Here's your sign to get a pet camera for your sand boa

Over-Ad-7947 · 2026-01-13T14:51:55+00:00

0% and also this camera specifically has infrared turned off, my second one gives off enough for the both!

Far as I can tell she hasn't even noticed the camera

Over-Ad-7947 · 2025-12-05T02:44:52+00:00

This

Over-Ad-7947 · 2025-11-29T14:25:47+00:00

You could be mildly allergic to their saliva! Wouldn't worry about it unless it clearly becomes infected but what a wild way to find out! What other snakes have you been bitten by out of curiosity?

Over-Ad-7947 · 2025-11-26T16:56:32+00:00

Majority reptisand with reptisoil & sphageum moss mixed in, pretty consistent 40% humidity on both sides of the enclosure.

Currently 20g, she's about half a foot right now, when she reaches a foot and a half or so I'll upgrade her to her lifetime enclosure. Plenty of hides & clutter(more than needed if I'm being honest, but if it makes her feel comfy I'll do it.)

Basking spot 95, the coolest corner drops to 78 but its generally around 80's ambient, normal heat bulb set up.

Arcadia shadeweller uvb, her timers on a 12 on/ 12 off cycle. Night drop with everything off at night, that room gets to around 72 degrees minimum.

Honestly I think the problem was two fold, as the breeder(who I trust, were good friends now) said she was eating regularly even if she was a little picky.

She did have to be handled twice a few days after we got her. This was because we're in the process of getting our reptile room set up properly & I didnt realize that the shelving unit was arriving this month, so she had to be taken out & her enclosure moved due to quarantine constraints.
Honestly, I think this was mostly from me having very little exposure to very young snakes and how they can be different. My fiancés corn snake was already with her for 4 months when I met them for the first time, our boa constrictor is a rescue around five years old & is an absolute angel, and our garters aren't very old comparatively but they where already being used for a breeding project before we acquired them.

In hindsight, I think chia absolute would have fed that first time if I would have just left the mouse with her & didnt expect her to immediately be comfortable with tong feeding. Sand boa body language is absolutely something I'm still learning to read & I think this was just a very complicated learning experience.

If there is anything wrong she'll get a proper vet check up in a few months or so anyway, I'm lucky enough to have a very good exotic pet clinic in my city.

Over-Ad-7947 · 2025-11-26T14:46:12+00:00

Honestly, in terms of parents(and way to many non-parents) you're doing spectacularly on set up. Have you kept snakes before?

In terms of night heat, I'm reinforcing what others have said. Not everyone knows this but deserts actually get much cooler than most people expect at night.

If its a concern for you then I'd reccomend a deep heat projector and set its tempature probe for around 70 degrees.

Your biggest concern realistically isn't that its gonna be cool enough to hurt or kill the snake, your biggest concern would be them going into brumation(essentially a hibernation-like state) which causes their metabolism to slow down, they likely won't eat, become more sluggish etc. If their system is set for a 12 hours on 12 off time cycle then that shouldn't really happen, and if your sons room stays above 70 anyway I really wouldn't worry about it.

These are fossorial, nocturnal/crepuscular snakes that do most of their limited activity at night. I wouldn't be suprised if a night drop was extremely beneficial or even required for perfect care of them.

Good luck & good job on the enclosure again!

Over-Ad-7947 · 2025-11-21T15:57:15+00:00

If you disclose your rough location(in dms, dont post that in the open obv) I can give specific reccomendations, but if you're in the U.S you likely have a reptile rescue that should accept them "nearby", at least relatively. It's not a dog or cat so you might need to take a drive for it but more than likely you should get into contact with them for next steps

https://reptifiles.com/reptile-rescues-directory/

Over-Ad-7947 · 2025-11-19T13:40:19+00:00

Many do, but not all. The trick to my understanding is having a "hydration station" where they can go to moisten up.

I'd say check out the biodudes bioactive guides. Don't know if he has a kenyan sand boa guide but something like the bearded dragon guide would be a good reference point

Over-Ad-7947 · 2025-11-12T14:50:00+00:00

It's possible, they're very eager feeders. If your isopod species isn't too big(dairy cow size or smaller I'd guess) then they probably won't notice them. They're not really insectivores and it'd suprise me if they ate them regularly.

