What Would You Get?

[NH93]

Hey all!


Not to jinx anything, but I will be picking up a(nother) PVC enclosure on Saturday that I got for a wicked deal! It's a 48"x24"x12" locking PVC - identical to my other PVC enclosure. I found it on Kijiji, used in great shape. Talked the guy down to $80!

Anyway, I am hoping to put something new in there within the year. I have a smaller tank (15 gal) that will be ready to go by the CRBE in Toronto in September, in case I get a baby of some sort. I have a few possibilities with this tank in the future, and am wondering what you would do! As of right now I have my beautiful, strong 2 year old snow corn (female), and my juvenile pinstripe ball python (male). They are in a divided 48"x24"x24" PVC enclosure, and after few months of proper quarantine I will be stacking the vives.

Right now I am stuck between getting another snake - which would be easier for me to care for and leave when I need to - and a blue-tongued skink, for a more affectionate pet.
I want something that would use the space; and I don't mind customizing it a bit if I need to (some mesh on the top, extra vents, dividers for more down the road, etc.)
I feel confident in my herp skills and would like to try something a bit more intermediate or larger.

Here's my top picks in no particular order: Brazillian rainbow boa, red tailed green rat snake (although it is more arboreal I've read...), blue-tongued skink, other larger colubrids/rat snakes.

What would you do in my situation, or what other herps have you had great joy/success with as pets?


Thank you for the feedback!

 

[Floof]

As far as something that would do well in a short enclosure.. Blue tongue would be great, so long as you can install lighting on top! Woma python would do well in those dimensions.

If you want something that climbs more, you could always divide the new one for the corn and ball python and put a semi-arboreal rat snake in the 4x2x2! Unsure whether that would be tall enough for a red tail green rat, but it would be a good size for a smaller Beauty rat snake subspecies (Chinese, Mocquard's, Cave Dweller). Kunashir Island (aka Japanese) rat snake for something consistently docile...

 

[NH93]

Thank you for the reply! I hadn't even thought of a woma! (Little on the expensive side if I remember correctly).

 

[TyeW]

A blue tongue would be nearly impossible to house in a cage that is 12" high. You would need the 24" high cage to install a basking lamp and UV lamp/strip.

As for what to put in it, I would suggest a woma, spotted, or children's python. You could also go with a king rat or a drymarchon if you have the cash.

Sent from my SM-G900W8 using Tapatalk

 

[Nanci]

A Florida king is also a nice snake. Cool morphs- they get big, but not too big. You never have to worry about them eating!

I have a uro in a 12" with no problem, but he has a basking spot at 125F, too. I don't know what BTs need, less I assume, but you could go with a cooler bulb, maybe??

 

[HerpsOfNM]

snake options:

• japanese rats (Kunashir animals tend to have a blue head/neck with green body)
• trans-pecos rats
• rosy boa
• nice bright examples of either yellow or everglades rats
• as Nanci suggested, a nice florida king, or even an eastern chain king
• angolan python
• Tamaulipan rat snake (Pseudelaphe flavirufus flavirufus )

Is the 24 inches height or depth?

If height, you could do a green tree python in there once it's older. I keep my GTPS in 48x24x24 caging.

I don't know how well lizards that require basking heating would work in PVC caging, particularly those species that require high temps. You might be able to get away with some larger terrestrial gecko species.

 

[Floof]

A blue tongue would be nearly impossible to house in a cage that is 12" high. You would need the 24" high cage to install a basking lamp and UV lamp/strip.

To do the BTS in a 12" high cage, she would likely have to install screens and put the lights on top. You're right, not tall enough if she wants to mount bulbs directly inside the cage.

 

[MysticExotics]

I wouldn't put a Drymarchon in a 4' cage. I would go minimum 6' for one of those.

If you go Kingsnake, MBK's are pretty awesome (also referred to as poor man's Indigo) LOL

I love mine!

 

[NH93]

Thank you all SO much for the suggestions!! I really appreciate them all

Picked up the PVC cage, and it needs some TLC... smells, and needs a new piece of clear acrylic for the front and locks + hinges. As soon as we brought it home, the ONLY key the guy still had - which had been in the lock itself - broke. Luckily I can get all of those materials almost free as my partner works in signs and contracting.

It is clearly an older style of PVC vive with thicker PVC (which is fine) and as such, I don't mind playing around with it and customizing it. The guy didn't even have vents for it... I feel so bad for the boa in there previously. I definitely need to add those myself.

As for height, it is 12" high. Sorry about not being clear with that!

