African house snakes are small species of brown snakes. These snakes are mostly found across Africa. Do you want to know about the African house snake care sheet? Then keep reading. These snakes are known to be harmless. They can be good pets.
African house snakes also won’t need high-end equipment, and they have relaxed temperaments. This article will cover all the doubts about caring for African snakes. You will go for one after you finish reading this. They are the most fantastic species and relatively harmless ones.
African House Snake: Species Summary
African house snakes are usually found in sub-Saharan Africa and, it is dark brown snakes with harmless nature. The African snake species name is Boaedon fuliginosus. These usually feed on rats.
Also, it is significantly easier to take care of this species. These are generally found along with brown house snakes. Brown house snake is also known as cape house snake. So it is the best option for petting these snakes if you have no prior experience in petting snakes.
Because they don’t need extra carings, and the snake is also non-harmful with low temperaments. These are often found in towns and villages of Africa.
African House Snake: Appearance & Colors
It usually is a medium-sized brown color snake. But it will come in a variety of subtle colors. Mainly found colors are light brown to a chocolate color.
Some snakes may display faint spots and some patterns such as lines and striping. But some people claim it to be a boring, dull, plain snake.
African House Snake: African House Snake Size
The male African house snake’s size is between two and three feet long. However, females are quite large, and their size ranges between three to four and a half feet. However, you can extend their size by following some methods.
By providing the utmost care and treatments, you can maximize the chance of your pet animal getting larger. But you should provide excellent care. Also, it would be good if you bought the snake from a reliable pet dealer with good genes.
African House Snake: Lifespan
The average life span of an African house snake is 15 to 20 years. But you can even explain this life span period by providing reasonable care and treatment.
But there will be a chance of having a lower lifespan in the wild due to parasites, diseases, and predators. Taking care of them reasonably, you can extend their life span by providing good food, suitable habitat, etc.
African House Snake: Care
It is effortless to take care of African house snakes. You can start petting an African house snake even if you have no prior experience sheltering a pet snake because it doesn’t need high-end skills to take care of them.
Like all the other snakes, it might need a considerable temperature, humidity, etc. But it won’t demand you to invest in advanced equipment.
African House Snake: Enclosure Size
An enclosure is where you keep your pet. So the enclosure should be perfect for it and should give a feeling of comfortableness to your pet snakes. An enclosure of an African house snake should be 24inch× 24 inch× 24 inches.
But you can always use a larger enclosure if you have space. A larger enclosure is pretty good for them, and there will be plenty of places to move and enjoy. Also, it is nicer if the tank has a good height.
Because these snakes love to climb and would enjoy their stay in the enclosure, you can use the enclosure made up of wood, plexiglass, and glass. But the enclosure should have a tight lid to prevent them from escaping and a lot of ventilation.
African House Snake: Setting Up Their Habitat
You can set the habitat in many ways. You can try to set up the habitat in natural ways. By maintaining the natural look, you can make your pet feel safe, secure, and comfortable. Use a high-end substrate when you try to build an enclosure. You can even use Aspen wood chips.
You can also use newspapers. But try to use woodchips to maintain the natural look of the enclosure. Use a substrate that is significantly easier to clean. Also, add lots of branches to the enclosure.
Because in the wood, these snakes would try to climb up and enjoy. And hence it is recommended to use branches and foliage in the enclosure to give the same wild feeling to them.
Also, it would be best to provide hiding areas to make them feel comfortable and an area to hide when they feel insecure.
African House Snake: Temperature & Lighting
Snakes need different temperature zones like all other snakes. You need to physically change the location of the enclosure to increase or decrease the temperature according to the need for African house snakes.
To make this process easier, you can designate one side of the enclosure as excellent and the other one as warm. Warmth should be around 90° Fahrenheit and the cool area should be low as 79 degrees Fahrenheit.
You can also use a ceramic basking light to accomplish the temperature gradient. The temperature should be constant, so you may need to check the temperature by using a thermometer.
African House Snake: Humidity
These snakes usually don’t require a high level of humidity. The humidity level should come between 30 to 50 percent. You can acquire the correct level of humidity by misting the enclosure lightly. Or place a water bowl always in the enclosure.
Also, there should be a facility for proper ventilation to maintain the humidity level. Purchase a hygrometer and check the humidity level. This way, you can ensure that the humidity level is correct.
If you want your snakes to be in perfect health and expanded life span, then maintain a proper humidity level in the enclosure of African house snakes.
African House Snake: Water
It would be best if you always kept a bowl of fresh water in the Terrarium of African house snake. The water should be clean and fresh. Also, keep the water bowl at the cool side of the enclosure to keep the humidity level low.
These animals love water, and during shedding, they soak and bathe in water by dipping themselves in water. To avoid the formation of bacteria and parasites in the water, avoid using the same water and frequently change the water.
African House Snake: Food & Diet
African house snake doesn’t need expensive food, and its diet is effortless. They need mice or rats to fill their needs. Also, you can introduce live or frozen rodents. Anyhow they will have it. It would be best if you gave frozen or defrosted small mice to younger African house snakes.
Because introducing live rodents, might attack or bite the snake. Only feed one to two times a week. But it would help if you fed the other adult snakes once a week.
African House Snake: Potential Health Issues
African house snakes are vulnerable to various disorders, and these snakes will experience mouth rot. Mouth rots are caused by the bite of prey or by the substrate. The symptoms of mouth rot are redness around Mouth and fuss around it.
Parasites and mites cause other health issues. So to find it out, you should do frequent fecal testing and other checkups. But always consult a vet for extra tips, and do not delay making an appointment if you notice an abnormality in them.
