Relationship Status with the Elephant Trunk Snake: It's Complicated

By Terrell Zeigler​

Working with Puppy has certainly been a learning experience and a labor of love. I picked up Puppy from DM Exotics at the January Reptile Super Show in Pomona. Since then, keeping him/her has been nothing short of a research project. In this post, I will be highlighting how I currently have this animal setup.

Puppy 1/15/2016

Puppy is a 2015 Acrochordus Javanicus, better known as the Elephant Trunk Snake or File Snake. Both are accurate description given the appearance of this animal and having the skin texture of a metal file. I can only assume that Puppy is a CB (CB = Captive Bred) from a farm in Indonesia. That are not impossible to come by in the hobby, but are somewhat rare to see in modern collections. I suspect the reasons for this are the amount of time and attention to detail you have to pay to the animal and it's environment, they should not be handled hardly ever, and their slow reproduction rates which would make them undesirable to breeders looking to make good returns on investment. We also don't fully understand what triggers reproduction, so that also plays a role.

All of that information aside, I still find them to be really fascinating creatures so I will be doing what I can to further evaluate and understand what makes these animals tick. ​As of right now, I have no plans to reproduce them until I can get a group of them established and thriving which will be many years down the line from now. After much reading and speaking with keepers who used to keeps them in the past, I am now on my third setup configuration for this one snake in about a month. The new setup is what was highly recommended and while I observe the animals behavior and acclimation, I will be constructing an even larger bio-active enclosure to accommodate growth. Below I will list everything I am currently using in my setup and what I plan to add going forward.

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SETUP

Everything being used in the current setup is relatively inexpensive and easy to setup. The most complicated task is doing the research for EVERY living thing you plan on adding to the system. Without doing your homework, you can throw your whole system out of whack. Our local aquatic store shutdown in my town so I picked almost all this stuff up at the local PetSmart. This system is very simple but will be the keystone in how I make adjustments moving forward.

The whole thing starts with a Sterilite 16 Qt Storage Box. I used a solder to drill out vent holes just like I would for a snake tub. I chose to go with a tub instead of a tank because Puppy is still very young and stressed out as it is and a 10 Gallon aquarium is just a little too big for what I need.

There is also a lid because they will try to escape just like any other snake.

These are most of the products purchased for this particular project. Like I said, there is nothing fancy here and this setup is to be used more so as a testing ground to see what works and doesn't work. 

This is just your basic aquarium sand which I have read from other keepers may not play any important role, but it will in the setup I am configuring.

If you decide to get the same air stone I got for aerating your water, I suggest never plugging in the LEDs. May cause stress to the animal.

The air stone is fixated in place by suction cups which will prevent it from floating around or being dug up.

This is just a simple air pump to operate the air stone. It is still audible, but quieter than I was expecting.

This hide is perfect for this setup as it provides an air pocket giving the snake the added comfort of being able to replenish oxygen without ever leaving the hide.

I chose to go with an analog heating element in case the power were to ever go out and come back it would automatically come back on and resume activity. It also work better with a thermostat.

I chose to use Anacharis as my first live plant because it can grow either planted or floating and it will provide the most top cover for the snake once it fills out. It may not look like much now, but in a few months it should be covering the waters surface in its entirety. All of the excess I have to cut and trim out will be used to start a new population in the next enclosure.

Water treatment is a very important part of this entire process and like I have said before is probably the most painstaking bit. Since this setup is very simplistic, I didn't need to go crazy with the products. I did need to pay close attention to what were tolerable pH thresholds for the snake, the plants, the fish, and all future additions to make sure that my system can come together with little to no issues. The tap water at my house is very harsh and nowhere near the recommended pH levels recommended for the snake, so a water test kit is an ABSOLUTE MUST! I cannot stress that enough. I also purchased these tabs to help correct the water once everything was setup and right now the levels are pretty spot on. 

In conclusion, there is still much more work to be done and by this time next year I am hoping to have a full fledged ecosystem going that will aid in keeping Puppy happy and safe. I am constantly pestering people who have written articles or posted YouTube videos online for all the information they have. I will eventually add 2-3 more to the group, but puppy is our first man in space so to speak. Once I can get a better grip on the specific care requirements and set up, I will track down more to work with. If you have any questions, please feel free to comment below.