Help! E. Black Rat Urgent Care!

[Bubonic]

Hello Everyone,

Ty in advance for any and all advice. I am momma to Bubonic, my Eastern Black Rat Snake. Just got him, he's a juvie, and he's in a horrific cage (roughly 36x16x10 tupperware container).

I've been looking all over at care sheets but having trouble picking out which to follow (even when weeding out those that (basically) promo diff things). Any ideas for care or a caresheet?

I want something as close to a natural habitat as poss for him, so he's happy as can be and can grow up big and strong like all the other Rat Snakes. (As any mother would want. :P LOL!)

Here's what I've learned so far (about Ratters in general):

NATURAL HABITAT:
-Deciduous forest surrounded by grass is ideal or
-Forests, grasslands.

NEEDS:
-To be arboreal.
-To swim ? (They're excellent swimmers.)

FEEDING:
-Small rodents.
-Also frogs, lizards, birds and bird eggs.
-Juveniles more likely to eat cold-blooded prey, while adults stick to warm nearly all the time.
-Some species of ratters are called "chicken snakes" b/c they love to eat chicken eggs.
-They love to ambush and to actively forage.
-After killing, sometimes they continue hunting. Might kill more and return to original prey.

I also learned that their lifespan is unknown! Cool!

So for starters, I'm thinking they need a tall cage, and b/c they love to forage, a wide one as well. Probably as big as I can make it? Wide, tall and deep equally would be perfect ?

[kudzu]

Bubonic! Cool name. To a rat he would certainly be black death. And a plague name in the middle of a pandemic seems appropriate, though I pray that part doesn't last.

As long as you can maintain proper ventilation, temps, humidity and temp gradient, there is nothing wrong with plastic bins. Except for height, yours doesn't sound bad for a small rat snake. Something taller would be better. How clear are the walls of the bin? What is Bubonic's approximate age and length?

> "Wide, tall and deep equally would be perfect ?"

When younger, my Russian rat snake did well in a 24"x24"x24" cage. His current cage is 48"Lx24"Dx48"H. For an adult Eastern rat snake, I'd consider 48"Lx24"Dx36"H to be a minimum but the bigger the better. However, how you have the cage arranged can make a big difference. Providing a lot of climbing surfaces on various levels can effectively increase your snake's room to roam. Are you looking for adult sized caging or just something for the near future?

[Bubonic]

What I build or buy for him now will be his forever home (barring any unforeseen issues). I measured the areas I could put him in, and I can go up to:

48 x 60 x 80
-I'd like it to be tall enough and wide enough for a (real) mini-tree that isn't poisonous to the snake and can survive in the environment of high heat and humidity.

I am unaware of best lighting and humidity items, but I will post in the cage part of the forums for that as it probably belongs there (right?) .

But I would like my enclosure to be full of natural items-literally from nature. It's own eco-system. With fish. haha

Rat snakes are GREAT swimmers and love to eat fishes!

[toddnbecka]

From a practical standpoint, water features in bioactive setups are always more trouble than they're worth in the long run, particularly anything involving live fish. Anything over 36" tall is also very difficult to heat properly.
What materials are you going to build it from? Sliding glass doors on the front? Humidity isn't usually critical, young ones do fine on aspen in a standard screen-topped aquarium. Too high humidity can cause health problems, they aren't a tropical species like a boa constrictor.
Lighting for live plants is also another story. A few hardy ones like pothos, sansevieria, or cryptanthus that don't require bright light and are sturdy enough to stand up to an active snake are your best bets. You'll want to stock isopods and springtails for a cleanup crew, possibly a couple other inverts as well.
The best tubs I've found for housing snakes are the Sterilite Stackers from WalMart. The lid design prevents snakes from getting to the top of the sides of the tub from the inside, and the locking clips on the end are quite secure.