Whats the use?

What would be comfortable in a 50 gal tank thats 4ft long 12in wide and 20in tall? Im moving my BP to a tub but I want to use the tank for a different speices. I was thinking a carpet of some kind.
:confusd:

FISH! Thats what I think Tanks are good for.

Maybe a corn snake.

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Originally Posted by Slim

Maybe a corn snake.

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Yeah, I agree a corn, king or milk. Probably of all snakes typically kept those would do the best. I think a carpet would be better off elsewhere.

I'm in the same boat. The royal is going to my boa's current cage and the boa is getting a bigger cage. The tank will be left empty unless I see a king in the future.

I use a 55 for my blue tongue skink, and my adult bearded dragon. I set them on their side, on a stand that is meant to hold 2 upright 55 gallon tanks, so the opening is facing forward. It multiplies the floor space by a ton, and I just put the lids on the front, with hinges added on the top. Both my bearded dragon and skink don't need too high of a temp either, and 2 lamps are enough to heat the bearded dragon through the glass, and a lamp an a heating pad are enough to heat the skink. I hang UVA/UVB lights horizontally from the screen lids (on the front) to provide UV rays. :cool:

I put stick-on floor tiles on the glass bottom of the beardy cage for easy cleaning, and the skink gets aspen litter.

You can also stand them up tall on the short side and put anoles, or other arborial species in them. I'm planning on taking a 50 gallon standing tall on it's end, adding 4-5 plexiglass floors, and creating a giant fun mouse cage. ;)

This might be helpful to understand what I'm talking about, lol.

http://i.imgur.com/5YQLFv3.jpg

And here's a photo (though sideways...) of the vertical mouse cage idea I was talking about.
https://scontent-a.xx.fbcdn.net/hpho...55347529_n.jpg

Iv actually kicked the idea of corn around. I had read that they do fine in a 25gal, am I misinformed? If this is true I like the idea of dividing the cage. That way I can do 2 corns.
:D

a 12 inch wide tank would not be good for a BTS, they need more than that. I have a fish tank with the same dimensions. It could be convereted into a cool living viv with frogs, but I really wouldn't keep a snake in something that narrow. Just my opinion.

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Originally Posted by jclaiborne

a 12 inch wide tank would not be good for a BTS, they need more than that. I have a fish tank with the same dimensions. It could be convereted into a cool living viv with frogs, but I really wouldn't keep a snake in something that narrow. Just my opinion.

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On it's side, a 55 gallon tank measures like 20 inches wide by 48? (correct me if I'm wrong) inched long. That's plenty of floor space for a skink. :P That's more room than a 40 gallon breeder, which comes recomended for skinks (though I think they're a bit cramped)
Thats the whole point of turning it on its side.

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Originally Posted by Rhasputin

On it's side, a 55 gallon tank measures like 20 inches wide by 48? (correct me if I'm wrong) inched long. That's plenty of floor space for a skink. :P
Thats the whole point of turning it on its side.

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Yes if you turn it on its side it makes you do make a "20 inch wide" area, but with the glass being on top which would make a 12 inch ceiling how would you heat the enclosure?

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Originally Posted by jclaiborne

Yes if you turn it on its side it makes you do make a "20 inch wide" area, but with the glass being on top which would make a 12 inch ceiling how would you heat the enclosure?

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I already said in my post above. :P

I have 2 heat lamps on top of my bearded dragon, which are powerful enough to heat the enclosure to the proper temps, including the hot spot. I provide a ramp for the bearded dragon under on of the lamps, which creates a basking area right under one lamp which provides enough heat for a hot spot, and the other end of the tank, has a less powerful lamp, for a cooler side.

The skink is heated with a small heat mad on the underside of the tank, and 1 heat lamp above the tank as well. The glass radiates enough heat to provide them both with good heating. I wish I could reliably cut holes in the glass, because it would be more... 'professional' looking, but I can't do that. Though I was surprised how easily I got proper temp regulation through the glass.

