Question to The Giant Owners

[Sm_Banks]

How big of a terrarium do you need for a giant? I am curious about this as I am interested in owning a giant in the future.

[bcr229]

My mainlands are in 8'x30"x18" enclosures. The female may outgrow that one day, her breeder let us know that this girl's momma has topped 22 feet.

My adult SD male is fine in a 48"x30"x18" enclosure, I don't see him outgrowing it.

[chip07]

I don't have an adult retic but I have been looking at cages to order. I've been leaning towards an 8x3 for my female and either 5x3 or 6x3 for my male. My female is from a small female that has topped out at 11ft so I don't expect her to get too large.

But I'm interested in the answer to this too. I've asked/searched before on other forums and it seems between the 6x3 or 8x3 for females and generally smaller for the males.

[bcr229]

If you get one that's 36" deep then get it at least 24" tall, otherwise you have a heck of a time cleaning out the pile of poop in the back corner.

[Yodawagon]

A rule of thumb I heard once was as many square feet as is long. So a 8 foot snake in a 4x2 cage.

[dkatz4]

A rule of thumb I heard once was as many square feet as is long. So a 8 foot snake in a 4x2 cage.

I don't belive this is correct, i think the square footage rule is a misunderstanding of the "L" rule. The length of the cage PLUS the width should be equal to or greater than the snake's length so that it can make itself into an L without touching a third wall. so our hypothetical 8 foot snake would need a 6 by 2 or a 5 by 3, i dont know if more square is better or worse than more rectangular.

[Reinz]

I don't belive this is correct, i think the square footage rule is a misunderstanding of the "L" rule. The length of the cage PLUS the width should be equal to or greater than the snake's length so that it can make itself into an L without touching a third wall. so our hypothetical 8 foot snake would need a 6 by 2 or a 5 by 3, i dont know if more square is better or worse than more rectangular.

I personally feel this ^^^^^ is a better guideline for MY snakes.

While What Yoda said is doable.

For example I put my 7.5-8 Foot Coastal Python, Lizzy in a 4x2x2. It works ok, especially being a taller cage for a semi-arboreal snake. However after the few days in her new enclosure, it's easy to see that a 6x2x2 will be much better. I plan to move her up.


Lizzy, Coastal Python in 4x2x2

This decision to move for Lizzy was reinforced when I got a 6x2x18inch high enclosure for Punch, my 7 foot Boa. It is a nice sized enclosure with breathing room.


Punch, Common BI


I know that these snakes are not giants, I'm just trying to contribute to these two caging guidelines mentioned.