What snake do you recommend?

[Sylphie]

Hi all,

So, I have an empty 59x13x25h (inch) enclosure and in a few days is my birthday... I would love to buy cave-dweller or hognose, but they would be too big/too small.

I'm not really sure which species will be okay in this... I'm looking for an rather active snake, with good feeding response. Nice behavior is not necessary, it may be a bit hissy or nippy.
I was thinking maybe rainbow boa, or carpet python... but as I said I'm not sure if they will be okay, it seems that they will be a little too big.

(I know that I don't want any ball python or corn snake).

Maybe you know about some species that will be okay in rather long and tall enclosure, but not too deep? If so, please let me know!

[reptiledude987]

Sounds good for a carpet.

[SnoopySnake]

Sounds good for a carpet.

I would think a carpet would end up needing something wider than that, wouldn't they?

I'm really drawing a blank on some smaller snakes here..Some kind of garter maybe?

[reptiledude987]

Depends on the type of carpet some get bigger than others. most of my carpets have a 2x4 floorspace but depending on the type it would be good for a few years at least.

[Sylphie]

Huh, I'm not really sure if there is any python or boa that will be fine it this dimensions :<

I was thinking about garter, milk or mandarin but I'm not really sure if they are what I want. Mandarins are rather shy and prefer to hide (or that's what I have read), and the other two... I'm just not sure, but they are rather not my type.

At the end of this month there will be a huge reptile expo in my town, so I will like to know what I can afford before buying new snake.

As for now I see three options: garters, milks/kings and mandarins... maybe diones too.
African house snakes, and hognoses seems too small, I don't want to stress them.

Edit: reptiledude987 I was thinking about Jungle Carpet :)

[SnoopySnake]

As for now I see three options: garters, milks/kings and mandarins... maybe diones too.
African house snakes, and hognoses seems too small, I don't want to stress them.

As long as you provide plenty of hides, foliage, etc, a big enclosure is usually fine. Would you be able to just use it for a grow out enclosure? just switch to something wider later on? That could actually hold a rainbow boa for a good 2 years or so to be honest.

[reptiledude987]

A jcp would ok in that size for a while but would edventually outgrow it. My jcp is abnormally large but shes around 9' and around 25 lbs. so if you got one that ended up being as freakishly large as mine that obviously wouldnt be big enough. My big shelia girl has a 4'x4'x2' and uses it all. If i could find one wider with the same height id get it lol.

[Sylphie]

SnoopySnake, reptiledude987
thats an glass terrarium that is embedded in the wall between two rooms. You know, something like this:

http://forum.budujemydom.pl/?act=attach&type=post&id=3496

So I'm rather looking for a snake that will be okay in this even as an big adult :D

Maybe that idea with a lot of hides is really good (there is already a lot of live plants, and really big wood root, and some vines). That's one of the reasons why I want an active snake, to see him using all of this, haha! And if necessary I can always keep a young snake in smaller container, and switch him later.

And wow, reptiledude that's a really big girl!

[reptiledude987]

Thats freakin sweet! with something like that Id think something arboreal may be better to take advantage of the height. with garters you could put a pair in something that size but the height would be wasted. Maybe look into something like ATB's or something along those lines.

[Sylphie]

reptiledude, that's a good idea, thanks!

I'll try to take a photo of my enclosure tomorrow, but it's kind of hard to take a decent one (the light here is really weird).

[Pirarucu]

Mandarin Rats and Bamboo Rats are pretty shy, but they are surprisingly active in a naturalistic cage and will use all the space you give them. The one at Moody Gardens is in a cage roughly 3'x2'x5' tall and uses all of it. Small rats like that aren't hard on plants at all, so you can set up a nice display with live plants and a water feature that's nice to look at by itself, then just see the snake cruising every now and then. If you want something that's always out, maybe a green tree python or something similar would work. If you could commit to the possibility of a lizard diet, vine snakes or flying snakes can make very nice display animals.

[reptiledude987]

The only issue i see with the setup in that pic is access to the tank. I'm assuming theres an access pannel on the other side of the wall not in the pic.

[reptiledude987]

^^ Agreed it would be really nice with either vines or flying snakes as well

[Sylphie]

Pirarucu, thank you!
That's really interesting, and if they will use all the space, then it's worth a try :) All my reptile cages are with some live plants so I have some experience with choosing the one snakes/lizards woulndn't be able to smash (or in geckos case eat).

In a nutshell: at this moment I'm considering mandarins, gtp/atb (but they are rather expensive, and more advanced in keeping), hognoses (with a lot of hides and only if he'll be big enouhg), diones (in this case I can even keep a pair of them) and milks/kings.

Maybe there is someone with milks or kings? I would love to hear what you think about keeping them in something like my cage.

[reptiledude987]

Milks or kings would be fine but again wont typically use the height. I have them too lol

[Sylphie]

reptiledude987, that's just an demonstrative image from aquaristic forum, not my cage, I was just not sure if my decsription will be accurate. We have a fine acces from one side, and ventilation with mini computer fans (there actually was ball python, and it was all fine, just now it's empty :D).

Huh, I wonder that vines and flying snakes are too hard for me, I'm not really that experienced at all.

Edit: okay, so milks and kings are no, no in this case ;)

[reptiledude987]

The key with those species (similar to to the etb and atb just less expensive) is maintaining humidity in the high 60s to low 80s. but with the top being closed like that shouldnt be too hard.

[Obsidian_Dragon]

I wouldn't count out garters. They use the space you give them--in the wild, some garters (Oregon red spotteds in the case of the study I read) have been noted to climb up trees when it rains. (It makes the ground colder, so they climb to find warmer temps.)

I've given my Checkered sticks to climb and a ledge, and he happily noodles around all the space I give him. Give them the chance and they may surprise you.

What about a children's python? They're smaller and might use the height, too.

[Sylphie]

Obsidian Dragon,
okay, I'll look for them too! At this moment I'm just taking a nice list of "what can i get", and then will look further into each species :)

Yeah, I forgot about children's pythons, thank you!