Reptile & Amphibian Forums

I'm having trouble finding plans for building a proper enclosure for a neotropical rattlesnake. Any leads, hints, suggestions?

You probably won't find any plans for C. durissus ssp., however, I can give you a few tips of things that you should incorporate into the plans if you are looking into building your own cage (we keep our's in large wood exhibits):

Size: depending on the species, most will do fine in a cage that is approximately 5' wide x 2.5' deep x 24" high. The smaller subspecies can be in something smaller and a particularly large specimen (like our 5.5' culminatus) may need something a bit larger. A large specimen may need more width or depth but these dimensions will work in most instances.

Materials: we use cherry wood for our display cages (this is a laminate); looks great and makes for a wonderful display. The inside wood is coated with a "bar wax" and the corners caulked with a sealent to prevent any seepage from misting, water spills, or urates from getting into nooks and crannies. Additionally, we cover the wood with a forest green colored contact paper. This looks great, shows off the animal nicely, and, provides another layer of covering on the wood.

We use 1/4" tempered glass sliding front glass doors. The doors overlap at least 3". A track on all sides allow the doors to be completely sealed when closed.

Set up/lighting/heating: We use a pro product radiant heat panel to heat the cage. Lighting is provided by a 18" zoomed full spectrum fluorescent which provides a nice quality light. The heat panel is connected to a thermostat and heat and light are on timers for proper day/night cycles.

Our exhibits are semi-naturalistic with a substrate of top soil, a little torpedo sand or find grade gravel, forest humus and a layer of oak leaves; this looks real nice. Off display durissus are kept in plastic neodeshas on newspaper substrate. We provide large, natural dead limbs for places for the snakes to hide under or behind. Realistic plastic plants and a water dish round out the display.

Personally, I would just go out and get a Vision or something like that but if you have the ability to make your own, have fun with it.

Rob Carmichael, Curator
The Wildlife Discovery Center
Lake Forest, IL

>>I'm having trouble finding plans for building a proper enclosure for a neotropical rattlesnake. Any leads, hints, suggestions?
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Rob Carmichael, Curator
The Wildlife Discovery Center at Elawa Farm
Lake Forest, IL