First Coast Pet

Posts Tagged ‘Reptile’

Determining whether a pet snake is right for you and your family is not something to be considered lightly. Snakes require precise care and their health can easily decline if they are not properly taken care of. You must also bear in mind that snakes have certain dietary needs, and they also require a special facility in which the environment can be regularly heated. It is important that you do plenty of research so that you can prepare yourself and your family for the responsibilities of pet snake care.

One of the most important things to do before buying a snake is to research the vast range of pet snakes available. If you have a specific breed of snake in mind, you’ll save yourself a world of hassle if you read up about the breed first. It could be quite a shock to discover the process of snake skin shedding if you aren’t prepared for the sight of it. Researching before you buy a snake will also let you know what kind and size of snake cage you will need to purchase, as well as any other necessary equipment. Snake care varies depending upon the breed of snake, so the way one cares for, say, ball pythons may be very different than caring for coral snakes.

Your goal when setting up your snake’s home is to make the setting as authentic to his natural habitat as possible. It isn’t wise to assume environment settings, such as a jungle-like atmosphere, as not all snakes are conditioned for that stereotypical temperature. Some snakes are accustomed to hot weather, while others are much more suited to cooler temperatures. Again, it’s all a matter of doing your homework.

Snakes are very primal in their nature, and there is no such thing as a fully domesticated snake. That’s why it’s important that you only feed your snake the food that it would naturally hunt in the wild. When faced with the option of live or pre-killed prey, it is a matter that you will have to decide upon yourself. Some snakes simply will not touch pre-killed prey, while others can learn to adapt to it. Feeding a snake live prey is definitely something you should prepare yourself for in the event that your snake refuses pre-killed prey. If you are able to use pre-killed prey, it is very important that you preserve the food either—usually in the refrigerator—sealed away from your family’s food.

You must also remember to keep your snake very well hydrated. You can achieve this by leaving a small bowl of water in the cage so that the snake can drink when it wants to. Also you have to keep a routine check on your snake to make sure that it does not catch any illnesses or that it is injured in any way.

If you’ve decided that you’re definitely prepared for snake-care responsibilities, you can find pet snakes for sale in your local pet shop, on the Internet, or in the classified ads section of your local newspaper.

There are more than 2,700 snakes varieties spread all over the world in temperate and warm climates; the only part of the globe where snakes cannot live is Antarctica. The diversity of the 2,700 snakes species is relevant in the size differences too: there are some only a few centimeters long while others reach the impressive length of nine meters like the anacondas or the pythons. Venomous snakes are a minority in this huge reptile family, but venom they inject in prey is so powerful that it could cause the death of a human being within a few minutes. Chronological research indicates that, the history and origins of snakes are lost in the Cretaceous period, some 150 million years ago, when it appears that snakes evolved from a lizard and changed their living environment.

Some modern species still carry primitive distinctive marks, this is the case with pythons and boas that still have vestiges of hind limbs, which only point to a past when snakes resembled lizards a lot more. Snakes or serpents making the subject of symbolic creations and being widely represented in the arts. Worshiped or hunted down as evil creatures, snakes surely have a fascination on human mind; yet, modern attitudes are partly different towards snakes particularly under the emphasis of the ecological movements that stress out the importance of these creatures for the balance of ecosystems. And they couldn’t be more right.

Fascinating details in the lives of snakes indicate that not everything has been discovered about the many existing species. Thus, it is interesting to study how the patterns on the body of snakes differentiate between individuals even within the same species. Then, snakes’ sensitivity to vibrations, the superior sense of smell and even the reception of low frequency sounds indicate the fact that snakes are fascinating. The same amount of scientific respect is due in terms of anatomical programing by the presence of the infrared sensitive receptors that allow pit vipers for instance to detect the warmth of the prey’s body.

Common habitats for humans and snakes are a reality, and people from areas with a higher variety of snake species and sub-species develop skills to distinguish between the hazardous or harmless varieties, and thus avoid them accordingly. Non-venomous snakes could also bite and injure one seriously when threatened, therefore, a healthy attitude towards such animals will save you a lot of trouble. Do not try to catch, hunt or kill snakes: they only feed and defend themselves as they cannot hold grudge and follow you just for the sake of biting.

Getting rid of snakes is quite of challenge in globe areas where people die because of snake bites. Presently, ingenious inventors have come up with special snake repellant systems, yet, besides the ready made items, there are common sense things that you can turn to so as eliminate the chances of snakes choosing your garden to make their den. First of all, bushes, shrubs and ponds are great snake habitats, as they provide a great hiding corner to stalk on prey; moreover, in a bushy garden, snakes can move freely from one spot to another without difficulty. Therefore, a first snake repellant solution is to keep thick vegetation away from the house.

Then, mowing the lawn regularly makes another great snake repellant method since too high grass can camouflage snakes pretty well. Moreover, such a lawn is the perfect environment for some of the favorite meals in the menu of a snake: locusts, small rodents, mice, crickets and even frogs. A short lawn will be avoided by snakes as an unsafe space that makes them vulnerable to the attack of other predatory species like owls or hawks. Any cluttered area around the house can cause just as much trouble, becoming nests for venomous or non-venomous snakes. Hence, eliminate wood stacks, open sheds and compost heaps from the yard.

In African wilderness, local people knit camel or goat hair ropes for snake protection and snake repellant purposes: snakes do not slither over such rough surfaces. Aborigines will often surround their bed location with such ropes to themselves against the deadly bites of some of the African poisonous snakes. Modern tent design takes this snake repellant issue very seriously, thus there are usually nets that have to be zipped up in order to prevent snakes and other insects from entering. Make sure you do not forget to zip the tent when entering or getting out, or you may have unwelcome guests joining you.

Snake repellant solutions do exist in other forms too and they include special foams, nets and all sorts of protections for window sills for instance. Many such equipments are considered controversial according to animal rights protection. Consequently, it would be wise to focus on harmless snake repellant ways. If by any chance you suspect lethal snakes nesting in your garden, do not attempt to destroy or chase them away, as they will attack when threatened. Ask for some pest control service and have the animals safely relocated in a wild area, and no harm will be done to either party.