What size enclosures should I get??

[Gocntry]

The New Year is almost here, and I was wanting to order a few PVC or Larger Terrariums for my crew.

I have the following snakes, none have been actually tested for male/female

1 Corn snake (presumed to be male) Appx 2-3 years old

4 Ball-Pythons (1 Presumed to be male, the other 3 female) 1 is 2-3 years old, 1 about a year old, the other 2 6 months or so old

1 BI (BCI) Boa Constrictor (was told female by prior owner) was told 2 years old by prior owner

So what length / height would work well for these guys for a forever home??

Right now I have 2 10 gallon tanks, 3 20 gallon tanks, 1 exo terra 36x18x12, 1 exo terra 36x18x18 and a 40 gallon breeder tank.

If any of these are useful they can be used, not looking to spend thousands, but do want my snakes to have a comfortable enviroment

Right know they stay in a spare bedroom that stays heated to 77* ambient and have a humidifer that keeps the room at 50%+ humidity

So I have no issues worrying about insulating glass tanks. And all tanks have a thermostat controlled UTH on them also.


Any input is appreciated

Thanks!!

[WrongPython]

Ideally, you could get 4' x 2' x 2' enclosures for the corn and the royals, or two 8' x 2' x 2' enclosures to divide up between them. That's the new "recommended" enclosure size for those species in some circles. You could probably get away with using the 40 breeder for the corn or male royal if you wanted to, though. In the PVC case, I wouldn't get anything shorter than 18 inches. It's nice having a taller enclosure come cleaning day, though they're harder to heat with just a UTH.

The boa's a harder call. If she has a good amount of Central American blood in her, she'll probably stay on the smaller side (~ 6 feet) and be happy in a 6' x something. If she has more Columbian blood, she could get larger (~ 8 feet) and need an 8' x something. A 6' x 3' x 2' could be a good compromise between the two. Out of all your snakes, the boa will be the one that needs the room the most, so I'd prioritize investing in her enclosure first.

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[Gocntry]

Ideally, you could get 4' x 2' x 2' enclosures for the corn and the royals, or two 8' x 2' x 2' enclosures to divide up between them. That's the new "recommended" enclosure size for those species in some circles. You could probably get away with using the 40 breeder for the corn or male royal if you wanted to, though. In the PVC case, I wouldn't get anything shorter than 18 inches. It's nice having a taller enclosure come cleaning day, though they're harder to heat with just a UTH.

The boa's a harder call. If she has a good amount of Central American blood in her, she'll probably stay on the smaller side (~ 6 feet) and be happy in a 6' x something. If she has more Columbian blood, she could get larger (~ 8 feet) and need an 8' x something. A 6' x 3' x 2' could be a good compromise between the two. Out of all your snakes, the boa will be the one that needs the room the most, so I'd prioritize investing in her enclosure first.

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Thanks for the input.

As to the Boa, I have no idea on the bloodline. She was a Craigslist pickup, and just a standard bci female (red tail) is all I know. No other specifics are given. Right now she's in a 36x18x18 but she is only about 3 foot in length right now.

I have 2 interior walls in my snake room, a 9 foot and a 4 foot, so a three stack of 6'-8' pvc enclosures, and a 3 stack of 4' enclosures are doable.

[WrongPython]

You're welcome! Glad the dimensions work out for you. I'm jealous of all y'all that have a dedicated snake rooms... maybe at my next place.

If your boa's a standard BI I'd anticipate her finishing up around around seven or eight feet. Three feet at two years old seems kinda small for a standard BI, though -- a standard BI fed on the typical 7-10 day regimen can approach four feet by the end of their first year. Either your girl was slow-grown by her previous owner (a good thing!), has more Central American influence in her background, or is actually a yearling. Make of that what you will.

Side note: if you'll be keeping your boa and your royals in the same room, I'd highly recommend having a boid panel and/or IBD test run on your boa. IBD can quickly wipe out a python collection if you're not careful. It's more of a problem on the morph-y to standard boa side of the market, where your girl likely came from. At the very least, a test should be able to give you peace of mind that your girl's healthy.

[Gocntry]

You're welcome! Glad the dimensions work out for you. I'm jealous of all y'all that have a dedicated snake rooms... maybe at my next place.

If your boa's a standard BI I'd anticipate her finishing up around around seven or eight feet. Three feet at two years old seems kinda small for a standard BI, though -- a standard BI fed on the typical 7-10 day regimen can approach four feet by the end of their first year. Either your girl was slow-grown by her previous owner (a good thing!), has more Central American influence in her background, or is actually a yearling. Make of that what you will.