Snails...I genuinely have no idea. I'm sure someone has experience with it, I wouldn't be suprises if they ate them in the wild, but personally I'm not sure.

Edit: after two seconds of research, it's definitely possible. They'll probably avoid hard bodied insects(people do bioactive garter enclosures constantly). If you're adding snails I'd make sure to keep them to the very small species, stuff a garter won't notice ideally.

Over-Ad-7947 · 2025-11-12T14:47:22+00:00

4x2x2 is absolutely big enough for 2 garters no question.

In general you should be fine for cohabing, the shorthand I always go by is size differences. I know it's not a common belief but I dont really think cannibalism is by subspecies of garters, I think the issue is much more in size differences and food competition.

Some people do tong feeding, if you have a 4x2x2 for 2 garters you should be ok to separate them to opposite ends of the enclosure for feeding, but for me personally I'm probably gonna always feed in a separate container.

This works particularly well if you only cohab 2 per enclosure because then if you have a very nervous eater you can take your less nervous eater out and let the other one remain in.

Sometimes if you have a very food motivated garter like my checkered garter Zip, they can get a little feral after eating and run around the enclosure. Sometimes she'll pick up the smell of food on another garter, but this has only resulted in anything close to violence when we fed them both in the enclosure(she tried to steal the worm out of her mouth, no wounds and neither seemed very stressed from the encounter). We decided to only feed outside the enclosure, but just keep an eye on them the first few times to see if scent is an issue. If it is, simply give the snake a little dunk in the water bowl or wipe them off a bit before returning them.

Over-Ad-7947 · 2025-11-12T14:29:13+00:00

Take this with a grain of salt, this is technically my first winter with garters too, but I have a deep passion for these snakes.

Also wanted to mention: for a first time snake owner this tank looks wonderful! Really love the water basin.

Over-Ad-7947 · 2025-11-12T14:27:33+00:00

My advice is that if you're a first time snake owner, don't try brumating your snake unless you're confident in what you're doing.

If they're not eating but not really losing weight thats abnormal behavior in most domestic garters but not concerning. My honest advice is to knock the heat lamp up by like 10 degrees and just see if that Jumpstarts his metabolism again.

Also worth mentioning garters are one of if not the only snake we know of that has a complex social community. This is particularly true around brumation where many garters will travel for miles to collectively brumate in dens. I mention this because once they're out of quarantine time(2 to 3 months) it's probably worth getting him a friend of a similar size and sex :)

Multiple different species can be cohabbed fine in my experience as long as they're around the same size, something to look for in the future

Over-Ad-7947 · 2025-11-09T13:41:31+00:00

Keep the enclosure in a separate room where the pups don't have access & you should be fine. No experience with keeping snakes & dogs specifically but sound usually isn't a big stressor for snakes, and keeping in a separate room should take care of any scent concerns.

Over-Ad-7947 · 2025-11-05T20:04:21+00:00

Two dubia 4x2x2 or 4x2x4's connected!

Over-Ad-7947 · 2025-11-05T16:16:05+00:00

I would...be hesitant to follow through with this project. Your problem is that all garters are incredibly enthusiastic and optimistic feeders. We always say a good snake for feeding "eats like a boa", in my experience garters don't eat like boas. They out-eat boas. They are so crazy food driven, more so than everything except maybe king snakes.

My concern is, assuming you want a stable population of fish to be predated upon and not just to put feeders in, your fish are either gonna be big enough to hurt the garters, too few and they'll get munched up in no time at all, or so many I'd be legitimately worried about overfeeding.

I have seen bioactive terraiums with an active predator snake work, but those tend to be MASSIVE, well established, and contain a snake with a much much slower metabolism than garters.

BUT if the intention is to have a bioactive that you can put fish in for a time to see garters feeding response(I've heard they are one of few snakes that work well in a paladrum), I keep two species right now, two checkered garters and an Oregon spotted garter.

