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Hello my friends, welcome to episode 65.
Today's introduction animal is an Australian Water Dragon, Physignathus Lesueurii.
They are such beautiful animals.
I brought it along today, because you seldom see it any more.
We need more people to breed these Australian Water Dragons.
Bert Langenwerf from Alabama Agama International bred them for some time, so you could easily buy one.
He sold many of them throughout the world and thereby introduced them to the world of herpetology.
That was great; unfortunately, the farm doesn't exist any more.
For that reason, there are no Water Dragon babies any more.
Hear my appeal, please breed these Australian Water Dragons!
I'd almost say that with lizards, these are the most beautiful there are.
Today's topic is about how to keep your animals in racks.
For decades, we kept our animals in terrariums made out of glass.
Some were made out of wood, but they always looked much like this one here.
There are many reasons for these terrariums, just think about the Water Dragon we just saw.
However, during the last 10 years or so, breeders have noticed, that some animals ...
... in particular some snake species can be kept and bred in such racks - they are quite suitable for this.
Feeding problems seemed to be less of an issue inside these racks.
So this is the topic I am going to talk about today.
I brought along two nice racks.
To my left, a so-called LP Rack. It is used for the upbringing of young animals.
Here I've got our M&S Rack. We use this one for larger and adult animals.
The main idea behind these racks is always what I call this drawer like functionality.
I've got some kind of drawer, which I can push or pull.
And I can keep the animals inside.
This really helps with handling the animals in a larger scale.
Feeding and cleaning of the racks is very efficient.
It is easier to clean them. I can take out a complete drawer.
Moreover, I would only have to transfer the animal to a freshly cleaned drawer.
Now I have all the time I need for cleaning and sterilizing that drawer.
It's a very convenient handling.
That is one of the most important points for these rack systems.
The other point is - this is even more important ...
... breeders have noticed that many animals, especially snakes thrive well in these racks.
The reasons are still controversial.
Arguments against rack systems are rather arguments in favor of them.
Earth dwellers don't really need a high ceiling.
This is one reason why these animals thrive in racks.
It is important that animals are kept in solitary - when you use a rack.
You can never take a rack and place 2-4 animals inside.
Each animal - or snake - is kept in solitary.
There are no other animals to disturb them. And there are no rivalries.
A snake that is kept in solitary is healthier and thrives better. That is the most important requirement, if you use a rack system.
Very important - which animals are suitable for rack keeping.
In general, snakes that are earth dwellers.
Over there we have a classical rack animal - our Ball Pythons.
A Hook-nosed Snake, as I am holding, is also a typical earth-dweller.
In my opinion, they are perfect for rack keeping.
Or such a Honduran Milk Snake, Lampropeltis.
Lampropeltis are earth-dwellers and therefore suitable for rack keeping.
I'd also consider Blood Pythons and Red Rainbow Boas - Epicrates Cenchria.
I mentioned the Blood Pythons.
With other species, such as Boa Constrictor, you have to consider the following facts:
They have an enormous area of circulation. There are tree-dwellers - we haven a whole episode about that topic.
A Constrictor Sabogae lives up in the trees - that is no rack animal!
Following animals can be suitable: Indian Pythons, at least as pups they are suitable.
Larger animals are too large! There are no drawers on the market that would be suitable.
Earth dwelling, nocturnal geckos are also very suitable for rack keeping.
Let's talk about the interior.
It should be to the purpose, easy to clean and hygienic.
And easy to exchange.
As a convention, we have mulch on the floor.
Some breeders still keep them on newspaper.
It can be an alternative. Personally, I prefer litter over newspaper.
Litter can absorb moisture and emits a bit of heat.
Newspaper is a compromise - you’re free to follow your point of view.
Equally important - a cave for hiding.
Put inside the hiding cave. The moss will assist in achieving a good humidity inside your rack.
The humidity is even better inside the hiding cave.
If you always have some fresh and moist moss inside your rack, you shouldn't have snakes with molt difficulties.
You can, if you want to, put in some green. Just place it inside, just as I did.
Not because it looks better that way, the animals love it.
The idea behind the rack system is that the animal can live hidden and protected.
A bit of decoration or a plastic plant can help with that.
The animal can hide underneath. Even if it only hides with the head.
This will help the animal.
Those were the important facts about the interior. Another important aspect is ventilation.
In our racks, we have these vent holes on the side.
Other racks, such as these LP racks, have vent holes in the top covers.
