New tank, new carpet python home:)

[thebrandon]

I recently purchased a new tank off of craigslist. Good news, it holds water! Filled it up a few hours ago, no leaks as of yet.

My plans are to make this the new home for my jungle carpet python(obviously with less water lol). She is in a 55 gal right now, and I thought she would appreciate the taller tank since they are semi arboreal. First though I have a few questions about some of my ideas and tings I have laying around that I can use.

Number one, would a blend of sphagnum moss, t-rex jungle bed and eco earth be suitable substrate? From what I have been reading these should be fine, but personal experience is often better than google imo.

Number two, would a small water feature be safe in a tank housing a snake, or is this over kill?

number three, for my layering I was planning on having small lava rock at the bottom, then cheese cloth to stop the soil from mixing in, then my blend of moss t-rex bedding and eco earth, I figured this would be decent for keeping the tank humid enough for a snake such as this one, and make it so I don't have to worry about drainage problems.

Number four, Are live plants a good option with this kind of snake? The only thing I have ever kept live plants with is my fish and a tarantula. I have read that they are good for helping to reduce waste, which is always a plus. If live plants are a good idea, how should I do my substrate, and which plants?

I will also be making my own background with Great Stuff/brown silicone with cocofiber pressed on to look more natural. I'll also be throwing in some manzanita branches into the back ground and possibly some cholla wood, I live in az so the stuff is everywhere in stores and the wild. Proper wood prep will of course be taken.

Any opinions/comments/redirection to a good forum or website with quality info about carpet pythons would be nice too I just wanted to make sure I shared my plans with my friends here too!

Thanks!


pictures are of the tank being filled, one of the manzanita pieces I will be using, and some of the products I have laying around the house to use.

 

[thebrandon]

also just did the math and it is a 120 tall

 

[tricksterpup]

Its always a bad idea to place a water feature or any water besides a bowl in a snake cage. To many issues arise due to water being in a cage with a snake. One Blister disease
Two Scale Rot
Three Respiratory Infections.

I keep many snakes here, and its a bad idea. Yes, Carpets like Big cages, but personally I would set up a tank like this at all for them.
I have a few carpet cages here, both being used by Boas at the moment. I keep my snakes on regular Aspen, no rocks, I do have a huge branch in one cage for my boa girl But to be honest, i keep in minimum. It would be to much work and up keep to keep the animal healthy.

Live plants will be trashed in a cage setup with any snake. That is unless the cage setup is large enough, this will not be it.

And to be honest, I see to many issues with having a setup like this, up keep is going to be the top thing. Have you thought how your are going to do regular maintenance on a cage like this? Are you going to be able to reach all the way in just to clean up after the animal, Pull out old skins and feces?
How do you plan on keeping this cage heated?

When working with animals like this, the best cages are open front cages.

Here are a few example of my cages
Rack by animal plastics. (racks are the easiest to keep clean and work with the animals. they tend to be more comfortable in these style of cages.

and a few more of mine.

This cage here was designed for a Carpet in mind. This cage has a shelf and a radiant heat panel.

 

[BoJangles]

+1 on what tricksterpup said
I have all my snakes in a rack or a cage setup(PVC cage cant remember the maker right now..just drawing a blank) all my snakes are kept on newspaper except for the 2 larger boas who have no bedding simply because they would move it around and it would get in the water bowl

 

[tricksterpup]

Another point to bring up, aquariums are the worse caging for snakes due to a few other items, humidity and heating control, and security are the biggest things.
this tank was not setup to house an animal like this. So you will need to specially make a top for it. This may not be secure at all.
I seriously recommend turning this into one hell of a nice fish tank and going out and buying an animal plastics cage.
Here is a nice one he sells for about $195. you can get this in Black if you prefer as well.

http://www.animalplastics.com/Specialty/carpet_cage.htm

Another thing about this cage is that you can pick it up and move it around by yourself.
I think the best way of doing it is buying the cages that are made for the animals.

 

[thebrandon]

Thank you for the wonderful advice i guess I'll have to go off of your suggestions. I'm guessing that humidity in those isn't too hard to control either? I live in southern arizona so humidy is almost nonexistant.

 

[tricksterpup]

Thank you for the wonderful advice i guess I'll have to go off of your suggestions. I'm guessing that humidity in those isn't too hard to control either? I live in southern arizona so humidy is almost nonexistant.

his model comes can come with a screened area for a basking spot lamp. But typically just work with your animal every other day, after feeding.
So opening and closing the cage helps. Most of my cages have drilled holes in them to help with over humidity but also in MN we have issues of dry air in the winter.

Another reason is if this snake becomes aggressive, its easier to control it from the front than from a large tank that is deep and you can not control anything due to reaching.

 

[BoJangles]

Thank you for the wonderful advice i guess I'll have to go off of your suggestions. I'm guessing that humidity in those isn't too hard to control either? I live in southern arizona so humidy is almost nonexistant.

humidity is easy to get where you want you will have to play with water bowl sizes/placement to get it to the appropriate levels