Reptile & Amphibian Forums

I am building a new enclosue for my female Albino Burmese she is about 10' and 30 pounds. The enclosure will be 8'WX4'DX4'H. Will this be adequate when she reaches her full potential. Also what is her full potential? I have been told that albino's don't normally get quite as big.
Thanks
Bob

Bob

First, I would strongly suggest you not go anywhere near 4 feet tall. The 8x4 floorspace will be more than significant. I would not go higher than 2', and with all that floorspace, you could even go 18" with no problems. The extra height will only create heating and humidity problems, and she will only seldom, if ever, use it.

For My big females, I keep them in 8x 2.25 x 1.5 tall. My biggest female is currently at 13ft and about 60lbs.

For her max size, I dont know exactly. As far as albinos stayin smaller, I heard a rumor of a guy with a 19-20 ft female albino, so i dont know that this is true. There arent as many albinos out there, so the likelyhood of a larger animal is smaller than with a normal. But I think around 14-16ft is average for a female. Depending on feeding and other things.

Dustin
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1.0 Albino Green Burm
0.2 Normal Burm
1.1 Java Retic

My 9' burm loves to climb. The floor space sounds great but my experience has shown they like the height also. I have segmented my big cage so it's like 2 different climates for thermo-regulating but it's an incredible amount of work building one like this. Anyone else have a different opinion?

DZ

I'm agreeing with Capt Hook as well...my male albino burm loves to climb. Ever since it was a hatchling.
I just had him loose in my herp room, and he climbed up a vanity to a sink and was going down on the other side.
I am in the process of pricing out enclosures, and I am looking at a height of 30"...I would love more, but there is this thing called a door.I doubt if the next owner of this house would really want an enclosure for a burmese python.
Heat and humidity problems can be dealt with...the two tiered cage sounds right for active burms.

I have to agree with bigred. As young snakes they will be more active and therefore seem like they need a lot of space. This goes along with how young ones are in the wild. They are very active and spend a lot of time in trees and on the move to evade predators. Once they reach adulthood however they are not very active. they are not active hunters and are more of a predatory animal. They will sit in the forests and wait for an animal to come to it rather than actively seeking out prey. As adults they are much more inactive. By adding on to the height of the cage you are creating an atmosphere that becomes increasingly difficult to control. In my opinion it is much more important to ensure that the animal has the optimal environment rather than a huge enclosure. Exercise can be gotten during handling sessions. Todd

I had the same problems as you burmaboy so I decided to build my own enclosure and so I would be able to move it out when I move I built it with screws so I could take it apart in sections and then put back together easily. Just an idea for you. Scott

Your snake is a male and only 9'. I also wonder how old it is? I had a 9 foot male that also loved to climb, but he was a young male. Bobs snake is also a female, which is pretty much guaranteed to get pretty heavy. I dont know if you have ever held a large female, but they are extremely heavy. to build a tall enclosure with areas to climb, you will have to think about the weight these will have to bear. I have an 11 foot female and the only time she is interested in climbing is to put teethmarks in your arm. and I dont know that I have ever seen my 13 foot female make so much as any kind of effort at all to lift herself up more than a foot or two to smell the room.

Im not tryin to argue with you or discount your experience. Healthy discussion is what this is all for. Smaller burms can climb, and most of them do. Larger burms, can, but it takes so much effort, they dont really want to.

And how big and old is your albino burma boy? I love to see pics and hear about people who actually take care of their animals. All to often you see and hear the horror stories instead of the sucesses.

I am curious how old your burm is and his weight also captain?
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1.0 Albino Green Burm
0.2 Normal Burm
1.1 Java Retic

No offense taken, I still think it's cool we can all have different opinions (and experiences) and share them with someone a world away who has questions.

I here ya on the big ones. My snake weighs 24 lbs but...his enclosure is not a full 7 feet tall. Part of that goes down into water or under into a hide box and part goes up into another level. Each level is only 24" tall, someone mentioned moving it through a door, this is partly why. The other reason is if he falls. Hell, I still don't know the sex of my snake but I figure big or bigger, I'm still going to keep and take care of it and if he falls it will only be the front portion in which he can support that much anyway. As long as he climbs, I'll give him the option.

DZ

I dont blame ya. I try to give my little guys a few things to climb on and a few elevated hiding spots as well.

I would like to see some pics of your enclosure if you have any. It sounds pretty interesting.
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1.0 Albino Green Burm
0.2 Normal Burm
1.1 Java Retic

My male albino is just under 8ft, and around a year old. I actually enjoy just sitting back while he is out of his cage, and watch him inspect everything in his path.And then knock it over.
It is amazing that for a "lesser" animal, how inquisitive snakes are when allowed to inspect their enviornment.
This is one of the things that make them so satisfactory.
And I agree that this is what the forums are for. Healthy discussion. After reading these caging posts, I have decided that an 8'x 28"x 18" enclosure is adequate, especially since my burms are males.
Too many here on the forums believe their advice is gospel. I am please to see, that here in this one it isn't that way.
All I know is, that since I began with burms, I never look at discarded furniture, bookshelves, bathtubs...etc the same anymore.
To me, these all have some sort of cage potential.
As do the sheds at Home Depot...the glass enclosures for hot tubs one sees at pool centers.
Why did'nt I choose corn snakes?...lol
Corn Snakes? Wait! I dont have any of those...yet!
Enjoy the 4th everybody...and I'll leave you with this last question...for professionally built plastics, who has bought their cages from where?
In other words...Vision? Boaphile? etc.
Sorry...I have one of those inquiring minds!