Building a habitat... need advice!!!!

[mpenney25]

I have a female bp who's almost 3 yr's old and a little over 3 feet long. We currently house her in a 25 gallon aquarium and are starting her new habitat in a few days. We are planning on using plywood all around and plexiglass on the front with a hinged lid and lights set into holes in the lid for her heat. The enclosure is going to be pretty big 4 ft wide 2 feet deep and 3 feet high, which from what i've been reading may be a little too big so i may have to downsize it a little. I was looking online and found a really nice rocky cliff outcropping i could put in that she could use as a hide and i will have her regular rock hide as well. The biggest question i have is that i wanted to put a waterfall in one side of the tank ( something small ) with a bowl on the bottom for her bathing and drinking water. I wanted to know just how deep is too deep for a bp when it comes to water. I'm thinking of just buying a few different size water dishes stacking them off center and hooking up hoses and a pump to create the waterfall. Any and all advice is very welcome and appreciated because this is my first attempt at a habitat for Savannah and i really need the help. Thanks!!!!

[Seru1]

Alot of folks here house there BP's in tubs without the elaborate setups, but it sounds like it would be a nice display if your going for a show piece. Just the snake doesn't need all that fancy stuff.


The easiest way to tell if it's to deep it to put her in a waterbowl and see how much she displaces. Honestly I'd say nothing deeper than a foot but thats my guess. BP's aren't big soakers unless they have mights or are in a shed. So big water areas are almost kind of wasted on them.

I will also say I have heard horror stories from people here who have tried waterfalls. they are DREADFUL to clean. Because so often water sources are used at potty's and the pumps and everything are hard to do a full clean on and it gets annoying.


Still it's your call it would certainly look nice. Good luck with your design . Sorry if I was a rain on your parade

[mpenney25]

Thanks for your opinion i do appreciate it. We don't have her for show we keep her in our bedroom to give her peace and quiet because we have 4 kid's running around and a dog, 2 cats and 2 dragons so anywhere else she'd be going off her head i'm sure lol. i know it does sound a bit elaborate but i wanted to be able to keep the humidity up with the waterfall because of the size of the enclosure and i wanted to be able to put some large climbing logs in for her cause she is usually pretty active and likes to be able to move around. I will be rethinking the waterfall now though, i didn't even think about the cleaning of it. The tub i wouldn't even consider not for the fact of it being a tub I personally don't see anything wrong with it, but for the fact that all the kid's are under 9 the smallest being 2 and they can open tub's on their own and we are very cautious with her around the kid's. But a big thank you for your opinion!

[Seru1]

Oh see I know absolutely nothing about living for kids I am your typical happy bachelor. I am sure they could be a handful.

There are people here who have alot of success and use tanks and I am sure they will be along and be lots more help than me! I hope you'll post pics when it's done I'm sure it will look very nice.

My cage is pretty minimalist.

[mpenney25]

I'll be sure to get the pic's up as soon as it's done. We actually rethought the design of the tank itself already to work without a waterfall. But we are still considering it as an option. Once we get the basic shell of the tank done and get the substrate in and her hides we wll be able to see exactly how much room we have to work with to make it the best for Savannah and her personality. She's one hyper ball lol.

[WakoNako]

My advice. Ditch the waterfall. I had one in my home built enclosure (its in the DIY section) and it is fail to say the least. Leakages, snake getting under the water and causing overflow, the mess. Its just not worth the hassel.
3 feet is also kind of high for a BP enclosure.

[cinderbird]

if you're looking for a good kind of cage that holds humidity but also looks nice, check out PVC and plastic cages if you aren't dead set on building one yourself. Rich at reptilebasics.com has some that would work great for an adult bp.

[CoolioTiffany]

Bit too large of an enclosure. I agree with the other two to ditch the waterfall, that will be just a big hassle. As for the big climbing logs, Ball pythons are clumsy climbers and can hurt themselves if they fall, so I'd say a no go on climbing logs.

You can make it pretty nice looking though. For substrate, to make it look more natural, you can try Eco-Earth (coco fiber) or cypress mulch. As for plants, go for fake plants you can buy at Petsmart or Petco. Live plants attract bugs and you don't want that. The snake will most likely slither over it and destroy it. For a water dish, try going for a rock looking one to go with the theme as well as for hides. I like the Exo-Terra cave hides, they work so well for Ball pythons. http://www.ronspets.co.uk/images/Exo...ave_xlarge.jpg

Lamps will zap the humidity right out of the enclosure and dry up the substrate, so for a light I would just get a regular florescent light to stretch across the top so there is light in there. As for heating, I'd go for a radiant heat panel.

By the way, if your Ball python roams around often, that's a sign of stress. Go over the caresheet on the site and see what changes you can make. Always remember a hiding Ball python is a happy Ball python.

EDIT!!: Also remember Ball pythons will spend most of their time hiding (only coming out at night) so they don't make the best display snakes. Snakes like Green Tree pythons or Jungle Carpet pythons make better display snakes since they sit out on their branches.

[bsash]

Low climbing logs are fine, I would not get any that are over a foot tall. Most ball pythons are clumsy climbers, but some can be very good. Also, fake plants that are grass like that they can hide and crawl through would be nice, as they prefer to be hidden and secure.

-I do have to say that I agree with the others about the water fall. They look great, but are really not worth the trouble.

Any how, good luck, and post some pictures when you are done!

[mpenney25]

okay so after rethinking alot i'm going to ask your opinion on this. 2 ft high, 16 inches deep and 3 ft wide, going without a waterfall, putting in a rock outcropping with various holes for hiding and climbing (it's not overly high) and fake plants and her rock hide she has now. the water dish we have now is the large exo terra one and were using forest bark for her substrate. I got her from a friend so i've been going based on what he told me. Savannah is a pretty good climber and she doesn't always like to go in her hide. she likes to lay on top of her rock alot could this be it's too warm in there with the heat lamp overhead and the uth under it?? This is the way it was set-up when we got her. She spent a fair amount of time in there at first but lately doesnt seem to like it too much. And thanks for all the advice everyone and i'm going to the care-sheets right now.