terrarium?

[Dark Lady Kat]

so I am almost completely done building the wooden habitat for our girls it is 48x24x24 and I remembered what a pain it was to remove my ball python in previous years the day before feeding because no matter how old she got she was still finicky. So when building these enclosures we decided to build in a feeder box on one side of the habitat the feeder section has a close-able lockable door 12xx24x12. Does any one else have any other habitats that contain built in feeder boxes and if so how did you work yours did the snake take to it?

on top of the feeder box will be the basking area at 85-95F we will have a heat cable on a thermostat running under the substrate to maintain the belly temp throughout at aprox 75-80F.

Any suggestions or questions appreciated

[BLM94]

[Insert comment about not needing to remove from enclosure when feeding]

Many people feel that it's not necessary, while others will claim that it's a necessity when keeping snakes in captivity.

Also, when you say "habitat for our girls" does that mean you are housing multiple animals in one enclosure? This is another debated topic that is less evenly split than the feed box concept; it's a pretty widely accepted theory that housing two snakes together (unless for breeding purposes) puts unnecessary stress on the animal.

Best of luck,
Brendan

[Dark Lady Kat]

[Insert comment about not needing to remove from enclosure when feeding]

Many people feel that it's not necessary, while others will claim that it's a necessity when keeping snakes in captivity.

Also, when you say "habitat for our girls" does that mean you are housing multiple animals in one enclosure? This is another debated topic that is less evenly split than the feed box concept; it's a pretty widely accepted theory that housing two snakes together (unless for breeding purposes) puts unnecessary stress on the animal.

Best of luck,
Brendan

Well let me begin by clarifying the built in feeder box will only be accessible on feeding day and otherwise locked out of the built in feeder box. our girls yes we have two each has her own habitat being built they are both being hosed currently together in a glass terrarium but are both young enough for this to not be an issue while their permanent boxes are being built.

the feeder box is internal but is secured so that when normally accessing the habitat no food will be presented in the normal living area of the habitat so although the feeder box is located in the overall habitat it is accessible from the outside not the inside ie it is its own space

[The Serpent Merchant]

There is no reason to feed in a seperate tub/compartment. All of the professional breeders and most of the experienced keepers here on BP.net feed their snakes inside their cage without any issues at all.

Cohabitating reptiles even as the same species is not recommended. Insead of just telling you "no" I'll list the common reasons why.
1) Cannibalism, not common, but there are DOCUMENTED cases. This alone isn't worth the risk.
2) Stress. Even the most friendly snakes get stressed out, so why cause the stress? Snakes have no want or need to be with another snake unless it's for breeding purposes. Other than that, it's just an unwanted roommate that they can't get away from.
3) Space. They will constantly try to dominate eachother for the best spots in the enclosure, even if you have multiple hides, you'll mainly see them together in one spot. People usually see this as "cuddling". It's not cuddling, they are fighting over the best spot.
4) You wake up in the morning after feeding and there's a regurgitated mouse. Which one did it?
5) One gets sick, now both are sick. That's 2X the vet bills, 2X the medications, and 2X the stress.
6) You are told the new snake you bought is the same sex as the one you already have. a year later, you find eggs in the enclosure. You have not prepared, no incubator, no space for babies, and no one to sell them to. What do you do now? The pet store/vet/person sexed them wrong.
7) Quarantine. How are you going to quarantine the new snake away from your original one? As you gain more experience, you'll find that quarantine is a NECESSITY. You could get a perfectly healthy snake, or one covered in mite eggs that hatch 3 days after you bring it home. Now both snakes have mites. Snakes also can take a long time to start showing symptoms of illness, now you got your original snake sick because you didn't quarantine.

Those are just the more known and common issues with housing multiple reptiles. The list goes on. The only pro to housing them together is to save space in your house by only having one enclosure, but is it worth it? That is up to you. People that say "I house two together and they are fine", they are fine now but with them being housed together there is NO guarantee it will stay that way forever. The only way to avoid future issues is to house them separately.

[Dark Lady Kat]

There is no reason to feed in a seperate tub/compartment. All of the professional breeders and most of the experienced keepers here on BP.net feed their snakes inside their cage without any issues at all.

