Snake Cages

[AviculariaLover]

I'm back home from college for a week so today I cleaned all the snake cages (sadly I have to leave them home, depending on where I end up living I can maybe take a few with me next year). My dad loves them and takes care of them, but he doesn't do much with the cages other than giving them fresh water. But I looove cleaning the cages

One question: when you clean out your snake cages, do you put everything back where it was, or do you think they would appreciate some variety? Sometimes I change things around, sometimes I don't. Just wondering what other people do.

Here is Checkers, my eastern milk snake.

This is Napoleon, the baby eastern milk snake.

Mystique the solomon island tree boa in her roomy tank, reaching for the top, hehe.

Tiger, my fat little kenyan sand boa. Promptly after I took this picture, he burrowed down into the shavings. He's my "pet cage" since I never see him unless I dig him out :?

And finally Monty the pink snow corn snake.

He's getting huge, I want to move him into my ball python's 40gallon breeder tank and move her into something bigger, but I don't want to spend over $100 on a huge tank. Any ideas on how to make a really big snake tank fairly cheaply? (the ball python is staying with my boyfriend for the school year, get to visit in a few days ).

And feel free to post pics of your enclosures, I love getting ideas.

 

[Midnightrdr456]

my king and corn snake back home i vary things around alittle, but not put much thought into it, its jsut i dont think how they were, so i jsut put things in.

As for my boa that i keep with me at my apartment in college, she is in a 4'x2' boaphile cage, and all i have in there is newspaper, a soaking tub, a water dish. Nothing more, and she does perfectly fine, in fact she is in perfect health and the most docile snake I own by a long shot.

 

[AviculariaLover]

I want to create a big, naturalistic enclosure for my ball python but I'm not sure where to start. How much was your boaphile?

 

[Cirith Ungol]

Isn't Monty in a tad small enclosure?

Don't wanna take away from their environments though, they very nice!

 

[AviculariaLover]

Yeah, like I said, I know Monty needs a bigger cage, but I figure I'll wait until I can do a swap with the ball python who's in a 40g breeder tank, so I end up only having to purchase/create one new cage, that I can house the python in through the rest of her life.

 

[ParabuthusKing]

Well I make all my snake cages, and have finally figured out something I am very pleased with aesthetically and functionally. It basically consists of 1/2 inch plywood for the top and bottom reinforced with a perimeter of 2"x4" lumber and the sides are plywood with the same 2"x4" reinforcements going vertically at each end of the side piece.. then I put plastic liner nailed down in a few spots to hold in place to prevent moisture from rotting/ mold growing on floor, and then cover this with astroturf..final additions are branches/ rocks and some aspen wood shavings for snakes to hide in ( I have 3 communal ground boas- Dumerils).. the awesome part about my design is that it is put together like a sandwich with dowels that mate the sides with the top and bottom separately and the plexiglass front is sandwiched in a groove cut out with circular saw.. so you can transport as separate top, bottom, and sides.. this makes a HUGE difference when moving a cage that is 4'x6'x3' and weighs in at about 300 lbs fully assembled. Construction is a little labor intensive, but very sturdy.. my first prototype I used particle board as I was poor, but this time I upgraded to one side finished plywood and the snakes/me couldn't be happier. If you want I can try and post pictures.. Also, I could try and make some "blueprints" for you if you would like, but this cage design is most practical when making a LARGE cage.. hope this may give you some ideas though .. NAte

 

[AviculariaLover]

Yeah I'd love to see your design! It would be great to have something big that could be disassembled. I've got till this summer to gather ideas before I start trying to work on it.

 

[Midnightrdr456]

i wouldnt recommend a boaphile for what you have, those snakes for the most part do fine. Boas i found need more precise husbandry than corns. I just had ALOT of trouble keeping the humidity at 60%ish in aquariums. Plus the boaphile i have ai 48"x24"x11.5" it was about $375 total after i got everything installed there for me, the heating, a light, the locks (i dont want inexperienced people getting in once my girl is big enough to harm someone doing something wrong). Then plus the thermostat it came to a total of about $450 total for everything.

Though personally I think it was worth every penny, I couldn't be happier with the enclosure.

 

[Alice]

nice snakes! however, sand boas are happier in sand, actually . and burrowing is normal behaviour for them. that's why i didn't get one when a friend of mine had babies *sigh*.

have you tried peat-soil mix for your other snakes? i found that it works better than wood chips. its easier to keep clean, als the feces are soaked up into tight balls that can be taken out easily. plus, you wont get mold that easily (i know, your species don't require high humidity, but i i got mold in the wood chips under the water bowl).

 

[AviculariaLover]

The boaphile, or any large tank, would be for my ball python who I didnt put up a picture of. She's about three and a half feet long now, so theres no rush. But I'd like to move most of the snakes up to larger enclosures this summer since they're all growing like weeds.

This is what my python is in now (she's grown quite a bit since this picture was taken):

I know she could probly be fine in here, but since I only have a few snakes, I want to spoil them

And as for the sand boa, I know they're supposed to burrow, hehe. Though I've heard people recommend shavings because they could get sand in their mouths and such, and the shavings hold the burrows nicely enough. I usually put at least four inches of shavings in there. Sometimes I get lucky and see him come out at night, hehe.

And as for peat soil, I havent tried it, and the corn and milksnakes seem to like to burrow a little bit at times so they like the shavings. Though having dirt could make them stay out in the open a little more I guess, hehe. I used to have really nice looking wood chips but if they got wet they got gross and two of my snakes developed scale rot, so everything is on shavings and doing well now. And we have a rabbit who needs the shavings too so we just buy huge bags of the stuff.

 

[Alice]

uh, i guess not - actually they like burrowing in the dirt more .

but it's really easier and more hygienic to clean.