Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Hello,
I'm looking to update caging for my snakes. I have a 3 ft. Female Green Anaconda, A 5ft Burmese, and a Baby Brazilian Rainbow Boa. They are all in caging that will do for a long time. 40 Gallon Breeders. I was wondering if anyone had any sugguestions for when they snakes get bigger. Do you think there would be a vision cage that would work for a burmese, or an anaconda? Or would I be better off just building one?

btw.. I'm sorry the pic is not of a conda, I just wanted to show what kind of caging I'm usuing

Thank you,
Ben Renick

i'd reccomend building something, i just came to the hard realization that building is far cheaper and you can customize your caging much more to your tastes

i just bought a vision 4foot x30 inches x18 inches and when it was said and done it ran me 500 bucks. 2 weeks later i went and decided to be crafty and bough tools and enough wood to build a 4 foot by 2 foot by 14 inch high cage for 170 dollars. I highly regret buying the vision cage now but whats done is done

point of my post is to reccomend building, it isnt that tough believe me i am by no means crafty and even i was able to build a cage that worked go check out home depot you'll find it bliss

James
-----
1.0 savannah monitor "cringer"
0.1 coastal carpet python "lola"
0.1 dumeril's boa "porter"
1.0 burmese python "arnie"

the burm is to big for a 40 gallon breeder. you will need to make your own cages for the conda and burm and i am not sure how big a rainbow boa gets but if it is over 10 feet you will need to make a cage for that to.

Cage sizes

these are just my opinion go ask at the burm forum

Burm, female-
12' by 4-6' by 2' 4' (LWH)
Burm, male
8' by 4' by 2'-4'

IMO again

conda, female-
same size as burm female
conda, male-
same size as burm male

rainbow boa

no idea.
-----
0.1 "Tremper" looking Albino Leopard gecko (Lex)
0.0.1 normal ball python (felix)
1.1 Feral cats that we adopted (Fuzzy, and Bear)

i think rainbows get around 5-8 feet i'd think a 5x2x2 cage would be sufficient for a rainbow boa but thats just my opinion
-----
1.0 savannah monitor "cringer"
0.1 coastal carpet python "lola"
0.1 dumeril's boa "porter"
1.0 burmese python "arnie"

Ben,
I just finished building enclosures for my burm and green anaconda using melamine. The dimensions for both are 48" X 24" X 18". You can build an enclosure this size from a single piece of 49 X 97 3/4" thick melamine from home depot. When I totaled up the cost of materials the cages both cost about $60 each to build. Of course however this only includes the cost of the materials and if you have to buy tools then the price will rise substantially. Whats nice about melamine is that it is already coated so you don't have to take the time to paint it. Good luck on building your own enclosures.

those cages are going to get real small real fast with a burm and green conda in them.
-----
0.1 "Tremper" looking Albino Leopard gecko (Lex)
0.0.1 normal ball python (felix)
1.1 Feral cats that we adopted (Fuzzy, and Bear)

If you guys have Burms and greens your going to have to get a BIG cage fast, dont waste your time with a four foot cage. Your going to have to build a couple cages 8x4x3 for your snakes to be happy. I would skip that whole Melamine thing all together that stuff is crap, go with a good wood like Oak or Maple from a real woodshop. If a large constrictor wanted to he could get out of a Melamine cage he could. Melamine is sawdust with a papercoating to add the stuff acks like a spunge with water and a Anaconda will spill some water. A cage that size is going to take a few hundred bucks to build. Dont go cheep, build a strong long lasting cage that can withstand anything you can throw at it.

Hey moridin,
Just wondering, you wouldn't have any pictures of your enclosures would you?

Thanks,
ben

Ben,
As of now I do not have any pictures, the cause of this being that I do not yet have a digital camera. I hope to get a decent camera here pretty soon, and when I do I will post some pictures of my animals and their enclosures.

As for the small size of the cages, both of my snakes are babies and fit quite well in their current cages. I realize they will soon outgrow them but I remember reading somewhere that putting a small snake in a giant enclosure can cause them stress. I do not consider the cages a waste because I will find something else to put in them as soon as the snakes are taken out.

I currently have juvenile water monitor in another melamine enclosure and it seems to be doing all right. The monitor gets his cage very wet by "swimming" around in his water bowl. So far the melamine appears to be holding up well and is not yet warping. On this cage all I did to protect against warping was silicon the joints. However, due to the sheer size of the cage I regret using melamine for it. My monitors cage is 6'X 2'X 3', is very heavy and was quite expensive to build. I would have been better off using something else for that cage. For my burm and my conda, however I find that the melamine works due to the smaller size of the enclosures.

