Yep, I think you and Gio are both totally on point. If she had stayed in her parents size range she could probably live her life in a 4' cage. Technically she probably still could but she's so active I would feel bad doing that to what will eventually/likely be an 8-9'+ snake.
I also think you hit the nail on the head about her hunting. After all she is 1st generation captive bred from wild caught Kalatoa parents and most definitely has a bit of wild instinct in her. A lot of those giant retics staying calm in an 8' cage are pretty deep into captive generations of bloodlines and I'm guessing are much more chill as a result of having some of the wildness bred out of them. Aside from needing more height, Phyllis has a pretty plush pad lol. 65% humidity, 87* warm side, 75-79* cool side, two hides (that she never uses except to push all over the place) a couple branches to crawl around on (and also just bulldozes them all over along with her water bowl while pushing at the cage.)
I may just bite the bullet and order a T20/T25 and then have time to wait for it to be ready. Might also be worth a 4 hour drive from mid Missouri to Iowa to avoid the freight shipping. I'm sorta torn between the T20-25 because the 25 is $40 less but also a half a foot shorter but half a foot deeper. I'm feel like added height would be beneficial but also more air space to heat. I could definitely make a super stimulating and awesome looking display cage with a climbing/perch/jungle gym for her in a 24" tall cage that I feel she would use. I feel like I'm back at square one now trying to accommodate for her crazy growth rate lol. I was prepared to accept an 8-10' adult size snake just not quite this quick haha
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