grannykins

This thread is 8 years old. I'd start a fresh one with your question.

Congratulations! I'm just hoping we survive our next 20 months in bricks and mortar so we can start living properly how we really want to. On a boat

Thats another one of our regulars

Good luck with your boat hunt - I am so jealous! We have a little GRP cruiser, but cant wait till the end of next year when we will be able to start looking for our liveaboard.

They still need a thermal gradient to digest food. In the wild they use sunlight to warm up and move away to cool down. If its the middle of winter and they have just eaten, then the power supply fails you still have a potentially dead snake. In the wild they will brumate during the cold months, and dont usually eat. You could, of course, brumate your snake over winter ( I used to do this with mine, turning off all the heat in the reptile room), but then you would be kind of cold on your boat. Still not worth it in my opinion.

Don't know if you've passed Swindon yet - between Greensforge lock and The Bratch - but there is a very good chippy there. Right on Swindon bridge

Hoping to see lots of grass snakes in their natural surrounds in future

Poor horse - glad it got out safely!

Nothing wrong with keeping exotics if they are kept properly and have been legally obtained and captive bred. I'd rather have a responsible reptile keeper next door than a pratt with an aggressive dog thats never under control. (I'm not calling all dog owners pratts -I have dogs) And I'm not getting into the political argument about the capablilities ( or otherwise) of the RSPCA now that a lot of the senior people are heavily involved with PETA. (For more info just search the net if you need to know more)

Wouldnt fancy putting a snake in the engine bay - they can be very sensitive to fumes of any kind. And it would not provide the heat gradient they need to thermoregulate. Besides that, you would need to run a heater( preferably a ceramic bulb),and a thermostat 24/7. Plus a light if you wanted one for display purposes. Anything that produces heat uses a lot of electricity. The only way to do it reliably would be to plug in to shore power 24/7. Might as well live in a flat. Believe me, I've looked at all the angles over the last 3 years or so and, from the reptiles point of view, its just not worth the risk.

I kept and bred several species of snakes for over 12 years. I loved my hobby. About 3 years ago my husband and I made the definite decision to move onto a narrowboat when we retire at the end of 2016. I did lots of research. I stopped breeding my snakes, and stopped buying any more new ones. As a result of my research I have now sold all my breeding pairs. I have left 3 of my original corn snakes and one small, undersized royal python that took a lot of hard work to raise as he was so ill as a baby. These snakes also, sad to say, willl have to be rehomed before we move onto our narrow boat. I decided that I cannot take the risk of the electrics failing and leaving a snake, that may have just eaten a good meal, without heat. For those of you who may not know, snakes only need to eat once a week, or once a month even if they are one of the bigger species. They then need several days of decent heat so they can lie and digest their meal. To be without heat at this time, particularly if it is really cold, means that they can actually die. I made the decision that I cannot take the risk of that happening to one of my animals. I really think that, all things considered, a narrowboat is not the place to keep reptiles. And snakes only usually smell bad if you dont keep them clean - the same as any other pet.

Poor thing looks very scrawny for a 15 yr old retic. My 5 year old boa constrictor was much chunkier than that, and she was only 10ft when I sold her. Somehow don't think people would have been at much risk. Cant stand people who just dump pets rather than pay out for vets bills. And people also don't research properly and don't realize the size of accommodation needed for some of these bigger reptiles. I had one numpty wanting to buy my boa thinking he could keep it in a 3ft long vivarium until he managed to get a bigger one! She was 10ft long and 12.5kg! Again, poor snake! Nice pic of Grass snake though

There is also one, I think its Whatstore, that does the same with supermarkets. Can also be very useful.

At least I know now to put the brush DOWN the chimney when we get our boat

Thanks for all the informative replies everyone. All very useful

Only 22 months to go now until retirement, when we can buy a narrowboat and move aboard. Still doing lots of research and getting much useful information from this forum. I've been thinking about multi fuel stoves. Now I know the chimney has to be cleaned regularly to avoid CO coming into the boat and to burn efficiently. I've also read that many people have the stove lit from October to March. So how do you go about cleaning the chimney with the fire lit? Or do you actually have to let it go out and cool down, which would be a pain in the middle of winter? Sorry if the answer is on here somewhere, but I couldnt find it.

Don't know if you've already got it, but there is a very useful phone app - Whatgas - that will bring up local petrol stations as you travel along, and you can see which bridge is nearest to the garage. We find it very useful when we are out and about. Then we mark the garage on our Nicholsons guide for the next time.

As you say, many boats are sold before being advertised on brokerage. Have you left your details with some decent brokers with the details of the kind of boat you are after? Then they can contact you if something promising is coming in. This is what we intend to do at the end of 2016 when we will be looking for our liveaboard.

Thanks for all the replies. Plenty for us to think about.

I've been doing some research on composting toilets for when we get our narrowboat in a couple of years. Was quite impressed with those I saw at Crick this year. Just a few questions for those of you who have composters. 1) Do they really not smell? I would have thought the urine would smell more than the poo. I empty catheter bags at work and find the smell of stale urine quite unpleasant. 2) How big a holding canister do you have for the urine and how often do you empty it? 3) Where do you keep the full solid waste tubs while they compost down? 4) How much electricity does the extractor fan really use? 5) Is it easy to have a composting loo installed? Thanks for reading.

I've just got 3 youngsters in a large cage - this one here. It can hold 5 adult males. http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/New-Liberta-Riviera-large-Monte-Carlo-Rodent-Rat-cage-VA986CL-/111115042546?pt=UK_Pet_Supplies_Small_Animals&hash=item19def8fef2 Cant find how to post a pic of my actual set up. And 2 rescue boys in a slightly smaller cage. hoping they will all be able to live together at some point in the future. By the time we retire at the end of 2016, at which point we will upgrade from our little GRP to a liveaboard narrowboat, my present boys will probably have gone to the great rat heaven. I would like to take a group with me onboard if I can find space for the big cage

Have had to have a fan on our rats constantly in the heat of the summer. They dont cope with heat very well. This would be my main concern having rats on a boat in summer. Ok if you're hooked up to shore power, but dont know if you could run a fan 24/7 while cruising.

Will definitely get a large panel when we graduate to a narrowboat as pensioners. Have a small panel at the mo to keep our batteries (one starter and one leisure) well topped up.

Thanks for all the replies. Hmm, rethinking the plan now. Doesnt seem a very good area to leave the boat - its only GRP and would be easily damaged. Think we might have the family thing at Stourport instead - and just go to Cadbury World another time by car, as its not really far from us. Anyway, any purchased choccy would melt on the boat as we dont have the power to run a fridge

Thanks for all the replies. Will let you know how it goes.