I am currently keeping 4 of my fave colubrids in Boaphile cages with 6 square foot of floorspace. The 4 snakes are a Mexican Black King, Sonoran Gopher, Honduran Milk and Brooks King. They're all females. I have the males in Rubbermaids and they are smaller but my logic is that the males spend a considerable amount of time in the Boaphiles every year too, not too mention they are not as large as the females. The Brooksi and Gopher males are due for an upgrade but in previous years I had all the snake breeding in Rubbermaids. Nice sized ones too. I understand many breeders use nothing but Rubbermaids and have healthy snakes and good egg production. However I myself saw the end results in the large cages as simply better for a few reasons. I like to use large boxes for egg laying spots, and also offer at least one hide spot if not two. The water dishes I use for my adults are used as a hide seeing they somehow get under the hollow bottom of them but the bowls are quite large too....roughly 10 sqaure inches. Imagine all that stuff in a rubbermaid? I mean I see pics of large snakes with their clutches in small containers and wonder how the snakes managed to lay without constantly being on top of and even turning the eggs? Lastly my fave thing about the large cages is that the actual courting and breeding was less stressed. My Honduran bolts at high speeds from one side to the next and then stops enticing the male with her eratic "look at me!" behavior. My Brooksi have a similar routine. In the large cages there's room for courtship with reduced stress, and when the females are doing their nest searching behavior it is also less stressed. Funny how the ideal spot to lay thier eggs is available and they go in and out of the box as if there's someplace better? I have even used two nesting boxes with different levels of moisture in the substrate to see how they react and they go in and out of both anyways LOL. When i mentioned the improper size of caging in the above post I was referring to say a 5 foot Hondo in a 20 gallon cage...that's fed very often and can be found in snake lovers homes where the reptile person only has one or two animals. Guys like myself with over 50 couldn't afford to stuff every snake like that...but anyway I am guessing most of us have seen or even own a snake with fat deposits. It ruins the appearance and can be problematic for the snake. Many keepers and breeders will say " they just don't need all that room", and I am not saying they are wrong. I will say that if possible I think the more room the better for adults. Hatchlings do better in small cages but adults seem better off in big cages. I am also a Pit fan and think those awesome snakes have a bad rep for being mean because some are kept in cages that are too small for them. I have my largest Pine in a 45 gallon aquarium and I know she appreciates the height of the cage as well as the fllor space even though Pines are not arboreal at all. I think she simply needs her space. For the record I have a lot fo snakes in rubbermaids myself, but it is my goal to give every female and the larger males a minimum of 6 square foot in the future. Besides....the display cages really make me enjoy keeping them because most rubbermaids are translucent but not very clear for looking into. Some people think it's nuts to have a rather inexpensive snake like a Black King in a 200 dollar Boaphile. If I could afford it all my adults would be in similar cages....it really makes them more like pets instead of just breeders Tom Stevens

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