Reptile & Amphibian Forums

mine is still a baby not even close to 2 feet yet. i have him in a 20gallon long tank for now but i will upgrade when needed, im not afraid to splurge on my pets (i spend more money on them then i do myself >_< )

right now i have a large rock water dish, reptibark, a piece of cage furnature that looks like a big tree root with mushrooms and fake plants on it, and a big hide box that looks like a tree stump that has 3 exits.
i like the bark because it keeps the humidity up easily but it get little silverfish things under the water dish at times because the moisture cant escape so i boil all the bedding if i see any. he doesnt seem to have any problems with the bark so far and its easy to spot clean. i check around his mouth often to make sure he doesnt have any sores or infection. i want to get some cypress bark when i can find it because its my favorite and i dont trust most barks even if they arent cedar.

i like to be inspired by looking at others enclosures so anyone want to share some pics and tips?

Here's the latest photo of my ball python's enclosure. I've been a snake owner for less than a month, so you aren't looking at something created by an expert. I've added another fake plant, but it's not exactly the way I want it right now. When I get it right, I'll add another picture.

My python is only about 14 inches long right now, but I decided to get the 55 gallon long aquarium that should be adequate for when she is an adult. I don't want to put things in small enclosures and end up getting more snakes than I can keep when their enclosures need to be bigger. I have water dishes on both the warm and cool sides of the cage. Some people argue against putting a water dish on the warm side because the water will evaporate. I'm perfectly happy with the water evaporating and keeping the humidity higher. I have a climbing limb that she uses occasionally. The little hide on the left side is full of moss and kept damp as a humid hide. The log hide was where she spent much of her time when she first arrived. Later, I added a low hide made of Rep-Tiles flat blocks, and she now prefers that spot to all others.

I'm having more trouble regulating humidity and temperature than I had hoped. I don't know what the solution will be.

Bill

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It's not how many snakes you have. It's how happy and healthy you can keep them.

ah that looks nice! i want to get my ball more hide boxes when i get a bigger tank.

you could always put a bubbler in one of the water dishes for humidity. that worked great when i had a hermit crab habbitat, im not sure if that would bother a snake tho.

So you did all of that for a 14" snake? I'm surprised he isn't stressed out. Also IF you think about it, you could have bought a 10 gallon and had it stay in there for a few months and moved it to that 55 gallon when it got way to big for the 10. IMO thats WAY to much for a 14" snake more or less. With all the money you provided to make that enclosure you could have not been cheap and bought a ten gallon for 8 dollars. Most people give younger snakes a water dish, newspaper/aspen, 2 hides and thats it. I serriously don't understand what you did because thats way to much cleaning for a young one every month or 2. Most people agree that trying to be cheap and not buying a proper enclosure for any animal means that you should probably not have bought the animal. But I have to say on a lighter note that that enclosure is beautiful and probably was worth while to set up. This is not meant to be offensive so theres no need for you to be deffensive I was just curious

I'm not offended by the questions at all, and I hope that I won't sound defensive. I'll go through my thinking and hope that it will be clear.

When I started planning for a snake, I wanted to be sure that I wouldn't buy something that was fine now and then learn in a couple of years that I wouldn't have room for him/her. I wanted a snake that would someday have some size, but I didn't want anything that would become too big for one person to handle. The ball python seemed to fit that description. The 55-gallon, long aquarium seemed to be an appropriate enclosure for the snake's entire life. I decided to get the aquarium now and give it a place in the house so that I wouldn't have a hard time rearranging to fit a big aquarium later.

I'd heard some people say that a small snake in a large enclosure would feel stressed, but I'd heard others say that this assertion was not an absolute fact. My impression of the arguments on both sides was that if I provided enough hides and the appropriate hides, a little snake would be okay in a big aquarium.

I considered buying the big aquarium but then buying a 10 gallon model and putting the 10 gallon inside the 55 gallon. That arrangement would look funny but would probably be an effective solution to the problem of ensuring that I'd always have room for the snake. I certainly wasn't doing this to save money. As you pointed out, the cost of a small aquarium is less than what I'll spend on substrate for the big one while I'm waiting for her to grow.

I'm also trying to add fake plants and anything else that might make this aquarium seem smaller. Someone else suggested that enough "things" inside the aquarium would make it much smaller from "a snake's-eye view." I'm trying to implement that suggestion and am always on the lookout for things that would accomplish that goal.

