Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Hello to all. I'm new here, although I've been visiting this site for as long as I can remember. So first off, kudos to all of you for your great posts and awesome pics. Secondly, I'm in the midst of getting a house and will be building a new setup for my ball python, so here are my questions - and please bare with me....

1. Is there a good solid, smooth wood that I can use for building the setup that won't hurt the snake?

2. Even though I know bps can be happy in fairly small enclosures, I'd like to build something with some height (2-3 ft-he seems to love to climb), and something in the range of 4-6ft length, and 3-4ft deep. I can't imagine a snake being happy not being able to explore and move around. I would think its like being in a jail cell with a few favorite possessions. Is too big of a tank/cage too much for a bp?

3. I was thinking of putting a bed of soil down to plant some real plants, then adding the wood chip substrate on top to provide a dryer surface for the snake to move across. Is this a good idea, and are there any potential problems this might cause?

Based on the fact that #3 was a good idea....
4. Speaking of real plants, are there any good hardy plants that I could use that would stand up to a fat snake that likes to climb on EVERYTHING in his setup and can handle a small amount of soil to grow?

5. Foggers! Foggers? It seems to me this would be a good way to add humidity to the setup as well as feed the plants. On the other hand, I've read that too much moisture can be detrimental. Are these good for bps? Any side effects to this otherwise?

6. Right now, my snake is eating a meal of 2-3 mice at a time. Like a lot of other people, I am having trouble getting my snake to go from mice to rats. I refuse to give him live rats, for obvious reasons, and he doesn't seem interested nonetheless. I've read tons of suggestions, but was wondering if there are any sure fire solutions that seem to work for all bps in general?

Thank you for your time, and I wish all you herps out there the best of health and luck with your reptiles!

I can try and answer some of your questions. I'm with you on cage size. I don't think too big could be a problem as long as all your parameters are correct and there are plenty of hides for security (at least one on each side - I have 4 for my BP).

As far as plants, someone posted about this on another forum and the general concensus seemed to be that snakes can be hard on plants so not a good idea. I have plastic plants in my BP tank and he loves to climb them and crawl all through them. I imagine if they were real they'd have been destroyed by now. Hopefully others will comment on this.
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My Album

1.0 Ball Python
"Aragorn"

1.0 Kenyan Sand Boa
"Gimli"

0.1 Australian Cattle Dog/Pointer
"Kira"

If you were to use a substrate of soil, it would soak up a lot of liquid waste and need to be changed often, which quickly kill a plant. Maybe if you were making a cage that large you could put a weighted planter or maybe a container you could secure to the side of the cage. Golden pothos (the very common vine with the mottled heart shaped leaves) is pretty hardy and would do well in high heat and humidity, plus it could give ground cover if the stems are long enough. They don't need a whole lot of soil either. A lot of the philodendrons might do okay, too.

Go to www.proexotics.com and read the FAQ on mice to rats switch. It's great.