UVA/UVB does not work through glass, so I hang those lights on the front of the cages to provide UVA/UVB rays.

And neither skinks nor bearded dragons need a ceiling that is any higher than that.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Rhasputin

I already said in my post above. :P

I have 2 heat lamps on top of my bearded dragon, which are powerful enough to heat the enclosure to the proper temps, including the hot spot. I provide a ramp for the bearded dragon under on of the lamps, which creates a basking area right under one lamp which provides enough heat for a hot spot, and the other end of the tank, has a less powerful lamp, for a cooler side.

The skink is heated with a small heat mad on the underside of the tank, and 1 heat lamp above the tank as well. The glass radiates enough heat to provide them both with good heating. I wish I could reliably cut holes in the glass, because it would be more... 'professional' looking, but I can't do that. Though I was surprised how easily I got proper temp regulation through the glass.

UVA/UVB does not work through glass, so I hang those lights on the front of the cages to provide UVA/UVB rays.

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Makes sense, my blueys are IJs which require humidity so a glass tank is a no go for me. I keep mine in visions with a 2ft tall ceiling so I could drop the lights inside. Although I am in the process of building them some new cages out of XPVC those will be 4x2x2 so I can still drop lights inside for a nice clean stacked look.

Ah. I live in a basement, and the general humidity level down here is 40%, so I don't really need to bother with anything extra. I do take her out every once in a while (1-2 times per week) for a bath, to ease shedding. Her previous owner was not careful with her shedding, and she lost a lot of toes. I'm in the process of helping her toes shed somewhat normally.... I have to help her shed her feet every time. Unfortunately they are so mangled from her previous owner's neglect... one has 2 toenails growing... one has an area with no scales at all around the knuckle, one has the nail growing out sideways... And I just don't think there's really anything I can do to 'fix' her problem and make her normal again. I think she'll forever be a special needs shedder. They're so mangled that even when the skin comes loose, it just gets caught on her feet.

Thats always sad to hear/see, I don't think most people realize when getting into lizards, esp onces with tiny toes like this they need to watch out for things like that. Same with plugged nostriles and plugged ear canals.

Yes I always check the ears, toes, tail tip, and arm pits. This skink also has a kink in the end of her tail from too much old built up layers there too. :(


(WAY OFF TOPIC! :D)

As much as I like the idea of doing some mods to the tank, if a lizard is the best choice, I think ill sell/give away the tank. Im not much of a lizard person. Not that I have any thing against them. Its more the care needs. veggies, supplements, and heat. They remind me of keeping parrots, which I just recently gave up. Again nothing against them just care needs. On a bright note, even if I get a lil cash for the tank I can put it back into my snake(s). THanks all for the ideas and suggestions, even thought it got a bit off topic. Still great info all the way around.

There might be some arboreal snake species that would be happy in it upright.

Are u mainly thinking snakes? I personally would throw two turtles in there...

Yeah, sorry I thought your tank was the more the way of a breeder tank, but I reread the dimensions on it and it's a bit narrow.

Clean it up, make it beautiful and see if you can trade it or sell it, then buy a cheap breeder tank and get a corn or king in it.

If you use a plexiglass top an Amazon tree boa or Irian Jaya carpet would do well in there. If you want to divide it any small colubrid would do, like corns, kingsnakes or hognose. If you divide it it would be good for sand boas too. 20 inch height makes lots of room for good substrate depth.

To be honest, I think you could really put anything in there if you wanted. It's all about how you go about it, of course. I had no issues keeping my ball python or my corn in a glass tank (mind you, the largest was a 30gal). You just have to mess around with equipment a bit.. as you would with any new set up though. Personally I found more troubles with PVC than my glass tanks, but that's besides the point.

If you want something to keep with ease - if you are looking for another snake - anything with low humidity or "room temperature"ish requirements would probably work the best with the lowest additional cost to you. You could also add a divider if you wanted two of something, or perhaps an adult of whatever species you are interested in.

Best of luck!