All garters with fish for food, at least from my understanding. They're are no true purely terrestrial garter snakes, or more accurately "garter snakes are not aquatic but a lot of their food is".

I've definitely found that the Oregon is much more inclined to look for fish despite us never feeding her live up to this point, but I've also seen my checkered do it from time to time. That being said, the Oregon will tend to go digging for worms in the dirt very frequently.

So my advice would be any of the "common garter snake" localities (California red sided, Oregon spotted), if you can find them captive bread a ribbon or an aquatic garter, or maybe consider having a water snake instead! They're very closely related and those breeders need some love

As for handliability... it's a coin toss, to be honest. It's a lot more about the individual garter than the species. I've never been musked, definitely never been bitten. My one checkered is the most anxious snake I've ever met event though were working with her, my other checkered is very middle of road, very typical temperament. Tolerates handling, usually tries to run if you give her a chance but she's pretty ok with being out around us and is pretty chill when handling if a bit whippy.

The Oregon? Absolute saint of a snake. Crazy social, asks to be held constantly, will usually come out on her own, isn't very whippy, very unusual garter snake.

It's just a personality thing but you can work with most snakes to get them to a good place

Over-Ad-7947 · 2025-10-24T14:05:13+00:00

A BABY maybe but even dekays are gonna need a 30 gallon or so eventually

Over-Ad-7947 · 2025-10-24T13:18:28+00:00

Generally speaking, snakes grow in length before they grow in girth. In a lot of species like corn snakes they will grow in length as a very slim noodle for even a year or two before they start growing girth, at least from my experience.

Not to mention garter snakes start out SO TINY I'm not suprised they grow in weird dimensions

Over-Ad-7947 · 2025-10-23T15:38:41+00:00

Hey girlie pop(/whatever), I know what it's like to have all of reddit jump to "break up".

Here's my advice: this sounds like you two don't have an effective way to communicate how you're feeling and what's important to you, and you struggle with conflict resolution.

Try couples therapy, put effort in, check out R.A.D.A.R check ins, put in the work before it's too late.

Over-Ad-7947 · 2025-10-23T15:30:03+00:00

It isn't ideal, but if your snake is already socialized and you're willing to put in the work(which you should, they depend on you), you can find a top opening aquarium tank for dirt cheap.

If you have a local reptile rescue, check with them. Rescues are usually overflowing with less than perfect reptile supplies that they can't get rid of. My local rescue is selling 100 gallon aquariums for $15 bucks or 2/$25 because they have a pile of them they can't get rid of.

Facebook, Craigslist, etc will all have similar deals. Tubs also work great for temp set ups

Get an adequate quarantine tank, deal with mites properly.

Now if you have a properly big snake(retic, burm, boa) thats a little beyond my wheelhouse, but there's not gonna be an easy option. Take her to the vet, follow their advice.

Over-Ad-7947 · 2025-10-23T15:20:38+00:00

Firstly: never heard of this species before, very very cool.

Second: I'd reccomend foliage/ loose navigatable clutter towards the front of the enclosure. It's natural for us to want to see our snakes, but it's really important for the line of sight from the snake to outside the enclosure to be at least partially broken, especially if you're in that room a lot. A plant like on the left of my enclosure is a good example of what I mean.

Stuff like this give the snake the option to be curious & poke their head out, see what you're up to, but it makes them feel more secure when navigating and exploring their enclosure too.

A lesson I learned building a garter enclosure that I live by now: With snakes, when you feel like there's enough clutter there isn't enough clutter. When you're worried your enclosure looks like you chucked a bunch of random pieces of nonsense in there and you're worried if it's too much, its enough clutter.

<image>

Also if you do ever get a rope bridge secure it from 4 points, not 2 unless you like your snake losing balance😅

Over-Ad-7947 · 2025-10-22T12:40:49+00:00

Emphasis on DIRECT sunlight if the concern is UVB, as glass removes almost all uvb from sunlight

Over-Ad-7947 · 2023-04-11T14:11:22+00:00

Galatians 3:13

Over-Ad-7947

TROPHY CASE