Cage or tank for pet snake? - Printable Version

Cage or tank for pet snake? - Printable Version

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Cage or tank for pet snake? - Ram - 05-02-2012

Does it matter if you use a cage or a tank for a pet snake?

What are the advantages and disadvantages if it matter?

RE: Cage or tank for pet snake? - Fishbone - 05-02-2012

Well "cage" is even a pretty broad term. There are allot of types of enclosures that could be called cages. Avoid unfinished/unsealed wood. Warm porous wood if a fabulous place for bacteria to grow, and next to impossible to sanitize properly without leaving fumes for your animal. And its even easier to grow bacteria if there is humidity.

Tanks can be fine, if managed properly. The #1 problem with tanks is they normally have a screen lid, and have a very hard time holding humidity. You can cut Plexiglas to cover part, and other things like that, but it really is a pain in the a$$ if it is a humidity needing species. They also have a harder time holding a consistent heat. Which, in a larger tank, can be advantageous to a species that needs a larger difference in their temperature gradient, (like a bearded dragon.)

That said, they are ideal in my opinion for arid/desert type reptiles, diurnal lizards in particular, bearded dragons, uromastyx. etc... The only thing I will keep in a 75 gal or larger tank is that type. By the time anything else needs a 4' enclosure, it is not going in a tank. Reptile enclosures should really be thoroughly cleaned and rinsed out occasionally, and a HDPE plastic type cage that is 48' x 18' x 24' (roughly the size of a 75 gal, a little taller,) is much easier to move and clean out than a 4' fish tank.

Cages nowadays are fairly inexpensive, fairly lightweight, strong, and easy to clean. They hold heat and humidity better, so with the right equipment, it is much easier to get a consistent environment.

So there are advantages and disadvantages to both methods. I know I say this all the time, but it really depends on the species.

RE: Cage or tank for pet snake? - Ram - 05-02-2012

Thanks for the information.

However I am not sure how exactly the "cage" look like in order to hold humidity and temperature better than a tank.
Could you please show a view photos of your tank and cage setup?
I'd like to see the full picture on how things are.

RE: Cage or tank for pet snake? - Fishbone - 05-03-2012

I don't have any adult cages at the moment. I used to keep mostly boas, but certain events occurred, honestly due to pure stupidity, on my/our part, that led to the loss of a number of critters. Which is when I started in on the Indo-Australian pythons, which I had wanted to do anyways. I started with smaller animals, one because they are much less expensive, and two because I rather like watching them grow, especially with these species, as the ontogenetic colour changes are amazing! I also got rid of and/or destroyed most of the old caging I had. So I have a bunch of less than three year old animals at the moment. I'll get some pics of the tank set ups I have, plus my whole rack and the way I have the tubs set up in the near future.

Here is a pic of Monty, a Suriname red tail, Boa constrictor constrictor, when we were moving him into a new larger tub. We hadn't finished setting it up yet...
(Allot of people seem to have a Monty python, so Shana wanted a Monty Boa Smile

)

RE: Cage or tank for pet snake? - Ram - 05-03-2012

Nice snakes. The tubs look a lot smaller than I expected.

RE: Cage or tank for pet snake? - Fishbone - 05-04-2012

Sorry, you can't actually see the tub. He is in the tub in the pic. That smaller box he is sitting on is a hide for him, that's all inside the tub.

RE: Cage or tank for pet snake? - writer811 - 08-13-2012

If you're going to use a cage for your snake, be careful in picking one out. My dad used to keep a snake in a cage, the kind that has wire spaced closely together, and the snake was worming away at a small hole everyday until it was large enough to slither through. He got his head through fine but somewhere along his body he got caught and the wires cut him up pretty bad. My dad had to cut the cage apart to get him out.

RE: Cage or tank for pet snake? - Fishbone - 08-13-2012

I didn't touch on that, but, I would recommend never using any of the rough write cages, especially not the homemade type made from chicken wire. I've seen more injuries from those types of things than I can count.

RE: Cage or tank for pet snake? - writer811 - 08-15-2012

(08-13-2012, 11:27 AM)Fishbone Wrote: I didn't touch on that, but, I would recommend never using any of the rough write cages, especially not the homemade type made from chicken wire. I've seen more injuries from those types of things than I can count.

You're right. Wire cages in general are just a bad idea. I don't like to use them for anything because they're always getting holes and sharp bits of wire are always poking out and cutting you or the animal.

RE: Cage or tank for pet snake? - SereneScales - 12-20-2012

I use tubs for my boas. Simply cause it's easy to regulate the temperature and humidity.

RE: Cage or tank for pet snake? - 4sweed - 02-06-2013

When we were living in FL, my husband had three big B. pythons. All of them grew to be 10 feet long. He had a special glassed in area built for them in the garage. It was made of plywood and glass panels, with a big wooden hinged door. We never had to worry about them getting out as we kept a padlock on the door. Wire is not good as they will constantly push against it trying to get out and as stated above can get stuck and injured. Fish tanks or plastic tubs can work for smaller snakes, but beware of loose lids. Size of cage depends on the size of the snake and how big he might grow.