given when I first got my corn snake. I want to highlight how much the internet has improved the quantity and quality of information available, but also to make people realise you can't always trust what you think is a good source.
EVERY piece of advice listed below is INCORRECT but was given to me by pet shop owners and reptile keepers:
1. You don't need a thermostat. Turn the heat lamp off when you go to bed and turn it on again in the morning to replicate a day/night heat and light cycle. It can be easier to do this if you get a timer. The heat mat stays on all the time so your snake always has a warm place to go to.
2. You don't need a hide in the warm end. Snakes like to bask on rocks - place a flat rock on top of your heat mat and under the lamp for your snake to lay on and bask.
3. A guard for the basking lamp isn't needed. Snakes will rub their noses on mesh guards and injure themselves. They won't go near hot lamps so a guard is unecessary and dangerous. (The guy who sold me my viv actually demanded the suppliers remove guards from all the vivs he ordered to save him the hassle of having to do so himself).
4. A shed skin is an accurate way of measuring your snake.
5. Corn snakes live between 8-15 years.
6. Snakes need a hide and a water bowl - anything else is purely decorative and only makes the vivarium harder to clean. Snakes are cold blooded and therefore don't need exercise.
7. Sand can be used as a substrate for corns. Food items can be placed directly on the substrate when feeding.
8. A strip type thermometer is fine, placed in the centre of the viv (the viv I was sold had this fitted already). Keep the viv at about 24-28 celcius. If it's too hot turn the light off. If it's too cold fit a stronger bulb.
9. For a 4ftx2ftx2ft vivarium I was sold a 12''x12'' heat mat. Actually, the shop keeper fitted the viv with a 12''x12'' heat mat. It apparently only needed to be big enough to heat the flat rock placed on top of it.
I just have to reiterate - the above advice is NOT good advice and should not be followed at all.
I'm sure there are many more things that I have forgotten but these, as I said, are all genuine pieces of advice I was given many years ago by people who should have known better.
Reptile owners don't know how lucky they are today with the easily accessible information available to them, and more is becoming available all the time.
There's no excuse these days for mistreating any reptile, accidentally or not.
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| 11 L A T E S T R E P L I E S (Newest First) |
| Ell |
Posted - 02/09/2012 : 18:04:25
x.x; |
| Mike80 |
Posted - 02/09/2012 : 13:20:25
quote:
Originally posted by Moppet
Oh dear, there is a lot of bad advice out there. 'Snakes only grow to the size of their enclosure' is another one I have heard repeatedly and HATE.
Yep, I was given that one as well. I was told they get to about 3 feet on average but they won't grow much bigger if you keep them in a small vivarium.
You can imagine my surprise when mine got to 4ft while still in her 2.5ft viv. And then carried on growing.
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| Moppet |
Posted - 02/09/2012 : 13:12:04
Oh dear, there is a lot of bad advice out there. 'Snakes only grow to the size of their enclosure' is another one I have heard repeatedly and HATE. |
| Mike80 |
Posted - 02/09/2012 : 12:44:17
quote:
Originally posted by Okeetee Mick
...Mike80 is only adding to the Bad Advice by posting this particular comment...
...I would take issue with you on your first point, apart from the thermostat omission everything else is perfectly correct and something I do myself. In my case the heat lamp is on a timer coming on at 7am and going off at 10pm obviously controlled by a dimming thermostat, the heat mat is controlled by a pulse proportionate stat and is indeed left on 24/7 but set to 25 degrees meaning the mat will not produce any heat until the lamp is off giving a gentle background/night time heat source. This I have done in one of my EX48,s and it works extremely well, why wouldn't it?
The first point I made was perhaps worded rather poorly and came across as a little ambiguous. If you feel I have exacerbated things by not explaining myself properly then I wholeheartedly apologise.
I should probably expand a little to clear up any confusion:
The advice I was given was that a timer should be used on a heat lamp in place of a thermostat. Thermostats were never mentioned, provided or even sold in the shop.
I was also told that a heat mat is left on permanently, 24/7, with nothing regulating how hot it gets. This is because (as I was told) a heat mat doesn't reach a temperature that could be harmful to a reptile. It is therefore necessarily intended to be left on indefinitely.
