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LeighUK
Snake mite
United Kingdom
2 Posts |
 Posted - 08/09/2011 : 11:57:59
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| Hi everyone, I am new to this forum and wanted to say hi - I previously have kept Royal Pythons, Boa constrictor, Everglades rat snake and a Sinaloan Milk Snake and now I'm looking to the future and in the future (once I have a bigger place of my own) I'm looking to setup a paludarium for tropical fish and a Rainbow Boa. I'm currently in planning stage and will be for some time to come. Does anyne have experience of this? I feel a paludarium would help keep up the high humidity that rainbows like and I love the idea of a little slice of rain forest in my home. I am looking to grow brazillian rain forest plants and stick to brazillian tropical fish but build something with at least 50% land space and climbing branches. I am interested in housing a rainbow boa as I need a nice looking snake that can handle high humidity, be tamed and relatively docile and will grow big enough to not get to lost in among the foliage. Does anyone have any advice? |
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gmac
Grumpy Scots Admin
United Kingdom
710 Posts |
Posted - 08/09/2011 : 13:00:15
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| hi and welcome |
GMac
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Snakesitter
Rainbow Master
USA
2718 Posts |
Posted - 08/09/2011 : 17:41:00
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| Welcome to the forums, Leigh! A paludarium sounds like a fascinating project. Just make sure to plan for the cleaning challenges: rainbows (unfortunately) often use their water as a toilet, which means you'll have to able to readily clean that part of the setup...or be prepared for high fish "turnover." ;-) |
Cliff Earle
Living Gems Reptiles
Premium Brazilian Rainbow Boas from a disease-tested facility
Website, Facebook |
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LeighUK
Snake mite
United Kingdom
2 Posts |
Posted - 09/09/2011 : 17:14:38
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Hi gmac and Snakesitter
Snakesitter - you have hit exactly on one of the issues.
All the current issues that I’m getting my head around now are -
1) Will a Rainbow Boa (or any snake I put in this sort of enclosure) eat the tropical fish?
2) How do I keep clean water for tropical fish if the snake uses the water to defecate in?
3) Can I get the right level of humidity for the snake without the whole system being constantly misted up so as to make it impossible to see inside?
4) how do I provide heat and light (electrical) around high humidity (not good around electrics)
If anyone has any ideas please let me know.
One option is to make a fake paludarium in that it would look like a single system but actual be a tropical fish tank joined to a terrarium in way that makes it look like one seamless environment but before I go down that route I wanted to see if it’s possible to do a single system. If it can’t be done and I resort to a fake paludarium then that does open up my choice of snake for the enclosure as I do not have to worry about humidity as much. Don’t get me wrong, I really like what I have heard about rainbow boas (I don’t want to upset anyone on this rainbow boa forum) but I am open to suggestions.
Really my requirements for a snake are -
1) Largish, (max size around 6 to 8 foot) as anything small would get lost in a planted terrarium/paludarium
2) Docile, as I want to be able to handle this animal. My experience in the past pushes me in the direction of pythons on this point because my experience has suggested that they are generally more docile than boa's but regular handling of most snakes leads to docile animals.
3) If I do go down the paludarium route as planned then obviously the animal would need to be good with high humidity.
4) The animal should really be a good climber as the paludarium/terrarium design with lower tropical fish tank leads itself to a tall thinner enclosure over a longer flatter enclosure. I don’t want an enclosure that takes up a whole room, I want an enclosure that can become a big focal point of a room as I believe that snakes are first and foremost the best display animals in the world.
5) Good display animal with good colouration because I want the best display animal I can get and something that compliments the whole setup rather than a snake that no one can ever find in the enclosure.
Again - if anyone has any ideas or suggestions of snakes, especially python and boas then please let me know.
Anyway back to the planned paludarium - Ideally it would be great to be able to pipe some of the water from the fish tank to form a small stream running through the land area and back to the tank (also through hidden filtration system) to act as a hydroponic system for live plants living in the system. I am looking into a reasonably high wattage lamp so as to keep the plant life alive and provide a heat source and good ventilation. So as you can see I have a lot to work out and will probably be planning this for a few years and will one day end up with this or something close to it. I could scale back my plans and go for something like the fake paludarium with something like a royal/ball python and there are some seriously nice morphs and colours out there for royal/ball pythons but I like the idea of rainforest ad real paludarium and something slightly bigger than a royal/ball so I’m looking into a real paludarium first.
Does anyone have any comments?
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Edited by - LeighUK on 09/09/2011 17:16:46 |
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Snakesitter
Rainbow Master
USA
2718 Posts |
Posted - 09/09/2011 : 18:27:13
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Well, let me see what I can contribute based on 20 years of fishkeeping and several years of raising rainbows....
1. I am unaware of anyone who has tried fish as a meal for their rainbows.
2. Have as large a pool as possible (so that any waste gets diluted as much as possible), have a high-capacity filter to remove contaminants as quickly as possible, and perform large water changes regularly.
3. That should not be an issue.
4. Keep the wiring for the heat and lights entirely out of the tank (just as done with a normal snake viv), and use underwater-rated fixtures for those you cannot (as they make for aquariums).
Good luck! |
Cliff Earle
Living Gems Reptiles
Premium Brazilian Rainbow Boas from a disease-tested facility
Website, Facebook |
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ptmbradley
Hatchling
United Kingdom
105 Posts |
Posted - 10/09/2011 : 05:52:54
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quote:
Originally posted by Snakesitter
1. I am unaware of anyone who has tried fish as a meal for their rainbows.
A few months ago a guy on the corn snake forum was going to try feeding prawns I think it was to his corn snake. He was warned by many people that it could possibly be a dangerous thing to attempt with regard to the snakes health, but he was going to do it anyway. Chances are though that the snake wouldn't have been interested in it anyway. The guy was never heard from again on the forum...
Sorry OP I know this doesn't help any! Just a little anecdote I thought I'd share. 
Good luck with your grand plans. Sounds very impressive! Way too much effort for me! Just off the top of my head, maybe you could contact a zoo for advice. They're probably the only people who might have experience of creating displays like the one you want to achieve. Good luck with it and I hope one day in the dim and distant future you manage to do it. And if you do... PICS! lol  |
Boas: 0.1 Arabesque, 1.0 Brazilian Rainbow, 0.1 Crawl Cay, 1.1 Hogg Island X, 0.1 Hypo Hogg, 0.1 Kahl Albino (poss coral)
Corns: 1.1 Anery, 1.1 Butter, 1.0 Carolina, 0.1 Hypo, 1.1 Snow, 1.0 Sunkissed
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Hi from the UK
