Chip
ΜΟΛΩΝ ΛΑΒ&
Much like "you must feed in a separate enclosure or your snake will associate you with food," and "if your hot spot is too hot your corn will get burned," another instance of Internet regurgitation I hear tossed around a lot is "Put your babies in a shoebox, anything bigger will make them feel stressed!" Hogwash! They naturally hatch outdoors. Poor things must be losing their mind in that big of an enclosure!
I do use shoe boxes for my babies, and used to use much smaller tubs, for a number of reasons. But never has one of the reasons been that the snakes themselves would be stressed with more room. Off the top of my head, here are the reasons to keep babies in small containers:
1) Space. Corns make lots of babies, and I have lots of corns. Space is at a premium.
2) Feeding. It is simply easier to get the snake in close proximity to their food in a small space. It often takes being put with food in tiny deli cups for some brand new babies to figure it out.
3) Cleaning. Small tubs are easier to clean than big ones.
4) Keeping track. Sheds, defecations, uneaten meals, and the rare regurge might not be found in a 100 gallon aquarium, I'll spot them right away in a shoe box.
5) Finding the snake!
6) Heating. It is easier to heat small areas than large ones.
7) They simply don't need more room than a shoe box until they grow to 30-40 grams or so, at which point I move them to a 15 quart tub.
Give your babies a clean, escape-proof enclosure of the proper temperature, with fresh clean water and feed them appropriately sized mice. With the exception of the rare one that wasn't meant to make it, that is all they need to thrive. Avoid humidity extremes, as well as hides and objects they can hurt themselves on or get stuck in. In my opinion, small enclosures have nothing but upside for new babies. But lack of "stress" that is supposed to occur in a large enclosure isn't one that I buy.
I do use shoe boxes for my babies, and used to use much smaller tubs, for a number of reasons. But never has one of the reasons been that the snakes themselves would be stressed with more room. Off the top of my head, here are the reasons to keep babies in small containers:
1) Space. Corns make lots of babies, and I have lots of corns. Space is at a premium.
2) Feeding. It is simply easier to get the snake in close proximity to their food in a small space. It often takes being put with food in tiny deli cups for some brand new babies to figure it out.
3) Cleaning. Small tubs are easier to clean than big ones.
4) Keeping track. Sheds, defecations, uneaten meals, and the rare regurge might not be found in a 100 gallon aquarium, I'll spot them right away in a shoe box.
5) Finding the snake!
6) Heating. It is easier to heat small areas than large ones.
7) They simply don't need more room than a shoe box until they grow to 30-40 grams or so, at which point I move them to a 15 quart tub.
Give your babies a clean, escape-proof enclosure of the proper temperature, with fresh clean water and feed them appropriately sized mice. With the exception of the rare one that wasn't meant to make it, that is all they need to thrive. Avoid humidity extremes, as well as hides and objects they can hurt themselves on or get stuck in. In my opinion, small enclosures have nothing but upside for new babies. But lack of "stress" that is supposed to occur in a large enclosure isn't one that I buy.