hello

My snake addiction is well enabled - this site is gonna cost me a fortune!! The more different snakes I see - the more I want ... ;) Welcome to forum - I'm still relatively new here myself but they are all great people and you'll get lots of good advice :)

I am horrible!! I started this thread earlier this month to just introduce myself and I read it the first couple of days I was a member and didn't reply to anyone! *begs forgiveness*.....I'm seriously considering either the snow Royal or albino royal (not to big of a difference in the color morphs there.) But then there are the lovely multi-morph corns to consider, of course the bloods are terrific....So I think to re-start my serpentine collection I think it's gonna be a royal...Though I am putting off the final decison until I see pics of Adam's babies this spring-ish before making a final choice.

At present I have my wonderful step-father busy in his work house building me a custom enclosure with an adult Royal in mind...the exterior is 5ft high by 5ft long and 3 FT wide. The exterior is going to be oak wood on foor convent rollers, with the plexi-glass enclosure on the inside. The front doors will open individually, to allow access to the enclosure when it's cleaning time. Two, individual locks on the doors will keep unwanted people from handling the snake. Underneath the enclosure I'll have heating pads to make sure he's warm enough.

The enterior will have two hides on either side, on the right-hand side will sit in the corner and be constructed of non-toxic latex resin with a non-toxic finish in the shape of a natural occuring mini rock cave similiar to a rock shelf. In front of that will be a removable "pool" for soaking ( a plastic rubbermaid box). The landscape that I have planned for the right-handside portion of the enclosure is simple ground cover stones used in garden beds with a durable plastic (probably storm window plastic sheets) covering it so it will make clean-up easier on me and still be appealing to the eye. I haven't yet decided on what type of snake/reptile friendly climbing vegetation I will use for decorating that portion of the enclosure.

The Left-handed side of the enclosure will house the second hide: a non-toxic latex resin with non-toxic finish in the shape of a gnarled stump. Above and on the stump's side I plan on adding Rock Top Moss as decoration. In front, I plan on adding some grass that can be found in Africa...similar to what the wild royals would have to add to the decoration of the section of the enclosure. Weed blanket will be put down to assist in clean-up and prevent anything from harming the snake as well as burrowing in the sod that I have to have for this, unfortunetly.

In the center of the enclosure, I will have a "driftwood" tree to provide not only an alternative basking point in the enclosure, but for the royal to climb.

As I have decided to feed live (pinkies and fuzzies), the enclosure will have several "shelves" on the back side. Each "shelf" will have a sliding corresponding door that the food will be placed into the enclosure providing stimulant during feeding.

.5 ft of the top of the interior of the enclosure will be closed off with mesh wire to prevent accidentally burning and help with securing the top of the enclosure from attempted escapes from the snake.

All in all, it will cost (minus snake) about $1,000 US....which is about $5,000 then most websites want for a similar enclosure with all the furnishings.

So at the moment I only need to decide three things: Morph, breeder, substrate.

I'll have to post pics when it's completed.

Any suggestions is more then welcome!!!

Chris

Wow.....I DEFinitely want to see pictures of that when it's finished! Sounds rather....extravagant. :) How fortunate to have someone in your life able and willing to help you build such an enclosure!


A couple questions come to mind: 1.) Do you plan on buying an adult snake to start off with? Seems like a baby might be lost in a cage that size. And 2.) Are you really going to start off with a morph that costs thousands of dollars? I'm not in the least saying that's wrong....just...wow....wish I could start out that way, but I would also feel a bit nervous having a snake that expensive until I'm sure my husbandry practices are down-pat.

Whatever you choose, best of luck with it! And take pictures of the various construction steps. It could make a neat how-to storyboard for someone else interested in building a similar cage. We wuv pictures!! ;)

That size enclosure seems WAY too big for a single snake. Ball pythons are not arboreal snakes and do not need that much height. Plus it will be a killer to heat that extra space. Is the 5' x 3' x 5' for a single snake? If you plan on breeding snakes in the future you may want to look into building a rack type of housing. Just remember the more 'stuff' you have in there, the more stuff to clean and sterilize. A good size cage would be more like 3' x 2' x 1.5'.