Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Hello everyone,
Im writing this because I am in need of some help! I am planning to have a block building built for my Python, and Boa breeding hobby. I am firstly building out of block to save on the electricity bill because it will be easy to cool, and heat. My concern is though, that I dont know what size I should build, and whether or not I should have rooms inside it. I was thinking of building one giant square building like 30x30 and having small rooms for rat breeders, a cleaning room, and also maybe an incubation room. So if anyone has any ideas I would love to hear them as well as if anyone would like to send me an email showing me any kind of floor plans I would appreciate it! So if you would like to send me anything just request my e-mail! Thank you for any help! Brian

Sounds cool, a couple of thoughts:

Feeders, need to keep away from snake room IMO, smell could trigger feeding responses when you are just cleaning. Remember, if they smell food, snese something moving and warm, they will give it a test bite to see if it is food. Honestly, I would even recomend a seperate building for feeder production. A closed off room in the primary building could work IF it was not on the same AC system.

Caging, design your room layouts and sizes on cage sizes. For example boaphile (and most others) are 2' deep and 4, 6 or 8 feet wide. A large square room might work better with rows of cages than a set of perimeter cages. Or might be better to split into managable rooms with perimeter cages only.

Power, outlets, outlets and MORE outlets. Again depending on your design, with perimeter cages, most outlets get hidden. Maybe ceiling outlets? If you ngo with a large room with rows of cages, floor or ceiling outlets almost a must.

Work space/bench?

You'll need a sink for washing/filling bowls. Toilet for waste, both snake and yours? I flush many of my boa's presents so as to not fill/stink up my trash.

Here is my snake room layout, not done on any professional software.

PLAN and THINK before you build!!
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Thanks,

Dave Colling

www.rainbows-r-us-reptiles.com

0.1 Wife (WC)
0.2 kids (CBB, selectively bred from good stock)

LOL, to many snakes to list, last count:
11.24 BRB
10.16 BCI
And those are only the breeders

lots.lots.lots feeder mice and rats

And with any new outbuilding make sure your electrical is up to snuff. With the new NEC coming out this coming year know is the time to take care of any major improvements or make sure you account for any new changes.

Reptile rooms usually have a lot of outlets running a lot of amps. I my self have 3 20amp circuits and I can't run space heaters in the winter to many amps. I am in the process of installing a sub-panel for my reptile room needs.

Good Luck
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Jeremy

"I am become death, the destroyer of worlds" July 16, 1945 Robert Oppenheimer

1.1 Double Het "Sharp" Snow RTB's
1.1 Hypomelenistic RTB's
0.2 Pastel Hypo RTB's
2.0 Double Het Stripe Albino RTB's
0.1 Suriname RTB
0.1 Anerthrystic RTB
0.0.11 Red Bearded Dragons
1.1 Rhinoceros Iguana's
1.0 Green Iguana
1.0 Ball Python
1.1 Cream Golden Retrieviers
1.0 Pomeriaian
0.2 Catus Terribilis
0.1 Spouse
0.0.1 Youth -coming soon-

I would make the space versatile so it adds equity to your home.

Some ideas for versatility...

1) Have overhead doors to appeal to future car buffs. At least have them framed out with the appropriate headers etc. and then just wall them off normally while still making it obvious to a future owner that they are there.

2) At least two standard entry doors (more on that later).

3) Make any interior rooms from temporary walls. Maybe temporary is not the way to put it, but make them easy to remove. In other words, don't wire anything into those walls so that they can be removed later. Wiring on those walls can be done with plugmold or with conduit and wall mounted receptacles.

4) Ceilings tall enough to appeal to woodworkers, etc. I'd say 9'.

5) Enough amps to have 220V service in the future.

6) Heating with something other than forced air.

Back to the entry doors. I would have an entry door from the outside for your rodent area. Then wall that area off with walls like I mentioned above. You'll have to exit the main area and walk to the other door to enter the rodent area but I think it's worth it to keep the area separate.

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Current snakes:

0.0.1 Gonyosoma oxycephala - Java locale (green)

1.2 Gonyosoma oxycephala - Jave local (green)

2.2 Gonyosoma janseni - Seleyar locale (all black)

1.2 Gonyosoma janseni - Celebes locale (Black & Tan)

Thank You for the ideas guys! My family has decided that we are going to build the block den 25x25 foot and I will have three seperate rooms for cleaning, incubation and rat breeding. Anyone have any idead of what size rooms I should make each? I suppose my cleaning would be the largest complete with a tub, sink and work bench. Incubation sounds like it may not need to be too big. I wont exactly be mass producing snakes. Also the incubators I will get arent that big anyway.

I really don't know exactly what would be involved, but here's something you may want to consider for your incubation room... Since you are building from scratch and intend to have a separate room for incubation, why not let the room itself be the incubator? Put the room in the center of your building (no outside walls), insulate very well (walls, ceiling and floor), separate climate control , and you got it. I'm sure it would be a higher initial cost, but you wouldn't be buying incubators, thermostats, etc down the road, and, you'll have all the incubator space you could possibly want!

Steve