I've got a Leucistic Texas Rat Snake, betweeen 18mo and 2 years old, about 24" long. She's currently in a 15G (24x12x12). I've got a 55G (48x12x24) that I'd like to use and have a few questions.

She seems pretty comfortable in the 15G, A couple of hides, a couple of branches. She's out and exploring a lot and watching all the time. The enclosure is in the family room and she definitely pays attention to who is in the room and what they are doing. She's very easy to handle, never bitten, no striking or hissing only the occassional tail rattle when you first go to pick her up. (I'm not going to get into the TX Rats being mean meme, at least this one is no more agressive than our CA King or Sinaloan).

So, my questions:

How big does she need to be to feel comfortable in the 55G? I've been told that moving her to an enclosure that's "too big" will make her feel exposed and insecure. Any truth to this? Or, if there are plenty of hides and not a lot of "open space" could I move her to the larger enclosure now?

Second, the 15G has only an undertank heat pad. Should I do both an undertank heat pad and some form of overhead light/emitter for the 55G?

I'm assuming that a pad of 7x11 11x11 or so -- so that about 1/4 of the enclosure would be directly heated -- would be about the right size for the 55G?

If I do both an undertank heat pad and an overhead light/emitter, should I put them both on the same end? That way there is a hot end and a cool end and let her regulate by moving from end to end.

For the heating, I'll be getting whatever I need so advice is welcome.

I've got a fairly large branch that goes from the bottom of one end to the top of the other end. I'm assuming that it would make the most sense to setup the tank so that the bottom of the branch is at the cool end and the top of the branch is at the warm end (above the heat pad and below the light/emitter). Same theory, she can control how close she can get to the light/emitter and thermoregulate.

Anything else I should be thinking about?

Thanks in advance for any answers, advice or thoughts.

Mike

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