Swimming Pools for Giants

[YungRasputin]

1 thing i like to do with majority of my snakes (minus my AP becuz obvi) is to provide big water sources where they can not only soak in but also can move around a bit and “swim” - which my BCC + BP loves to do in particular and i would like to carry forward this into the future 6 foot enclosures however i am having difficulty in figuring out just how to accomplish this - idk how, for example, a paludarium would work in most of the PVC enclosures I’ve seen that don’t have a lot of bottom height, if that makes sense and i haven’t really been able to find big bowls large enough to accommodate what my BCC, scrub, (and potentially future dwarf retic) will be - I’ve thought about making something because it would seem way easier and cost effective but I don’t quite know what sculpting material to go with and also i am limited to your standard oven temps; i don’t have access to any kilns or anything so anybody have any ideas?

[Bogertophis]

What size "pool" are you looking for? (diameter across) Something large enough for a snake to actually swim in would be pretty hard to fit into a 6' enclosure- that sounds more like a room addition? I would also not recommend using the cheap plastic "kiddie pools" sold everywhere for humans this time of year- for one thing, the plastic could leach chemicals into the water that a snake would both drink & soak in (it wouldn't be HDPE type plastic), also they just don't hold up very well.

For large soaking-type water bowls, some use cat litter-boxes or the large cement mixing tubs sold in home improvement stores (again, not sure what might leach into the water from those, as no one drinks cement so it's not an issue when used for intended purpose). I would check out farm supply-feed stores for stock tanks & bowls used for large animals? Without knowing your intended dimensions, it's hard to answer. The mess that snakes make from swimming would seem to preclude putting a pool inside most enclosures.

For the sort of paludarium you seem to be talking about- you do need more height- I'm not a fan of enclosures with low ceilings anyway, they're a hassle to reach way in to clean, & not much room for "cage furniture" -things for climbing. I think there are materials you can use to make something- it's been quite a while but I vaguely recall someone using a product made for sealing the bottom of an outdoor pond that hardens up & is safe for fish etc. You should look into pond building products (waterfalls, etc).

[bcr229]

I wouldn't do a large in-enclosure water feature as snakes like to "go" in the water, which means you have to clean out all the water, disinfect, then re-fill... and it'll be every few days.

If you want to let them swim every few days you can use a stock tank for livestock as a pool. Sometimes they're available used on Craigslist or Facebook marketplace for a good price. Just have a vehicle available that can move it.

You could also get an inflatable pool - they come in a variety of sizes - but I don't know how durable they are.

[YungRasputin]

basically rn i am using an x-large ZooMed corner bowl which allows all the snakes i have at their current sizes to swim (or in the scrubs case moreso lounge soak) so basically what i am asking is: are their products commercially available for larger snakes or would i have to custom make one - ones large enough to swim in i think, retrospectively, would be impractical for most of my collection minus the 2 small ones but at least a big soaking bowl i thought would be good - i actually like that it often functions as a snake litter box as it makes keeping the enclosure clean easier - I’ve been using a water vacuum to make water changes and the ZooMed x-large holds less than a gallon so something much bigger than this i reckon ��