Flying Snake Care Sheet
by MIchelle Nash
Ideally these snakes need a good size cage that offers vertical climbing branches. Additions like artificial plant foliage add to the cage. Example ccage dimensions would be 1.5 ft deep, 2.5 ft wide, and 4 ft tall.
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A basking light, like mercury vapor,is important as these snkaes like to bask up high. A heat pad is also useful for when they are down low.
The heat pad can be left on 24/7 but the basking light should be on a timer for about 13-14 hours a day.
A water dish of, deep enough to immerse themselves in but also not too large (about 4.5 inches diameter & 2 inches deep) is important as it aids humidity and they like to immerse themselves in it.
A hide log or similar is also useful but it needs to be small enough to allow them to feel secure.
Newspaper or most substrates are suitable. Newspaper has advantages as they like to hide in it, it is easily removed fro cleaning and you can also put water on it to assist with increasing humidity.
The temp. at the closest spot under the basking lamp should be about 96° F, and similar near the heat pad.
Cooler areas should range around 72° F to give a good ragne of temperatures in the cage so they can reguklate their body temperature.
Offset ventilation screens help to create air movement (one vent on a
wall up higher, the other vent on the opposite wall set lower so
that hot air rises and escapes thru the upper vent which creates
a vacuum to draw in cooler air down low).
Add humidity a couple of times a week by either misting heavily
or placing a cup of water across the
newspapers where they can absorb it and it evaporates more
slowly than when you mist the cage.
Make sure the newspapers on
the floor are clean. If they are soiled
the water dumping can promote excess bacterial
growth in the cage.
Clean the cage regularly. If you use newspaper, pull out all
layers of newspaper that have any soiling stains.
Once a mont do a full clean that includes sanitizing the flooring before adding new substrate or newspaper.
These snakes will eat live gut-loaded anole lizards or house geckos,
(they have amazing eye sight and uses it to do their hunting as
much, if not more, than their sense of smell).
They will also eat her frozen/thawed weanling, not quite full size, mice.
Offer the mice about every 7 days and they should holding their weight with these.
Mark Chapple is the Author of "How to build enclosures
for reptiles"
Find out how to build these cages as well as arboreal cages. Full color pictures,
detailed diagrams and easy to follow, step-by-step instructions.
http://www.reptile-cage-plans.com