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Ball python snake room help.

B

Bautemorphs

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Hello, I am new to the whole breeding end of ball pythons but really wanted to give it a shot either this year or next. At first I was going to use my spare room but the wife didn't like that idea at all lol! So I was wondering if anyone had some good ideas for me at a decent price. My ideas were either make like a shed or a box of some kind maybe 8x8 insulated with a window unit inside to regulate the temp or buy a pre made shed and put it in my side yard with a window ac unit inside for temps and all racks will have heat with thermostats on them. I live in Florida so I don't think the cold is an issue. I would love to hear some ideas or speak with someone doing this already. I just have no idea if I go the shed route what it should be made of. Please let me know what all of you think even of you think I am nuts lol. Thanks a lot, Kris. I hope I posted this in the right place haha.
:D
 
I would talk to the wife more about using your spare room. You're going to want to keep your room temps around 75-80 year round (little cooler in Winter, but not much warmer in Summer). Going the shed route, not only will it have to be insulated all the way around, as well as full climate control, but it will have to be sealed very well (like your house) to keep out bugs and critters that could cause problems. Put it this way, it would be almost as expensive as adding a small addition on to your house.
 
Thanks Matt, you think the garage if I framed off a section with plywood on the outside and insulation inside with a window unit set at like 82 wouldn't work either? So the the ac unit only has to regulate temps in a 8x8 section?
 
Bautemorphs said:
Thanks Matt, you think the garage if I framed off a section with plywood on the outside and insulation inside with a window unit set at like 82 wouldn't work either? So the the ac unit only has to regulate temps in a 8x8 section?
Click to expand...

I think that would be much cheaper than an insulated shed. But I'm not sure how easily you'll be able to regulate temps. I'm sure it will work once you figure out the best method for cooling it, without OVER cooling it. Same goes for when you have to add heat (never been in Fl in the Winter so I'm not sure how much of a problem that would be for you).

Is your wife afraid of escapees in the house? IF they do get out, another disadvantage to having them outside is them getting away...for good. When you add some high-dollar animals to your collection, you'll think about that part even more. lol
 
Matt2979 said:
I think that would be much cheaper than an insulated shed. But I'm not sure how easily you'll be able to regulate temps. I'm sure it will work once you figure out the best method for cooling it, without OVER cooling it. Same goes for when you have to add heat (never been in Fl in the Winter so I'm not sure how much of a problem that would be for you).

Is your wife afraid of escapees in the house? IF they do get out, another disadvantage to having them outside is them getting away...for good. When you add some high-dollar animals to your collection, you'll think about that part even more. lol
Click to expand...
Lol yeah she hates snakes! Yeah if they got out that would stink... If I shut off my vent in the spare room it stays like 82 in there which would be nice! But the wife also thinks we want another baby soon... So... Then my snakes would have to go somewhere. Darn I thought this would be much easier lol.
 
Well, I think you know the easiest way to do this...trade the snake-hater for a snake-lover!! :rofl:
 
Haha. I just had this conversation with the wife. When we met she wasn't big on them, now she loves them. You never know if they're going to like them or not. I got really lucky. I went through a whole lot of research to figure out cost effective ways to have a larger breeding space. I have a good sized room in the house but I'm quickly outgrowing it. To be honest, a small room doesn't last as long as you would think. I'm not sure if you're going to breed your own rats as well, but they can take up a lot of room and at least here, the garage kills a lot of my breeders if I leave them there in the summer. Insulating a garage properly and using a large grade window unit will work great, but only if you really do a good job of insulating and sealing everything off. Good luck.
 
I'm actually about to upgrade to a small scale shed for my reptile needs upgrading from a room in the house so I know what your looking at. I'm outgrowing my room and need a bigger area so I'm looking at getting a weatherking building made by the minneanites. They are really well made buildings and it will be easy to insulate it and put electricity and everything into it but I'm looking at a cost of around $10,000 to do it the way I want. It's going to cost $6500 for just the shed plus the rest of it will go to insulation that I'll do myself, electrical which I'll have my dad do, and drywall or whatever I decide to put on the walls. I would go with the room at first to save up for a shed to upgrade to later. The shed Idea is a great idea but I recommend doing it right and doing it big enough to where you won't run out of room again because if you do then your back to square 1. I'm actually thinking about pouring concrete and doing a GOOD metal building but I'm still in the planning stages so I have plenty of time to decide but a metal building would be bigger for a cheaper price. Good luck whatever you decide. Garage is a good idea too, to begin with.
 
Matt2979 said:
Well, I think you know the easiest way to do this...trade the snake-hater for a snake-lover!! :rofl:
Click to expand...

LMFAO!!!


Do what I did. Turn her into a snake lover. My gf HATED ... No was so terrified she wouldn't be in the same room as me or them. Then we moved in together, haha. At that time I had 20 something retics and half were full grown. I got a ball python for her as a baby (a spider male) and she got use to snakes that way. Then it was her helping me clean the baby retics, holding them while I clean. Eventually, within a year and a half or so, I got her to hold the bigger ones. Hottest thing I ever saw! LOL. She's tiny. 4'8" and like 90lbs. So from going from refusing to be in the same room as them to holding 10ft+ retics in a decent short span of time is amazing in my eyes. She now loves the snakes (though glad I don't have retics anymore, she does miss my albino female, she was one of our favs) and will hold the balls whenever. Now I'm getting her use to rats, LOL. She never minded them, just doesn't like the feel of em. She will hold the cute babies though, once they're bigger than hoppers... Forget it.


