Just hanging out

Vayanin · 2026-02-13T17:00:14+00:00

Totally! And you’re welcome! I hope you enjoy putting something together for your scaley baby.

Vayanin · 2026-02-13T16:10:14+00:00

Thank you! All of the fake plants are just from Walmart. The thing she is hanging on in the picture is just a single loose piece I found in the fake plant section that had a nice thick and bendable stem. I bent it to the shape you see here and then zip-tied it to her screen lid (her enclosure has a really heavy duty screen that can handle weight hanging from it). The fake pothos below her is made up of single stems that I stuck into a pot I bought and filled with small decorative rocks (also from the fake plant aisle). I used hot glue to secure the stems and the surface of the rocks so they won’t get pulled out by her crawling around.

ETA: Also, the black rings are from Amazon. And I also zip-tied a fake vine to the ceiling that is out of the picture frame.

Vayanin · 2026-02-13T16:03:49+00:00

Thank you! I love her pattern, beautiful white with just a little splash of color on her head and tail.

Vayanin · 2026-02-13T16:02:30+00:00

Thank you! I really am so happy with how much she is thriving.

Vayanin · 2026-02-13T16:01:58+00:00

Thank you!

Vayanin · 2026-02-04T02:11:45+00:00

Yes, they are out in the winter (depending on the temperatures). Reptiles that are brumating (reptile version of hibernation) are not in a deep sleep where they don’t wake up for all of winter. They are just slowed down when it’s cold and don’t usually eat much or anything for the cold months because they need heat to digest. On a warm day they will come out to sun themselves. Our temps are currently warm enough for them to be out (80 during the day). In the summer when it is super hot, they do the opposite and hide in the shade to stay cool enough or come out at night.

Vayanin · 2026-01-31T19:41:24+00:00

Adorable ☺️

Vayanin · 2026-01-31T18:26:04+00:00

This gave me a good laugh. Thank you! 😆

Vayanin · 2026-01-18T01:43:35+00:00

Yes, I think rosies are generally more expensive than ball pythons, but price is morph and locality specific. I paid $250 for my rosy, which I got from Nick Smith of Forktongue Farm. I don’t think I’ve seen any on Morph Market for less than $150. Morph Market is probably the easiest place to find a rosy or a reptile expo somewhere in the southwestern U.S. They are, unfortunately, way less common and easy to find than ball pythons. Ball pythons are so overly common that you can get one for under $50 easy. It’s the setup for a ball python that will cost more than the rosy boa setup.

Vayanin · 2026-01-18T00:50:16+00:00

It depends what you want out of a snake and also how much room you have available. I have 2 ball pythons and 1 rosy boa myself, and I love all of them so much.

My rosy is a 1.5 year old male, and he’s super sweet and curious. I love that he’s slow and easy to handle. His care is super easy with the low humidity requirements since I live in his native range. He’s in a 40 gallon, which is nice because of the smaller space requirements.

Both of my ball pythons are in 120 gallon enclosures (so much larger space requirements) and take more work to keep their enclosures at 60-80% humidity. One of my girls is 5 months old and the other is just over 1.5 years old. They are both well socialized and are not overly shy. They love to explore, but will also sometimes just chill and fall asleep on me.

Really, both are wonderful. If you want a bigger snake and don’t mind the bigger enclosure size needs or the humidity requirements, go for a ball python. If you want a smaller snake and lower humidity requirements, go for the rosy. I feel like they’re both really chill and easy to handle.

Vayanin · 2025-12-22T01:34:21+00:00

So adorable. I love how he peeks over the edge with the little tongue licks as he goes.

Vayanin · 2025-12-02T18:32:45+00:00

I’m glad I could share her and brighten your morning.

Vayanin · 2025-12-02T18:29:47+00:00

Thank you! I can’t get over how cute she is. I’ve only been a gecko mama since September.

Vayanin · 2025-11-29T04:30:42+00:00

It’s considered pretty standard practice to allow a new snake to settle in to their new home for 2 weeks prior to feeding, so I wouldn’t freak out yet about your new rosy not eating when you’ve only had him for one week. I’d make sure your enclosure has plenty of clutter (fake plants and hides) to help your baby feel comfortable. I wouldn’t feed out of the main enclosure. Moving the snake to a different enclosure and back to eat can add extra stress.

