i NEED IDEA FOR NEW TANK

Art Buy Mark · 07-16-09, 01:47 PM

i JUST GOT A 6X2X2 GLASS AQUARIUM FOR MY KING. ANY PICS ON HOW TO SET UP THNX

Will0W783 · 07-17-09, 09:19 AM

Wow, that's huge! How big is the kingsnake?

Art Buy Mark · 07-17-09, 11:51 PM

she stll young about 1 1/2 feet long. the tank was something i could not pass up. Now i can fix it up nice and take my time doing it. I just need some pics to get ideas from.

knox · 07-18-09, 08:25 AM

Do NOT let anyone tell you it is too large! There is no such thing.

Just put plenty of hides and it will be just fine. Besides, if you use aspen, it acts as leaf litter and is a hide in and of itself.

Oh, sorry, I have no pics - just wanted to head this off before it goes in the wrong direction. The bigger the tank, the better for the snake. Much better thermoregulation as well.

Will0W783 · 07-22-09, 12:05 PM

Yes, aspen is great for kingsnakes. For colubrids, larger tanks are often better, but not for all snakes. For ball pythons, for example, you don't want to keep them in anything much larger than a 50-gallon breeder tank, because they get stressed. They actually prefer smaller, tighter quarters. But I think a king would be fine in a huge tank- plus if you get a larger snake at any point, you won't need to also break the bank buying a tank for it!

knox · 07-23-09, 07:36 AM

The last thing I want to do is to offend anyone or get into an argument, but I do want to ask this question...

All of the Ball Pythons that are roaming free in the forests of central and western Africa, are they stressed because they are not confined to a small enclosure? Are we actually rescuing them and giving them a better life by taking them from the forest and enclosing them in a 40 or 50 gallon glass cage?

Same for desert Kings and Gopher snakes who's habitats include wide open spaces of sparsly covered terrain consisting of grasses. rock, and sand.

We have this habit of perpetuating ideas that have no factual basis. The theory of stress inducing large enclosures is among the worst of these.

Again, no offense is intended because I was of the same mindset years ago - and I have been keeping snakes for over 25 years.

The important things are correct temps, humidity, and sufficient cover. There is no such thing as an aquarium in the wild, and even in captivity snakes are wild animals.

I just want to educate people on factual husbandry. Please do not take this personally. I do not mean to offend or drag anyone through the mud.

Will0W783 · 07-23-09, 12:51 PM

In the wild, ball pythons will spend the majority of their time in little logs or burrows. They don't go out into the open all that often unless they are hunting. They do prefer secure spaces, and remember that snakes do not possess the mental capacity to understand that they are captive and "miss" being free. I would love to say some of my snakes love me, but I know better, and I know they just don't understand the idea of a cage. But colubrids generally prefer more space than pythons from what I've read. If the snake flourishes in the large cage, good. If not, then you can always go to a smaller one much more easily than to a larger one. I think you'll be fine; kings can get pretty large.