Adult cribos are the most space-demanding snakes. Many keepers who post on this forum report success keeping cribos in smaller enclosures than I ever would, so browse the posts and decide for yourself.

Wild Eastern indigos have enormous home ranges. A male in Georgia was found to have a home range of over 3,000 hectares, or over 7,000 acres. These can be very restless snakes.

I keep them in the largest cages I can accommodate. Currently, my adult Eastern indigos are in cages six feet long, 30 inches deep and 14 inches high. Each cage has full-spectrum light bulbs plus a UV bulb placed near the basking light. Basking lights are mounted at one end of a cage to provide a hot spot of around 90-100 degrees. An exhaust fan in the cage wall at that end of the cage pulls the warm air out of the cage, preventing the entire cage from being heated by the basking bulb. A vent at the far end of the cage allows room air to replace the warm air removed by the fan, creating a steady flow of air through the cage, which seems to help maintain good digestion, overall health and a satisfactory mental state in the snakes.

When I get more space I plan to build cages eight feet long, four feet deep and about two feet high to allow for the use of UVB-emitting mercury vapor bulbs. Snakes need UV light although few captive snakes currently get much of it. Besides enabling proper skeletal development, UV light and the Vitamin D it helps produce both participate in a host of metabolic functions, immune system maintenance and emotional health.

I also provide a moist hide box, as cribos lose moisture through their skins more than many other species of snakes. The moist box is a large Sterilite with a hole cut in the lid, filled with Sphagnum moss which is moistened with distilled water. I suggest avoiding the use of tap water, which contains salts that will accumulate as the water dries and is replaced. Eventually, the salts will build up and coat the bedding, and make the snake uncomfortable.

[ Reply To This Message ] [ Subscribe to this Thread ] [ Show Entire Thread ]