vega5 wrote: That snake is so beautiful. Admin, you said that you only handle them with thongs, right?
How often does their enclosures need to be cleaned? I'm not sure how much a snake actually pee and poo.
I've read that because they live I the thick foliage they get in a lot of leaves and stuff when they eat then they also get congested from that.
If I get one I want to make it a seriously proper enclosure so I will have heating pads and lamps for winter + a humidifier and the necessary temp. and humidity meters.
Yes, the Gaboons are by far the most beautiful snake for me. I've never touched this snake with my hands and only use hooks and thongs. I only handle the Gaboon with hooks, but you will need two, because it's very heavy... if you use two it's very easy to pickup, because it's not a very active snake like a cobra or mamba that will slide off or climb up and bite you in the face.
The Gaboon is a very good "showcase" snake because they never climb onto things and only lay still in their spot, so for that reason you can even use live plants in the cage since the snake will not break them apart like a cobra would. Most snakes will do anything to hide away by squeezing into the smallest crack or hole... a Gaboon on the other hand will look for a patch of leaves and wiggle in between them and wait there for prey. It's also only one of a few snake species that can move their eyes... when they sleep the pupil disappears, but when they wakeup it's like someone pushed a button and their pupil reappears instantly and when you walk past the cage you only notice the eye following you.
You don't have to clean the cage often at all as they don't make a mess like anaconda's for example. I had two yellow anacondas and it's the worst snake species I've ever kept. They need allot of water and what they do is climb in there and shit the water until its green like swamp and you only see the eyes on the top of their head looking at you. Every time I got near to clean that stinking water bath they launch out like a crocodile and bite the crap out of you. What made it even worse is they launch with so much force that half of the shit water is splashed onto you.
You are correct about them getting congested by swallowing leaves, however nature already found a way around this. When they strike their prey they hold on and immediately lift their heads out of the ground ect in an attempt to avoid getting stuff in their mouth. Sometimes they do get a small stick or something stuck in their mouth and they do this weird shake to try and get it out. I always stay close when I feed it and when something gets caught in there I use one of those feeding tweezers to remove it slowly so that it doesn't notice.
I have a video of it catching a rat, but it's not too good, so I'll try and make a better video tomorrow or wednesday when I feed it again.
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