Reptile & Amphibian Forums

I have always kept my snakes in aquariums and now I am thinking about upgrading to something better for them. I've been looking into vision reptile cages... they seem to be the best way to go.
I have no experience with this type of enclosure and i was wondering how people like them (and more importantly, how snakes like them.) Also which model/size would be the best for fully grown brazilian and columbian rainbow boas. My brazilian is only about six months old now... and i was also wondering if they are safe for smaller snakes, as far as large vents or gaps in the sliding doors.
If anyone has ideas other than the vision cages also, that would be great to know. thanks
~pam

Since you mentioned Visions I'm assuming you're interested in commercially produced plastic cages. Plastic is certainly a good choice for Rainbow Boas (another snake I really miss keeping, but I digress...).

I build all my own cages so I don't pay that much attention to what's available. However, I've not been terribly impressed with the durability of the Visions I've seen. Many were slightly warped and the doors did not slide well. Perhaps they were not used properly and heat caused them to warp, I don't know.

One that I think you should consider is the cages made by Animal Plastics. What I like about them is that they are shipped unassembled which saves significant money on shipping. They are very easy to assemble with little more than a screwdriver.

They are also easier to heat than Visions and certainly hold humidity better.

Hopefully others will chime in.

thanks for the input, i really appreciate it.
i'm really checking out my options right now, the thing is that i'm not a big fan of snake racks... i like them to have a semi-natural environment that they can explore, however i would like to add on to my collection and having a whole bunch of aquariums with separate heating systems gets to be kindof a pain. I need something cost effective and durable, being in college i have to move around from year to year. I'm also thinking about building my own enclosure actually... i'm going to school for sculpture, so i'm always building. Making a cabinet is an option, however getting the proper conditions for heating and ventilation and whatnot kinda make me nervous. any ideas?
~pam

this is a pic of what my snakes are living in now.

I hate to say it, but a rack might be perfect for you during the time you're finishing up school, etc. I kept snakes all during that time of my life and it was a hassle with moving, find a place where I could keep them etc.

Also, Rainbow boas really seem to do well in racks provided you find the right sized box.

But then again, a rack for a species as large as a Rainbow Boa will not exactly be something you can toss into the back seat of a 4 door sedan.

Regardless, your peace of mind is also very important so you need to do what you want to do.

As far as building your own cage, the heating and ventilation parts are easy. In fact building cages is pretty easy. From what I can tell from posting on this forum it's the design that people struggle with the most.

I'm not sure what to recommend to you. Animal Plastics might be a good comprimise. It will be a light cage and one that you could take apart if you absolutely had to for a move.

I don't think you'll like it with you art background (I find plastic cages to be hideous, albeit effective).

Let me post two different cages I built. I'll start with a simple oak cage I made from stuff available from Home Depot and other home improvement stores. This is something that you could easily build yourself.

Here's a cage idea I've been toying with for a while.

Basically you take a 50 gallon storage tote and attach it to an epoxy sealed face frame.

If this cage were turned on its side, it would offer a floor area of about 600 sq. inches, about the same as a 40 gallon cage (what I assume was in your photo).

Probably not ideal for an adult Rainbow Boa, but there are larger boxes.

Here's what the cage looks like from the front. Excuse the condition of it in this photo. When this picture was taken my friend's Corucia zebrata and it's newborn had spent the night in there getting used to their new territory. The trashed it pretty good.

Like I said, you'd need to turn this on it's side for a Rainbow.

You could easily add sides to make these free standing, or could even devise a way to stack them.

wow... that first oak one is beautiful.
ya know what tho im thinking more and more that a rack may be the way to go with this... granted, aquariums, etc. are more attractive.. i'd rather have the right conditions (heat and humidity) and sacrifice looks.
hmm... you have me thinking now....i bet i could make a rack style enclosure with larger boxes, and i could still use a bark substrate and put in logs and rocks and all that good stuff.
*hmmmmmm*

what do you think is the best way to heat a rack? i dont have any experience...

If you look in the background of the second picture I posted you'll see large box racks in the background. They are out there if you want them.

The best way to heat a rack does depend somewhat on your interests. You mentioned expanding your collection. What type of species do you forsee getting into?

As a best guess, I'd say you'll need more than one heat source. I say so because since you may be moving a lot you might end up where the rack is in a cooler room and you need the heat source to do more work.

Also, a highly decorated cage does not do as well with "belly heat" since the heat has to travel through all that substrate.

So heating would depend on species and just how big of a box you ended up using.

those big racks in the background of that picture are actually perfect. a lot of the racks i have seen are very short... which doesnt leave room for much more than newspaper as substrate and a water dish. my rainbow boas spend most of the day buried in the bark, and most of the night climbing around in the vines and logs i have in their tanks for them... i'd like them to be able to do that kind of thing. did you build those racks yourself? or did you buy them somewhere?

