racks vs. tanks

I thought it would be nice to hear some opinions about the housing of BP's.

At the moment I have 4 boaphile cages for 4 BP's...each set up as CLOSE to being in the wild as possible...hides made from rocks, sand ( i don't feed them inside their enclosures), plants...anything I can think of as long as it's safe for the snakes...

I am about to get 6 more within the next few days and another 3 in a few weeks....

thats 13 snakes.....I want more but I would like EACH in their own enviornment, beyond racks...

Question is...with no mind to space or money...do you prefer racks or scenic enclosures for your animals? reasons?

are they happy in racks or is it considered a "norm" because it's more economic?
are they happier in a more natural enviornment or does it matter?


maybe I'm just being silly but it's just something I have always wondered

Mine are all in racks or boaphiles (all the balls are in racks)

I have 38 snakes.. I try to keep the cages as simple as possible so it is efficient for me to care for them.

As far as what the snakes like.. the plus side of racks is they hold humidity well and feel more secure to the snakes than a big open tank.

Nothing wrong with display cages though! kudos to you for taking the time to make the cages beautiful.

Remember that in the wild ball pythons spend most of their time in a hole in the ground. They don't need all that pretty stuff, you do. The set up you are refering to is fine as long as the snake has ample hides. Racks make a lot more sense if you are going to own 13 snakes. Room being the main advantage. I keep 40 ball pythons now and all are in rack systems and all thrive well. I do have hides in all my tubs.

Racks are more economical, and unless you want to display the animals, (which then you can get a display cage), I would go with Racks for sure

Why does everyone assume all reptiles live on sand in the wild?


Racks, your snake is going to spend almost all of the day in its hide, so there's really no point for a display cage. Racks save space and are easy to deal with.

Well captive bred reptiles, and even CH herps are born in incubators and then moved into tubs with paper towels and a water bowl. So no I don't think that its needed to add all of the natural stuff. But if you want to display your animals then go for it!

Thank you for your opinions everyone! Great insight! I appreciate all the input!

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Beardedragon

Why does everyone assume all reptiles live on sand in the wild?

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Not an assumption..the sand is among bark and other things you might find on the ground in Africa...leaves. ...twigs...rocks...and sand...

thank you for your insight

The space savings is nice and the economics of more cage space for less money is nice, but personally my favorite reason is ease of cleaning. Racks are very easy to clean and sterilize. And as we all know, if it's EASY to clean, it WILL get cleaned. I know that there is no way that someone with a naturalistic cage setup is throwing out their bark and sand and scrubbing down their hides and other furnishings every week. But with racks its no problem. Only a few minutes of work per tub each week and you have a nice fresh germ free home for your snake. (until 5 minutes later when he takes a dump and slithers through it) :D


Mark

where do you get the leaves from?

Id switch to aspen, unless yours is wild caught, im pretty sure hes not going to be missing anything "wild"

For me, it all depends on the snake. I got a 4x2 RBI cage for my BP because I love natural looking caging for pets, I like giving them as much room as I can that they will like, and I enjoy watching them explore the habitat at night. :)

For my corn snakes, though, because I intend to breed them I will be keeping them in tubs...but no rack unless you count the plastic shelving unit. For any adult snake, I use tubs that are totally clear(and then cover the back and sides) and have at least a good 10" of height so I can add greenery and climbing things. Even in space efficient caging, you can still make a pleasing and comfortable environment.

MarkS...you're right, the bark costs a small fortune....and picking out poop is not my idea of a good time...cleaning water and picking out the obvious each day is tough enough.....i change bark when needed, but admittedly not weekly......great point!

BeardedDragon....only one of my snakes is wild caught and she was given to me free because the pet store was about to toss her......i knew NOTHING about snakes but brought her home anyway....she's 8 now...refused to eat once last winter.....i must be doing something right :)

leaves are not real in her enclosure...though i DO take the wire out of any artificial plants...just in case

thanks again!

i use to use tanks as every other herper here that now has racks. i also used show case cages from showcasecages.com (36") when i only had 2 ball pythons....tanks are nice if you have one or two balls ( i know some keep alot more in individual tanks) but energy wise and space wise it just donesnt make since to me. racks seem to keep level heat and level humidity which are the largest factors in keeping balls. with the tanks or show cages there is so much work that needs to be done to keep proper temps and humidity compaired. plus add in the UTH and the light/heat bulb needed and the power it takes adds up.

if keeping many snakes of the same kind it just is an easier way to do things and give them what they need at the same time.

I use tubs and custom built cages... I like tubs bc they hold the heat and humidity but they only come so big(116qt being the biggest)... to me thats not enough room for my large full grown snakes so the big ones get 4x2x1.5ft wooden cages. These hold the heat and humidity very well and I have no issues. I use to like the natural look but the mulch costs too much and u cant see the poop n pee very well... I stick with newspaper for the bedding bc when its clean its 100% clean... As for the naturality... I have 2 hides, a water bowl, and something for them to climb on. Id stick to plastic for the climbing things bc is you get wood and they piss/poop on it your gonna have a hard time getting it clean... with the plastic a good scrub will take all the nasties out. I have some pics in my gallery of my tubs/cages if you want a visual.

To me you should offer all animals as much space as possible as long as your still meeting housing requirements... in this case heat/humidity... as the enclosures get larger it becomes more of a challenge to keep heat/humidity where they need to be especially if your using a glass tank.