Snake Room Plans!!

Sorry for all the posts, got a lot of questions this week!

Alright I reached 10 animals and counting and I plan on getting into the breeding game so a room is deffinately the way to go. Its going to be 10x10, so nothing huge but not a bad start. But I'm wondering what you guys use when maintaining larger collections. I've notice paper towels are extremely cost effective but they manange to crumple them up and move them all around rendering them useless so should I use aspen, or nothing at all? Are hides nessacary once there in a rack? AND!! Would you say 41qt tubs are what I should build the rack around. I plan on having a seperate ling rack as well but that will happen later. Let me know your suggestions, I want this room to be as efficient as possible.

My balls are CB70s, and they're more often than not in their hides. Darkness is nice, but there's also the security provided by being able to feel solid walls on most sides - it means predators can't come at you from that direction.

~Bruce's two cents.

paper towelsare a pain in the but my snake either pushg the water bowl to the warm side and senthe the humidty thoguh the roof or the get the towel in their bowl and it wicks the water all over the cage bottom. I am gonig back ot the aspen prefer the concord pets unless i get ot go to the show and find a local supplier that worth it.

I currently don't offer hides to my guys in the tubs since the back of the rack closed off and dark. I do use 41 qt tubs when I can find them I am thinkg of some of the larger ones on wheels forthe larger females ( they all only about 1800 grams for hte most part andthey look cramped in the tubs and are more interested in getting out and roaming if i let them in the room.

when I built my most recent rack I design it to fit the taller 34 qt tubs I had so if needed and I got the ones on wheel they fit with the wheels not being removed. I found this does not rub as much/hard onthe flex watt that on the bottom of the cage shelf. I wanted to groove the bottom but I lacked the equipment to make such a groove for the flexwatt.

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Originally Posted by mechnut450

paper towelsare a pain in the but my snake either pushg the water bowl to the warm side and senthe the humidty thoguh the roof or the get the towel in their bowl and it wicks the water all over the cage bottom. I am gonig back ot the aspen prefer the concord pets unless i get ot go to the show and find a local supplier that worth it.

I currently don't offer hides to my guys in the tubs since the back of the rack closed off and dark. I do use 41 qt tubs when I can find them I am thinkg of some of the larger ones on wheels forthe larger females ( they all only about 1800 grams for hte most part andthey look cramped in the tubs and are more interested in getting out and roaming if i let them in the room.

when I built my most recent rack I design it to fit the taller 34 qt tubs I had so if needed and I got the ones on wheel they fit with the wheels not being removed. I found this does not rub as much/hard onthe flex watt that on the bottom of the cage shelf. I wanted to groove the bottom but I lacked the equipment to make such a groove for the flexwatt.

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thanks for your input!:gj:

Yeah I don't plan on using paper towels anymore, there soooo annoying. I'm just worried about the cost of aspen once my collections starts getting larger. I mean I'm sure there are ways to order it in bulk, but I don't know enough of the details. I have actually not been using any substrate in the tubs I have setup now, and that doesn't work out to well either. Either they scoot their hides away from the hotside, or they all decide to take a piss the same day and stink up my room because theres nothing to absorb it. So its looking like aspen is going to be what I use. Also what size flexxwatt should I get for 41qt tubs? I was going to use hides but I decided against it because the tub when shut is like a big hide, and most of the time they move them when there sliding into them and aren't basking which is bad after a meal. So yeah anyone else that would like to throw there two cents in about there rack set up I would really love to hear. Just trying to see the different approaches I can take before I deffinately decide.

Save space. Don't build all 41qt racks. I use 32qts for nearly every adult except for the biggest girls. It'll save you space and work great. I switched to Aspen about 6 months ago and it's never been better. Cleaning is much easier for me then with paper.

really? I feel like the 32qts are soo cramped for the bigger girls. Maybe I will just have loooong shelves that aren't divided so I can put whatever tub I want in the space....? Good idea! Whats the best size flexxwatt to use though?

What do you mean by bigger girls? I like 3" flexwatt for belly heat.

like 2000 grams and up, I just had my one female in a 34qt. I just got her the 41 cuz i figured she could be a little more comfortable. But again I don't know what most people do, i have heard of people using 41's so I thought it would be a good idea, but I don't wanna waste space like you said. I wanna utilize as much of the room as possible being that it isn't going to be huge.

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Originally Posted by dsmalex97

like 2000 grams and up, I just had my one female in a 34qt. I just got her the 41 cuz i figured she could be a little more comfortable. But again I don't know what most people do, i have heard of people using 41's so I thought it would be a good idea, but I don't wanna waste space like you said. I wanna utilize as much of the room as possible being that it isn't going to be huge.

