Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Hey all.

It's my first time in this particular forum on kingsnake, and hope to learn more here than I can find in other places through the more experienced people here.

I have just a few questions to start...

1) When it's time to build a cage, what is an adequate size for a full size male?

2) I have a black throat monitor cage measuring 8x4x4, I would like to build the burm cage on top of the monitor's cage. Does that sound feasible or having is having the cage 4' off the ground not wise?

3) The baby green burm is currently living in a 30G aquarium, as with all screen topped cages, I'm running into humidity problems already... I can not for the life of me get the humidity higher than 41%.. Misting the cage gets the humidity up for 5 minutes tops... Heating is currently done by a heat mat on one side, keeping the temps between 92-98... Supplementary heating is accomplised via a heat lamp(white=day, red=night)... Any ideas? I'm thinking about a humidity hide box, but don't exactly know how to go about it..

4) As for feeding, today he ate a large rat fuzzy (eyes still closed).. The meal was rather large, probably the equivalent to a large mouse. The Burm is MAYBE 24", about 1" thick. The rat has left a bulge which I would prefer not to do. Should I downsize to the meal, like say a smaller rat or should I just go with mice? I know burms aren't too fussy come feeding time, but I'm always worried it will pull the crap my jungle carpet pulled on me. She was pounding away on rat pinks, but I ran out and gave her a hopper.. She refused to go back to pinks unless they were scented. I'll scent, but it's more of a nuisance since all my mice are frozen and my rats are alive...

Well, thanks in advance for anyone answering my questions!

i have my 10 foot burmese in a 12' by 4' by 2' high. You could probably go with something a little smaller for a male burm. You probably want the cage as high as your waist or where it isnt a hassle, like bending down or reaching up, to get your snake because it is real hard to get them out when they are full grown.Also a new born rat will do just fine.

You SHOULD see a bulge after feeding your Burm a meal. If you do not, you probable didn't feed it a big enough meal.

Thanks for the info...

As per the cage info, my JCP will be moved into a 5' long cage, she will hopefully top out around 6-8'. Now, with a male burm, the size should vary between 10-16 feet, am I correct? If so, what length scheme should be used? Match the cage length to the length of the snake? 75% of the snake? Also, how should the width be figured? 1/2 length or more?

Also, what's the preference for a substrate? I'm currently using astroturf since I have yards of it at the house.

Also, as per the humidity issue, would spraying the cage during shed be adequate or should the humidity be constantly up there?

The cage should be around 50 to 75 percent of the snakes body. 50 percent being a minimum. The width should be about 1/3 as a minimum. Good luck.

I'm in no way an exper, but I like to help out if I have got some answers to the same questions.

Size:

8ft wide X 4ft deep is good, it's better not to really to more than 2ft high, cuz Rob C. would tell you it's hard to control humidity and temperature gradiant that way. If you can or want to go more than 8ft wide, the bigger the better I guess to give your burm some stretching room.

Humidity:

Do not use an open top cage. Humidity as well as heat can escape real easy. Try covering the top if you can. I use a Pro-product (www.pro-product.com) misting system. But I think that would be way too much for a 30G cage, Get that when you build your big cage. Its kinda pricy but it's top notch stuff.

Heat:

I highly reccomend getting the Big Apple Proportional Heat Thermostat. (www.bigappleherp.com) For your heat mat or whatever heat you have to keep the temps right all day when you aren't there to swithc back and forth from lights or whatever.

Feeding:

I don't feed any bigger than the widest part of my burm. Thats the gneral rule. Use your best judgement. Every 5-7 days, some like to go nuts and feed every 3 days, but I think thats just silly. But what do I know. I'm not an expert.

Goodluck,
Richard