1: How do you get a green anaconda? I've almost convinced my wife they don't really get any bigger than a burm.

2: What is this Melanm... whatever stuff. I'm building a 3 section, 6X3X7 LWH and trying to figure out the best way to seal the lower 8 inches.

DZ

melamine sucks for high humidity herps. I suggest you just place linoleum all along the bottoma and lower sides.
-----
0.1 "Tremper" looking Albino Leopard gecko (Lex)
0.0.1 normal ball python (felix)
1.1 Feral cats that we adopted (Fuzzy, and Bear)

If you like the look of wood and would like to make your cage totaly water proof then use epoxy resin. It will give you a glass like look. As far as doing just the lower 8", I would do every thing. A epoxy resin that is real good is Envirotex epoxy if you can find it (Menards). Or Home Depot has a Epoxy that is also good but it is very salty$$$$$ and you would need alot of it.

That sounds awsome but; does heat or water or urine cause a vapor release from this resin?

I read in another message you like building cages. Could you mail some pics of your finer work to me? eric.dziedzic@andrews.af.mil

I also am trying to make a huge rat cage.

My kids like to play with them and see them so I'll use either glass or wire mess. I'm trying to figure out how to make an auto watering system, or at least 5 gallons or so, and food distribution that would allow the rats to eat but not store it so I could tell how much they have.

Thanx for your help. There aren't to many locals that can give solid advice with an explanation to help understand.

DZ

go to the cage and habitat design forum if you need info on enviro whatever epoxy. Chrisharper2 has some good info on it.
-----
0.1 "Tremper" looking Albino Leopard gecko (Lex)
0.0.1 normal ball python (felix)
1.1 Feral cats that we adopted (Fuzzy, and Bear)

Greens are cheap and you can get them alot of places, Be prepared to feed them large items. Unless you got the room, I would just get a male green or a yellow of eather sex. Dont get me wrong female anacondas are great but I dont want to find out 25' down the road that I cant afford to feed my pet anymore. Goats and pigs can get rather expensive.

OK! How much is cheap and do you know of anyplace in the DC metro area?

After reading the forum yesterday I was sort of shy'd away from an Anaconda. How is there temperment? My Burm is very docile and easy to manage. If it looks like it has less than honorable intentions I use a snake stick I made and the redirect is all I need. You seem to be in every reply on the forum and what you tell people makes sense to me so; What's your opinion of getting a green and selling my burm?

DZ

` Do you want a snake to interact with, to handle and enjoy that way? Or, do you want something to look at?
` Large constrictors over 60 to 80 pounds, even those that are completely tame, are still hard to handle. They are hard to support correctly, and easy to injure.
` Especially when they are very tame, they get clutzy and too trusting. They will fall, and get into situations that are hard to control, because of their size and strength.
` Just because a big Anaconda is tame, and doesn't try to bite, that doesn't mean that they won't get stubborn, or spooked, or even panic.
` I'm 6'1", 230 pounds. My experience is that 12 feet of snake, at 75 pounds is the largest I feel I can take care of, and protect, by myself. I am talking about a very tame snake, at that size.
` I've seen lots of snakes injured by improper handling. One friend had his 15 foot, very tame Burm, get spooked outside in an attempt to get some pix of snake, handler, and motorcycle. He lost control of the snake, and it got badly burned by the exhaust. Another was handling a very large, very tame Retic. It got nervous and while whipping around, and reaching out for a place to perch, put its head through a window. That snake died! I could site many more examples.
` It's not just about protecting yourself. If you have more snake than you can control, you may not be able to prevent it from injuring itself.
` So, what do you want to do with it. I like to play with mine, and use them to teach people about snakes. That's why I keep Yellows. A 14 foot, 60 pound snake is plenty impressive, in my opinion.

` Of course, that's just my opinion. I could be wrong.

-----

I'm 5'8" and my burm is almost 9 feet, only 18 pounds. I love taking him out and, like you, educating people. In the summer I take him all over when I can. I think just having one to look at is boring. Nice pic, how do you attach them?

DZ

` You've got to have the pix you want to attach stored ( hosted ) in an online server that allows direct linking to another URL.
` The easiest way to go is to start your own album at Kingsnake.com . Go here: gallery.pethobbyist.com/index.pl, and read up on it.
` A small album is free. If you keep your graphics files small, the small album will do nicely.
` If you get to that point, and need any more information, let me know.

` Also, it really helps if you have a critter who loves the camera, and is a Ham, like this guy!

-----

.....