Reptile & Amphibian Forums

hey all.i have never gave my green tree enclosure much thought untill yesterday when i was reading greg maxwells site.he reccomends adult chondros cages to be like 3 feet wide by like 2 feet tall(i think).i have read his site many times but never noticed that.most owners i see dont have adults housed in anything near that large.mine is a sub adult but its cage is around 24" tall by like 19" wide and 19" deep.he seems to have plenty of room now and i was hoping it would be large enough when he was full grown.hes a male so he shouldnt get too large.what do you guys keep your adult males in?im not talking about the breeders who keep them in shoeboxes,i mean for a nice comfortable display,is my size ok?

i think you should be fine, depending on how big your boy gets... i think an adult is just fine in a 24" X 24" size enclosure... and your cage is not too much smaller...

i am finishing up my new cages right now and they are 19" tall X 31" long X 17 deep...
i have done more to this since i took the pic... i have added another 3 cages right below these... i will be individually insulating each cage and then finnishing it all the way around with pine... all cages will be removable...

Shiloh

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Shiloh Hawkesworth
kansas
(Midwest Serpents)

Long time no talk...

How big are the Chondros in the three cages pictured? I don't need exact numbers, you can just say "small adults", "large adults", or whatever.

I'm guessing they are small adults, but it's really hard to tell from the picture.

Also, just out of curiosity, what the actual inside dimensions of the back wall of those cages? I'm guess quite a bit smaller than 31" x 17" x 19".

hey...

they are not adults... they are an average of 3-3.5 feet in length...

the interior dimentions are 31" x 17" x 19". i made these cages a little wider. because i plan to use them as breeder cages in the future...

Shiloh
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Shiloh Hawkesworth
kansas
(Midwest Serpents)

>>the interior dimentions are 31" x 17" x 19".

Right. But I was curious to know what the dimensions of the very back wall were. All of these boxes slope quite a bit so they can stack inside of each other which ends up taking quite a bit of space away from the back well.

It's no big deal. If you have a chance to measure the back panel sometime I'd appreciate it.

Hope the cages are working well. I'm still looking for the right box to replace the discontinued box at Lowes.

The one used in this picture:

when i mounted them i mounded that almost level... the back wall of the cage is almost 90 degree's... their is not really any room lost...
the reason i mounted them like this was so the water would sit level...

they were mounted with basic mounting brackets and then bolted to the brackets on the bottom which makes them almost perfectly level...

i hope that answers your question...

Shiloh
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Shiloh Hawkesworth
kansas
(Midwest Serpents)

I don't think I'm explaining this right.

When I mount that black box level the front of the cage is 29" x 19". But since the sides naturally slope what becomes the back wall of the cage is only 25" x 16".

No big deal. I think if you took a tape measure down to your cage sometime it would make sense.

ohhhhhhhhhh... duh... my bad... i thought you were refering to loss of head room because of the slope of the tub and putting it at an angle...

i'll measure that when i get home and let you know...

Shiloh
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Shiloh Hawkesworth
kansas
(Midwest Serpents)

>> my bad...

Mine too. I could have explained it that way from the start. Talk to you later.

25" X 15" on the back of the cage...

Shiloh
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Shiloh Hawkesworth
kansas
(Midwest Serpents)

>>25" X 15" on the back of the cage...
>>
>>Shiloh
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>>Shiloh Hawkesworth
>>kansas
>>(Midwest Serpents)

Looks to me like a Harper inspired design. I like em, i like the price even more. What do you have figured in on cost for that row of units? Clint
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0.1 Colombian Boa-(Boa Constrictor Imperator) "Honey"
1.0 Hogg Isle Boa-(Boa Constrictor Imperator) "Peeker"
1.0 Brazilian Rainbow Boa-(Epicrates Cenchria) "Houdini"
1.1 Argentine Boa-(Boa Constrictor Occidentalis) "Lacie" & "Oreo"
0.0.2 Green Tree Python-(Morelia Viridis)Biak type-"Smog" & Sorong type- "un-named"
2.0 Canines Husky-Cody & Husky/Shepard-Trail
0.1 Wife-Michele
2.0 Kids-Chris & Bodhi(New born 9/14/05)

>>Looks to me like a Harper inspired design. I like em, i like the price even more.

