A couple questions

I’ve got a male purple albino tiger retic that I have been keeping temporarily in a tub in the rack with my adult male ball pythons (he was hatched late September 2018) The plan was to put him in a 50 gallon tank for a while and then move him to an animal plastic 4’X2’X2. But I’m thinking why not just move him directly into the AP cage. My concern is, since he’s pretty small compared to the cage, would it stress him out? Most of my experience is with BP’s and the best way to get them to stop eating is to put them in a cage that’s too big. Second question is, I am having a radiant heat panel installed to keep my ambient high enough and I am gonna have 3” heat tape for a hot spot. But I was thinking, how the hell would heat tape work in a cage like that? I sure hope it’s installed on the outside under the cage, but would the heat radiate through the bottom? If it’s inside, what could I get as a liner between the tape and the substrate?

Couldn’t figure out how to edit my post, but I saw a post about the AP cages in the BP husbandry section and it answered my question about that

I'd go straight to the 4x2x2. As long as he has plenty of hides and floor covering he'll be fine. You could also use a cage divider until the snake is large enough to occupy the whole enclosure which won't take long for a retic. Best wishes with the new addition.

I’d honestly plan for at least a 6x2x2 if that’s a mainland animal. It’s small now but it won’t be for long. And I second Ziggys suggestions of a divider and/or lots of clutter to provide security until it’s larger


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Definitely think about a divider to start out with if you go straight to a 4x2 as stated. Most retics can handle the upsize in caging, very few can not handle it for some reason tho, that's where your divider and lots of hides/foliage comes in.

I have 1 Male in particular, he absolutely hates a big cage with big open front. Will push, go highly defensive and strike at the cage front when he sees someone walk by. I switched him back into a tub, 56qt and hes 6.5ft, went back to being comfortable and not nearly as defensive. Not telling you this to worry you or anything like that, just telling you from experience and what to look for.


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My sd male is two in sept and 6.5-7ft and 1000g. he has been in his 5*2*2 since he was 4' and 400g loves it, always out on show unless he is in a food coma when he disappears for a day or two.
The best advice I can give on husbandry is get a humidifier, my fella went from patchy sheds and soaking in buckets every shed to perfect full sheds every time. I keep him at 75-85%, his colour has brightened and he just glows with health...https://i.imgur.com/X3KPjCq.jpg

He had some pretty bad scars on his nose from his first year being in a tub at the pet store, slowly healing up now. Poor fella.

Thanks for all the replies. I’m gonna go ahead and skip using the glass tank and go straight to the bigger enclosure. Actually the AP 4’X2’X2’ will only be temporary also. It’s actually gonna be for my sharp motley boa female when she gets some size. I’m planning on building a nice big 6’X3’X3’ cage for the retic this fall.