ReptileRadio Question

[JoshJP7]

pretty interesting post connie! All of my snakes are in larger tubs than the average ball owner keeps theirs in. I just moved all my 07's(except my pewter whose still small just over 100g) over to 116qt tubs and their behavior is the same as before... they sleep all day and roam at night. For those snakes in 4x2x1.5 ... they act the same way... sleep all day out and about at night. What I do think people are over looking is them using the space... all of my snakes are out at night roaming their cage whether they were fed the night before or 4 days before. Its not like 1 or 2 are out roaming and the majority are in their hides... unless theyre in shed theyre always out. Just like them utilizing the space... I provide them something to climb on and again they all use it. What I will consider down the road is like you said feeding them larger prey... they have more room to move so theyre moving more often so a larger meal may be key. I disagree that they grow slower and smaller as my 07's are fed 1nce a week and are all growing at about 100g a month. If anything I see more exercise + larger prey = bigger snake but I could be wrong...

Rich - I see what your saying... Ill only have like 6-7 breeding females in 09 (ill have 2-3 this november) so it will be hard to get a concrete answer that would be respected by the whole ball community. What I do hope happens is I get some of the results I'm aiming for. If I get a couple females to pop out some rather large clutches I may be on to something... then again they could just be big healthy females poppin out eggs like any other breeder.

[Spaniard]

I really wish there was more info available on these animals. Due to the genetic variability among snake to snake and the snake's actual ability to communicate; its really hard. At least with a dog or a cat you know when something is detrimental or beneficial to the animal because you can sense their overall mood. Doing this with a snake is really hard and leaves it all to the owners intuition; which is why I guess the "do what works for you phrase came about".

I give you credit for taking the time to actually try this out. Good luck with it.

[juddb]

116qt tubs are huge!!! Good luck finding your answer, very interesting. Personally i prefer to keep my snakes tucked tight in 32 and 15 qt tubs.

[JoshJP7]

judd it would be impossible to put two hides a water dish and something to climb on in a 32qt tub. Im going off my memory but the dimensions of a 116qt are 30x17x13.5 which isnt large by any means for a 4ft snake. Either way the two hides act as the nice tight space for them to feel secure in.

[littleindiangirl]

I disagree that they grow slower and smaller as my 07's are fed 1nce a week and are all growing at about 100g a month. If anything I see more exercise + larger prey = bigger snake but I could be wrong...

Josh, when I mean a large enclosure, I mean something akin to 160 gallons and larger. Your tub size hardly qualifies as large, when we are comparing to their natural habitat. I do not know how large of a range they roam, but doubt it's a 3 x 1 footprint of space.

Something large to where you wont readily even know where they are at any given time.

[Patrick Long]

judd it would be impossible to put two hides a water dish and something to climb on in a 32qt tub. Im going off my memory but the dimensions of a 116qt are 30x17x13.5

thats like a 31 qt, wait....thats taller though.

[West Coast Jungle]

judd it would be impossible to put two hides a water dish and something to climb on in a 32qt tub. Im going off my memory but the dimensions of a 116qt are 30x17x13.5 which isnt large by any means for a 4ft snake. Either way the two hides act as the nice tight space for them to feel secure in.

I use mostly CB70 tubs which are almost the same floor dimensoins only the height is the big difference. So it's really a normal size adult tub that is taller. As a matter of fact my freedom breeder rack has the CB-70-8 tubs which are 8" tall instead of 6" and thats what I keep my breeding females in.
Any way your tubs aren't really that much bigger because floor space is what makes the greatest difference.

I myself take my snakes out of 32qt tubs when they are 700-800 grams unless one happens to be a real nervous nanny.

[Adam_Wysocki]

Back in the late 90's I kept a group of about 30 ball pythons in large cages ... 4 ft x 2 ft x 18 inch Neodesha plastic reptile enclosures ... multiple hides, climbing branches, the works ... I now use a combination of CB70's and 32qt Sterilites. According to my records there is absolutely no difference in the number of eggs that the girls were laying in the larger cages than what they give me today.

Hope this helps.

-adam