Another Caging Question

[tomfromtheshade]

I'm going to make some suggestions based on having built some battleship cages for burms over the years.

1. Make your enclosure smaller than 8' x 4'.
-> You won't really be able to clean a 48" wide enclosure all that well.
-> I would suggest a width of 30" as your maximum width.
-> 84" is the maximum length I would suggest.

comments: Making your enclosure considerably smaller than 8'x4' will also allow you to make the cuts to your material and allow you to easily square all of the corners perfectly. When you design an enclose that is 8'x4' you must rely on the sheet of plywood being perfectly cut, which it never is.

2. Use 1" furniture grade plywood for your enclosure.
-> This will be sturdy enough for large burms and retics.
-> This will not require any type of framing on your part.
-> This will cut well, assemble well, and hold heat well.

comments: Using a higher quality plywood when building your enclosure means that you will have to do less prep work to make the enclosure snake ready. This means less sanding which means that the wood will take your finishing epoxy more easily.

3. Do not exceed 18" in height for your enclosure.
-> Heat rises.
-> Humidity is harder to control in larger enclosures.
-> Higher space is wasted by large constrictors.

comments: In my experience 18" is the ideal height for large constrictor enclosures. You will be able to effectively use radiant heat panels or flexwatt heat tape or both to heat your enclosure.

4. Use sliding glass doors.
-> This allows you to control the size of the opening to your enclosure.
-> This is the absolute simplest door to install, maintain, and repair/replace.

comments: A sliding glass door is preferable to a drop down or swing open door because you control how far you open the cage at all times. This is particularly useful when you are doing things like feeding, cleaning, or pulling eggs.

5. Properly seal and "paint" your enclosure.
-> Caulk should be applied to all of the seams inside your cage.
-> Caulk should be applied pretty heavily to "round corners" to make cleaning easier.
-> Use porch epoxy/enamel to seal your enclosure.

comments: Caulking can make or break your cage. You will learn how to do it well as you go, but you will find out exactly how well you did the first time that your burm takes a leak. When you purchase your porch epoxy/enamel take the advice of the professionals at the place you buy it. Make sure that they know what you will be using it for and that it will have to stand up to high temperatures and humidity.

6. Do NOT build a two story enclosure!
-> Build two separate stacking enclosures.
-> Two identical plywood enclosures will stack easily.

comments: Building a two story enclosure is neither easy nor advisable. You are always better off building two cages that will stack easily. This will allow you to move them more easily and will allow you to repair or replace on enclosure at a time if necessary. This will also allow you to stack additional enclosures if you get more animals.


When you are considering heating options for your enclosure I have to wholeheartedly recommend radiant heat panels. These are the absolute easiest heating sources to install and they do a great job of heating your enclosure. They won't burn your animal and they are very durable.

When you are considering providing water for your snakes I implore you to resist the urge to provide them with a place to soak. I recommend a heavy earthenware bowl that is suitable only for drinking. You can clean the bowl easily and fill it easily and also remove it easily for feeding.

Burmese pythons and reticulated pythons are large and messy creatures. They will rearrange cage furniture, urinate and defecate in copious fashion, and they will feed with the type of enthusiasm that will knock over and break any cute little trinkets that you may think look "nice" in their enclosure. Simple is always best for these monsters.

Substrate choices should be limited to paper products. Newspaper is generally abundant and very economical. In fact, if you learn what days your town and your neighboring towns put out their newspaper for recycling you can generally acquire a veritable ton of it for free in a very short amount of time.

Hopefully some of this advice will help you in your quest to build these animals some proper enclosures. These are just my opinions, but they are opinions formed after years of making mistakes raising Burmese pythons. I don't have a TON of experience with retics, but the housing requirements are generally the same.

Good luck!