Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Im building my new vivs for my collection. After reading other discussions in this forum I have started to wonder if I am builing them at the right size. I read further down that for a 6 foot boa 4 x 2 x 2 was about right - is this right for a 6 ft or right for a 6 ft boa with plenty of room to grow? (dont want to build something that they will grow out of.

Also Im wanting to get some Amazon tree boas and wondered what sort of speck to use for their vivs, and design ideas would be much appriciated.

For boas only the largest females seem cramped in a 4x2x2 cage.

You can always increase the depth of the cage to 30" and add a shelf about 2/3 of the way up to increase usable area.

And as mentioned in a thread further down, a below-ground hide and water bowl can make a cage seem even larger.

The nice thing about increasing the depth of the cage to 30" is that it really adds very little to the cost of the cage if you still limit the length to 4'.

Also Im wanting to get some Amazon tree boas and wondered what sort of speck to use for their vivs, and design ideas would be much appriciated.

One cage design of mine that's been used by a handful of ATB keepers is my storage tote design.

In the cage picture below I simply took a 50 gallon (yes gallons, not quarts) storage tote and mounted it onto a real-wood face frame. Excuse the condition of the cage in the picture, it had recently been trashed by a Corucia zebrata and it's newborn.

Here is another picture of the cage from the side. This gives you a better idea of how the tote comes off the face frame:

The back of the face frame is sealed with epoxy. With hindsight it would have been easier to use some of the self-adhesive vinyl film that is used to put graphics on cars or glass store fronts.

I left the sides, etc. open because I wanted to be able to keep an eye on the junction between the face frame and the wood. Now that I'm confident in that joint I could either put on sides or shelf brackets to allow the unit to be free standing.

The box is attached with a super strong polyurethane caulk and several 3/4" sheet metal screws. The joint is very strong.

The screen top is attached with rivets and hot glue, although you may not want that much ventilation.

So if I were to build this for Amazons I'd make a few changes.

First I'd use a black 55 gallon storage tote available at Lowes. It's made by Gracious Living. It's what other Amazon keepers have used when trying this design.

Second, I'd seal the back of the face frame with vinyl film.

Third, I'd build a dual face frame so two cages would be side by side. This would allow me to build another frame off the front and use double sliding doors. You could completely side one door open over the cage next to it and vice versa.

But that's only because I like sliding doors. The cages are too narrow to have individual double-sliding doors.

BTW, I've made about four of these cages now. They have all held up very well.

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Current snakes:

0.1 Gonyosoma oxycephala - (Silver/Yellow)

1.2 Gonyosoma oxycephala - (Green)

7.6 Gonyosoma janseni - (Black)

0.1 Gonyosoma janseni - (Black & Tan)

Cheers, nice tank mate. Just to clarify as Im from the UK, not too sure on the 'quart' and 'gallon' as sizes - what would be the size in feet?

Loved the idea of the built in hide - I was reading it earlier today and will deffinately do this. Chuffed the boas will be fine in the 4x2x2 aswell - as this gives me more room for other tanks and racks

Thanks once again

sam

>>Cheers, nice tank mate. Just to clarify as Im from the UK, not too sure on the 'quart' and 'gallon' as sizes - what would be the size in feet?

About 1.5' x 2' x 2.2' - that's length x width x height.

You might have a hard time finding a box that large. A contact of mine is Southern England has tried to duplicate this design but has been unable to find the appropriate box.
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Current snakes:

0.1 Gonyosoma oxycephala - (Silver/Yellow)

1.2 Gonyosoma oxycephala - (Green)

7.6 Gonyosoma janseni - (Black)

0.1 Gonyosoma janseni - (Black & Tan)

Fantastic - would that then be enough space for fully grown ATBs - think I might just use melamime board to keep it all easy - good idea with the sliding doors going accross both vivs, I was wondering about that.

Any ideas on the hides for the ATBs - I have only kept common, dwarf boas, and pythons before and Im not too sure on what the ATBs like in way of hides.

cheers

sam

Sam,

I originally developed this idea for Tree Vipers and Gonyosoma spp., not ATB's. I can only tell you that many tree boa keepers and green tree python keepers have either used or said they would use this design for their snakes.

But if you're building from melamine I'd go ahead and make it a bit bigger. Maybe you should ask on the Tree Boa forum and see what size they recommend.

The only ATB I kept rarely used a hide, but he was sure hard to find in the foliage I provided in the cage. I'm guessing that was enough security.
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Current snakes:

0.1 Gonyosoma oxycephala - (Silver/Yellow)

1.2 Gonyosoma oxycephala - (Green)

7.6 Gonyosoma janseni - (Black)

0.1 Gonyosoma janseni - (Black & Tan)

The fact is that boas are amazingly hardy snakes and can thrive in reasonably cramped conditions. Most male boas will do fine in a 4x2 foot cage. Females comonly reach 8 feet (or much longer) and should have more room. Bigger is always better. The larger your cages, the more natural (and interesting) behavior you can expect from the snakes. A snake in a box just big enough to turn around will pretty much just lay there. Obviously there are tons of experianced keepers and breeders who choose to keep boas in small cages and they do OK. I think that you will have more muscular snakes who will be more active, have less constipation probs, and probobly larger litters if you give them a few extra feet of space. Again just my personal opinion. No offense to anyone out there with 4x2's.