Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Hello! I am a total newbie when it comes to snakes and am trying to do my research before buying one. My question concens housing; can you use a used aquarium to house a new snake? (obviously a cleaned one). I haven't been able to find any info on this and would appreciate any help. The aquarium was previously used to house fish. Thanks in advance!

Yup. Just make sure it's been cleaned, as you mentioned.

You can leave it outside full of 95% water/5% bleach for a couple of days. Rinse thouroughly and you're good to go.
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Diego

Diego & Tiffany's Zoo:
SNAKES
2.4.0 Corn Snakes (Different morphs)
1.1.0 Hypo Everglades Rat Snakes
2.1.0 Baird's Rat Snakes
1.2.0 Trans-Pecos Rat Snakes
1.1.0 Trinket Rat Snake
1.0.0 Japanese Rat Snake
1.1.0 Salt and Pepper Bull Snakes
0.1.0 Amel Pacific Gopher Snake
1.0.0 Het Amel San Diego Gopher Snake
0.1.0 San Diego Gopher Snake
3.2.0 Sonoran Gopher Snakes
0.1.0 Amel Sonoran Gopher Snakes
1.1.0 Mexican Black Kingsnake
2.1.0 Gray Banded Kingsnakes (1.1 River Road, 1.0 Non-Locale Specific)
1.0.0 Hypermelanistic California Kingsnake
0.1.0 Albino High White California Kingsnake
0.2.0 California Kingsnakes
1.1.0 Thayeri Kingsnake
0.1.0 Florida Kingsnake
1.1.0 Boa Constrictors
0.1.0 Dumeril's Boa
2.0.0 Rosy Boas (Mexican & Mid Baja)
1.1.0 Kenyan Sand Boas
0.1.0 Indonesian Dwarf Pacific Boa
1.1.0 Ball Pythons
1.0.0 Woma Python
1.1.0 Cape York Spotted Pythons
1.1.0 Macklot's Pythons
1.1.0 Western Hognoses
1.1.0 Malagasy Giant Hognoses
1.0.0 Blacktail Cribo

LIZARDS
1.0.0 Frilled Dragon
3.1.0 Bearded Dragons (2 Normal, 1 RedXGold, 1 Citrus)
0.1.0 Eastern Collared Lizard
1.0.0 African Fat-Tail Gecko
0.1.0 Merauke Blue Tongue Skink
1.4.0 Leopard Geckos
1.0.1 Yellow Niger Uromastyx
1.1.0 Chuckwalla
0.1.0 Banded Gecko

FROGS
2.2.0 Southern Bell Frogs
1.0.1 Green Tree Frogs
1.0.0 Bubbling Kassina
1.1.1 White's Tree Frogs
0.0.2 Gold Frogs

Three other points.

1) you will need a secure screen top, snakes are natural born escape artists and if there is any way they can squeeze out, they will be gone.

2) Many species do not require high humidity but for those that do, you will need to cover most of the top with a moisture barrier. Hard plastic of foil works well

3) Heating - you can get species that do well at room temp, but most will need some sort of heater. Tanks lend themselves well to stick on Under Tank Heaters (UTH). With any heater you NEED some sort of controller. Dimmer = cheapest solution, Thermostat is much better but significantly more $. Tnaks can be real hard to keep heat in, glass being such a good conducter of heat. I've seen many posts where they can't keep the tank warm. You can wrap three sides (on the outside) with a thermal barrier. Many folks use Reflectix. Looks like foil backed bubble wrap.
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Thanks,

Dave Colling

www.rainbows-r-us-reptiles.com

0.1 Wife (WC)
0.2 kids (CBB, a big part of our selective breeding program)

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

lots.lots.lots feeder mice and rats

>1) you will need a secure screen top, snakes are natural born escape artists and if there is any way they can squeeze out, they will be gone.

I dislike wire screen because a snake can rub its nose raw on wire. Fiberglass screen might work better, but I've never tried it because I make aquarium tops out of 1/8 inch pegboard. Pegboard holds the heat and humidity better than screen, too.

Paul Hollander

...I was only addressing the recycling issue, but those are all good points.
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Diego

Diego & Tiffany's Zoo:
SNAKES
2.4.0 Corn Snakes (Different morphs)
1.1.0 Hypo Everglades Rat Snakes
2.1.0 Baird's Rat Snakes
1.2.0 Trans-Pecos Rat Snakes
1.1.0 Trinket Rat Snake
1.0.0 Japanese Rat Snake
1.1.0 Salt and Pepper Bull Snakes
0.1.0 Amel Pacific Gopher Snake
1.0.0 Het Amel San Diego Gopher Snake
0.1.0 San Diego Gopher Snake
3.2.0 Sonoran Gopher Snakes
0.1.0 Amel Sonoran Gopher Snakes
1.1.0 Mexican Black Kingsnake
2.1.0 Gray Banded Kingsnakes (1.1 River Road, 1.0 Non-Locale Specific)
1.0.0 Hypermelanistic California Kingsnake
0.1.0 Albino High White California Kingsnake
0.2.0 California Kingsnakes
1.1.0 Thayeri Kingsnake
0.1.0 Florida Kingsnake
1.1.0 Boa Constrictors
0.1.0 Dumeril's Boa
2.0.0 Rosy Boas (Mexican & Mid Baja)
1.1.0 Kenyan Sand Boas
0.1.0 Indonesian Dwarf Pacific Boa
1.1.0 Ball Pythons
1.0.0 Woma Python
1.1.0 Cape York Spotted Pythons
1.1.0 Macklot's Pythons
1.1.0 Western Hognoses
1.1.0 Malagasy Giant Hognoses
1.0.0 Blacktail Cribo

LIZARDS
1.0.0 Frilled Dragon
3.1.0 Bearded Dragons (2 Normal, 1 RedXGold, 1 Citrus)
0.1.0 Eastern Collared Lizard
1.0.0 African Fat-Tail Gecko
0.1.0 Merauke Blue Tongue Skink
1.4.0 Leopard Geckos
1.0.1 Yellow Niger Uromastyx
1.1.0 Chuckwalla
0.1.0 Banded Gecko

FROGS
2.2.0 Southern Bell Frogs
1.0.1 Green Tree Frogs
1.0.0 Bubbling Kassina
1.1.1 White's Tree Frogs
0.0.2 Gold Frogs

Yes you can but make sure in addition to clean that you sanitize it real well, even a couple of times with bleach water or a store bought sanitizer. Make sure it's totally aired out and dried before putting in snake. Fumes can asphixiate quickly.
Depending on type of snake you get, as long as you set up the habitat correctly, you should both be happy together. Do your research but good starter snakes are Boas (Columbian, Red Tail ), or ball pythons. Good Luck !!!!!

I've kept many kings, corns, and milks in glass aquariums with screen tops with a piece of wood with a weight on top. I've never had an escapee or nose rubber. I switched to a rack system for ease of cleaning and space due to the number of snakes I have aquired. The size of snake to the size of tank matters also. Derek