tall cage for burm???

[dkatz4]

Looks like a burm might be in my not-so-distant future, a baby/juvi male, so I'm starting to plan an adult enclosure for the only-slightly-distant future. I have a spot for a basic big flat box, but i've been toying with the idea of doing a triangular enclosure under the stairs (actually an irregular pentagon). the footprint is 9' by 3' and the hight would taper from about 15" to, well, i dont know. The angle of the staircase means at that length it could be as tall as the ceiling, but that feels a little excessive. I know burms dont have an arboreal reputation, but is their a way i could utilize some height (say 4 to 5 feet) that would actually improve a burm's quality of life, or would i just be creating a heating nightmare for myself while the snake chills on the ground? Any other burm caging thoughts are whole-heartedly welcome.

[Randall L Turner Jr]

If you build the higher portion with the upper areas being shelves or ledges it would be used, how much would depend on the individual animal. With that said, it would be a fairly difficult pain to heat the enclosure well. Also will need to make sure any climbing points are built to handle a 100+ pound snake climbing up and down.

[Sauzo]

You're dead to me!! A burm over a retic??? Dead to me...

With that said, I would personally plan for a 10x3 cage. You're looking at probably a 13' snake. So honestly a 10x3 would be a minimum. As for height, burms are a heavy bodied snake so whatever you use for enrichment be in branches or shelves, they will need to support probably 100 lbs. I swore i heard of large females getting to 200 lbs.

I would probably do 10x3x2 if it was me and possibly plan for larger later on. 2' is easily heated while still providing decent height assuming you keep the room fairly warm.

And with all that said, if you are set on a burm, at least get a caramel or albino labyrinth since those are the 2 i want and i can then hate you less by living vicariously through you with the snakes

[dkatz4]

You're dead to me!! A burm over a retic??? Dead to me...

And with all that said, if you are set on a burm, at least get a caramel or albino labyrinth since those are the 2 i want and i can then hate you less by living vicariously through you with the snakes

Oh God, you weren't supposed to see this!

Hey, until i sign a check, nothing is written in stone. But I just keep coming up with more reasons the burm will be a better fit - that FB thread was very insightful i thought (curious what you thought of it). My main thing is i dont want to have to chase down a 12 foot snake thats running from me and i dont want to have to worry about my kids looking at it the wrong way and taking a hit. I know all retics are not actually that highly strung (certainly not cool-hand Caesar) but i have to play the odds, right? But again, I haven't actually made any orders yet, i have a few more months to agonize and second guess myself.

[AbsoluteApril]

Based on your descriptions and wants I did think a burm would be a better choice than retic.

I always imagined those spaces under stairs would make for such a cool large snake enclosure! For heating, you might need some bulbs or RHP from the ceiling and then you'd have to also do something like a pig blanket or all weather large heat pad on the floor as well.

Maybe you could build something that would look like a large tree trunk, you could leave a large hallow middle for a 'hide' and the top would be large, flat and elevated which could provide a ledge that would be able to handle the weight and give the snake something to climb up onto? Just an idea. Something that looks kind of like this:
http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-K4o-5rvewK...01.painted.jpg

Once they get big, they tend to be happy just hanging on on the floor from what I've seen.
Here's a nice big burm I took a photo of from a reptile exhibit that took place at the CA Academy of Sciences, I'd estimate s/he was 18' or so.