I am going to do some more research into the snakes suggested (and how much I need to save for some of them). What I am thinking right now is to prepare my smaller tank with a UTH/thermostat, and have a bulb ready, for September, and have a small list of things I am interested in. If I decide by the expo then I'll bring one of them home! If not, I'll see what is available and go from there.

Thank you all again for the suggestions - and keep them coming if you like!

 

[NH93]

Just curious, why wouldn't the BTS be able to be in a 12" vive (for those of you who suggest against it)? I would be cutting out a section and adding metal screening to situate a lamp, of course.

 

[HerpsOfNM]

Just curious, why wouldn't the BTS be able to be in a 12" vive (for those of you who suggest against it)? I would be cutting out a section and adding metal screening to situate a lamp, of course.

They're terrestrial, 12 inches in height should be fine.

As Nanci mentioned, Uros might work in that too if you ventilate it enough and can provide the crazy temps they need.

If you want to go lizards, jeweled lacertas might be fun and get decently sized.

You could also try collared lizards, but I'd shoot for more vertical space for them as well. Great Basin male collareds get an amazing deep blue throat patch, but collareds (in general) are high heat too. If you don't mind the need to cut up fresh salads, desert iguanas or chuckwallas could be an option for additional high heat critters. I'm honestly partial to all 3 American Desert SW species.

It's a huge cage for them, but you could keep some of the various frog-eyed geckos or Namib sand geckos in such a tank if you can get a deep enough sand layer for burrowing.

And to be a little different over the BTS, you could do pink tongue skinks. You don't see them nearly as often as they once were in the 90s.

 

[NH93]

Thank you so much for all of the suggestions!!
I have definitely looked at the pink tongues, but they are a bit pricier. I was a bit confused when one or two people said 12" wouldn't be tall enough, when ALL of the care sheets I have seen suggest that height of vive!

 

[MysticExotics]

I don't know why I didn't think of it, but I love the Red Eyed Crocodile Skinks! If I can manage the space for a setup, I'd love to get one or two down the road!

 

[mrgalvan]

Why not a brazilian rainbow boa? Im suprised that no one has suggest one, the 48in×24×12 is is more than enough for it. (Just my thought)

 

[Nythain]

...but I love the Red Eyed Crocodile Skinks!...

Seriously one of the most awesome looking skinks and reptiles in general. They remind me of real life pokemon.

 

[NH93]

Seriously one of the most awesome looking skinks and reptiles in general. They remind me of real life pokemon.

Oh no you didn't! (I may or may not have just watched the last 3 seasons of the original American series... blast to the past of my childhood!)


And I like the idea of a BRB but I think I like the idea of affection a little more. I LOVE snakes - I am definitely more into snakes than lizards on a whole - but the skinks are starting to capture my heart little by little.

 

[TyeW]

Thank you so much for all of the suggestions!!
I have definitely looked at the pink tongues, but they are a bit pricier. I was a bit confused when one or two people said 12" wouldn't be tall enough, when ALL of the care sheets I have seen suggest that height of vive!

I thought you would be modifying it by adding a lamp fixture INSIDE the cage, not on top of screening. IMO I wouldn't trust screening alone to hold the weight of a lamp.. I wouldn't want to risk a disaster of the lamp falling, burning the animal, and the animal getting out.

 

[NH93]

I thought you would be modifying it by adding a lamp fixture INSIDE the cage, not on top of screening. IMO I wouldn't trust screening alone to hold the weight of a lamp.. I wouldn't want to risk a disaster of the lamp falling, burning the animal, and the animal getting out.

Screening probably wasn't the best wording there... what I should have said was METAL screening! I have an extra glass tank lid I'll probably cut apart and melt or stick to the PVC somehow (it was previously used to hold a heat lamp as well anyway). And by me, I mean my partner. As much as I'd like to be a handy person, he's a contractor and builds signs and things for a living, so he'd be much better at it than I.

I'm not sure if you know what kind of metal mesh lids I am talking about, but they are made to have heat lamps on them. If you think of a bearded dragon starter kit from PetSmart of somewhere like that, for example, it is the lid that comes with those. Not the flimsy screen stuff for chameleons.

 

[Nythain]

So I'm gonna personally vote for the BTS... or a Boa. But the BTS man, they're just so adorably ugly and awesome.

 

[NH93]

Thanks Nythain!
I know a boa would probably do wonderfully in the vive (in fact, that is exactly what was in there with the previous owner), but I am not interested in them for some reason (apart from BRBs). Just doesn't tickle my fancy... plus they get pretty big! I don't want to feel overpowered, ever, with my pets. Not to mention anything over 6 ft. requires a permit where I live and they are expensive!