Choosing Cage

[Gonzoso]

I am hemming and hawing over the size and details of the cage I need to build for my RTB. She is a rescue snake, and my first "big" snake. I am well versed on the heating and humidity requirements from our ball python, but unsure about the cage size.

I was told she is about two years old, and she is 5 feet long. I was not planning on her being this big as i did not know which snake I was adopting. I know that females can grow to nine feet, and that the cage should be 3/4 of their overall length. But I also find that many people house females RTB in much smaller(4') enclosures, apparently with no problems. I am a college student, so there is the matter of the budget, and the small apartment.

My problem is that I see all these guides that say I should have a six foot cage, and then I see MANY people with healthy, seemingly happy snakes in much proportionally smaller tanks. Our ball python, which is 28ish inches long, resides in a 55 gallon tank. He seldom goes out and explores, he mostly just sits around, as reptiles are apt to do most of the time.

So what do you all recommend? I am also torn between the clean look and functionality of the manufactured cages, animal plastics, boaphile, vision, etc. But the affordability of the home made cage. What are your overall impressions of the cages? On one site I went too, everyone bashed cages that were not made by one specific manufacturer, who happened to be an integral part of the forum it seemed. It is difficult to cut through the bravado and ego in this hobby, although this forum does seem to be the nicest I have come across so far.

	Red Tail Boa

[razeraze]

I find if you want an active snake you have to look into natural habitat and behavior. For instance if i owned a BP I would build fake termite mounds , half logs and lot of deep substrate so they can do what they do naturally (burrow a lot). For my boa (semi arboreal) I have a tall cage 6'L x 3'W x 5'T which she uses every inch of, including her large water bowl.

My retic (semi aquatic large snake) we will be building a 12'L x 3'Wx 5T with a 150 gallon filtered pond with a cascading waterfall.

Build what you want, what you can afford and what you have space for.

	Ball Python

[danktat]

I go with animal plastics cages myself. I have snakes in the 6-7 foot range in the T-10's which are 4' x 2'. I also have a couple of 6' x 30" (I believe they are T-25's) one of which is devided in half. The size cages you end up with depend on your situation. Obviously it would be great if you could afford (money wise and space wise) to devote an entire room to one snake. Unfortunately for most if us that simply isn't possible so we go with what has been shown to work reasonably well with the provided space we have.

(Brooksie2) in front of some of my cages....


Some cage cleaning.....


The way I keep mine stacked.....


Heating and humidity.....


This is a pic of a seven footer in a 4' x 2' cage. As you can see she isn't cramped for space...


Hope that helps..

[Koda]

I have the same humidifier! Nice setup.

[brooksie2]

Im suprised to see myself on this thread...

[danktat]

Well, hot women sell products. If that is true he will be buying AP cages from here on out....Mark should be paying you royalties...

	Animal Plastics

[ssjsmits]

I prefer to build mine. But I will say that Animal Plastics and vision cages are pretty sweet.
.
As far as size, it's just like Dank said. It really depends on what you can afford to do. I try to provide as much room as I can for them.

[brooksie2]

Originally Posted by danktat

Well, hot women sell products. If that is true he will be buying AP cages from here on out....Mark should be paying you royalties...

He should buy AP cages any way. I cant wait to get one. And I think the picture with your #$!#$!#$! in the air will sell more cages than a bad picture of me.

	Animal Plastics

[danktat]

You must be kidding....lol...I am only theorhetically black. I have not rythm, can't dance, don't shoot basket ball and I have no @##$@#$@#$@%@$%#$%#....