Reptile & Amphibian Forums

can someone please tell me what size viv. an adult ball python will need? I heard a 30 gallon is okay.

that is small for an adult, but it depends on the floor space. If it havs a lot of floor space instead of height. A good size would be at least 50 gallons. Mine is 60 gallons 4L 2D 1H. 8 square feet

I meant it should have a good amount of floor space instead of height.

According to Melissa Kaplan Herp Care Collection
http://www.anapsid.org/ball.html
Select an enclosure especially designed for housing snakes, such as the glass tanks with the combination fixed screen/hinged glass top. All snakes are escape artists; ball pythons are especially powerful and cunning when it comes to breaking out. A good starter tank for a hatchling is a 10 gallon tank (approximately 20"L x 10"W [50 x 25 cm]). A young adult requires a 20 gallon tank, and full adult may require a 30 gallon tank (36" x 12"W [91 x 35 cm]).

The woman isn't exactly an expert on ball pythons. I have found that aquariums of all types suck rocks for housing balls because they don't keep heat or humidity in very well. They're heavy and a pain to clean. It's a hassle to take the tops off when you have a bunch of cips on them.

If you want a nice looking cage to keep your ball in it's whole life without problem there's a lot of options. Vision, Boaphile, Freedom Breeder, BARRS all make nice cages for a couple hundred bucks. I start all my snakes out in rubbermaids with holes drilled in them and velcro to make sure there are no escape spots in the top. Changing from aquarium to aquarium really stinks. I tried it for my first ball and struggled with humidity and finding a top that closed securely.

I like my Vision cages, but have seen some really nice ones from Boaphile and BARRS and Freedom Breeder. It is well worth the investment for these cages. Anything from about 3' by 2' by 12" high is good I should think.

Listen to MK if you want, but people around here will have much better advice because they KNOW ball pythons and she does not. I've been keeping them successfully mostly due to the advice I've gleaned off this board. Good luck!

www.herpcages.com
www.boaphile.com
www.visioncages.com

My cages are wooden with lockable latches. I had a friend that had a BP in a glass tank, it constantly lost heat and humidity. All together my wooden one cost me about 180 dollars (including heat tape,water bowl,ect.). It works great and my balls love them. 4L 2D 1H 60 gal

Did you make it yourself or buy it? I wish I had the time to build nice home made caging. Do you have pics?

I made it. Its 3/4 inch pine for the sides, 1/2 MDFB for the top and bottom. 2 Hinges on the back, two latches in the front. 3 coats of gloss black paint, and 1/8 inch clear acrilic windows. I tiled the floor, smoke gray 12" by 12" inch tiles with white calking. It is the sweetest thing I have ever built. I'll take pictures with the digital camera I hope I'm getting for christmas. The only downside is that it weighs a TON and is hard to hold and carry by yourself. It also took a lot of time and money. I won't be making another one for a while.