New BP Enclosure Size

[Moses]

Hello all! I'm new here. I am getting a Lesser Platinum Ball Python from a rescue soon. They're giving us the tank he's living in for free (as well as the snake himself, because we had to return our Blue Tongue Skink to them and they felt bad. Nice people!), which is a 2-foot long x 1.5-foot wide Exo Terra.

Is this big enough for him his whole life (Moses is about 3-feet long)? I'm thinking it isn't but I've never had a Ball Python before and I want to make sure.

[GoingPostal]

You are looking at a 3-4 foot cage for an adult, depending on size. My adult male is in a 4 foot boaphile cage.

[Moses]

Thanks! We'll buy a 3 foot cage sometime then. Just wish it could still be an Exo Terra, lol.

[JoshSloane]

There are many varied opinions on this. Most breeders keep adult BPs in tubs their entire life. I had my breeder bps in 41 qt tubs (35"x16"). Some go even smaller. To me a 4x2x1 enclosure is too big for an adult BP and totally unnecessary, as that's the size I keep my adult boas in effectively. If you want to create a realistic viv with hides, plants and other stuff then I would say you can go bigger. If its just going to be a basic bare bones setup I would say go smaller.

Although, I have seen some really cool 4x2 enclosures on here for BPs, but they have a ton of accessories that make it seem very realistic.

[ballpythonsrock2]

I have a 40 gal. With 2 12qt. hides. I might be wrong about this but in my opinion the emphasis on having small snug hides is a bit exaggerated and kind of unnecessary. I started out with the kind of small pyramid type you've probably seen in pet stores. When my snake was getting too big for it I went to 2 black colored 12 qt. dish pan size sink pans you buy at family dollar and I cut the holes small and put them off center. ( In hind site it would be better to buy the black plastic commercial hides, because I cut my leg with a box cutter and had to go to an emergency place, so instead of 8 dollars for hides it was over a 100 ) That usually happens when I try to save money it seems. Anyway back to my point. She hides in the corner and buries in with eco-earth around her. She seems fine with them. She has room in the hide when she pulls her food in the hide which she does every time and has room to lift her head when she eats it.

Now to my main suggestion, a very important thing (especially for live feeders which right now mine is) which I almost never hear mentioned is you need to have a good amount of space somewhere in the enclosure to bite and wrap-up. I have a large space with nothing but substrate in the middle between the 2 hides. I did this by putting my water bowl and humidity bowl on top of the hides. I learned this lesson the hard way when she bite a rat and wasn't able to wrap up because there was no room to rumble. She landed on the edge of the water bowl and then released and after that forget it, she wouldn't even really try. So I moved the water bowl to the top of the hide and that gave her room to maneuver, keeps substrate off the bottom of the bowl, (which was a pain), and so far has helped immensely with my live feedings. I dump the mouse (went back to mice for a while) through the trap door which lands on the soft eco-earth and it usually sniffs a little and then heads for one of the hides, looks in the hide and its wrap-up, cardio arrest time. ps I later added a water bowl on the other hide which is under my heat lamp to increase the humidity that helped a lot. But I do still have a small bowl there with moss in the middle, but wedged off to the side against the glass and the cool hide. See my profile pic if you want.

[JoshSloane]

Thanks! We'll buy a 3 foot cage sometime then. Just wish it could still be an Exo Terra, lol.

Doesn't exoterra make a cage the size of a 40 gallon breeder? IMO that's plenty big for 99% of adult BPs.

[Moses]

I think they do, but Exo Terra terrariums are really expensive. We usually get our enclosures from Goodwill or places like that.

[EarMice]

There are many varied opinions on this. Most breeders keep adult BPs in tubs their entire life. I had my breeder bps in 41 qt tubs (35"x16"). Some go even smaller. To me a 4x2x1 enclosure is too big for an adult BP and totally unnecessary, as that's the size I keep my adult boas in effectively. If you want to create a realistic viv with hides, plants and other stuff then I would say you can go bigger. If its just going to be a basic bare bones setup I would say go smaller.

Although, I have seen some really cool 4x2 enclosures on here for BPs, but they have a ton of accessories that make it seem very realistic.

I agree. My five foot boa is in a 4x2 and there's still plenty of space. She could probably fit comfortably in a 3x2.

4 *square* feet seem to be the size for adult balls.

[JoshSloane]

Yep. I think it depends on the individual situation. We all know that breeder adult BPs do fine in tubs that are half the square footage of a 4x2. But if you have only a few snakes, and want to go nuts with cage decorations in a larger enclosure go for it. Just takes more maintenance to clean. I still maintain that anything over 4x2 is far too big no matter what you do to clutter it up.

[AKA Dave]

They are expensive, but totally worth it IMO. I have two right now. I'm a big fan of not having to open the top to clean or bring out the snake if I want. Plenty of ventilation on the front if you need to block the top to regulate humidity as well. Sometimes you can get a good deal on them too. I picked up this one at Repticon on the last day for $100 off list price. It amazing what you can get when vendors don't want to load their trucks.



I'll upgrade the size when needed, but this one is great for now. And it fits on my shelves in the office. You'll have to forgive the foil under the light, I'm warming up lunch.

Dave