Reptile & Amphibian Forums

I have a baby kingsnake, who is *approximately* 8-10 inches long. He is currently housed in a small plastic container with some wood chips in and a water bowl. The container is maybe slightly shorter than the snake itself, and its width is about half the snakes length. He is very scared of being handled at the moment so im going to leave him a few days to settle in, but im wondering when I should transfer him to his large cage which is 20Wx40Lx24H (inches)?

Wow, that's a big cage for a little snake! I keep an adult california kingsnake in an enclosure that's about the same dimensions. So much space may cause the little one to feel insecure. If this were my situation, I would consider either making a move into a 10 gallon for awhile until he grows into the other enclosure, or,partition off about 1/3 of the large enclosure on the end for now. (Foam board from an art supply place cut to fit flush with the sides and bottom works well for this purpose.) With snug hides and heat your little one will feel secure, eat regularly and grow quickly. Just my opinion--best of luck!

Partitioning off some of the large cage is a very appealing idea as it could be done for relatively little cost, however wouldnt this then prevent the snake from receiving an adequate heat gradient?

By the way, how large approximately in inches is a 10 gallon tank?

10 gallon is 20x10x12
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So does that make my cage a 20 gallon?

No. If it's a plastic container it's not going to follow the traditional gallon sizes - as those are for glass tanks.

20 gallon High 24" x 12" x 16"
20 gallon Long 30" x 12" x 12"
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1.0 Ball Python "Aragorn"
1.0 Kenyan Sand Boa "Gimli"
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0.1 Rough-Scale Sand Boa "Arwen"
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1.0 Mexican Black Kingsnake "Indigo"
1.0 Snow Corn snake "Chile"

0.1 Australian Cattle Dog/Pointer
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my large vivarium is wooden not plastic, although this still might not follow the traditional gallon sizes.. im a bit confused really as to how big my vivarium actually is, I only have the dimensions in inches :

Sorry, just basically meant if it's not a glass tank then the measurements aren't going to fall in line with the traditional glass tank sizes/gallons, etc.

I don't know if/how you can determine how many gallons those dimensions are. I'm just curious (and a bit confused-not hard to do) as to why you need to know how many gallons it equals?
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1.0 Ball Python "Aragorn"
1.0 Kenyan Sand Boa "Gimli"
1.0 Saharan Sand Boa "Frodo"
0.1 Rough-Scale Sand Boa "Arwen"
0.1 California Kingsnake "Gentoo"
1.0 Mexican Black Kingsnake "Indigo"
1.0 Snow Corn snake "Chile"

0.1 Australian Cattle Dog/Pointer
"Kira"

Its just that on these forums I have recieved a lot of advice about what size in gallons vivariums should be for certain species/ages of snakes. When someone speaks of a 10 gallon cage, I have no idea how big this is in comparison to my own vivarium.

Gotcha! I can see how that would be confusing.

That size cage is good for an adult, but may be overwhelming to an baby - unless you loaded it up with decorations, hides, etc so that he had plenty of places to go that made him feel secure.

This may be of help in the future:

freshaquarium.about.com/cs/tipsandtables/l/bltanksize.htm

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1.0 Ball Python "Aragorn"
1.0 Kenyan Sand Boa "Gimli"
1.0 Saharan Sand Boa "Frodo"
0.1 Rough-Scale Sand Boa "Arwen"
0.1 California Kingsnake "Gentoo"
1.0 Mexican Black Kingsnake "Indigo"
1.0 Snow Corn snake "Chile"

0.1 Australian Cattle Dog/Pointer
"Kira"

Thanks a lot, that webpage will come in very useful!

Do you then recommend that I buy a 10 gallon aquarium to house the baby snake? If so, how would I need to heat this aquarium, via a heatpad?

Thanks a lot for all the help!

ps. thanks for your patience and please bear with me, this is my first time dealing with a baby snake, my previous snake came to me as an adult.

You could either go with a 10 gallon tank (but make sure you get a secure lid-some places sell the reptile glass tanks with sliding screen lids that are great) or you can go the cheaper route (and even a bigger size if you want) and buy a rubbermaid or sterilite tub w/ similiar dimensions. Heat either one with a reptile heating pad on a thermostat or a human heating pad (make sure it doesn't have auto shut off). I like the rubbermaid idea, because it's cheaper, sine it's frosted it provides a bit more security for the baby and when you're done you can use it for storing personal items. Just have to drill ventilation holes and you can even install a light (protected bulb of course) in the lid.
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Check Out My Albums

1.0 Ball Python "Aragorn"
1.0 Kenyan Sand Boa "Gimli"
1.0 Saharan Sand Boa "Frodo"
0.1 Rough-Scale Sand Boa "Arwen"
0.1 California Kingsnake "Gentoo"
1.0 Mexican Black Kingsnake "Indigo"
1.0 Snow Corn snake "Chile"

0.1 Australian Cattle Dog/Pointer
"Kira"