Hey folks, I recently purchased a house and I have a random spare room in my basement. It’s 9ft by 11ft and gets a bit chilly. (That would obviously need to be remedied, which will reduce the available space).
Doing anything with this room will take years of work because finances are tight and other things are taking precedent right now, so in the meantime I want to hear what you would do with it!
I prefer tropical reptiles (although you can suggest whatever you want, let me hear it all!) and to dedicate a whole room to one animal I would be looking for something larger, intelligent and interactive, a creature that would fully utilize the space. I love water features and the more complicated the better really! Right now I’m just daydreaming, this project would be a long way off. So if you had the time and space, what would YOU put in here? I’m looking for inspiration!
Here is a pic of the room as well as a little doodle of what could be done with it.
There’s someone who made an absolutely amazing room sized enclosure for their false water cobra, it might be worth checking out for inspiration - https://www.instagram.com/tanuki.the.falsie/
I am going to throw a curve ball at you and ask if you have considered any of the cooler-loving species. Might make life a bit easier if you are not having to force high temps into an unstable area
Check things like rhino rat snakes and others in the Gonyosoma genus which do very well when kept in a temp range of 75-85F year round. I will caveat that, with the exception of the rhino rat, most of them are not exactly considered “beginner” snakes but they can be very rewarding with the right effort
You could also look at other Asian rat snakes like Mandarin and bamboo rats, they prefer cooler temps
Beyond that, there are a slew of other cloud forest herp species that might do well… I believe some of the Abronia are more cool-loving, ditto some chameleons
I know of rhino rats and they’re really cool, but WOW I just looked up the genus and saw a pic of Gonyosoma margaritatum. What a gorgeous species and some awesome suggestions! You’ve definitely given me more to think about, thanks!
Aw, devastating. I’ll do some poking around then. Abronias would be really interesting. I had only ever seen the green ones with yellow rimmed eyes but apparently there are more?
There are a bunch of Abronia species. One word of caution with them, find a reliable breeder/importer. Unfortunately there are a lot of illegal imports
Definitely plan on doing my due diligence with whatever species I end up with! Looks like some folks are selling with import papers, can those be easily faked or is that a good sign that everything is above-board?
Do you know if Gonyosoma frenatum is in the hobby? Google images is bringing up both blue and green snakes, they kind of remind me a little of Baron’s Racers.
It is difficult to fake import papers so that is a good sign
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I have seen Gonyosoma frenatum on occasion, mostly WC
. And I know G. prasinum are in the hobby as well. They look similar but trend more toward just green and less blue
I’d be tempted to put something fairly large in there, like some sort of monitor or big constrictor. Though I know you said in the other thread that your partner wasn’t down for giant snakes. But just think how gorgeous a big retic could look in there, with naturalistic climbing structures and a water feature!
Actually looking at the room dimensions, it’s a bit smaller than I initially thought. SD retic could be great in that size, gives them plenty of space to do retic things.
Travis’s suggestion of cooler temperature species is also a great idea, since that room stays cool anyway.
Oh yeah, my very first thought on our initial walkthrough was “…BIG snake.” But I was swiftly vetoed. Would love a dwarf or superdwarf retic! My partner likes burms for their silly faces but sadly won’t budge on the rule lol. It’s understandable, doesn’t mean I can’t sulk about it!
I do love big monitors. Always dreamed of having an Asian Water Monitor someday, but my understanding is that a mature male could grow to be pretty much the length of this room so yeah… Maybe a tree or rock monitor though?
There are actually some smaller localities of Asian water monitors that don’t get quite so huge, so that might be something to consider. Females will also grow smaller than males. Nile monitors are also smaller than the BIG AWMs, and they’d appreciate a water feature as well.
Dwarf burms are a thing that exists. I don’t know much about them, and I’ve heard they can be rather hard to find and pricey, but who knows, they might be more available in the future when you’re actually ready to fill that room.
If you’re interested in snakes that are “big but not too big,” boa constrictors would be great to explore. Between all the various species, subspecies, localities, and morphs, you can pretty much find a boa to suit any taste in size and colour scheme. They also tend to have really wonderful temperaments. My boa is by far the most curious and “friendly” snake I’ve ever known, and she’s fairly active compared to my other snakes. I’d love to be able to give her a big, room-sized enclosure.
Mertens’ water monitors might be an idea for you. Basically reptilian otters. If you wanted to learn more about them I would very strongly advocate getting in touch with Mike Stefani. He has a large cage he built for his in a similar space - has a water feature and everything. Mike can give you ALL the info you would need to know and then some. He is also a good source of info on other monitors as well so may not hurt to hit him up regardless
Whatever you do with the room, you have the chance to start from SCRATCH, so my best (novice) advice is to be as kind to your future self as possible.
Install flooring and surfaces that are easy to clean/disinfect and remove if needed, make sure you have your electrical set-up planned from the start, and make any changes to the base room to make life easier for yourself.
Sorry, didn’t mean to accidentally talk down at ya, I just always figure out ways to make my life easier way after the fact, and the idea of getting to start from pure scratch and build all the way up got me excited