Hi Clint,

Long time no chat with you either. Hope things are well.

I always say that building cages that are cheap, lightweight, and attractive at the same time can be very difficult. This design is one exception to the rule and I kick myself for not thinking of it years earlier. It's a lot more suitable for what I kept back then than I do now. Oh well, I'm glad some people are putting it to good use.

This is one of my firsts. It's better looking than this picture suggests.

Shiloh sent me e-mails as he was putting his first together. I don't remember the total but it was pretty darn cheap, even with the piano hinge. Hopefully he'll chime in with the answer.

well let me start off with saying that that piano hinge was a bit much... i thought the plexi would reqiure the extra support and it does not...

as for the price...

tub... $6
hinge... $12
plexi... $15
vent... $2
perch... $3
wood frame... $2
heat panel... $23

so a total for each cage i have in the pic is about $40-45 because when you purchase the items you cant help but to buy more then you need and that allows a save in cost for the other cages... and if buying more then one heat panel you save on shipping...

on the inside of the wood frame i have also sealed it will caulking...

thanks for the intrest...

i would also like to add that in my opinion that a 4' X 4' cage for a chondro would be way to big unless it was full of perches and vegitation... i think it would cause alot of stress on the chondro if it was not...
if possable i would like to see a pic of the cage mentioned...

Shiloh

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Shiloh Hawkesworth
kansas
(Midwest Serpents)

I saw the piano hinge and thought the same, Those hinges will blow your budget as well. Goodjob, Clint
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0.1 Colombian Boa-(Boa Constrictor Imperator) "Honey"
1.0 Hogg Isle Boa-(Boa Constrictor Imperator) "Peeker"
1.0 Brazilian Rainbow Boa-(Epicrates Cenchria) "Houdini"
1.1 Argentine Boa-(Boa Constrictor Occidentalis) "Lacie" & "Oreo"
0.0.2 Green Tree Python-(Morelia Viridis)Biak type-"Smog" & Sorong type- "un-named"
2.0 Canines Husky-Cody & Husky/Shepard-Trail
0.1 Wife-Michele
2.0 Kids-Chris & Bodhi(New born 9/14/05)

HI Chris, I have not been in the caging forum for some time, My wife has been pregnant and just gave birth on the 14th. So i have been busy with his (Bodhi's) bedroom. Take care, Clint
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0.1 Colombian Boa-(Boa Constrictor Imperator) "Honey"
1.0 Hogg Isle Boa-(Boa Constrictor Imperator) "Peeker"
1.0 Brazilian Rainbow Boa-(Epicrates Cenchria) "Houdini"
1.1 Argentine Boa-(Boa Constrictor Occidentalis) "Lacie" & "Oreo"
0.0.2 Green Tree Python-(Morelia Viridis)Biak type-"Smog" & Sorong type- "un-named"
2.0 Canines Husky-Cody & Husky/Shepard-Trail
0.1 Wife-Michele
2.0 Kids-Chris & Bodhi(New born 9/14/05)

hey thanks Shiloh,just wanted a second opinion.i think i think about my chondro too much.

their is no such thing as too much... its when you dont think about it enough when people have a problem...

it was a vary good question...

you should venture over to the other chondro forums some time...
Greg Schroeder and Greg Maxwell both have gret sites... i think Schroeders gets more posts though, plus the chat has people in it several times during the day...

Shiloh
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Shiloh Hawkesworth
kansas
(Midwest Serpents)

how old are these snakes in these 19" tall cages?? are these adults?? nice cages by the way.

>>how old are these snakes in these 19" tall cages?? are these adults?? nice cages by the way.

they are between 3'-3.5' in length... the cages are far from done... i havent had the time to get them done... with any luck i can have them done by the end of the month... the nice thing about this project is that i dont need the cages so their is not really a time crunch to get them done... and believe me i have been putting it off... lol

thanks for the compliment

Shiloh
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Shiloh Hawkesworth
kansas
(Midwest Serpents)

we won't build any aboreal snake natural habitat for anything shorter then the animals length. just a rule for us. if it's a chondro, i'd build only for a minimun of 4" and that would also have to be the width...but that's just want we do.