Cohabitating reptiles even as the same species is not recommended. Insead of just telling you "no" I'll list the common reasons why.
1) Cannibalism, not common, but there are DOCUMENTED cases. This alone isn't worth the risk.
2) Stress. Even the most friendly snakes get stressed out, so why cause the stress? Snakes have no want or need to be with another snake unless it's for breeding purposes. Other than that, it's just an unwanted roommate that they can't get away from.
3) Space. They will constantly try to dominate eachother for the best spots in the enclosure, even if you have multiple hides, you'll mainly see them together in one spot. People usually see this as "cuddling". It's not cuddling, they are fighting over the best spot.
4) You wake up in the morning after feeding and there's a regurgitated mouse. Which one did it?
5) One gets sick, now both are sick. That's 2X the vet bills, 2X the medications, and 2X the stress.
6) You are told the new snake you bought is the same sex as the one you already have. a year later, you find eggs in the enclosure. You have not prepared, no incubator, no space for babies, and no one to sell them to. What do you do now? The pet store/vet/person sexed them wrong.
7) Quarantine. How are you going to quarantine the new snake away from your original one? As you gain more experience, you'll find that quarantine is a NECESSITY. You could get a perfectly healthy snake, or one covered in mite eggs that hatch 3 days after you bring it home. Now both snakes have mites. Snakes also can take a long time to start showing symptoms of illness, now you got your original snake sick because you didn't quarantine.

Those are just the more known and common issues with housing multiple reptiles. The list goes on. The only pro to housing them together is to save space in your house by only having one enclosure, but is it worth it? That is up to you. People that say "I house two together and they are fine", they are fine now but with them being housed together there is NO guarantee it will stay that way forever. The only way to avoid future issues is to house them separately.

Thank you and I again will reiterate that they are only temporarily housed together until their habitat is complete and the glass aquarium they are currently in is a 40 gal tank with plenty of room considering one is 17 in and the other about 20 in rest assured their habitat will be complete in a couple of days

[PorcelainxDoll]

Just leave out the feeder boxes they are not needed for bps.

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[Dark Lady Kat]

so a word on why if i have a larger glass cage they are having cages built. I have gotten a couple of messages letting me know if i have the larger glass cages I do not necessarily need to build them new cages. I am building the wooden habitat because I live in south west Texas and it is either hot hot or cold and I like a cold house the average temp in my home is 65-70 max and with a full screen top it requires a lot of heating to keep the ambient temp up as needed and with the wooden enclosure it will better insulate from my very cool house and hold the heat in better I do not like the idea of taping over the top of my screens to hold in more humidity and heat when I can build a better enclosure with out having to do so.
So overall personal preference, appearance, and better overall habitat.

so on the built in feeder box I do believe it is unnecessary as it is not wise to feed directly in the area where you reach in to handle or care for the snake yes it is true that some snakes will never gain a predatory feeding disposition every time the doors or lid is opened but there are more out there that will so why chance it. I also have 3 children and my youngest is almost 6 yrs old and I would hate for an accident to happen if she where standing there at the cage with me and her little hands and fingers began to look like a good meal because I had just opened doors or lifted the lid and fed my snake I always like to air on the side of caution rather than chancing things. That would be like owning a full grown tiger and letting your toddler walk into the pen by themselves and disregarding the fact that the tiger is by nature a predatory animal, then blaming the tiger for hurting your child. Responsible and informed pet owners are always best.

[barbie.dragon]

No there is no chance of aggression at all when fed in their cage. It can possibly happen if you open the cage ONLY when you feed the snake. Snakes don't eat whatever is warm. They use a combination of sight, heat sensing and SMELL. If you don't smell like a rat they won't bite you to eat unless they've been starved.

[cinch]

A feeding box sounds like a fun idea. The great thing about building your own habitat is you can do whatever you want. We have been flopping back and forth between feeding inside and outside the snake's enclosure. Although I am not worried about getting bitten. The key thing there is to make sure you have no rodent scent on you. I am curious to hear if your snakes will use it in a timely manner. Ball pythons seem to have a bit of cat in them when it comes to eating or moving around. They take their time and don't want to do what their owners want them to do. But if it doesn't work out you can always just remove it.

From your description of the terrarium I could not tell if you have a temp gradient? The snakes need different temperatures within the tank to be able to regulate their internal temp. It sounded like you were heating the floor evenly. Not sure if you were just talking about the basking area which technically you don't need but given that it is only 12 inches tall an adult snake will probably think it is a nice warm roomy underground den

[PorcelainxDoll]

I have fed all 3 of my snakes in there enclosures and have not ever seen any cage aggression. As long as you dont smell like a rat you wont be seen as prey.

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