Need enclousure ideas, spotted python

[Cardinal]

I need a few people to bounce ideas off of. I'll be picking up my first snake sometime late July to early August. I'm in touch with an awesome breeder who's been a lot of help and super informative. Looking to buy a yearling from him.

Okay, so.. enclosures. I'm wanting to use a tank, a 20 gal (I have a 10 gal, 15, 20, 29, and 30 laying about). Natural looking enclosures are the bomb! I've had fish for years in planted tanks and all that fun stuff, so I'd love the same for my snake. Spotted pythons come are relatively dry places and our humidity is sky high durring the summer months (80%+), not as bad indoors but it can still get sticky. I've been tossing around ideas for substrates and keep coming back to eco-earth since I love the look of it and it looks more 'natural' to me, but I don't want it getting to wet and harming my snek. Ideas? I do not like the look of aspen. Tile? Lots of stone out cropping-type deals? I have so much stone and hard wood from my fish. Are there any safe soil mixtures that stay dry or have good drainage? I saw a REALLY cool set up of large flat rocks with eco-earth in between.

Plants. Where to buy? How to get rid of fertilizers/pesticides? I know already I'll be re-potting (and keeping them in planters/pots for easy cleaning and removal).. but I'm unsure of how to treat/deal with the leaves if they've been exposed to pesticides.

Anny ideas would be great. Enclousure pictures would be the best! What humidity do you guys use for your childrens/spotted/etc species? What heat? I want to make sure I have everything down before I start setting up the enclousure. I will be letting it run in advance to getting my snake and can change/fiddle with it as needed. I want it to be pretty, but also in the snakes best interest.




If this doesn't belong here, can a mod move it?

[artgecko]

Hello!

I don't have a spotted python, but do keep geckos in planted enclosures and also used to have live planted tanks... That said, I have a couple comments that might help you out.

According to this caresheet, they need an ambient temp around 80f an~90f. Keep in mind that you can use a UTH (under tank heater) for the hotspot and have it hooked up to a thermostat. But, with a UTH you can't use a thick layer of substrate unless the snake is a burrower and can burrow down to the heat source. You will also need something to raise the ambient / air temp to 80... In a tank you have limited options, but what I do use use a heat lamp on a stand behind the tank that suspends it above the tank screen top... Getting one on a dimmer switch is ideal as you can adjust it to get the right ambient temp. The downside to one of these is that it sucks humidity out of the cage.

Give those factors, I'd advise going with a thinner layer of substrate and then putting your plants in pots with more / thicker substrate and soil. You can "hide" the pots behind rocks or wood.

Apparently these guys climb, so you'll want to provide it with some sturdy branches to climb and use a tank that has some height to it (like a standard 20gl as opposed to a 20long). I've used ghost wood and grape wood in my snake/ gecko cages and both work well, but I'd suggest sealing it (especially the grape wood which can mold easily) with a sealer such as polycrylic. This also makes it easier to clean the poo off of branches.

Whatever plantings you do, you'll need to leave room for 2 hides and a water bowl (large enough to soak in) on the bottom of the tank, so you may end up wanting to go with a larger tank in order to have room for the pots, hides, and water bowl.

As far as plants go, check out this link. It has a list of safe plants for gecko enclosures. Something else to think about is sturdiness... Pick plants with thick stems and leaves so that if the snake crawls on it, it won't tear up the plants. I've had good success with mother in law's tongues... tough to kill and hold up to a lot of wear and tear.

Here's a link to a thread where people discuss how to prep plants for use in a terrarium. What I did with mine, was rinse the plants well removing all soil, replant in organic potting mix and let sit for 2-4 weeks to allow the plant to work any pesticides out of its system before putting in the terrarium.

I'm just throwing this out there, but you might want to consider good fake plants too. I use some of the "magnaturals" with my geckos.. the hanging vine cluster looks good and gives them lots of cover high in the terrarium and I can detach it from the side and clean it, dry it, then place back. If it was me and I was setting up for my first snakes, I'd start with a naturalistic setup without live plants (use rocks and nice wood, realistic fake plants, etc.) get your husbandry right (temps, humidity) and figure out how cleaning is going to go before you add live plants to the cage... The downside of snakes vs. aquatic gardens is that they poop and pee and it can be hard to clean around / on living plants.

Good luck!

[jclaiborne]

Antaresia are found in dry rocky areas. I know you dont like aspen, however (and i dont mean to come across as rude) its not about what you like its about what keeps the animal healthy. Eco earth will hold too much moisture. Many of the big aussie breeders will suggest aspen, sand, or dirt. They are found in super rocky areas of the dry desert. That being said a "naturalistic" setup for this species is rocks and branches, if you want a planted tank you may want to rethink your choice of snake. Just my opinion

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I747 using Tapatalk

[jclaiborne]

This is my current setup for my childrens python. Not quite a year old yet but still small enough to be in a 10 gallon

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I747 using Tapatalk

[lefty]

Antaresia are found in dry rocky areas. I know you dont like aspen, however (and i dont mean to come across as rude) its not about what you like its about what keeps the animal healthy. Eco earth will hold too much moisture. Many of the big aussie breeders will suggest aspen, sand, or dirt. They are found in super rocky areas of the dry desert. That being said a "naturalistic" setup for this species is rocks and branches, if you want a planted tank you may want to rethink your choice of snake. Just my opinion

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I747 using Tapatalk

^^^^^this!

[artgecko]

Nice setup jclaiborne.

To the OP- For my sandboas, I use crushed walnut shells.. It seems to keep their enclosures very dry (sometimes too dry) and it looks like sand, so you might want to consider that.. You can also get "rock ledges" that attach to enclosures with magnets or glue that might work if you want to give it a more rocky look and provide more climbing areas.