So you're married, there's always a compromise. Tell her, let me have a snake room and ill give you more kids!! You can move into a bigger house or have the baby in your bedroom!!
 
Ha! That's exactly what I was going to suggest! I was the one terrified of snakes...and still am of most (reformed legged reptile lover). But the hubby wanted a ball python. Long story short, it's now ME asking HIM to make us a little house out back because all these snakes I wanted just aren't fitting in this tiny room anymore!

The trick to it is to take her to a show, or show her one of those morph books and find out if any of them float her boat, so to speak. If she happens to find one, do like Bo did...and get it for her while it's still a baby. It'll all be downhill from there!
 
That's what I did Tere!! I took her to a show and she kept checking out the spider male ball, she musta went to go look at it at least 10 times but didn't say anything. I went and bought it when I took a so called "bathroom break" LOL!
 
Baute..

We have our snakes, rats, and mice in an outside shed. Its part of the house, so, not like those little sheds you would buy, but, more like a garage. Heres what we did:

Well, the shed was too large to keep open and get the heating right in the winter. The insuation sucks and its cement floors, and, it has an attic with a vent. So, built essentially a new wall and ceiling in about 1\3 of the shed. Im not sure on the exact measurements on it. We put in fiberglass insulation and used the chalk board stuff (cant remember the name of it) as the wall and ceiling. Then we put some rolling doors up so that the whole room could be closed. It has seemed to work fine. All we need is one oil heater hooked up in there set to the right temperature and we have an A/C unit hooked up to the window in the other part of the shed since the rats/mice are more likely to get warm before the snakes do. If we need to cool the snake room down we just open the door and turn on the A/C, not to mention we have a tiny window in the snake room we can open first to let air in. Hope that helps
 
You got out super easy, Kelly. Mine was a cinnamon pewter (back when they cost a small fortune).

On the point of expensive escapees...that same cinnamon pewter is a prime example. Took several days to find him (after thinking the mastiff or pitbull had surely eaten him and I just hadn't found the remains yet) behind the oven tangled up the chain that keeps the oven from tipping over and covered in grease. He only came out because I had cooked the night before. :eek:

Trust me...you want that indoor snake room. If they do get out, there's a limited number of places for them to go. Outside, you just never know.
 
Our outside shed is like a garage or a little house, luckily. :) Ive only had one escapee I never found and that was a baby corn, so, go figure..:) I think I would be less likely to fiind them if they were in the house. :)
 
Matt2979 said:
Well, I think you know the easiest way to do this...trade the snake-hater for a snake-lover!! :rofl:
Click to expand...

Bautemorphs said:
Lmao! I have to much invested do do that now!
Click to expand...

wikidkitty said:
LMFAO!!!


Do what I did. Turn her into a snake lover. My gf HATED ... No was so terrified she wouldn't be in the same room as me or them. Then we moved in together, haha. At that time I had 20 something retics and half were full grown. I got a ball python for her as a baby (a spider male) and she got use to snakes that way. Then it was her helping me clean the baby retics, holding them while I clean. Eventually, within a year and a half or so, I got her to hold the bigger ones. Hottest thing I ever saw! LOL. She's tiny. 4'8" and like 90lbs. So from going from refusing to be in the same room as them to holding 10ft+ retics in a decent short span of time is amazing in my eyes. She now loves the snakes (though glad I don't have retics anymore, she does miss my albino female, she was one of our favs) and will hold the balls whenever. Now I'm getting her use to rats, LOL. She never minded them, just doesn't like the feel of em. She will hold the cute babies though, once they're bigger than hoppers... Forget it.


So you're married, there's always a compromise. Tell her, let me have a snake room and ill give you more kids!! You can move into a bigger house or have the baby in your bedroom!!
Click to expand...

AND THE PREACHER SAID!! :eek: I can see where we are all going to need some Pastoral counseling on this issue! :rofl:

Sorry, I had to!
 
Thanks everyone! I hope my wife doesnt see me talking about getting rid of her I will have to build me a room lol! I guess I need to just research and save more... I was hoping for a quick fix but again I don't want any of my babies to die because I went cheap. Hmm... If only I had a money tree! :shrug01: I might price out what it would cost to build something in the garage for a temp spot until I can drop the money in to an addition on the house for my snakes lol. The wife will love that one? Honey I took out a 2nd mortgage on the house for my snakes hahaha. Well keep the ideas coming! :) but the wife stays for now! :reddevil:
 
The RV would be a good idea especially if you got a really messed up one that you could remedel into a mobile snake station! It would be cheap to buy and you could tailor it the way you want plus haul it to reptile shows. The only problem is, I wouldn't want to take my entire collection to every show, but your definitely on the right track.
 
One suggestion that I can think of, is if you do make a small, small room, make sure to leave plenty of space between the a/c unit and the snakes to avoid drafts.
 
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