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2 week vacation with(out) small snake

Hexadeci

Hexadeci

Paranoid After Midnight
What procedures do y'all recommend for going on vacation and leaving a small snake at home? He's not really a hatchling anymore I suppose, but still eats like one due to various reasons. My family will be staying in the house, but they are not comfortable caring for the snake. I'm feeding him today (1 large pinky or 2 small, depends what I buy), and leaving Saturday.

1. Should I feed him on Friday/Saturday before I leave? My sister can handle the poop check, in theory.

2. Should I leave him the one normal water dish and have my sister change the water once or twice? Or is that not frequent enough? Or leave two?

3. I've seen threads mention unplugging the UTH. Should I? It's on a thermostat (albeit a relatively cheep thermostat) that I check daily and haven't had issues with.

4. Will he be ok that long without food, or should I have my sister attempt to feed (I'm highly reluctant, because she is highly reluctant)? I know in theory they should be ok for weeks in the worst cases...

So my tentative plan is this:
Feed today (it's due). Clean tank Wednesday or Thursday after digestion (it's due). Feed on Friday night / Saturday morning before I leave. Give him 2 water dishes. Teach the sister how to do the basic spot cleaning and checking, but not to do a feeding. Leave the UTH/thermostat plugged in. Feed when I get home. Try to worry less.

Comments/suggestions/things I am forgetting?
 
Feed today (it's due). Clean tank Wednesday or Thursday after digestion (it's due). Feed on Friday night / Saturday morning before I leave. Give him 2 water dishes. Leave the UTH/thermostat plugged in. Feed when I get home. Try to worry less.
Click to expand...

Good plan...minor change made. ;)
 
I think your plan sounds good! He will be fine without food for an extra week. I would have your sister do at least one water change though.
 
She can always use gloves when changing the water and remove the poop. You can always put water in paper cups, so it's as easy as possible for her to quickly swap the old cup into a fresh one.

Leave written instructions, though! People forget what they were supposed to do easily, especially if it's something stressful.
 
Personally I like to turn off the heat, as room temperature isn't too bad for them - especially only for a few weeks (I know people who raise, breed and care for all of their snakes in total room temperature).
But it's the only thing I worry about while gone - a heat malfunction.
Everything else, the snake will handle it just fine (as long as water is kept present).
 
A sibling could check temps though...and unplug the UTH if it gets too high. I would definitely unplug the UTH if the critter was home alone. Your call! :)
 
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