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The beauty of keeping reptiles is that once you've set up their caging requirements and learned a few basic skills, there are many species that can be safely and efficiently kept within the home and should live out a full, healthy life.

Fortunately the vast majority of the suitable snakes one might choose to keep, such as corn snakes, king snakes or milk snakes, require very little special treatment and soon become very low maintenace captives.

Quiet, well-behaved, not requiring regular walks and virtually scent-free whilst being unusual and fascinating, snakes can be an ideal pet for today's ever-busy lifestyle.

At it's simplest, a glass fish tank with a specially-sold reptile hood or one of the specially made reptile cages (such as those available from http://www.petsmart.com) may be used, and these are often available for sale second hand in local papers.

Wooden cages should be avoided unless they are treated so as to avoid any spillage from the water bowl (many snakes like to bathe) and ventilation should be good as moist cages often lead to skin complaints or respiratory problems.

A length of around 30-45 cm is suitable for a hatchling snake whilst an adult will require a length of 60-90 cm so it can stretch out.

The cage should be furnished with one of the reptile-safe substrates such as beech chippings or corn cob granules and should be placed 1/3 - 1/2 over a safe, specially-sold, low-wattage heat mat to gently warm the substrate for the snake.

These cost just pennies to run each day and generate a gentle background warmth for your pet.

In particularly cold situations such as bad weather, during night-time or in a room which doesn't warm up appreciably during the day an additional form of heat is recommended, such as a gauze-encased lightbulb, to warm the warmer end of the cage (the "hot spot") to around 24-26'C.

This temperature should be maintained at one end of the cage throughout the day though this may drop by a few degrees at night without worry of danger to your pet. If using a bulb a thermostat is recommended to enable you to accurately control the temperature and prevent the cage overheating.

A hide should be included as snakes are often quite reclusive and like to hide away for much of the day, showing themselves early in the morning and later in the evening.

This could be a specially-sold reptile hide but I often simply use a box - like an old cereal box - as they're free and easily replaced when they get dirty.

A solid waterbowl - ideally a terracotta dog bowl - large enough for the snake to submerge itself in (bathing is good for the skin) but difficult to tip over should be filled with fresh water and changed daily as in a warm environment plenty of water is likely to evaporate, and in addition many snakes like to deficate in their water bowl.

And apart from some food you're now all set up!

As you can see keeping the smaller, more docile snakes *doesn't* have the break the bank, nor do you these days need to "make do" with substandard products. Companies like ZooMed make high quality, specialist hardware for just this purpose, and make it available for a very reasonable cost.

Now all you need to do is to convince your girlfriend/wife/mother to let you have the snake itself ;-)

Copyright 2006 Richard Adams

Richard Adams is the owner and founder of http://www.aboutsnakes.com. About Snakes is one of the most popular sources of free reptile information online.

Apples are excellent fruits. They contain almost all vitamins and mineral stuffs you need. Apples contain pectin and folic acid as well.

Apple diet can solve metabolism problems and helps with excess weight problems. But you must know that it is not a panacea. Apple diet can not make you slim and graceful forever. This diet will help you to get rid of some excess weight. But you can gain this weight again if after the diet you return to nutrition that already led you to excess weight.

Apples diet is good as any other mono diet (kefir, rice, curd, vegetable, fish) as an addition to your main health and weight loss program. It is better to have apple fasting day especially after holidays or if you broke your diet plan.

To have weight loss you need 1-2 apples fasting days a week having balanced nutrition at the same time. To strengthen achieved results in weight loss program and not to gain excess weight again you must have 2-3 apples fasting days a month.

Moreover apple diet is very helpful for atherosclerosis prophylaxis and therefore for hypertension treatment.

There are variants of apples diet.

1. Fresh apples. You may eat them as many as you want. You must drink not less than 1-1,5 litre (~2-3 pints) of liquid.

2. Baked apples. You may bake them in oven, make apple sauce but without sugar. It is recommended in case of bowels problems. Baked apples are better assimilated than fresh ones.

3. Kefir (yoghurt)/apples. This day when you eat 1 apple you drink half a glass of kefir (yoghurt). It is easy to calculate that having 6-7 apples you drink 3-3.5 glasses of kefir (yoghurt).

Choose the suitable for you variant and success will wait you. You may combine the variants. In any case please consult with your dietitian before.

Some helpful advices.

If you quitted smoking it can lead to excess weight gaining or to slow down your weight loss program results. Have 2-3 apple fasting days without a break one time in 10 days. You will have 8-12 apple fasting days during month. It will help you to avoid weight gaining for sure.

People with alimentary canal problems must eat apples every day. Moreover scientists discovered that apples contain substances that oppress malignant cells stimulating oncological problems.

It is important to know what sorts of apples suit you. Sour sorts of apples are counter-indicative for people with stomach ulcer for example. Only sweet sorts suit in this case. From the other hand sure sorts of apples are more preferable for people with decreased acidity. Remember that grated apples are assimilated better. Apple seeds contain plenty of iodine that is good for thyroid gland.

Important.

People succeed in weight loss not from apples but from low calorie way of nutrition. You may have weight loss eating potatoes as well. The main thing is not what you eat but how much. That is the formula of success.

Be healthy,

Nataly

ABOUT THE AUTHOR: Nataly Orlova is a recognized authority on the subject of overweight and obesity problems. Her articles published in http://www.overweight-info.com provides a wealth of information on everything you'll ever need to know about overweight, obesity and other health problems. Food/points table can be found here http://overweight-info.com/foodpoints-table/.