Licensed to thrill!

I got a phone call yesterday.  It was the licensing authorities ringing to clarify something on my reptile keeping license application.  The fantastic news is that it was also made clear that my application had been approved.  Stoked about that!

Apparently I had made a mistake on the form.  I wasn’t aware that snakes can only be sold by individuals, not shops.  I had put down that I was going to purchase the snake from Reptiles Inc. rather than from Peter, who runs the store directly.  I now understand the difference and will be buying from Peter rather than his store and record that on my records to ensure compliance.  Interesting to know that now too.

I have started making preparations for my diamond python’s arrival.  Today I converted a plastic tub into a home for it in the style of what I understand goes by the handle of a ‘click clack’.

  You can see the makings of it here.  I have a 20 litre plastic tub with two pieces of dowel criss-crossing it to allow for the pythons semi-arboreal nature.

I also have put in some paper towel for substrate, a terracotta dish for water and a ceramic tile as a heat holding basking spot.  I will place a heat mat under about a third of the container where the tile is to provide an appropriate temperature at that end and allow for cooler temperatures at the other end.

You can see in this next picture that I have cut a hole in the lid of the container and glued in plastic flyscreen mesh to allow for ventilation.  Common practice from what I have seen is to also

make some holes at different points of the container to allow for better air flow.  I have also put in a thermometer as you can see here.

You may also make out a screw holding the dowel in place.  This was a little tip I picked up in a forum thread on the Aussie Pythons & Snakes site.  The thread was most informative and I used the material in that thread to create this enclosure for our impending arrival.

Testing of temperatures in the setup tonight has seen some pleasing results.  I seem to be able to get 32-34 degrees at the hot end and 20-22 at the cool end consistently.  I would like to work it out so that it was 30-32 at the warmest point, so I have a little tweaking to do.  Diamond pythons are cold climate snakes and are probably the best snake for me to start with in regards to tolerance of our climate in Canberra.  Over the next few days, I will be working on the best ways to get the temperature right.  I have a few ideas that I am working on.  The most likely scenario is to get a thermostat to ensure things are spot on.

Exciting times are they not!?  I’ll have to do something about the banner at the top of the page.  This is becoming more than our Dragon Journal in a hurry.