Caging opinions needed

Ok at the current time I only have a small (4') albino granite Burm but am planning to add a second and possibly a retic down the road. I am currently thinking about long term housing and was looking for opinions. I am kicking around ideas of either 24"wide x 6' long x 18" tall or as big as 36" wide x 8' long x 20" tall. Obviously I want to take up less space if possible but I don't want to be building bigger enclosures in 3 years either. I know bigger is always better but what can I build within reason and expect to last? Also, I am planning to heat with RHP (unsure of which manufacturer) anyone have recommendations on which rhps to use and what wattages you would think would be necessary for this size enclosure?

What are you guys keeping your burms in and what are you heating with? Thanks and have a great day!

Ive had nothing but problems trying to keep rhp with retics. They work great for my burms but not my retics

So are you heating with flexwatt then?

Yep. Works great for me. But I also heat the room as well since I have ars racks

You want the 30-36" depth on a large snake enclosure, 24" is nothing for them. I'd definitely go 8 feet over 6.

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Originally Posted by Slyther83

You want the 30-36" depth on a large snake enclosure, 24" is nothing for them. I'd definitely go 8 feet over 6.

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x2. My burm is 14' and is in a 30 x 28 x 96. I am building 2 more for our retics

8 foot is the way to go
Optomise your plywood though. go 30 inches deep and 18 high. by 8'

allows you to use a single sheet for bottom/back.

I have a 14ft 100lb Burmese that I house in a 6ftx3ftx18in vision cage with no problems and he seems to have plenty of room. The 36in width allows me to put a rubbermaid container large enough for him to soak in. I think anything smaller would not allow him enough room. I also have a med size Helix radiant heat panel on one side that keeps the temp at about a constant 84 degrees then I use a basking light on one side to get the temp up to 90-92.

I have had success with using the pig blankets for heat sources for huge cages. My burm was in a 6x4x2 with a 4x2 pig blanket for a heat mat......never had a problem with temps, humidity, etc.

You can build with 3/4" plywood (high end plywood), seal all the seams with caulk, paint the entire cage with garage floor epoxy and the cages will last a pretty long time.

As a tip, a 79" x 30" x 18" enclosure can be built from exactly two sheets of plywood if cost is a concern of yours.

Radiant heat panels are probably the preferred method of heating large plywood cages too so that works out well for you. They're easy to mount and very efficient.