Exo terra 20 gallon

Dimensions are key, like a 20G L works for most males until adulthood, and lifelong if they're on the smaller side.

Can be a challenge to upkeep the husbandry, but with a few modifications it's not too hard.

Snake should have the length x width of the enclosure equal their overall length. Excess is better, but that's the bare minimum for the animals as far as I'm concerned so there's room to stretch out and explore/exercise.

All but one of 4 snakes are in 40 gals once my RTB outgrows her 40 gal we'll move her to a larger enclosure and move the BP to the 40


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It's not actually hard to maintain temperatures and humidity in a glass tank with a little initial attention (limiting ventilation and heat loss). But I would not consider a 20 gallon tank to be anywhere near big enough for an adult bp, even a small one. It's fine for a youngster, maybe up to a year old. For what it's worth, I'm of the opinion that most rack tubs are really smaller than they should be to allow a ball python to express the normal range of behaviors of which it is capable. Most people who keep Ball pythons in larger, enriched cages and look in on them at all different times of day will tell you that their snakes actually do go out and about, climb up whatever has been provided for then to climb on, make use of more than just two hides and even come out to bask during the day under UV lamps.
One rule of thumb I have heard as a minimum size guideline for a captive animal's enclosure is that it should allow for at least five seconds of normal-speed locomotion. Ball pythons aren't very fast, but they do actually move and will use whatever space you can give them. You don't have to keep them in the smallest space possible.

Not been: that does not mean a big tank with one or two hides and a water dish and nothing else. The space should be filled with fake or real plants, an assortment of hides, branches or other stuff to climb, tubes, burrows, platforms, boxes, you get the idea.

Would you guys say that the overall recommendation is not to get the tank but to work on something different?


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If you're already tuned in on making the 40 gallon work, the 2o gallon will be easy for you. Get what YOU want and YOU can maintain.

A Twenty gallon should last a male ball python it’s entire life.

Get the 20 gallon, why not? It's basically free, and if you decide its not working out for your ball you can always just invest in a different enclosure and use the 20 for something else. Since you already seem to have the know-how to make bigger screen topped cages work, I would be surprised if this one posed any particular challenge.

I am of the belief that a 20 long is entirely too small for an adult ball python, male or female, small or whatnot. They do work for younger balls as a transitioning cage (not their permenant adult home) and other reptiles, but it always makes me a bit uncomfortable when I see adult beeps crammed into a small 20 gal. But to each their own.