Hi all! Im new to the forum side of this community and thought it’d be a great place to get some inspo and spark some ideas for my next project! Ive spent the last few years really enjoying, designing, and building enclosures for my personal reptiles and those of a few friends. Recently ive been getting the itch to dive into my next project but ive found myself unsure on what id like to keep. I dont want to build anything until I know what im building it for and I thought some of you all could maybe share your ideas or what you personally keep to help me decide. I currently keep a female albino Florida pine, a male FWC, a young female ‘Vera Cruz’ Mexican indigo, and my baby (his name is literally Baby lol) Mexican beaded lizard (Horridum). I love all of my animals and they keep me endlessly entertained, they are all very much just my pets and will remain as such for the time being. However id love something new that could potentially become a future breeding project for me. Im open to anything, lizards, chelonians, another snake; I cant get enough of the large colubrids! I have quite a bit of space to dedicate to this project but my mind right now is drawn to a 5’3’5’ arboreal/semi arboreal setup if that helps narrow any ideas down. Im also very open and willing to change those dimensions if need be. I think the only animals I am not open to right now are any extremely large constrictors, or monitors (4ft plus). I hope this was clear and gave you all enough info to help me out. Thanks in advance if you can!
Welcome! I like the idea of a group of social snakes or lizards. Maybe garter snakes. They’re active too. Corn snakes aren’t traditionally social, but 2 or 3 same-sex adults in a large enclosure would be fun, and they’d do well. They can be secretive, but they’re also semi-arboreal, so fun to watch if vertical space is provided. 
Thanks for your reply! I love the idea of something that can live communally, garters are a blast I had them as a kid and would definitely consider them again! As for the corns I love that idea as well, I never thought to cohab them but it makes sense as ive seen people do so with other species of rat snakes.
If you are interested on semi-arboreal and communal then I would suggest Candoia bibroni, Solomon Island tree boas. They do great in groups and climb all over the place. Feeding time can be a bit of a challenge if you are not careful, however. And I will warn that while breeding is not super expert level difficult, getting the babies to survive is absolutely a challenge. You do very well to have VERY large colony of mourning geckos on hand
I also know of people that keep smaller groups of rhino rats together, usually a pair or a 1.2, anything more and they can get grumpy with one another. I have also heard of people keeping pairs of VBB. And Chinese cave rats
Thank you for your reply! I actually looked into Candoia awhile back but was finding mostly wild caught and “farm bred” animals. It’s been cool seeing quite few USCB individuals popping up pretty frequently. These guys would be awesome in the biotope style viv im trying to go for ill do a little research on getting a mourning gecko colony set up if I go that route, my falsie and indigo would appreciate them as a snack as well lol. Over this last week rat snakes have really been high on my list for this build, the entire Gonyosoma family is mesmerizing to look at and seem to fit my bill quite well. With that said please keep the ideas coming!! They have been wonderful so far!
Yes, the large majority are WC. That said, they tend to transition over to captivity very well, I had zero issues with mine
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There is a FB group called something like the US Gonyosoma Collective or Alliance or the like that I have heard good things about. Might be worth checking there for more details on the keeping of the different species. And if you check The Herpetoculture Podcast, one of the host works with jansenii (the real ones, not the blacks) and I am pretty sure he has done a show or two focused on them
Thank you so much for this info! I’ll look into the Gonyosoma group on FB. I haven’t quite decided yet but ive been really leaning towards this family. Right now im stuck between
G. oxycephalum, boulengeri, and jansenii, they’re all so cool! I also have been heavily looking into tiger rat snakes. I dont think I can go wrong in either of those directions!