loud noises on little snake ears...

[Missymonkey]

I live in a very busy apartment with lots of people coming and going. Because pof this I am concerned that all the rattling and thumping is going stress my snakes out, nothing like a big stressful moment where they go nuts, but I am more concerned about the gradual build-up of stress because they live in such a noisy and busy environment, which really doesn't imitate the nature environment that corns live in. I keep them in my room, which is relativly quiet, however I live with two college age guys and the building is full of more noisy big footed hearing challenged (because their music is always too loud) college kids. Any advice on how to reduce any of this background noise and vibration?

snakes don't have ears do they? they have something more like frogs tympanic membranes right? (it's been awhile since I took a biology class, and the manual and random web pages don't mention ears)

thanks

 

[jim]

hearing....

snakes have no external ears, but rather pick up vibrations mainly through the ground. you could try to put a towel underneath the cage to dampen the vibrations. sounds (vibrations) travel faster and more efficiently through more dense materials so having a towel between the tank and the cage should help but i don't think there is any accurate way to measure how much it helps. (unless you were a snake i guess) might help who knows... jim

 

[Elaphe_Mo]

I was there

I lived in a noisy dorm for several years with my snakes. I tried to keep them out of the way but generally they only freaked out if something really loud was going on near them, like a party in our suite, or running the vacuum. Mostly they were fine, and are showing no ill effects now that we're somewhere quieter.

 

[Missymonkey]

your dorm let you have snakes? geesh,.. we could only have fish and that's no fun

 

[kenalotia]

My dorms at Cornell let people keep snakes, and any other animal that was kept in an aquarium or cage. I knew someone who had a "long-tailed, pointy-eared bunny" (aka cat), because bunnies are usually kept in cages... I think they may have changed their rules about pets since I left, though.

 

[Iris]

I think what Jim was saying was right..
I can stand next to my snake and yell really loud and he won't show any visible reactions but then if I drop something next to his tank (like a book or something) then he will flinch and look around. But some people say that when they talk near their snake tanks, their snake(s) pop their heads out of their hides. So I guess they can hear too.

 

[Missymonkey]

we have such thin floors here, they don't damper vibrations too well, I just want as stress-free environment as possible. if I put a towel under the tank it may hinder my undertank heating mat, I was thinking rubber or foam but I will need to manuever it so taht it is as stable as possible also.... arg nothing is easy

 

[jim]

maybe felt stick-on feet for the bottom of the cage????

 

[Elaphe_Mo]

I saw somewhere someone put mouse pads under the tank and it seemed to work...