Deven | Terra5Designs
[back]

youre saying that for a full grown chondro you wont house it in less than a 6 ft x 6 ft enclosure?? seems kinda excessive if you ask me.if someone like julian followed your rules,hed have to live on a football field just to house his collection.lol

LOL, no no...i'm saying if you're planning a naturalistic vivarium for your pets, then the larger more appropriate size would be the heigth equaling the length of the snake. for example, a corn snake. not realy needing a tall tank but if i landscape it for a hillside, the burrow would allow for better ventilation and thermogradient there for yes, tall would work but if your just housing for breeding or not really into a naturalistic habitat or vivarium then by all means, do as you know you should. just a differnt look i guess.

actually for a chondro a horizontal cage would probably be best... because most chondros go to the highest point they can perch... so having a 6 foot cage might cause problems...
i do agree that in a breeder like Julian had huge cages he could probably not have the room it takes to house them... plus having a big cage takes more time to clean...
if i only had one or two and i had no intrest in breeding i would probably make a vary natural looking cage for the snake and it would probably be vary large with tons of vegitation...

i decided to make my cages horizontal because i wanted to have slightly longer cages for them to move around...

Shiloh
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Shiloh Hawkesworth
kansas
(Midwest Serpents)

plus the fact that heating and keeping a good humidity in a 6 foot cage would be very hard... you would have to have an expensive cage per snake...

Shiloh
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Shiloh Hawkesworth
kansas
(Midwest Serpents)

I keep all my adults in 24x18x18 enclosures made by Boaphile. Obviously the bigger the cage the better, but it will become much harder to keep the temps and humidity where it should be. Width is always better than height though, so keep that in mind. Most snakes will stay on the top perch regardless of how high the cage is, so you will have alot of empty space not being used if you go too tall. 18 inches tall will be more than ample. If you have the space in your snake room, add more width if you feel you want to give the snake more room.
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Mike Bair
Chondro Dreams

Mine is in a Vision Cage that's 28 X 24 X 24. I would prefer the 36 wide, but I don't have the space, and I think she'll do fine in it. She sure loves roaming in it!
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1.0~amel corn~C.S.
1.3~Aztec Okeetee corns~Coatl,Maya,Acatl,Tepin
0.1~Green tree python~Tempest
0.2~Rhodesian Ridgebacks~Akilah, Ona
1.0~Black fat cat~Topper
3.0~Horses~Zaarah,Galliano,Achilles.....

I've got my 5 month old Aru in the smallest size of these tanks, and he does just fine...and will probly fit in here for almost another year, as my 1.5 yr old biak is just barely too big for it. I cover 75% of the top, and use damp cypruss mulch as bedding. A heat pad underneat gives me a nice temp gradient of about 79-86, with humidity in the mid 70's to upper 80's

Chris
Link

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0.2.0 Grey Rats-Lauren, Avril
1.2.0 Black Rats- Robert, Cady, Kylie
1.2.0 Albino FL Kings-Nick, Jessica, Ashley
1.1.0 Crimson Corns-Kane, Ruby
0.1.0 Het-Crimson Corns-Lola
0.1.0 White-Sided/Pos Het Albino Black Rat-Lita
1.0.0 Albino White-sided Black Rat-Rey
0.1.0 Albino/Het White-sided Black Rat-Stacey
1.2.0 Creamsicle Corns-Vince, Trish, Torrie
0.1.0 Fl King-Bonnie
1.0.1 Biak GTP-Brandon, Aru GTP-Orochimaru
1.0.0 Flame X Blood Bearded-Ruff
1.4.0 Ball Pythons-Kritsy, Gretchen, Alexis, 100% het for albino balls- Naruto, Hinata
0.1.0 Red-tail Boa-Xena
0.0.1 Savannah Monitor-Izzy

I have several 6 foot Chondro's in my BARRS cages that are 24tallx20x20 and they have more than enough room. Most of the cages have three perchs so they can climb every where with no wasted space. A 4ftx4ftx24in cage would be huge. You would probably have a very hard time keeping temps and humidty and alot of wasted space for one animal. I would need to buy another house just for my cages if I did that.

Tim Rash
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Tim Rash
www.nocturnal-creations.com