Are tanks really unsuitable?

The 36X18 of a 40B can accommodate a lot of snake length, and still leaves head space for some climbing. I like the reptile ones with the slide out screen lid (but not sure how secure that is with more powerful animals). You can also get a very sturdy metal cover with metal clips for many of the basic aquarium measurements off Amazon.

I like tanks, but my North American native snakes tend to hang out in the open much of the time anyway, so they make for good display animals. The next enclosure may be a tub simply for space reasons. Planted tanks work well for my king and corn who need more humidity than we have here in NM. People do the planted set-ups differently, but IMHO you need a good drainage layer and a top screen to keep the substrate from getting soggy if you add plants.

Thankfully I live in a somewhat humid climate so I don't have too much of a battle with humidity but the thing about tanks is they will work, they just take extra care and setup.

The best thing I ever did was block off the back and sides and get coco fiber mulch. Made life a lot more enjoyable for my snake ;)

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Originally Posted by SDA

Thankfully I live in a somewhat humid climate so I don't have too much of a battle with humidity but the thing about tanks is they will work, they just take extra care and setup.

The best thing I ever did was block off the back and sides and get coco fiber mulch. Made life a lot more enjoyable for my snake ;)

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A solid background and sides does tend to improve the display. Plain black, either spray painted on the outside, or just pieced construction paper can be very dramatic in a lit tank, and it hides any stray electrical cords. I have bubble wrap around one, which makes for an interesting play of light, translucent wax or parchment paper can be attractive too. I've always wanted to try Mylar, but never sourced a large enough sheet of it (I suppose one could just cut up a camping gear space blanket.)

I've used both aquariums and wooden (home built) cages for ball pythons. An aquarium works if attention is paid to heat, humidity and security issues. For example, making a top out of 1/8 inch thick pegboard (instead of screen) helps hold heat and humidity. Running a wire or a discarded strap from a packing box around the cage from bottom to top will hold the top down.

Rule of thumb: Minimum cage size is half as long as the snake's length, 1/4 as wide as the snake's length, and 1/4 as high as the snake's length. Or with equal floor area if the cage floor is not a 2:1 rectangle. Bigger is better.

Tanks work great! As long as you black out all the sides for security and buy one with enough floor space since most are obviously made for fish, not an animal that lives on the ground and as long as you live in a place where the ambient is always 80, otherwise you will need heat lamps which suck humidity out and aren't very controllable so hopefully your ambient are very stable also and as long as the humidity locally is always 60%+, otherwise you just have to buy more stuff, like misters and cover all the air flow because soaked bedding/high heat/humidity/low airflow is a recipe for health and success for sure. Insulate the sides too, I hear that helps. Then you'll have yourself a real nice heavy breakable enclosure for your animal that will stay hidden 90% of the time anyways. Don't forget figuring out how how to secure it so your snake doesn't escape or hurt himself trying. I love these threads, they are hilarious. If you haven't guessed, I don't use aquariums for my herps. I have pvc enclosures with RHP.

Tanks are just fine, if you know how to set them up correctly and get the right temps and humidity. Tubs are simply easier to maintain heat and humidity, and the semi-opaque sides provide more security for the snake without having to add black paper to 3 sides.

I don't think anyone here is "against" tanks, just against improper husbandry. If you can maintain good husbandry for the species, it's great however you do it.

Thank you so much for all the insight- this forum seems a lot less hostile than some other pet communities I'm a part of.

I live in southern California so humidity is pretty low and my house is kept at around 65-70 degrees year round, so I think PVC might be a better option. I've seen several companies that make them; is one brand better than the others or are they like tanks and pretty much the same? A 36x24x12 seems to be a standard size so that's likely the one I'll go with.

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Originally Posted by KKM

Thank you so much for all the insight- this forum seems a lot less hostile than some other pet communities I'm a part of.

I live in southern California so humidity is pretty low and my house is kept at around 65-70 degrees year round, so I think PVC might be a better option. I've seen several companies that make them; is one brand better than the others or are they like tanks and pretty much the same? A 36x24x12 seems to be a standard size so that's likely the one I'll go with.

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I can't advocate one brand over another since I haven't switched over to PVC just yet. One common thing I've read about them though is that many people seem to like the 18" height because it's easier to get in and out for maintenance and cleaning.
Just food for thought though.

I have my bp in a glass tank right now. Once he gets too big for it, I might switch to a PVC or something. For now, I don't mind the tweaking and messing around with it. Humidity can be an issue sometimes, and the sides do need blocked out, but I painted a piece of cardboard and put that on the outside of the glass so the tank is blocked off and it has a cool background. I personally like how it looks, even though he spends most of his time hiding anyway. One of the downsides to the tank is having to take the whole top off to pull the snake out, which lets out all the heat and is kinda cumbersome. I would prefer something with front doors instead. It all depends on your preferences though.

I used a converted fish tank for my corn snake and decorated the back and the sides with stick on poster type things on the outside. Its not difficult to convert them - just have a mostly solid lid with a removable glass panel and a smallish mesh area for ventilation. DIY conversions of fishtanks aren't that difficult to do. I've converted a fishtank into a snake vivarium and back to a fishtank without issue. Decorating the sides that aren't the front with posters is easy and makes it more interesting.