What are the signs of stress that would tell me that I need a smaller place for her? She eats regularly and took her first f/t mouse fuzzy last weekend. She's more of a slow, polite eater than an aggressive eater, but she doesn't pass up a meal. She had a bad shed yesterday, and I know that I'm going to have to increase the humidity. Otherwise, I don't know what signs would tell me that she isn't happy in the big tank.

Thanks,

Bill
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It's not how many snakes you have. It's how happy and healthy you can keep them.

Thanks for clearing it up bill and a good explanation. If the snake seems fine then leave it the way it is, I was just stating that most snakes don't feel secure in a bigger enviornment and will hide and/or not eat but if she comes out regularly and eats like she's supposed to then theres no problem. Ive had snakes that were 14" in a 30 gallon and they would ALWAYS hiss,bite,not eat,never leave their hide/hides but when it was switched to a 5 GL,10GL or a 16qt sweater boxes then everything was fine. I guess all younger ones are different in that they do not require the same things. No there is no scientific evidence that points to smaller snakes=smaller enclosures and you are 100% right for atleast trying but with my experience of snakes throwing hissy fits in huge enclosures I always try to caution people atleast. But great work and GREATER aquarium

Bill,
Thats a nice set up and should provide a nice home for your ball. If you want to you could use a tank divider to lessen the area the snake can travel. This would allow you to expand the tank size as the ball grows until you no longer need the divider. This method allows people to see the whole set up while containing your ball to a specific area. Ron
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The Crawl Space

Thanks for the thought.

Is there a commercially-made tank divider that I should try to find or do most people create some kind of homemade device?

I've occasionally thought of trying to divide the tank and put a big water container at one end. I'd cover the top of the water container but have a vent from the water container side into the main enclosure. I'd cover the vent with some kind of plastic screen that would keep my snake from going over there to go swimming. I'd then add an aquarium heater to the water tank and try to heat the water to about 100 to 105 °F. The evaporation would force warm, humid air into the rest of the aquarium. If all went well, I'd have less need of other heat sources, and I'd have better humidity.

Thanks,

Bill
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It's not how many snakes you have. It's how happy and healthy you can keep them.

If the snake is eating and happy, I don't see a problem.

Have you tried using a heat mat on a thermostat? That's the best way to heat a tank and maintain humidity IMO.

it IS annoying having to change tanks. i probably would have gotten a large tank for my snake if i didnt already have a 20long right on hand. all of the decor besides from the bedding i already had.
i dont like upgrading tanks because then i feel the need to put a new pet in the vacant tank!

but i agree if the snake is eating it should be pretty comfortable. everyone kept tellin me not to get a ball because they are terrible eaters and starve themselves alot and i would probably have to get it forcefed. i havent had a problem except that he only takes live mice. maybe they have never had a box turtle before.... if my boxie gets upset he will go on hunger strikes. hes way more moody then my ball.

I have a heat mat under the tank, but it runs all the time anyway just trying to keep the warm side at 90°F. I don't see any point in adding a thermostat if the thermostat would never need to cut back on power to control the temperature.

Otherwise, my snake is eating well and doesn't spend all of her time hiding. Within the past twelve hours, I've found her hanging on her climbing tree twice. Today is another feeding day, so I'll know later whether all is well with her feeding. I'm going to give her two f/t mouse fuzzies. It will be the biggest meal that I've given her, but the pet store said that they once fed her rat pinkies on two consecutive days.

Thanks,

Bill
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It's not how many snakes you have. It's how happy and healthy you can keep them.

The questions about my cage led me to finish adding my latest touches.

What you can't see in the picture is that I added a tile into the log hide in the hopes of making it a little tighter. My ball python used the log a great deal when it was the only hide, but she's abandoned it in favor of tighter hides that I've added. The tile doesn't do everything I had hoped, and I'll probably have to work on that idea a little more.

I've added another fake plant. Putting it at the end of the log hide might make the log hide seem a little more "closed" and therefore be a little better hide. Either way, she can crawl further across the cage under complete cover than she could before I added this plant.

I put a heating pad on the wall on the warm side. It's been somewhat successful in raising the temperature and allowing me not to need the incandescent light. However, even without the light, I had problems maintaining humidity.