In the future I am planning on primarily keeping brb's, however i would like the option to keep arborial snakes, ive been thinking about getting one... and the higher boxes would allow me to do that.

recently i decided that my brb needed more humidity in her house, since the winter air is REALLY dry here in upstate, NY. i went to the salvo and picked up an ultrasonic humidifier for three dollars, rigged it up with a funnel and some tubing and bought a 6 dollar timer from walmart.... works perfect. i love it.
i'm all about cutting corners.

Have you really found adult BRB's climb that much? I've kept two forms of Rainbows and while very active as hatchlings and juveniles, they became very sedentary as adults.

Still, nothing wrong with providing more height.

One box that might work well for a variety of snakes is the Sterilite 1849. They do make this in a semi-clear, tan, and green for the holidays. It's a 50 gallon box.

The boxes you see in the background of that picture only have a floor area of about 26" x 14". Not big enough for a BRB. I built them for a friend of mine who is housing my snakes temporarily. We keep a group of Gonyosoma in them while I get a place and build displays.

well after hearing what you all have to say, i think the best way to go is a rack system. I'm just gonna have to find some nice big bins. luckily theres a rubbermaid outlet store right near my hometown. but really, i don't feel as negatively about racks as i used to. i'm sure i can make something that i like, and that works.
thankyou so much for helping.

>>hmm... you have me thinking now....i bet i could make a rack style enclosure with larger boxes, and i could still use a bark substrate and put in logs and rocks and all that good stuff.

Errr... Why not build a rack/shelf designed to hold aquariums, since you seem to like them? With some heavy-duty drawer slides (the kind used for filing cabinets), you might be able to arrange it so that each aquarium could be pulled forward for easy access (though you might need to counter-balance the unit so it didn't tip forward).

Not as economical as using clear plastic boxes, but it might give you more of the effect that you're looking for...

I think he makes a very good point. I don't think of such things be an "anti-aquarium" guy.

But if you have them you can deal with the heat and humidity issues. There's a thread using heavy drawer slides farther down this page of the forum.

Chris, first of all, thanks for all of your helpful posts in this forum. I love this idea and will modifiy it a bit so my tub slides off of the frame for total emptying and cleaning, and maybe a simple rack so they're stackable. What did you use on the back (formerly the bottom) of the tub so it didn't look like a plastic box?

-Jason

Hi Jason,

Thank you for the thanks I enjoy passing on my experiences with this stuff.

Have you seen my previous thread on this? Look around a few pages back at about Xmas time. The thread is titled "caging idea I've been toying around with" or something like that. I go into more detail and I show another cage I built around this concept.

I played around with the idea of the tubs sliding off the frame, but decided against it since I needed my tubs to be able to handle heavy misting.

But I think it's a great idea.

If you do try this, I recommend you find some wood working clamps designed to be permanently attached to benches, table saws etc. They sort of look like 1/2 a C-clamp.

They can easily be attached to the back of the face frame and used to support most of the weight. If you simply make a track for the boxes to slide in the flange will not support the weight well enough.

I hope this makes sense. Maybe you already have someting in mind to deal with this. Please let us know so we can all learn from your ideas.

You could also make a brace to support the box, but that will not hold the box tight against the frame and substrate will easily spill out.

With this particular box the back had ridges and very deep wells for casters to be installed in. It looked terrible and had to go.

I used a dremel w/cutting wheel to remove the caster wells, which were almost 4" tall if I remember correctly.

I found a local plastic shop who sold me a sheet of 1/8" black ABS for a very low price. Evidently they had an entire shipment fall off of a lift and some corners were chipped. I think I paid less than 20% of actual value.

I cut that to size and used silicone to attach it to the back.

I've since found another 55 gallon box that has a very smooth back. It will work better than my Sterilite box whether installed upright or horizontal. Let me know if you're interested and I can try to dig up product/brand/model info.

Also, rather than making them stackable. I recommend make one huge face frame out of a sheet of nice plywood. I show a smaller example of this in the Xmas time post.

************
Chris, first of all, thanks for all of your helpful posts in this forum. I love this idea and will modifiy it a bit so my tub slides off of the frame for total emptying and cleaning, and maybe a simple rack so they're stackable. What did you use on the back (formerly the bottom) of the tub so it didn't look like a plastic box?

Chris...this original post dates back to 12/8/03 which I was able to find. It likely helped me from making some of the same mistakes you made early on. I'm definitely going to experiment with this concept. I think that since my time is essentially free, I should be able to build some decent enclosures that will rival those commercially available, if not exceed the quality and functionality for far less money except for what I'll pay in aspirin. I'll post what I come up with. Its funny... as long as I've been surfing Kingsnake, I just started reviewing this forum YESTERDAY...I just always missed it and I wish I would have found it sooner. Oh well, better late than never.

-Jason