There shouldn't be too much ventilation, because you would loose too much humidity and warmth - thereby changing your climatic conditions.
But they have to be large enough to ensure a good circulation and inflow of fresh air.
The next aspects are about climatic conditions, lighting and heating.
If your have a rack system, you don't have a separate lighting for each drawer.
You only have the daylight from your room.
You have to consider that the animal is an earth- or cave-dweller. Thus, they don't need that much light.
This fact can easily be observed. Place a snake into a bright light source and it will crawl away from it.
If you have lighting in a terrarium, that is in most cases for the owner. The terrarium should look nice.
But snakes and reptiles that don't need UV light, they aren't keen on light and brightness.
That's what I would imply.
As said, with a rack system you omit extra lighting.
But heating these racks is a very important aspect.
Personally, I would recommend that you heat your racks from above.
You would glue such a matt on the underside of an under shelf.
Glue it to the underside, just like this.
That way you have a heating from above.
And, due to the different floors ... if I heat here ...
... we've got seven mats. If we even add one on the bottom - we have 8 mats.
Please consider that your mats don't have a too high watt consumption.
The main goal is to get the temperature right.
Best practice would be, if you use a thermostat.
You set up the correct temperature and place the sensor inside a drawer
With a Ball Python, you would have 30°-31°C during the day.
And 26°C during the night.
If you use a thermostat, your climatic conditions should be optimal.
And then one matt on the underside, facing the cover.
A very important fact about heating. You can never set up such a rack inside a room with an ambient temperature of 20°C.
The room needs to be temperatured!
You can't try to reach 30°C inside the rack and on the side air with 20°C flows in through the air vents.
If by any means possible, your room should have a constant temperature of about 25°C.
You need this temperature, if you want to use a rack system.
If you have a cool room, an alternative can be to keep your rack in some kind of closet.
You would protect your rack and could heat the closet to 25°C.
That way you can achieve a suitable climate.
I'd like to pass along some advice for advanced users.
First, and very important, we just talked about heating.
There are several reasons why we have an overhead heating.
We heat from below and above. That way, our heating is evenly distributed inside the drawer.
If you have a single, very hot spot, this can cause the follicles inside the female to die off.
*** and egg cells are temperature-sensitive.
Higher temperatures are not good; generally, you would talk about roughly 35°c.
If you would have a matt on top, and it would simmer with 35°-40°C in the rear area -
- the female would lie here and constantly kill all sperms.
Fertilization would not happen and you are going to have a batch of wax eggs.
For these reasons, put in a heating matt from above.
Brush it thoroughly with silicon and glue it on the underside of the rack.
Very important, never heat it up to 35° or 40°C.
That way, you can have a drawer that is prepared.
You can put in litter, prepare a hiding spot and put in moist moss.
You have a spare drawer. Now you notice that your snake defecated or it is dirty for some other reason.
You simply take out the drawer, put the snake in the new one and put that drawer back inside the rack.
This way, you effortlessly can work with interchangeable drawers.
We have to talk about the legal issues involved.
How reptiles, or at least animals that fall under WA regulations, are to be kept, is regulated by the BFN.
There is a report on how reptiles are to be kept.
And there minimum dimensions that have to be considered.
These are only guidelines, they are not mandatory.
These guidelines are supervised through the local veterinary offices.
In theory, an official vet would come and examine how the animals are being kept.
He would have this aforesaid report from the BFN and would judge about the conditions, with the aid of this report.
Let me be clear about this, it is a report on guidelines. These requirements are not mandatory.
Depending on your rural district, there are large differences. Some tolerate rack keeping, while others do not.
Of course, they can have points to support their line of argumentation.
Often the minimum height of a rack drawer is the point of discussion.
Unfortunately, their is no general regulation that applies.
The positive aspects are, that with animals, such as ...
... Python Regius, Boa Constrictor ...
... of course all non WA animals, such as the Lampropeltis I showed you earlier ...
... Hooked-nosed Snakes and Leopard Geckos do not have to be reported with the authorities.
Thus, I do not have to account for their possession.
Therefore, no one will have to come and examine how these animals are kept. That's the good news, despite all the regulations.
The only trouble is, that there are no general rules that apply. You are always in a legal limbo.
Most recently - in 2013 or towards the end of 2013 ...
... various associations issued a statement, regarding the issues with keeping animals in racks.
