Is my tank too big?

[kruucks]

I have a 40 gallon breeder that I plan on keeping a ball python. The little guy is about 6 months old and maybe a foot and a half long. is this going to be too big?

I also have a 10 gallon that I was planning on keeping mice in (buy them at the beginning of the month, feed as I go) but I guess I could keep the ball in there while he's still small.

[twh]

yes that's a bit big for your size snake.easiest thing to do is put a divider in the 40 gal. tank.

you could use a piece of cardboard or plastic taped in place,as your snake grows you can increase the size of the enclosure.have fun !

[Brimstone111888]

40 gal is WAY too big for almost all BP's, also you won't be able to properly regulate temps in that huge thing without putting a few hundred dollars into the tank. Go with a tub from walmart for $10.

[JoshJP7]

40 gal is a little large for a baby... if it was an older BP it would be fine but for a baby it doesnt make sense. Its also very challenging to get temps/humidity in the right area in glass so a tub is your best bet. A66qt snap top tub at lowes or home depot is about the same size as glass 20L and only costs like 10$... I use these for my babies until they are about 500g then I move them to larger tubs.

[APBTOwner]

I would say thats to big.

Like stated, get yourself a tub from Wal-mart, or some where like that. Put a few holes in it and call it a day.

Glass tanks with screen-tops do not hold heat, or humidity very well.

[771subliminal]

guess there are more than one ways to do everything. i myself have my bp in a 70gal glass (48x18x19) and kinda wish that it was bigger. i have pretty much 3 hides in there and a bunch of plants and a huge water bowl (no room for a waterfall tho) but with the size i was able to give her a nice forest retreat and even made one of her hides close to a underground burrow for her temps and humidity took me a few days to get perfect with a proper mix of bark to coconut husk, but the fact that i live im michigan and had the balcony door open a few days that week didnt help that any.

i feel if you give your lil one enough places to feel safe youll be fine, my girl is happy and loves to roam. she has a few differant temps zones which she can choose from and her humidity varies a lil too but not as much (under her leaves is slightly higher)

its for sure a little more work but if its worth having its worth working for

[starmom]

guess there are more than one ways to do everything. i myself have my bp in a 70gal glass (48x18x19) and kinda wish that it was bigger. i have pretty much 3 hides in there and a bunch of plants and a huge water bowl (no room for a waterfall tho) but with the size i was able to give her a nice forest retreat and even made one of her hides close to a underground burrow for her temps and humidity took me a few days to get perfect with a proper mix of bark to coconut husk, but the fact that i live im michigan and had the balcony door open a few days that week didnt help that any.

i feel if you give your lil one enough places to feel safe youll be fine, my girl is happy and loves to roam. she has a few differant temps zones which she can choose from and her humidity varies a lil too but not as much (under her leaves is slightly higher)

its for sure a little more work but if its worth having its worth working for

Well, this set-up sounds pretty cool~ with many hides and an underground lair, as it were, it sounds like it is very realistic to a ball python's natural habitat. Do you pre-scent to have the snake come out of the burrow to ambush the prey? Also, I noticed that you have 2 balls (ahem...) I am curious as to whether you keep both in this tank or if you have 2 tanks?? Just wondering cause it sounds very spacious and yet also sounds like you've provided a lot of realism for snake... I would *love* to see a picture!! I think the underground burrow sounds cool.....

[771subliminal]

Well, this set-up sounds pretty cool~ with many hides and an underground lair, as it were, it sounds like it is very realistic to a ball python's natural habitat. Do you pre-scent to have the snake come out of the burrow to ambush the prey? Also, I noticed that you have 2 balls (ahem...) I am curious as to whether you keep both in this tank or if you have 2 tanks?? Just wondering cause it sounds very spacious and yet also sounds like you've provided a lot of realism for snake... I would *love* to see a picture!! I think the underground burrow sounds cool.....

1st no they are in seperate tanks sadly the pastel is only in a 20 gal cuz my wife wont let me buy another 70 just yet but thats another story. he will get his 70 asap tho
they will share a tank for a lil while next season tho when my girl is bigger tho

2 i have never "pre-sented" but from what i have read about it i guess i have been pretty much pre-senting 24/7 as i used to keep my rats in a cage sitting right on top of my bps cage and now they are sitting in the cabinet under them, so pre-senting wouldnt work to well i dont think in my house just guess im lucky i havent teased them to much lol. i just put the rat in the other side of the cage and let nature take it from there.

3 on the underground hide its kinda cheating a little bit i took one of her log hides pushed it up on the glass with a little bit extra bedding inside and then burried the other side with bedding. she made her little hole that she gets in and out of, kinda stole the idea from those half caves you can buy but she likes it.( i can spend hours setting things up like that even do a bunch of fun things for the hamster and gerbil out of cardboard has to be trashed alot but gives me more to do). i have pics of the old way the tank was set up in my galbut ill post new ones of the set up now when i can my laptop is acting up right now

http://www.ball-pythons.net/forums/s...ad.php?t=60395

[Dbr]

771subliminal....
what is that on the back and side of the tank? looks like plastic wrap...if so i bet u have good humidity in there

sorry...i'm a newbie still with snakes hehe, getting one on Sat and currently have a 70g tank as well, its all set up and working on it to keep up humidity, heat isn't a prob yet. i hear plastic works wonder for humidity, i have thought of getting a small waterfall or humidifier to add to tank as well

Sorry i posted 2 times....the other post was in pics forum...oops hehe

[JoshJP7]

I personally dont think theres such thing as "too big" of an enclosure as long as temps/humidity are where they need to be and hides are available. I keep my larger females in 4x2x1.5ft cages and theyre perfect. For newbies we try to shy them away from using larger enclosures (especially glass) because its more challenging to get temps/humidity right. Many newbies dont even know the basics 100% which is fine but trying to get eveything where it needs to be is challenging and even more so in a large glass tank. I still use a 40gal but I have a whole room set to the right temps/humidity so it doesnt really matter.