Plainly a timer is a useful way of regulating heat and giving a fixed day/night cycle when used in addition to stats and thermometers, but not as the sole method of doing so, which is what I was trying to explain with my first point. The advice I was given would (and did) lead to the vivarium - particularly the warm end - becoming dangerously hot.
My intention wasn't to belittle those who use timers - certainly not people such as yourself who have a demonstrable wealth of knowledge and experience in keeping reptiles. My intention was merely to highlight the truth that a little knowledge can be a dangerous thing, particularly when a creature's health and comfort may depend on that knowledge.
The advice that a timer can be used to regulate day and night is sound, but is also useless when not given alongside other information concerning the proper specification of equipment provided, the need for a thermostat and the correct regulation of heat.
Once again, I apologise if my original post was misleading - that certainly wasn't my intention. I was merely attempting to demonstrate that sometimes a lack of additional information can turn good advice into bad advice.
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| a33272 |
Posted - 02/09/2012 : 11:32:25
quote:
Originally posted by Okeetee Mick
quote:
Originally posted by a33272
Number one is wrong and right. No lamp shouldn't be used without stat. But there is nothing wrong with using a stated lamp. Why you would go to the trouble an expense of 2 heat sources on stats an a timer I don't know when industry an keepers have proven a one heat source is perfectly fine
No trouble or expense is too much for my snakes and is not the issue, Mike80 is only adding to the Bad Advice by posting this particular comment, my setup works extremely well and is correct in every way, maybe not to your liking but as stated works well. I suppose because I have an automated misting system enabling me to have complete control of my carpet pythons humidity is too much trouble and expense! Each to his own mate.
Lol did I say it didn't work well for you.. um nope. the comment wasnt even being refered to you!! If it was I'd of done it as a quote. All I've said Is why use 2 heat sources when one heat source have been proven for god knows how many years to be adequite on its own for corns. |
| Okeetee Mick |
Posted - 02/09/2012 : 11:04:57
quote:
Originally posted by a33272
Number one is wrong and right. No lamp shouldn't be used without stat. But there is nothing wrong with using a stated lamp. Why you would go to the trouble an expense of 2 heat sources on stats an a timer I don't know when industry an keepers have proven a one heat source is perfectly fine
No trouble or expense is too much for my snakes and is not the issue, Mike80 is only adding to the Bad Advice by posting this particular comment, my setup works extremely well and is correct in every way, maybe not to your liking but as stated works well. I suppose because I have an automated misting system enabling me to have complete control of my carpet pythons humidity is too much trouble and expense! Each to his own mate. |
| Figs |
Posted - 02/09/2012 : 10:41:32
Dont think i've ever directly been given bad advice, but the worst i've overheard myself is probably;
"You can keep as many corns are you like together - they arent kingsnakes and like having company"
.....and of course;
"Just keep it in a smaller tank and it wont grow as big." |
| rubi |
Posted - 02/09/2012 : 10:32:49
it amazes me how much bad advice i got from the reptile shop i bought rubi from, i assumed being an exotics specialist the advice would be sound it was only once i came on here that i realized and got everything correct for her. |
| a33272 |
Posted - 02/09/2012 : 10:17:57
Number one is wrong and right. No lamp shouldn't be used without stat. But there is nothing wrong with using a stated lamp. Why you would go to the trouble an expense of 2 heat sources on stats an a timer I don't know when industry an keepers have proven a one heat source is perfectly fine |
| Okeetee Mick |
Posted - 02/09/2012 : 09:32:55
I would take issue with you on your first point, apart from the thermostat omission everything else is perfectly correct and something I do myself. In my case the heat lamp is on a timer coming on at 7am and going off at 10pm obviously controlled by a dimming thermostat, the heat mat is controlled by a pulse proportionate stat and is indeed left on 24/7 but set to 25 degrees meaning the mat will not produce any heat until the lamp is off giving a gentle background/night time heat source. This I have done in one of my EX48,s and it works extremely well, why wouldn't it? |
| viraleye |
Posted - 02/09/2012 : 08:43:49
What I don't understand, is how pet shops are so oblivious to what's right and what's wrong!
I.e. nearly every pet shop I've been into so far will quite happily put heat mats on display but not a thermostat in sight!! |