The TVT, that is the Veterinary Association for animal protection, the Reptil Sanctuary in Munich ...
... the DGHT (Germany Herpetology Association) working group for vets and BNA (Federal Association for species-appropriate animal husbandry) ...
... have issued a statement regarding rack keeping.
That is the most recent report on this topic.
I do not approve their conclusions. Let me point out my concerns on three points.
These people wrote a statement on rack keeping, without ...
This point of view, should have been incorporated.
Second, when they talk about Ball Pythons ...
... they talk about 'after all' they tree-dwellers and 'after all' they eat birds.
These assumptions are based on an old report from Nigeria. I think it was around 1990 or so.
They found 'birds' inside the remains of Ball Pythons.
This is a difficult situation. I would say this can not be stated as the final truth.
It doesn't have to be a deliberate mistake. But I think they could have confused the correct species of these Pythons.
I am very certain, that you will not find 'bird remains' inside a Ball Python stomach!
It is not a particular wise choice to base this paper on these almost 30 year old findings.
The most serious point, especially for Ball Pythons, is the following ...
They came to the conclusion, that it is reasonable to keep a Ball Python in a rack, if it weighs up and to 500 g.
This advice is based on the fact, that the animals feed and thrive better inside a rack.
But, as soon as they weigh more, they should be kept in a terrarium or a terrarium rack.
In my opinion, the contradiction is already within the argument.
But probably, as soon as it weighs more than 500 g, the animal is stronger and it doesn't matter any more if do not keep it species-appropriate.
In my opinion, it is a total contradiction to give advice, based solely on the weight. And afterwards I can keep it wrong or it doesn't matter any more? I can't follow this chain of argumentation.
In my opinion, they have to reconsider the facts which lead to the conclusion - which is this statement.
The best solution at the moment - or a good trade-off - is the following rackarrium or rack terrarium.
I've got two levels. Below is the subterranean area.
They've got a hiding spot and of course, you can arrange even more inside.
The animals feel safe and protected and can hide.
Here I've got the second level. That can be a glass terrarium or as in our case, a second floor in a rack.
The aim of this setup is to imitate the living conditions that can be found in the wild.
Below, the hideout inside a termites' nest - above, the animal can go outside and has an open space.
It can lurk for prey or can drink some water.
Let me get this cover off, I want you to have a better view.
Here we have a hole, that is a passage.
The animal can crawl from one level to the other.
This thing that just fell down, is to indicate that you could also install lighting for the upper area.
This is a small T5 bulb, that way the upper area would be illuminated.
That way the animal can decide if it wants to stay in the open area or if it prefers the subterranean area.
Maybe this is a trade-off that a vet can accept or for the people that have strong objections towards the rack keeping of reptiles.
Nonetheless, I still have a rack. Here I've got a passage.
A duct was cut into the under shelf and into both boxes.
The top piece prevents litter from falling down and the edges are not as sharp as they would otherwise be.
For me, this is a very good trade-off for people that disapprove the rack keeping system.
In preparation of this episode, we wanted to know on facebook, what aspects of rack keeping are you interested in.
I hope that we were able to meet your expectations and presented all important details.
I'm really looking forward on reading your feedback.
At the end, a few words on our behalf.
In Villingen-Schwenningen, M&S Reptilien has it's own fantastic store.
We've got this great catalogue and a great web shop.
I don't want to promote our company too much. However, this how we have to earn our money.
In addition, an often overlooked aspect is, every day I receive up to 50 emails, where people ask questions like:
Which rack is the best? And so on.
Please consider this, I can give the best advice on our own products.
The products we carry, were carefully chosen, because I believe them to suited the best.
You can help me, in giving you the best advice possible, when you ask questions on products we carry.
And you can be certain, that Reptil.TV will be around for a long time.
Thank you for watching. Remain faithful!
Check my Balls!
And check my racks!
Here, at Reptil.TV, we've even got a trainee.
Let me introduce ... Egon ... wait ...
This is the new trainee with Reptil.TV
He has got a promising career ahead. Just as with Elton and Stefan Raab. Eugen will reach for the stars!
A lot of fuse about nothing.
Because, people have noticed in previous years, that snakes really enjoy being at home.
At home .... gosh!
... with great ... branches, twigs and things ...
I forgot the plant, I'll be back.
... it can be rather cold. Litter is warmer.
Director: There you go.
... I hope I was able to make my point. I hope I ....
Again, that was fantastic, wasn't it?