Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Would anyone be willing to post some pictures of the enclosures they keep their adult Indigos or Cribos in? Just trying to get an idea of what right looks like. I'm mainly a Blood Python guy, but have been fascinated with this genus for a long time, and I am seriously considering getting an animal. I'm probably going to get a Cribo, but wouldn't be opposed to an indigo if I have the money. Thank you very much.
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Josh Trout

Adult cribos are the most space-demanding snakes. Many keepers who post on this forum report success keeping cribos in smaller enclosures than I ever would, so browse the posts and decide for yourself.

Wild Eastern indigos have enormous home ranges. A male in Georgia was found to have a home range of over 3,000 hectares, or over 7,000 acres. These can be very restless snakes.

I keep them in the largest cages I can accommodate. Currently, my adult Eastern indigos are in cages six feet long, 30 inches deep and 14 inches high. Each cage has full-spectrum light bulbs plus a UV bulb placed near the basking light. Basking lights are mounted at one end of a cage to provide a hot spot of around 90-100 degrees. An exhaust fan in the cage wall at that end of the cage pulls the warm air out of the cage, preventing the entire cage from being heated by the basking bulb. A vent at the far end of the cage allows room air to replace the warm air removed by the fan, creating a steady flow of air through the cage, which seems to help maintain good digestion, overall health and a satisfactory mental state in the snakes.

When I get more space I plan to build cages eight feet long, four feet deep and about two feet high to allow for the use of UVB-emitting mercury vapor bulbs. Snakes need UV light although few captive snakes currently get much of it. Besides enabling proper skeletal development, UV light and the Vitamin D it helps produce both participate in a host of metabolic functions, immune system maintenance and emotional health.

I also provide a moist hide box, as cribos lose moisture through their skins more than many other species of snakes. The moist box is a large Sterilite with a hole cut in the lid, filled with Sphagnum moss which is moistened with distilled water. I suggest avoiding the use of tap water, which contains salts that will accumulate as the water dries and is replaced. Eventually, the salts will build up and coat the bedding, and make the snake uncomfortable.

Thank you very much for your reply. I do enjoy learning about these snake. Just from reading the posts on this forum, I can tell that one's husbandry has to really be perfect for any success. Which I like. I love Blood Pythons, but their care is really not as involved as the Drymarchon's is. Would love to see some more setups.
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Josh Trout

here's one i built in '04. it's 8' x 2' x 18'' high. i used to breed unicolors in here but it's now used for bullsnakes. it's screened on 3 sides w/ 1/4'' hardware mesh & has a 4'' aluminum curb giving it a sunken look to keep waste matter in. made of 1 x 3's w/ a stryofoam bottom it's very light but very strong. it took me about 2 days & $100 to complete & was well worth the effort....

Not to jack this or anything, but do you prefer mulch over newspaper, as far as bedding goes?

I vastly prefer mulch over newspaper. I can pluck stools (herpers have very different conversations than other folks) out easier and just replace mulch removed with stools.

The snakes can get a good grip on a mulch substrate and move without slipping. I have not gotten a reply when asking a snake which it prefers but I suspect the snakes like moving over mulch better than moving over newspaper.

To control mites and other undesirable insects, mulch can be sprayed with Provent-a-Mite just like bark slabs, although I wouldn't let sprayed mulch get wet for fear of re-activating the pesticide. I keep a moist box in my indigo cages anyway, and the rest of the substrate is dry.

There may be some slight ingestion of mulch bits when a captive indigo eats, as they drool a bit when chewing; also when feeding meals like fish or chicken parts that are moist. I find that snakes are very good at spitting out unwanted substrate that gets pulled in with a meal.

Keepers who just don't want to use mulch might consider using Kraft paper, available on large rolls from the paint department at local home centers. Painters use the paper for masking and draping things they don't want paint on. Brown Kraft paper is stiff and has more surface texture than newsprint paper, and may offer a better grip for a moving snake. It's large enough to be cut or folded into sheets that cover the entire cage floor with a single unbroken sheet rather than overlapped newspaper sections. I've used Kraft paper for snakes in quarantine and also for savanna monitor lizards. To create a more absorbent subfloor, you can install a sheet of Kraft paper over a few layers of newspaper.

My instinct would be to include a good number of furnishings like heavy branches and rocks if using paper so the snake has plenty of objects to grab as it moves around. If you include a moist box and lots of furnishings, it probably reduces the significance of whether you use paper or mulch.

I prefer paper towel to any particulate substrate like mulch. I have alternated between both more than once over the years but I just find using mulch or the like made me a lazier keeper.
True - it is easier to spot clean mulch but it also hides fecal matter and urates better...and the reality is (at least from my experience) that out of sight truly is out of mind.
Never been a big fan of newspaper though. Paper towel, although more expensive, is cleaner and easier to use IMO.
Although I have had cribos ingest particulate substrate like mulch and shavings - I never had any problem with impaction. I have also had cribos eat full sheets of paper towel (which would seem more dangerous than ingesting a little mulch) but fortunately I`ve never had a problem yet with that either as it passed without issue. I might be even more concerned if they chowed down a large piece of newsprint though and I would not doubt the possibility. Once they start chomping down something they can be pretty determined to swallow it entirely - whatever it may be....just ask my left index finger!