Filling up large enclosures

[CantHelpIt]

Recently while online shopping I decided to buy pvc cages for my snakes because I felt as if racks didn't have the space I wanted and I have a very small group so other caging is viable.
I purchased three cages, 6 ' x 2 ' x 1', I am wondering what to use to clutter them up, what type of materials for making hides or good hides to buy. I would prefer if everything was plastic and could be easily cleaned but am open to making hides or a tree because my corn snake loves to climb.
I'd like to keep it somewhat aesthetically pleasing because they will be in my bedroom.
Any thoughts or tips on how to fill a cage without making cleaning a monumental task would be greatly appreciated

[Aztec4mia]

You could have got smaller cages, a 6ft cage is pretty large to "clutter" and keep cleaning easy. A couple large pieces of wood and any hide that you find aesthetically pleasing is a start. Usually the more you clutter the cage the more you will have to clean. Do you have any themes you want to lean towards?

[CantHelpIt]

I have seen bearded dragon keepers make caves and basking spots out of styrofoam and grout mix, are they suitable for ball pythons? Will they be wipeable or will their poop wreck them? I had no theme or direction but maybe more of a natural habitat, some fake low grasses, a tree, make a termite mound hide out of something.
I did get a divider for one to potentially keep both balls in one, although that would leave me with an empty cage.

[Aztec4mia]

I think the size of the cage is fine for each snake, it is trying to fill it that is the hard part since you want to keep the maintenance low, anything with detail will take a little more effort to clean. You can use the same thing that they use for the bearded dragons, I believe they seal them so they resist moisture. you can also do the same thing they use for dart frog enclosures with the Great Stuff foam, silicone and coco fiber.

[Kris Mclaughlin]

Thrift store, craigslist, plastic plants my friend. These are your friends for a good looking, easy to clean, fake (sorry mine are real planted)natural look. If you have enough cover weve had a few forget hides exist

[CantHelpIt]

Kris- I'm curious about planted tanks, do you have a section of soil in your tank for plants, are they separately potted to remove when you want to change bedding or are they directly in your bedding and they spread and you spot clean around ? (I'm assuming yours is a snake tank)

[ballpythonsrock2]

I personally prefer the idea of having a good sized enclosure. But then I only have one snake. Which is enough for me. I have a 66qt. plastic sterlite tub before that I used a 40 gal. glass critter cage. I know if I were a snake I would like the option of stretching out or curling up in a hide. I now have one large sized hide on the warm end and will soon have two large hides from reptilebasics one on each end. I also have plastic plants, a small water bowl , a small bowl with moss that I spray to increase humidity. I tried having the plastic tub without hides but I found my snake prefers to have hides even though it is inside a covered plastic tub. As many on here have said snakes like to feel the security of being hugged by their hides, especially from above. She likes to peek out and come out slowly when she is in eating mode. I used a fake log I got from petsmart when I used the 40 gal glass. She ( Nicki ) liked climbing on it. They make fake stick on sticks too. And the best of all the plastic plants. They are easily cleaned and disinfected and then rinsed. I prefer the fake stuff and snakes I don't think know the difference or care anyway. My snake is pretty large though 957grams and will hopefully get quite a bit larger. I started her in a 30gal.

[Snake Judy]

Kris- I'm curious about planted tanks, do you have a section of soil in your tank for plants, are they separately potted to remove when you want to change bedding or are they directly in your bedding and they spread and you spot clean around ? (I'm assuming yours is a snake tank)

In most set-ups it will make the most sense to keep the plants in pots which you can then hide behind decor or bury in the substrate. Direct planting can only be done if you're using bioactive substrate, which is a living mixture that supports beneficial bacteria and janitorial invertebrates. Might be worth researching if you're into that kind of thing.

In either case live plants will need some kind of full spectrum lighting as well.

[Aztec4mia]

Kris- I'm curious about planted tanks, do you have a section of soil in your tank for plants, are they separately potted to remove when you want to change bedding or are they directly in your bedding and they spread and you spot clean around ? (I'm assuming yours is a snake tank)

Your gonna have a tough time finding plants with only 12 clearance in your tank, I have a hard time keeping up with growing plants in my cresties 18 inch cage. Maybe some kind of vine like a potho will work letting it grow around a log or hide (they do damage very easy though).

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[That_One_New_Guy]

Planted tanks are alot of upkeep, constant watering and removing the big poop out the tank. And usually snakes and real plants don't mix as the snake will most likely mat them.down by just exploring the tank and killing the plants. Of our 3 bio active tanks 2 have cresties and one is empty. You can get some rocks from your creek or whatever and make a hide that will take up a lot of space but will look natural or use big bark pieces to make natural hides that the snakes would find in the wild
I have pictures on my profile if you want to see what I'm talking about
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