New Terrarium

[Jakemh91]

I currently have my Ball, Lucie, in a 10 gallon terrarium. But she starting to get big enough that in the next month or two I'll need to move her into a 20 gallon. Does anyone have any good suggestions?

[ApathyAngel]

I'm a huge fan of the Exo Terra tanks. The front doors are so convenient.

I've got my 6yo female in the 36x18x12 size, and it's adequate, though I'll eventually need to move her up to something bigger. But if your female is only just growing out of a 10 gallon, the 36x18 will last you a good while before she outgrows it.

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[Faith.luu]

I'm a huge fan of the Exo Terra tanks. The front doors are so convenient.

I've got my 6yo female in the 36x18x12 size, and it's adequate, though I'll eventually need to move her up to something bigger. But if your female is only just growing out of a 10 gallon, the 36x18 will last you a good while before she outgrows it.

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I use the same one for my female. And although it is very nice, and a great terrarium you’ll definitely run into some cons.

Humidity will be a very big issue if you live in an area with a natural humidity of 40 or lower. If not, then this doesn’t apply, or at least not as much. But I live in an area with humidity between 35-40% on average. Using this tank I’ve ran into quite a bit of problems. In the end I made it work but it definitely took some work and time. You’ll want to use substrate that retains the most humidity, cover a portion of your screen top, and might even require other methods to keeping humidity up like adding sphagnum moss, and building a humidity box. If you want to use some sort of heat bulb, as your source of heat, that will also decrease your humidity hugely. I’d definitely recommend a heat mat with a glass enclosure, and using a low watt heat bulb to just keep up ambient temps if you need to, otherwise, if ambient temps are good, don’t bother with the heat bulb.

I find that the exo terra is especially bad at retaining humidity because it has extra ventilation compared to just a standard glass tank.

Not to say it won’t work, but be advised that this tank may take some trial and error, just from personal experience. I’m sure this won’t be a big issue for you though since you’ve worked with a glass tank before, so hopefully it won’t be too much of a pain for you as it was for me since you know what you’re doing.

I would also recommend investing in a 30-40 gallon tank now rather then buying a 20 gallon, and then upgrading again later on. Tanks are usually expensive. I find that buying more decorations to clutter the tank is a better and cheaper alternative than to upgrade the tank more than once. As they get older you can just de-clutter the space.

And if your snake still gets stressed from the 30 or 40 gallon tank when cluttered, then It’s no problem to buy a 20 gallon tank, and then move your snake into the larger one later, but upgrading straight to the largest one could save you some time and money.

[Jakemh91]

Those are good suggestions and I'll definitely look into them.

Does anyone know of a tank that would have front opening doors, but only part of the top comes off, to be used for feedings?

[christineho]

I would go with PVC if you can. Easier to control husbandry and make sure your baby is happy and healthy. With that said, I have two of ours in glass so that can work fine, too!

[dakski]

I second looking at PVC.

Why would you feed from above instead of through the front doors?

If your snake is eating reliably you can move into a life tank like a 3X2' PVC and clutter it up with hides to make your snake feel secure. That way you don't have to keep buying tanks.

[ApathyAngel]

Those are good suggestions and I'll definitely look into them.

Does anyone know of a tank that would have front opening doors, but only part of the top comes off, to be used for feedings?

I think the Thrive brand has a feeding slot in the top of their terrariums, but I don't know why you'd need that. I just go in through the front doors with a pair of feeding tongs. Because I live in a low-humidity area, I've covered the top of my tank, so opening part of it to feed would be a pain.

I also don't have any experience owning a Thrive tank, so I can't speak to the quality or anything. It appears you can't buy just the tank, on its own. You have to buy the entire kit, so I doubt I'd ever get it. But judging by average customer reviews, it seems like a good brand.

I agree with the others suggesting PVC. It looks just as good as glass and is far easier to maintain.

But it's also more expensive, which is why it's not an option for me at the moment.

Faith.luu was right about the Exo Terra tanks being harder to keep humidity up, though. I live in the desert (humidity is 3% today, according to my phone's weather app), so that's the one thing that can cause issues.

But the good thing is that, because they're so well-ventilated, I can completely cover the top, which helps. And I've got a substrate that holds humidity, as well as spraying the inside of the tank twice a day. And that's worked great for keeping humidity where it needs to be.

And I also agree that investing in a 40gallon or larger tank now is better. If your ball feels anxious in a larger space, I've found that adding more coverage does wonders.

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[Jakemh91]

I'd prefer a feeding hole in the top because, these last few weeks especially, Luci has gotten pretty aggressive when going to feed. Usually she's out of her hide and waiting, as soon as she sees me she starts coiling up and will sometimes strike before I even get the rat in to her. So I'd rather not have her strike OUT of the terrarium, at me.