I'll clean the cage completely in a week or two, and after that cleaning, I'll probably trade some of the repti-bark for cypress mulch. I think the cypress mulch will give me better humidity. I'll also add more moss all around the cage.

Bill

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It's not how many snakes you have. It's how happy and healthy you can keep them.

Bill,

Your cage looks really good so far, but I have a suggestion. One thing that will help your BP feel MUCH more secure would be to paint or cover the back and sides of the aquarium with black (or another dark color) paint, cardboard, paper, etc.

I noticed a big difference in my BRB's behavior when I painted the back and sides of her aquarium black. I used a latex based paint and brushed it on, but I don't recommend this method - the paint tends to flake off while applying the second coat. A better alternative would be Krylon Fusion spray paint. Just mask what you don't want to paint with tape and paper, and spray the paint on the back outside wall of the aquarium.

If you are worried about fumes, etc. and can't move the snake and clear out the cage furniture and substrate for a day or so, I would recommend painting a large posterboard black and taping it to the outside back wall.

It's such a simple change, and it does a lot of good. Not to mention that you'll be amazed at how much nicer the cage looks with a black background. REALLY makes the colors pop.
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::i believe in joy > http://www.winds.org/nekomi/hope.html

::my homepage > http://www.winds.org/nekomi

My Growing Zoo:

1.0 Husband (Byron) ^_^
0.1 black cat (Shade)
0.1 Brazilian Rainbow Boa (Zia)
1.0 Leucistic Ratsnake (Houdini)
1.2 Cockatoo cichlids (A. cacatuoides yellow-gold)
1.2 Panduro cichlids (A. panduro)

Thanks, I've been wanting to do something along those lines. I've toyed with the idea of using black construction paper and with the idea of buying one of those backgrounds that includes plants and rocks. I've even thought about buying a lightweight, black cloth and using suction cups to hold it up as a curtain. Ultimately, I need to be able to open the sides a little bit to view the cage. The way I have it now, I can't always tell from the front or top where my snake is. I want to be able to have at least a peep hole or two so that I can look from the sides. Another thought would be painting some polyethylene insulation so that I get some insulation value from the background. I may have some old political signs around the garage. If I could paint one of them a flat black, I could cut it to fit within the cage and cover the back wall. Your suggestion is on the "someday" list.

Thanks,

Bill

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It's not how many snakes you have. It's how happy and healthy you can keep them.

I just finished this about a week ago, it is heated by flexwatt and has a formica base. it is 4 x 2 x 19"

ooo nice! ive wanted enclosures that are wood like that. i like how they look more like furnature. how does it open?

If I had any skill with carpentry, I'd try to build something like that. For many reasons, I agree with those who think that wood is better than a glass aquarium. I'd probably paint the wood black or dark brown using marine paint. I once built a wooden box for a mariculture project and used marine paint to waterproof the wood. The paint worked very well in total immersion service, so I'm sure that it would be perfect for the occasional misting and washing that a snake cage would see.

Bill
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It's not how many snakes you have. It's how happy and healthy you can keep them.

Just be careful - double check with the manufacturer as to the contents of it, how it reacts with heat and how long you'd have to offgas it - the last thing you want is to build a nice cage then find out you've slowly poisioned your snakes.
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Tosha

"Nihil facimus sed id bene facimus"

7.33.0 Ball Python (Harry and Fluffy and gang)
1.0.0 Angolan Python (Anakin Skywalker)
0.0.1 Green Tree Python (Verdi - yeah I know but my kids love the book)
0.2.0 Feline (Pippen and Pandora)
0.0.1 Desert Tortoise (Pope John Paul aka JP )
2.2.1 Fish (1,2,3,4)
0.0.2 frogs rescued from pool skimmer

Those are good cautions, and I'd do that checking before I actually used marine paint to coat the inside of a reptile cage. (Again, this presupposes that I had the skill to build a wooden cage in the first place.) One thing that makes me feel less concerned about the offgassing is that all commercial paints have to limit their Volatile Organic Component (VOC) content these days. In some states, no VOC is allowed, and any paint that offgasses cannot be used outdoors in that state. In order to stay in business, the manufacturers have had to reformulate their paints.

Heat breakdown of chemicals and leaching of some components is a concern. If I ever find someone to do the carpentry, I'll have to ask the manufacturers about what could come out of their paints.

Bill
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It's not how many snakes you have. It's how happy and healthy you can keep them.