Another tub question (yes you are probably sick of them)

[Oxylepy]

I have seen oh so many lovely tub topics where people ask questions about what size tub to get for if they build a rack system or whatever. The general consensus seems to be a 32q for an adult ball python.

So I went a hunting at my local WalMart for one, and I decided to get 41q since they only had that or 28q. Well I went over to get the drill I will use to build my rack system and decided to get a spiffy one with a ton of bits and all sorts of extras (I will never need to buy a drill bit again, lol), however weighing in at a good 15~20lbs and being extremely awkward, and since I generally walk everywhere, I decided not to get the tubs at the time.

That was like 6 or 7 hours ago and since then I decided to go back. And when I got there I did some final measurements on the tubs (why yes I am that cray guy who uses walmart's measuring tape to measure plastic bins, thanks for asking) and I decided that instead of just buying 7 41q containers now, I would rather come back here and ask you guys what you think I should do.

Pretty much I looked in the 41q containers and saw a heck of a lot of space... and I know my adult ball would be content in a 15q with half of it completely darkened for him to lay in and the other half a water dish, haha. So I was wondering if I should go for the 41q or the slightly smaller 28q.

I grabbed the measurements for each so you know what I'm working with here:

41: 31.5" x 13"
28: 20" x 13.5"

Note: These measurements are based on the BOTTOM of the container, while listed measurements tend to be for the top. I kind of think measuring the size of the outward slant and lip of the container is a waste since the snake will not be using that space and is using just the surface area of the bottom of the container.

Also, they are both listed at 6" in height, however are actually 5.5" (they're measuring the lid which I probably won't be using).

So, what do you think? Should I give them space to roam around and thermoregulate or should I give them a tighter home that I will probably just end up having 2 hides and a water dish in, with little to no room otherwise?

(mind you I will be using 4" flexwatt placed 2 inches from the back of the rack on the bottom, so roughly 4.5 inches into the container will be where the flexwatt ends. Also the 41q will have the long side facing outwards, while the 28q will have the short side pointing outwards)

And as another note I'm basing this on adult ball python size, I'd rather buy all my containers sized for when all the snakes are grown up now, than not be able to find the right sized container when they get discontinued.

[starmom]

I would not put an adult ball python in anything less than a 32qt.

[Somed00d]

I house my adults in 28 qt rubbermaid 2221 tubs. the problem is that my huge females need larger tubs. I am working on a 41 qt tub rack now.

here is a large 3000g female in a 28qt tub. she takes up half of it by herself.

[Argentra]

Yep. I do the same thing with the tape measure (except I carry my own) at Walmart when looking at tubs. It's easy to say 'this is so much space' when just seeing the tub, but when you actually put a full grown adult BP in it, it looks really small.

To let you know, I use 90qt tubs on my adult rack which I built myself. They have the same dimensions as a 41, but with an extra 6" of height since my adults all like to lift their heads high while cruising.

Even using these 'large' tubs, it still looks like my biggest girl (1880g) is cramped.

Hope that helps.

[MDPythons]

Wal-Mart has the 40qt Sterilites with locking lids on sale for 7.97. I picked up a whole lot of them yesterday. They also have the 41qts for 8.00 and they are longer...but I personally like the 40qts...especially since they have the locking lids. I am going to pick up some more this week because I get new snakes all the time so I might as well have the extras. Also, I use them for my live mice and rats.

Also, model is Sterilite 1986.

[FloridaHogs]

I use 28 at for adult males and females under 1800g. Anything over that gets a 41 qt. Only thing I learned with trial and error was to make sure the hide was very shallow or went all the way to the top. If not, they would wedge themselves and I could not open the bins until they got down.

[PhillyBoyInTN]

Adult males - 32 qt.
Adult females - 41 qt.

[Oxylepy]

Well I found 31q tubs, they're slightly larger than the other ones and .5" deeper, I think I'll end up going with that.

But here's the problem:

Lowes, the only home improvement store within a mile, only has melamine (sp?) particle board with the width at most 16" and the tubs are listed as 15.8" that's so friggin close. I wanted 2 foot by 4 foot, but thanks to the 31q being 26.5" long I can't double up with either length or width T.T

So I was thinking of going for the 16" x 36" ones with sides 16" x 48", that gets me 6 shelves for the 5 snakes I will have in the future, probably room for 1 more female on there. I thought of going with deep ones, but realized that 16"x2 =/= 36" so I'd have to get an extra 4" worth of some siding, or get them to cut it down for me, either way it's not going to look as nice and not leave a heck of a lot of room for the heat tape, which would be fine if I could double up the shelves entirely (each tier would have 2 31q tubs).

Does anyone know of anything I could put on normal wood to protect it from the heat and humidity? And I mean something that I could stick on, not brush on, I'd prefer not to work with hazardous chemicals because I don't really have a place to work with them and my neighbors would probably call the cops if I tried doing these things outside.

[Oxylepy]

Well since I can't edit anymore

Alright, i got 7 of the 31q containers. I'm going to have to get wood specially cut for me because the stuff that they have (melamine) is undersized. While they list the width of each shelf as 16" they are in fact 15.5" well bellow the listed. So I'm thinking I'll just get a hard wood particle board.