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Dimensions are 6'long x 3'high x 2'deep. Hand carved rock cut. Back of cage consists of three caves/crevices connected by tunnels with one entrance through front of cage to back of cage. Equipped with a fogger to increase night time humidity during times of thunderstorms (if you've been to west texas during the summer months and experienced late afternoon thunderstorms, then you know those nights are very humid). the front of the cage is designed to simulate environmental conditions on our side of a rock cut. The back of the cage is designed to simulate conditions on their side of a rock cut, or at least what I suspect are their conditions. It will be home to one female '08 suboc for Its entire life. A male will be introduced during breeding seasons only. It will be a life study of one female suboc. hopefully a long life. Kevin

That is the best set up I have seen, bar none. This should enable you to see "what's up" with your bogey.Damn cool project. What are the temp ranges? The only way I can see it being better is if you could use dark glass on the other side and see what she is doing from "her side". Awesome!
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Todd Hughes

My father always said, "Great minds think alike, as do simple ones". LOL.........This isn't the best pic but it does show each cave and the tunnel which connects them. The part of the caves visible in this pic are the tallest parts, each cave is basically the same in shape and dimension, tapering to a tighter crevice. Again, there is only one entrance through the cut to the caves. In order for the snake to get to cave #2 it must first enter and exit cave #1. To find cave #3 it must go through cave #1 & #2 first. I designed it this way in order to specifically study a behavioral characteristic that I will elaborate on in the future. Each section is accessible by sliding the glass door up to be removed. A piece of thick syrofoaf insulation coveres the glass where each cave is to create darkness and insulation, of course. My goal is to make daytime temps too hot on the face of the rock cut, causing the snake to retreat to the cooler caves. Night time temps on the rock cut will drop to 76 - 78 degrees. Kevin

That is just TOO cool. Obvious question: how much will you charge to build me one of those? LOL

DR

That is a very cool setup, really glad you showed it to us, please keep us posted on your results.
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Todd Hughes

No words sufficient for that!!! Been dreaming of such a thing...sure wish I had the room.

Can you offer more detail about how you made the rocks and the material etc?

Sure hope you post pics of her using it.

I simply glued panels of 2" styrofoam insulation board (the expensive pink or blue stuff) together and used a high quality sheet rock saw to carve the cut. A special primer paint along with a hardening additive, then painted the rock using the best exterrior water based acrylic latex. a combination of black, brown and gray colors using a wet paint blending technique to create the mottled look of natural rock (at least that was my goal). Zoos have used this type of material and paint, so I knew it would be safe (already tested). aside from the wood shell and glass front and back, the entire cage is styrofoam insulation. Kevin

Wow! That is very impressive, Kevin, I'm and looking forward to seeing her in the cage. I agree with Todd on the dark glass idea, to observe her activities while in the crevices and tunnels.

-Toby
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Southwestern Center for Herpetological Research

I saw some nice neon pink a guy had. I bet they would they would look hot in there Kevin

You Sir, are a master carpenter and master artist'. How much fun will it be to follow this female for the next several years and document her behavior. I'm guessing a magazine article and symposium presentation will follow. Let us know when and where!

That is incredible...my dream enclosure. So, is it carved foam? You HAVE to tell us how the baby suboc does in that setup (i.e. if she finds her food readily, etc.).

Okay, so lots of questions here: LOL

How is it heated?

So are their small tight hiding places for babies and for adults?

Can you describe the micro-environment of the snake's side of the cut?

That's truly incredible and well thought-out...it's obvious you kept the natural history of the species in mind while making the design as appealing to the human eye as a beautiful rock cut in West Texas. Gorgeous...the perfect blend!

Dusty Rhoads

Suboc.com

Why do you people have to post such awesome things? I have to buy a new keyboard every month now because of all the drool they must endure! LOL

I have always dreamed about making something like that for subocs!

Same questions as Dusty here!

LOL, same here, my keyboard can only go through the dryer so many times, ya know! Again very cool setup!
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Todd Hughes

Kevin, the front of the cage is also removable for cleaning and watering, yes? how do you keep the sliding glass weather tight? Not picking, just wondering. This is the best setup I have seen outside a zoo, I was working on the real thing, but that cage can't be moved or cleaned without a west Texas flood!!!
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Todd Hughes

there is only a single glass track, so the two pieces of glass butt together at the center. it's a non conventional approach, but i wanted the smallest amount of visual obstruction for the front. i will post updates regarding the progress of the snake periodically. i am keeping her five female clutchmates, so i will have them by which to measure her progress. her clutchmates will be kept in sweater boxes. i appreciate all of the positive response to my project. KEVIN

if you'll notice the lower right hand corner of the cage you will see a piece of black pvc pipe. this has a removable screw-in pvc plug. live food will be quietly introduced to the cage through this port. Kevin

This is a very, very nice setup! That'll be one very lucky snake.
I take it your goal is to replicate it's natural habitat and therfore its behavior as cloely as possible. Very cool.
You mention breeding her. Will you let to egg clutch incubate within the enclosure? Are there provisions for warmth and moisture during incubation if you do? If you remove the egg clutch you can reach into the caves to do so right? You'd have to get in there to clean it out periodically too.
I've been day dreaming about building a naturalistic climbing tank for a while now. It would be like yours but turned up on its end. Seeing yours and how nice it is may motivate me to get it made. Great job!
Mike.

That cage is incredible! very nice work indeed.

Nate

my hats off to you as is everyone elses....

.....thought.....

the front...I cannot tell from pics ....are the rock shelves large enough in area to support the snake as a baby and an adult?....it will be climbing of course and it will want to lay around on different height levels....just a thought....

and the back...the areas for hiding are cool....could have made even more than three....3 is better than the one we use in a box.....so it's three times as good any way we look at it in back only even.....snake will roam for hours......in the holes in back.....could even try and fill/half fill one of them with moss,,,not wet ,not too dry....give it "stuff" to hide,lay in....

....just a couple ideas....

good luck....the snake is lucky......

.......did you think about putting all 5 babies in there for the first year?.....I know it would be difficult to feed them all.....would make them happy.....would change the study /info you are going for too though....

Have fun,..................
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..J Yohe ....49 in 20 days ! wow...

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nm
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Sometimes I think the kid with two pet snakes has something that those of us with 50 to 200 lost a long time ago.

Impressive setup. The first thing that popped up is how will you manage to clean up the poop. Also is the sealant enough to keep the urea from seeping into the foam core. I use the same 1" blue for shipping and it is stronger than the styrofoam everyone else uses.

Mike

Dude, that post belongs on the Cage and Habitat Design forum here at kingsnake. It would be very nice if you could put together a couple of pictures from the build for it. There are alot of keepers who would be inspired to make better cages for their snakes, not just suboc. I hope more people get to see that, it is very nice.