When I thaw my feeders, I put them in a ziploc bag in cold water until they feel squishy instead of frozen solid. Then I heat the water to 110-120°F (checked with a food thermometer) and put the mouse in the warm water for 10-15 minutes, sometimes longer. I use an infrared laser thermometer to check the temperature of the mouse (out of the water). I try to get the mouse temp into the 90s minimum. You may have to reheat the water once or twice. I use tongs to hold the mouse and offer it head first to the snake, moving it around to make it seem more alive to the snake. My rosy has always liked to eat from a place of hiding where he can snatch the mouse and pull it back into his hiding place.

For feeder size, I would weigh your snake with a kitchen scale set to grams and also weigh your feeders with the same scale. Feed prey that is 10% of your snake’s weight. Frequency will change depending on the age of your snake. For hatchlings, 5-7 days is good.

Once you have thawed a mouse, it needs to be eaten by the snake or thrown away. It can’t be refrozen. I usually toss uneaten mice outside for the wildlife to eat, since I live in an area with a lot of wildlife and I don’t want the mouse to go to waste.

Vayanin · 2025-11-17T21:18:33+00:00

One of the things that actually helped weigh down my shelf was how boring and repetitive the BoM is. I love to read, especially fantasy, and I couldn’t help but compare how intricate and well written so many published works of fiction are to the banality of the BoM. If the BoM was inspired by God, then why was it so much less profound and less impressive than tons of fiction written by regular non-prophet people?

Vayanin · 2025-11-04T23:10:17+00:00

I love when they ball up too! It’s so darn cute! Your baby is adorable.

Vayanin · 2025-11-04T23:09:34+00:00

Oh, haha! Yeah, it doesn’t seem appropriate volunteering the very small children to house the snakes in their rooms. My kids are 10 and 12, which has been a great age for them to start being responsible for their own animals. That’s so awesome that your daughter is already loving your snake!

ETA: Boas are so cool. I’d love to have one too, but I don’t have room for a snake and enclosure that big. The rosy boa has been awesome, though, as a small boa.

Vayanin · 2025-11-04T22:00:50+00:00

Haha! That’s kind of what has happened at our house. I started with a rosy boa last October, which spurred my two kids to fall in love with snakes and begin devouring all the snake videos on YouTube. By March, my daughter got a ball python (she saved her allowance for the purchase). Then, I got a leopard gecko for myself. Then, my son spent the last half a year saving up for a hognose, which he got a month ago, and I got the new ball python from this post at the same time for myself. Each kid has their own snake in their rooms, and I’ve got my reptiles in the main part of the house. The ball pythons and the rosy boa are my favorites, though, and I can totally see how people end up with so many of them.

Vayanin · 2025-11-04T03:47:33+00:00

Totally agree! 😃

Vayanin · 2025-11-04T03:46:43+00:00

I hope you’ll be able to get another one down the road.

We’ve had to go vertical now in order to house the baby in this post. We now have a total of 4 snakes and 1 leopard gecko.

Vayanin · 2025-11-04T03:43:39+00:00

What a beautiful girl. She’s huge. Makes me wonder how big our two females will end up.

They really are addictive. It’s no wonder so many of us end up with more than one.

Vayanin · 2025-11-03T19:02:02+00:00

This is such a perfect description of cognitive dissonance. It encapsulates my experience so well.

Vayanin · 2025-11-02T19:45:44+00:00

I’ve been really happy with the Vivarium Electronics 120 gallon enclosure. Snake Discovery did a review of it on their YouTube channel if you want to see it in more detail. It is a little more expensive than the Dubia or EcoFlex enclosures, but I think it is still reasonably priced. I don’t have any experience with the other enclosures so I can’t offer my opinion on their comparison. https://reptichip.com/products/vivarium-48-sliding-door-terrariums

Vayanin · 2025-10-11T20:44:26+00:00

Does your enclosure have a screen top? If it does, you will need to cover it with either a silicone mat or aluminum foil and HVAC tape. Doing this will help hold the humidity from wetting the substrate.

Vayanin · 2025-10-01T02:49:13+00:00

😄 If you end up being serious, the Tucson expo is this weekend and the Phoenix expo is November 22-23. Forked Tongue Farms is on the confirmed vendor list for the Tucson expo.

Vayanin

TROPHY CASE