[Cazador]

Hi Mike, and welcome to the forum.

#3. I'd suggest that tap water is probably even better for the snake than river water. If you've ever looked under a microscope at river water, you've probably seen the amoeba and protists swimming around. That's something you want to try to avoid with captive snakes.

There have been some members on here who have had very bad experiences with water that is left unchanged in their snake pen for long periods of time. Just to be totally clear, you want to be able to remove and clean the water container periodically. One of the members here (boeh) has a really horrifying tale to tell because cryptosporidium colonized the standing water. The entire collection was lost, and it was a very impressive collection. As I recall, Fons (Thamnophis) also has either had, or know people who have had, bad experiences after making non-removable pools and not cleaning them regularly .

It's also not a great idea to leave fish in the water bowl indefinitely. If they start to develop "ick," they'll pass the fungi on to the snake. Also, it can be quite a challenge for babies to catch live fish if the water is fairly deep.

I'd offer a second opinion on feeding frequency for baby snakes, though there's nothing wrong with feeding them at three-day intervals. I'd suggest feeding every other day for the first month or so. Then switch to every 3 days. I like to feed newborns small portions, but more often. There isn't a real rule, so have fun. It's hard to overfeed a newborn.

Definitely stay away from crickets, and finally, I like to name all of my snakes "Rick's the man #1, #2, #3, etc." Pretty catchy, eh?

Rick