African House Snake: Behavior & Temperament
These snakes have a very calming temperament. These are the appropriate snakes for beginner pet farmers.
However, young or new snakes might bite, but they quickly pass through this stage. African house snake is a good snake, and also it is nocturnal. But it will move in the enclosure several times a day.
African House Snake: Handling
You can easily handle adult African house snakes. But juveniles and hatchlings are not so easiest to handle. Since they are young, they tend to bite and show energetic behavior and hence jump a lot.
They will spring up, so you should be careful while opening the lid of the enclosure. But take care of yourself while putting your hand into the enclosure because they might think of your hand as food, and there is a chance of getting bitten by it.
But it is easier to make them calm down, and with utmost care and treatment, you can have a healthy African house snake.
African House Snake: Housing
These snakes are found in Africa. We all know that Africa has a warm environment, and hence it will be difficult for them to adjust to colder environments.
To provide a warmer environment, you should invest in a wooden vivarium. Also, the enclosure should have a larger vent and front opening glass doors.
African House Snake: Heating
Attach a basking lamp to the ceiling of the enclosure. Temperatures within the enclosure should always be consistent.
Plant a dimmed thermostat to check the constantness of the temperature. Also, you can plant heat bulbs. At night, the enclosure should be dark, and you should turn off all the lights. Also, place a heat mat to provide warmth.
African House Snake: UVB Lighting
Usually, African house snakes do not need UVB. But it is best to invest in UVB. It is because snakes are naturally exposed to sun UV rays, and you can simulate the natural environment by providing UVB lighting.
Even a smaller unit of UVB light is sufficient. It would be nice if you mounted this lighting at the top of the ceiling.
It would be best if you also placed a hiding spot in the enclosure because there will be a time when snakes do not need the UVB or partially need it. So they can hide and rest in hiding spots when they do not want UVB.
African House Snake: Decoration
An empty enclosure would look too dull. Therefore you can invest in making your enclosure beautiful by trying to simulate the natural wild look. You can make your snake pet feel more comfortable and entertained by forming a natural look enclosure.
A terrarium should have a bowl of water, substrate, and a hiding place. It is a bare minimum. But to give a more Beautiful look, you can invest in more branches, ledges, caves, and artificial plants.
African House Snake: Diet & Water
These snakes are carnivores, which means they only eat meats. To get balanced nutrition, they should get animal prey. You should feed a juvenile African house snake once a week and feed an adult African house snake once every two weeks.
They are ready feeders on live or frozen prey to the snakes. African house snakes usually do not require extra supplements. However, you can provide it to them to maintain calcium levels. You can lightly dust calcium plus loD on the prey and give it to the African house snake.
Do not forget to keep a water bowl at the enclosure. The water bowl should be significant, and there should be a space for the snake to soak African house snakes bodies.
But you should change and clean the water daily to avoid the formation of bacterias in the water. Scrub with reptile-safe disinfectant.
African House Snake: Breeding
You don’t have to do any other things to do the breeding. If you keep both male and female snakes, they will mate. It is a natural process. Also, the gravid female should have an additional lay box to lay the eggs.
The box should be big enough that the gravid female can turn around and lay eggs. After the eggs are laid, you should incubate them. Incubate the eggs in a sealed box with moisture-rich substrate covered.
After an average of 60 days, the eggs will hatch, and the hatchlings will come out.
African House Snake: Cleaning
African house snakes need a clean environment to live. It would be best if you cleaned the spots often. Also, change the bedding several times a year. While cleaning, you should remove the snake from its enclosure and remove the decorations and all.
Also, when everything is clear, spray reptile friendly disinfectant. Also, clean the decorations using disinfectant and wipe them away by using a paper towel. Also, rinse thoroughly before drying it off.
During the daytime, do the cleaning process for the snake to get a warmer area to go back in when all is set.
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Conclusion
It is easier to manage African house snakes. It is good to have an African house snake as a pet. Because it needs minimal care and is easiest to care for, you won’t need any qualities to shelter these creatures. It is effortless to handle them.
It will be a rewarding experience to have an African house snake as a pet. So go and buy a species of African house snake and experience a valuable experience by petting a snake. You can offer mice, rats, hamsters, feeder lizards, gerbils, etc., to maintain a variation in nutrition.
FAQs
Are African house snakes good pets?
Yes, it is a good pet. African house snakes are something you should have as a pet. It is because they have fantastic character and have low temperaments. They require low maintenance too. If you are a starter in the pet industry and looking out for a pet snake, investing in African house snakes is best.
Do African house snake bites hurt?
These snakes don’t hurt. But you have to make a lot of effort, a lot of annoying to make them get irritated. And also, when they strike, they won’t harm you, they won’t leave bite marks, and won’t even break the skin. It is effortless to handle them. And also, these are non-venomous snakes.
How do you identify a hidden snake in your house?
It is hard to find a hidden snake in a house. However, you can lure them out by following some tricks. You can place piles of damp towels covered with a wet towel at different places. The snake will go and try to hide underneath it. Because snakes always prefer to live in a moist environment. So you can frequently check those damp towels and remove the snake from your house.
How long do African house snakes live?
They can live up to 9 years. It is said that with the utmost care, you can expand their life span up to 15-20 years. But the typical average year is nine years.
From Where do African house snakes come?
It is a harmless snake. African house snakes are found in sub-Saharan Africa. It is seen in towns and villages of Africa, and it is effortless to handle them. They don’t need too notch equipment to live.