Side note: if you'll be keeping your boa and your royals in the same room, I'd highly recommend having a boid panel and/or IBD test run on your boa. IBD can quickly wipe out a python collection if you're not careful. It's more of a problem on the morph-y to standard boa side of the market, where your girl likely came from. At the very least, a test should be able to give you peace of mind that your girl's healthy.

Snake room = 3 bedroom house, need a room for me, one for my daughter, and with a bunch of snakes no one visits so they get the 3rd bedroom
I've actually been ask how can I sleep in a house with snakes in it

I feed Cheyenne (the Boa) every 2 weeks and she gets a Rat 60g+

I'm guessing the IBD test is a blood test? (did some reading). When she was in for her check up, they check, eyes, mouth, heartbeat, mite test, and with her they had me bring in a stool/urate sample to test, But no blood test were done

Here's an older pic of Cheyenne

[MarkL1561]

You're welcome! Glad the dimensions work out for you. I'm jealous of all y'all that have a dedicated snake rooms... maybe at my next place.

If your boa's a standard BI I'd anticipate her finishing up around around seven or eight feet. Three feet at two years old seems kinda small for a standard BI, though -- a standard BI fed on the typical 7-10 day regimen can approach four feet by the end of their first year. Either your girl was slow-grown by her previous owner (a good thing!), has more Central American influence in her background, or is actually a yearling. Make of that what you will.

Side note: if you'll be keeping your boa and your royals in the same room, I'd highly recommend having a boid panel and/or IBD test run on your boa. IBD can quickly wipe out a python collection if you're not careful. It's more of a problem on the morph-y to standard boa side of the market, where your girl likely came from. At the very least, a test should be able to give you peace of mind that your girl's healthy.

Four feet in a year? That’d be power feeding, but I agree she should be bigger than 3’ in two years.


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[WrongPython]

Four feet in a year? That’d be power feeding, but I agree she should be bigger than 3’ in two years.

I'll admit that boa growth rates aren't my thing and that I probably stand corrected; thanks for weighing in. But yeah, 3' at two years old does raise an eyebrow. Perhaps she's more a year-and-a-half old or one of those naturally petite boas?

Snake room = 3 bedroom house, need a room for me, one for my daughter, and with a bunch of snakes no one visits so they get the 3rd bedroom
I've actually been ask how can I sleep in a house with snakes in it

I'm guessing the IBD test is a blood test? (did some reading). When she was in for her check up, they check, eyes, mouth, heartbeat, mite test, and with her they had me bring in a stool/urate sample to test, But no blood test were done

Oh, I was sharing my room with my boa for a while, my friend! You can imagine the questions that raised from some of my not-so-snake-happy relatives...

I'm admittedly not as familiar with the mechanics of the IBD test and boid panels, but the former (at least) are blood tests you have to send out for. I've heard that the University of Florida is the place you send IBD tests to, so ask your vet about that. A PCR test should be sufficient to detect IBD -- if something pops up, you'll want a qPCR after that to determine viral loads.

Cheyenne's looking good in that photo, by the way! She seems to have that nice square shape and firm muscle tone you want to see in boas. At the very least, it looks like her previous owner didn't underfeed her.

[richardhind1972]

Your boa is nice looking, it could be that she has a lot of central American bloodline that would make her smaller, but with out knowing lineage you can't really tell
So may stay smaller

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[MarkL1561]

Could be a male... my boa is currently 3’8” and was born July 2018. There is a snake measuring app online that greatly increases the accuracy of measurements too. Put your snake in a tub with a ruler and take a picture directly from above. Then you draw along the spine on the photo after calibrating the distance. It’s pretty nifty, similar to what we use for measuring zooplankton at work. Kinda fun to track their growth imo just thought I’d mention it.
As for feeding guidelines I really like Jason’s exotic reptiles video on it, it’s what I’ve been following and it’s working great.


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[EL-Ziggy]

I think you can use both the exo terras and the 40g for your smaller BPs and corn snake. If you go the pvc route I think a 3x2 is fine for a 5ft BP or corn snake. A 6-8 ft. boa could go in a 4x2 or 6x2. Unless your boa is a monster I don't see the need for an 8ft cage, even though I think it's worth the upgrade for the price, at least as far as AP Cages. In regards to vertical space, you don't need anything higher than 12" but you can go as high as 15"-24". None of the species you keep are very arboreal but they would probably appreciate a shelf.