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Your $.02 on the "Snake Cage Size" rule?

What do you think of the 2/3 rule for snake housing?

  • It's practically perfect.

    Votes: 0 0.0%

  • Such an enclosure would be too small.

    Votes: 3 7.1%

  • Such an enclosure would be too big.

    Votes: 1 2.4%

  • It's a totally inaccurate rule.

    Votes: 1 2.4%

  • It's okay, but mostly depends on the species of snake.

    Votes: 37 88.1%
  • Total voters
    42
S

Scarlett_Fawn

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I'm sure many of us who are into snakes have heard of a general rule for choosing a properly sized enclosure for any particular snake that says that the enclosure should have dimensions 2/3 the length of the snake by 1/2 the length of the snake. What do you think about this formula?
 
For me, I mainly keep burmese. Right now they are in 6ft by 3ft Vision cages, with the largest burm being 18ft-ish. I would love to eventually have custom 10ft long cages built for my bigger snakes, but for now I do feel this size allows for proper movement but I do also feel it's the bare minimum. But also, my burms at least, aren't too active.

I also keep rat snakes. VERY active snakes! Always climbing and moving around. They are about 3ft each and are in 55 long tanks, which are longer than the snake's length. I will be graduating them to a 100g shallow tank once the snakes in THAT tank graduate to a Vision :)

I think the more active the snake, the larger the enclosure, but I also feel you have to go by how much the snake can move around.
 
thinking out loud

I voted species specific but believe on average most keepers would consider that too large.

If there was a 6' snake that would mean a 4'x3' cage, which seems awfully large by modern standards.

I go mostely by perimeter and the diagonal. After all, if the length of a cage matters then the longest dimension should be most important. And the longest dimension of any rectangular cage is the diagonal.

I look for a perimeter of a cage to be around two times the length of the snake.
 
Hmmm...I keep all of my serpents in massive cages, some even outdoors in enclosures..it seems that they actually appreciate being able to move around quite a lot...single garters get at least a 30 long, if not a 55...baby kingsnakes are in 20 longs...all fully planted and maintained dailly...guess it is the zoo/exhibit thing rubbing off... I used to have a massive collection, but downsized to make the caging better for the animals I really wanted to pay attention to.

greg
 
I voted it depends on the species. I also keep more burms than any other type of snake and I believe a 8 x 2.5 cage is the minimum size for a adult burm. Which can blow the cage theory out of the water :raspberry . My 11 foot long bums would need a cage 5.5 feet wide according to that rule....lol. I also look at how the snake fits in the cage. I dont think a 6 foot long cage is big enough for any snake over 9 - 10 feet long unless you have the snake out to excersize at LEAST 2 - 3 times a week. In this pic you can clearly see how much space the 11 foot long albino has in a 8 foot long cage. ( Dont mind how skinny she is..she just laid 35 eggs last month!)
cagesguns019.jpg
 
We recently moved our corns and smaller pythons (spotteds and stimsons) into a rack system. From observation, it seems that the feed and breeding activity has increased. This is leading me question the "bigger is better" theme to snake caging. I know for native california species they spend a lot of time in burrows and cracks of rocks as opposed to in the wide open areas.
 
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