I’m looking for some cool house snake enclosures
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I don’t have my snake yet but in a few months I’ll be able to show you mine…? There’s two, really- a baby box that will be an altered Sterilite locking box, and once the snake is a little bigger, that box becomes the Emergency Bugout Box, and I will be using a bioactive set up Kages enclosure.
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You have a lot of different options. You can use a rack, storage tub, or glass enclosure. I’m planning to get them and I’m either going to use a 66 qt storage tub or a reptile basics rack.
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Show them once u get them would love to see them
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It will likely be a few months at least but when I do get them I’ll post them.
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I’ll post photos if I see any at tinley
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Okay here’s what I have for my incoming juvenile. This is a 15qt/Large shoebox style bin with ventilation added and positive locks. Not shown are the binder clips that reinforce holding down the edges. Fine aluminum mesh, very much sealed down with silicone, covers an opening in one side of the bin lid.
The coconut hide and rough stone are on the warm end. That end is about 90F. I am still tweaking how far the light is and how warm the heat mat below the bin is, and there is a thermostat, with its probe inside the bin to control the heat mat just in case. Without the light on, the warm end tends to around 79 or 80 F, at “night”, which from my reading ought to be good.
The water dish and a tube hide are on the cooler end, where it’s about 70F. That bit of clean cotton cloth on the tube is just acting as a humidity aide for now, because the paper towels I mean to use for the first couple of weeks so I can keep an eye on droppings do not hold humidity for long at all in the Rocky Mountain Air up here. I am still fiddling with adjusting toward a more consistent humidity and so far it’s working.
I am using a Sunglow UV+Heat bulb, adjusted for the right distance to provide heat without too much UV… which he technically hasn’t been proven to need, but hey, at his formative age, I want to be sure he has it if he wants it. (I don’t know if this bulb would be strong enough for reptiles who really need a lot of UVB, but it’s enough for this guy to get a little. Just in case! In the future I may switch to a dual bulb assembly so there’s a weak UVB and a decent heat for possibly less cost but I’ll use this for now.)
Once my snakeling is large enough and I have completed his bigger proper enclosure, he will be moved over to that. It is a 16x16x30 inch PVC enclosure, which will help hold the temperate warmth and humidity he will need to be a very comfy snek, with lots to explore and many hides and places to slither. I’m thinking of going Bioactive for that. Probably BioDude’s Terra Sahara.
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Edit: Same day update as I dial in this temp and humidity. Gave up on paper towels. The climate here just doesn’t allow them to hold sufficient humidity. Good as they are for an initial evaluation of a snake, like in quarantine setups, coco-chip substrate is now holding the correct levels of humidity.
Most of my house is at an archival 35% humidity most of the time. But the warmth in the bin means it’s trying to be 25% in there. (yes, I live in a DRYYYY place) Coco substrate seems to be just enough to balance that out.
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On another non enclosure related note did You see the I think they where albinos that reach out reptiles produced I haven’t watch the vid recently lol they are shown here Something NO ONE has EVER SEEN - YouTube
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Ooh thanks for the link! I asked Reach Out Reptiles about those plans with house snakes and the reply from Reach Out was that they aren’t ready to be selling any time soon, but that big things are indeed coming from them in the future with these lovely creatures.
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That looks great! Only thing I would change is to perhaps add a little more cover/clutter. I assume you’re getting a baby/juvenile, and most young snakes tend to be pretty nervous and think the world is out to get them, so the more places to hide, the better. Just a few more fake plants (or even crumpled paper or paper towels would work, really anything they can hide in) would probably do the trick.
Mind you, I don’t have any experience with house snakes specifically, I’m just going off what I know about snakes in general. If I’m wrong, someone please tell me to bugger off and stay in my lane.
But the enclosure really does look good, it’s clear you’ve done your research and gotten all the most important bits done. And good on you for getting it all set up and figuring out how to manage temps and humidity before your snake arrives!
Regarding your humidity struggles (I can relate, as I also live in a dry climate and recently got a tropical species), did you poke holes in the lid of the tub? If so, you might have better luck keeping the humidity right with paper towels if you cover some of the holes in the lid (I see you also have holes in the sides, so you’d still have ventilation). You could cover them with foil or plastic wrap or something like that. I was able to keep things reasonably humid (60-70%) with paper towels with a few holes on only one side of the lid of my tub. I only had to mist lightly every few days. In fact, once I moved to coco chips, I actually had to add a few extra holes in the lid because it was TOO humid. Just a suggestion! It’s not the end of the world to start with coco chips, but paper towels do make it easier to spot things like mites or abnormal poops, as I’m sure you know.
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I was thinking just the same thing- trying blocking up some of the vent holes, and then adjusting from there. So far, I think it’s working!
Its a pretty small space, but if the snake seems timid, I’ll definitely add more branch and leaf cover for it.
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Yeah, water mostly evaporates upward, so the less holes in the top for it to escape, the more ambient moisture is trapped within the enclosure. Hooray for science!
Also, if you cover the holes directly above the water dish, I’ve found that helps a lot to trap humidity.
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So far my one main concern is Night time temps and if it will be warm enough. My house is kept pretty chilly, 65-70 F at night for my health reasons, and that 70 is barely the cold end of what House Snakes seem to tolerate, by my reading.
(References include "the Captive Care of House Snakes", by Erik Paterson)
I’ve managed to get around 80 on the Warm side for a night time High temp but I am hoping that’ll be enough. My snake is fairly young and I don’t want to get anything wrong.
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I really think I am going to try these guys myself lol 
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Having handled one, I have to say they are pretty miraculous. A socialized adult is curious and painfully cute, though I hear like all young squiggles they can be a little wiggly as babies. Erik Paterson talks about them being very handle-able, and the House Snake family has a few different twigs to choose from. Mine is a Black House snake, a locality of the Brown House Snake, Lamprophis fuliginosus. There are other Lamprophiids under the House Snake umbrella too. Some are striped or spotty. The deep red ones appealed to me, and there are albino color morphs of most of these.
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I recommend using heat mats/heat tape and/or ceramic heat emitters, if you’re not already using those. Since they produce heat without light, you can leave them running at night.
I feel like 80 for night temps would be plenty toasty for most species (even a little too warm for some), but I don’t know about house snakes specifically. But if 70 is the low end of what they can tolerate, then 80 is definitely warm enough.
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I think I’m just over-worrying because my last reptile pet passed away, though that was not for lack of highly accurate husbandry.
I have a heat mat and lightbulb setup with a thermostat on the mat, so when the bulb is on it provides most of the warmth (and a little UVB, not strictly necessary) and the thermostat holds the heat mat down low. Then when the light turns off at night, the thermostat picks that change up and turns the heat mat up a little to compensate.
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(*edit, the species name is Boaedon fuliginosus, wrong word there.)
Yeah, it sounds like your setup is good, though I totally relate to agonising over every little detail when awaiting the arrival of a new baby. I went through something similar while waiting to receive my blood python last month, haha. I knew I’d done my research, but I’d wanted that species for so long and really wanted everything to be perfect for her. Now that she’s finally here, I’m agonising over her adult enclosure that she won’t need for years.
It sounds like you’re going to give your house snake a great life. I think it’s better to worry too much than not enough (so long as you’re not so consumed with worry that you can’t enjoy your animal/s).
I hope you’ll post pictures when you receive the new baby! I love those little house snake faces. 