Hi guys, as I mentioned in another post, I caught a little (seriously ±15cm) shield cobra in the kombuis, playing with the cat…
I've got her in a plastic tub that is about 25 x 25 cm, and at the moment am using leaves as a substrate so that there is something for her to burrow in and feel secure, as well as two large pieces of mopane bark for her to hide under. I'm not really happy with the leaves, though she seems happy enough. I have a shallow water bowl in there too, but haven't seen her drinking. I've put a heating pad under one side of the tub, covering about 20%.
Here are some pics: [the first few are of her outside, and the last is a quick snap of her in the tub (I'd appreciate and all comments and suggestions regarding the enclosure setup for this species! Westley has been very helpful already)]
I think that she's absolutely stunning!
This is the little girl in the tub. Like I said, I don't like the leaves (especially the grains that you can see on the plastic)… However, I collected some ele dung today, spent the morning washing and rinsing it (using my girlfriend's colander which I had to do sneakily in the shower). What does everyone think about cleaned elephant dung as a substrate for this snake? It's got quite a nice dense feel to it, that would still allow burrowing, but is also quite soft, with no sharp edges. I'm drying it at the moment but will post pics before I put the snake in.
Would love to have all of your thoughts, comments and advice! Thanks.