Tub sizes?

Is it true that a ball python under 400g should be kept in about a 15qt tub? The breeder i am buying my mojave said that I should wait till atleast 400g to move him up to the 35qt. If this is true, then I need to down grade my current snakes because they are in the 35qt and not even 300grams. Any thoughts would be appreciated.

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Originally Posted by puckett26

Is it true that a ball python under 400g should be kept in about a 15qt tub? The breeder i am buying my mojave said that I should wait till atleast 400g to move him up to the 35qt. If this is true, then I need to down grade my current snakes because they are in the 35qt and not even 300grams. Any thoughts would be appreciated.

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My pastel is around 120 grams and still chilling in a 6 qt. My logic is this. I buy a hide for that tub. Example: 6 qts have the RBI small hides, 16 qt have flower pot bottoms. Now once the snake grows out of the hide it's in I upgrade tubs. My normal and spider just got upgraded to 16 qts not to long ago so I would prob say they will be in there until around 500-600 grams. Then I gotta make a new rack for the 41 qts that they will stay i for the rest of their lives. I mean I think the difference b/w the 35 and 41 is not the big so might as well upgrade the whole way so I don't have to build ANOTHER rack. haha

If your snakes are doing fine at that size tub... I would keep them where they are currently so you don't stress them out by moving them.

If the new snake is used to a 15 qt tub, I would suggest buying one and keeping him in that same size tub until 500 grams or so. You need to quarentine him anyway so buying a different size tub shouldn't be a problem.

Congrats on the new addition.

If your snakes are ok in the big tubs, then there is no problem. Sometimes BPs in a tub that is big for their size will get stressed and go off feed. So if one of your little ones in a big tub ever has feeding issues, the first thing I'd try is to put it in a smaller size tub.

For the new one, I'd start with whatever is easy for you to do in your QT, but if that's a big tub, be prepared to get a smaller one. Once QT is done, you could try putting the little one right into a big tub (if it wasn't already), and see how he handles it.

I couldn't imagine a 390 gram ball in a 15 quart tub. I know people have done this, but it's too small in my opinion.

Just one man's opinion,
Jim Smith

I have kept mine fine so far in 28qt. From 100g to 1000g. They are all growing fine. Ofcourse I wouldnt recomend it if the snake gets stressed out. 15qt seems too small for me.

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Originally Posted by j_h_smith

I couldn't imagine a 390 gram ball in a 15 quart tub. I know people have done this, but it's too small in my opinion.

Just one man's opinion,
Jim Smith

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I have a mental picture of a sort of upper limit of how big a snake can be and still be ok in a particular tub size is if it can easily & comfortably curl up either entirely on or entirely off the heat. If it can't, then it can't thermoregulate properly, and I don't consider it proper housing. I do prefer for them to have more space, but some of them seem to prefer less.

Back in the day, when tubs were only for the big breeders and the rest of us used aquariums, it was always said that the snake had to be shorter than the width plus the length of the aquarium. So, if your snake was 30 inches and your tank was 12 inches wide and 24 inches long, the snake was okay. But if your snake was 40 inches, it was too large for that same aquarium.

Jim Smith

I have three little guys probably less than 200g's each in their own 41qt tub. I just make sure they have plenty of hides available and they love it.

See I was wondering something like this also. I have a book shelving thing that would make a great rack but it will only hold 4 16qt tub's.
Wanted to know how long a BP can stay in a 16qt tub. Like how they will weight and how long it normally takes to reach that size.

From searching I'd say 500 grams right. I just want to use the 16 qt rack temporarily until I can build one that will hold 41qt tubs.