Enclosure question

[mackynz]

I have a hypo hog x columbian female and while I know every snake is different do you think the AP T8 she is in now will do when she is fully grown or will she need a 6' enclosure? I see a lot of difference of opinion on the 4' vs 6' topic.

I'm thinking if I go by a square foot of space per foot of snake that will give her up to 8' and having the hog blood I don't know if she would hit or get past that. But like I said they're all different.

My other question is as she grows does the hotspot need to be expanded? It's 11 inch heat tape at the moment but more snake would mean more surface area to heat I would think.

[JoeJ]

I definitely wouldn't have an adult female bci in a 4ft enclosure. 5ft min

[Willie76]

Male yes, female no. Don't know how big she is now, but if she has some room to grow, get the pop-in/pop-out divider with the 6' cage and you can adjust her space as she gets bigger.

[Evenstar]

Female BCIs should have a minimum of a 6x2 enclosure. Males tend to do alright in a 4x2, but even that depends somewhat on how big they get. The Hog Island won't tend to keep your female on the small side. There are some big Hogs. The Colombian blood will be more likely to increase her size than the Hog blood would keep her small.

The hot spot should be appropriate to the size of the cage. So a larger cage will have a larger hot spot. But 11" flexwatt is still pretty good. And the snake should tend to curl up on the hot spot so a large snake can manage with a smaller zone so long as the ambient temps are appropriate.

Some cage manufacturers will use 2 strips of 8" flexwatt which creates a total of 16" in a 6 ft cage. When you purchase the cage, you could ask about that....

[mackynz]

Thank you much everyone. That just means when she's bigger I'll have an open cage to put something else in