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For over 2200 or so I use CB70 tubs. But realistically, how many girls that size do you think you'll have? More likely you'll have smaller animals that you are growing up. Maximize your space for sure! ;)

+1 i use 32 qt for everything but my biiiiiig girls.

I use 28QT from sterilite, whichis pretty much the same as 32 now, and I use them with 11inch flexwatt. :)

I dont have any big females though :P

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Originally Posted by Danounet

I use 28QT from sterilite, whichis pretty much the same as 32 now, and I use them with 11inch flexwatt. :)

I dont have any big females though :P

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11inch?

Seems kinda big?

I like this thread. Very good topic.

So everyone does something different and I appreciate reading everyones input.heres mine: me and my husband have a cb70 rack with 41q vision tubs with aspen bedding and water bowls(and of course belly heat on the back side of the rack). Thats it. I personally think when your reptiles are in a rack its dark enough to not have a hide included, but just how everyone husbands there snakes differently, snakes are different themselves and they might prefer something different they have different ways of showing there comfort they might refuse food until you figure out how there most comfortable. We are learning that the hard way right now with a snake we have, she has a hide in her tub and we are still waiting for her to adjust. But we will not give up until she is sit fit. So i say start with something simple and then go from there. But with our hatchlings we do have them on papertowels and a hide and a very small ceramic dish of there water. and there are no problems there. KNOCK ON WOOD! Hope all goes well keep us posted!

deffinately will!

It is true that every snake is different cuz my one normal males never took to a tub very well. I adopted him from someone who kept him in a 125 tank with heat lamps. He seemed ok with the tub but then stopped eating for a few months, so I switched him to a 20gal long, and put background around the whole tank except the front, and now hes doing great. I think some snakes are just more sensitive to change then others.

My racks are all 32 qt with paper. I use hides when I can. The snakes seem happier and less strikey when they are in them. I am considering the switch to aspen though. What about feeding on the aspen? The paper annoys me, but I am sooooo afraid to feed on the aspen. If I fed live, not so big a deal but frozen thawed rats and mice stick to the aspen no matter how dry you make them. I am so scared my babies are going to ingest aspen and die. Especially my corns (another subject) balls are bigger so have a bigger digestive tract. I have talked to Adam W. and BHB about this and neither think its an issue, I still can't get past my total paranoia.

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Originally Posted by dsmalex97

11inch?

Seems kinda big?

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In the begining I was worried about it, but they seem to like it, they are always inside their warm hides. The flexwatt takes about just less than 1/2 of the tub floor space.

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Originally Posted by stormwulf133

My racks are all 32 qt with paper. I use hides when I can. The snakes seem happier and less strikey when they are in them. I am considering the switch to aspen though. What about feeding on the aspen? The paper annoys me, but I am sooooo afraid to feed on the aspen. If I fed live, not so big a deal but frozen thawed rats and mice stick to the aspen no matter how dry you make them. I am so scared my babies are going to ingest aspen and die. Especially my corns (another subject) balls are bigger so have a bigger digestive tract. I have talked to Adam W. and BHB about this and neither think its an issue, I still can't get past my total paranoia.

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No worries man. They'll be fine. If it makes you feel better, get a very fine shredded Aspen. That way if any is ingested it won't be as large of a piece. Snakes digest hair and bone. A little Aspen isn't going to cause an issue.

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Originally Posted by Danounet

In the begining I was worried about it, but they seem to like it, they are always inside their warm hides. The flexwatt takes about just less than 1/2 of the tub floor space.

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the 10in is expensive, do you use it to improve ambient temps as well? 3inch seems fine to me.

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Originally Posted by stormwulf133

My racks are all 32 qt with paper. I use hides when I can. The snakes seem happier and less strikey when they are in them. I am considering the switch to aspen though. What about feeding on the aspen? The paper annoys me, but I am sooooo afraid to feed on the aspen. If I fed live, not so big a deal but frozen thawed rats and mice stick to the aspen no matter how dry you make them. I am so scared my babies are going to ingest aspen and die. Especially my corns (another subject) balls are bigger so have a bigger digestive tract. I have talked to Adam W. and BHB about this and neither think its an issue, I still can't get past my total paranoia.

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I have had no problems personally. If you were buying pine i heard thats worse for your snakes. I look at it like this, the rats that ur snake is eating bed on the same stuff, so I dont see why it would be harmful. But i dont know. Personally i have had no problems even with my hatchlings, they eat on the bedding just fine!

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Originally Posted by dsmalex97

the 10in is expensive, do you use it to improve ambient temps as well? 3inch seems fine to me.

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Yes, I dont have a snake room so they are in the regular A/C temp of the house. I started with a 4" but I was always worried about ambient temps inside the temps were too low. It was always in the 75s. With the 11" everything was fine. the "cool" side is always around 80.