Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Hi everyone im new to the site and figure id post my new cage im building for my newest burm at 25inches. The cage is homebuilt 6ft long 3 feet wide and 3 feet high with sliding plexiglass doors, ill post pics when its all finished

Yes I too have a 25 inch Burm (crossed with a Rock) for which I plan to make a very large enclosure. Mine however is going to be about 10 feet in length. What I cant stand is when I see a huge python in a tiny cage with no room to stretch. I will have to devote an entire room in the house for it. Im planning on using some sort of plexiglass on the front as well. The design is still in the preliminary phase...I have several years to come up with something that will be permanent and comfortable for him for the rest of his life. Post pics when you build it...good luck!!

Yeah, i plan on building at least an 8 ft cage but right now, my baby burm is more than comfortable in her 3 ft cage. I'm trying to feed her slowly (once a week) so she doesn't grow up to be 20 feet. I'm hoping for around 13 feet. She'll probably end up at 15 though.

The overall size of a snake is determined more by its genetics than by its rate of feedings. What I am trying to say is that just like people all snakes are different. Most people are about 5'10" or so and most female burms are about 16' or so. However you have the freaks out there like the 7'7" humans as well as the 24' burms. What I am getting at is if your snake is destined to be that 20 footer than no matter how little you feed her she will more than likely still obtain that length. It will jsut take substantially longer than if you agressively feed her. So in my opinion if you are placing her on a moderate feeding schedule just to hinder her growth it will not work and you will jsut end up with a snake that is large and always hungry. Todd

I think that building a ten foot long cage is an extreme wast of space. You will find that Almost all giant snakes once they reach adult sizes they do not require much space and honastly will not utilize all that space. Most people that build these elaborate ten feet long cages do so because they feel bad abuot haousing a 16' snake in a 6' cage but I am telling you that even in a 10' cage you will find that about 90% of the time the snake will stay in a small corner and that is all he will want to use. My suggestion is build a 12' cage and divide it in the middle to make two six foot cages. Todd

The way I look at it....its bad enough they are captive, why further limit their space? In the wild they dont just lay in a small crevice their whole life. They will wander occasionally. I dont think that housing a 15 foot python in a 6 foot cage is comfortable for the snake. I just moved my 3.5ft ball python into a 4ft Vision enclosure and he loves it. He uses every inch of it. Ive seen many people house BP's this size in a 20 gal aquarium. Thats just me, if I have the chance I will give them the largest enclosure I can to make things better for them and let them stretch out. Not to mention more branches to climb, larger water tub, multiple hides, etc.

There is a huge difference between an adult ball python and an adult burmese python. An adult ball python might weigh five or six pounds as an adult burmese will weigh well over 100 ponds. Now it is just logical to assume that the adult ball python will be more active. In the wild an adult python is more of a predator then an adult burmese. Adult Balls actively seek out their prey and therefore are more active even in captivity. Their small size and light weight allows them to be active. As for an adult burm well they bodies are to big and heavy to allow them to actively seek out their prey. They are ambush predators that wait for their prey to come to them. Yes they do move from place to place but this can be simulated in captivity by removing the snake from its enclosure for an hour or so at a time and letting the snake crawl around. Todd

I mentioned that I house my BP in a Vision just as an example to how I like to give adequate space. No big deal. To each his own. Take care.

Let me ask you a question. Have you ever wanted to spread out in your bed and couldn't because your dog was in the way. Even if you don't have a dog, just picture it. Even if adult burms don't move around that much, I would like to at least have more room to spread out. If i'm correct, Bob Clark even says at least an 8 foot cage minimum. A 6 foot cage was perfect for my 8-9 foot boa.

I hate to disagree with some one by the name of bob but just to let you know even if he states you should house them in 8' cages I know for a fact that he doesn't do that. I went to his facility to purchase some snakes a year ago and he had all of his burms as well as all of his tics in 6' cages. Now don't think that I made these sugeestions about the size of the cage just because I saw that that is what Bob has done. I made this decision from my 16 years of experience I have had with burmese pythons. This is just the opinion I have come up with throughout my experiences. Todd

I built simular size cages recently. Mine are 6'x3'x2' and I based themoff of animal plastics and boaphile designs. I have two doors on the front that measure 18"x30". One door is the maintaining door. This is the door that I use to get the snake out and clean the cage and such and the other door is used jsut to feed the snake through. I know this practice is used primarily with venomous snakes but i believe that it does help lesson the feeding response that you get sometimes when you only have one door. My only suggestion i have with your cage is that it is to tall I think you are going to have a harder time maintaining high humidity levels with a three foot tall cage. If I were you I would go to a 2' tall one. I still have some problems with the 2' cage but not as bad as with my old cage that was 3'. Todd