Reptile & Amphibian Forums

O.K., I know I may be over thinking this, but I want to know if there's away to know if you have the right size hide for your snake. So, let's say, hypothetically, I'm going to get or make a circular hide box (like an empty butter tub). Can I revise the formula to find the area of a circle (you know Pi x Rsquared) to determine how big of a container I'll need based on the length of my snake? For example, using the revised formula, let's say I have a 10 inch snake, then I should get a circular hide that's about 3.5 inches in diameter. Does that make sense and does it work?

Sorry for hurting anybody's brain, my was aching yesterday when I was trying to figure this out. Thanks for your help in advance too!

-Chris

trial and error the only true way to find out, if the snake can fit it will use it, for my ball pythons i use the 5 gallon ice cream containers and they use them all the time, for my 8ft.redtail i use an empty printer paper box tight fit but she uses it, for my small kings i use empty meal worm containers, ....warren

All snakes are different thicknesses, different flexibilities, different heights. A snake should be able to touch all sides of the hidebox and the top to feel secure. Try different sizes and see what your snake prefers. eventually youll get an eye for it.

The perfect hide is a burrow going deep where the snake has a nice range of temps.

For a standard cage hide, here are some formulas I've toyed around with for Cal king hides, because I'm a nerd I guess:

Height minimum: about the thickness of the snake
Height maximum: 1.5x the thickness of the snake

Adult hide box area in square inches: about twice the snake's length

Yearling hide box in square inches: about 1.8 x the snake's length.

Example: For a 48 inch Cal king, I used a hide with an area of close to 96 square inches, which could be a hide box roughly 8.5 x 11 (which are the dimensions I tried to approximate when making a hide for adults.)

For a 24 inch Cal king, I'd use a hide perhaps a little smaller than 48 square inches like maybe 42 square inches.

Later on I just used dirt and the snakes would burrow into it, so a hide box wasn't really needed anymore. Just a folded sheet of newspaper laid over the substrate, if even that.

For mountain kings I tried tiered hides to attempt to recreate some sort of fracture-like structure that goes vertical. The snakes really didn't seem to care. In the end, it was dirt for them too, with some granite for effect.

Good luck.

My CalKing loves this dog dish that I asked the store to put in his cage about a week before I bought him. He's in the 42 inch long range, and this dish is 7" x 6" in footprint area. It's about 1.5 to 2 times his height, but the interior space is very small because of the depression that makes the dish. He's actually grown to where he can barely get under the thing anymore. Usually, he sticks out of the sides, but he still loves that dish. He makes all kinds of tunnels in his substrate, but he sleeps under the dish most of the time.

Obviously, one data point isn't all that worthwhile, and I'd be interested in trying your formula with other snakes someday.

I like the idea of making rock areas for mountain kings. If I ever get a mountain king, I'll make some rock areas. However, I like knowing that if I just give him plenty of places to dig, he'll be okay.

Bill
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It's not how many snakes you have. It's how happy and healthy you can keep them.