In your opinion, what would be the ideal sized PVC enclosure for a sand boa? I am commissioning some “budget” starter setups to sell with our sand boa babies. Shooting for a size that will last for the life of the snake. Would also love any ideas on specific features that you think would be valuable (heat, substrate depth, enrichment, etc). I have researched and already have a number of ideas based on our experience with customers that we have sold to in the past, specifically looking to both validate some of my observations and gain some new ones. Thanks in advance!
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It depends on the age, sex, and personality of the snake. Babies could be stressed out by the larger enclosure, so it might be tricky to sell something that would work for babies and adults. Females could use a bit larger enclosure than males since they get bigger. Some snakes will be moving around a lot and benefit from a larger enclosure, while others will pretty much just sit in the same spot most of the time and be stressed by the extra space. Normally, the minimum enclosure size is 2’ x 1’ for an adult. I’m not sure what size PVC enclosures are made in (I think 3’ is the minimum for most sellers), but something like a 3’ x 1/2’ would be a good size.
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Im commissioning the builds, meaning I get to pick the size.
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In that case I would use something like 2.5-3’ x 1-1.5’ for the males and something around 3’ x 2’ for the females.
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I keep my large adult female in a 36"x18"x12" PVC enclosure. She came to me in a 20gal long tank (so 30"x12"x12"), but given that she’s a big active girl, I felt that was a little too small, so I decided to upgrade her to something with a bigger footprint. That smaller size would probably be fine for a male or a younger/smaller female, though. It really just depends on the size and activity level of the individual snake. For males, I’d say the minimum footprint size should probably be around 24"x12", and for females, 36"x12". Though you could certainly go bigger, especially if the snake is quite active. For height, I think 12" is fine regardless of sex. My girl does climb on the low branch I have in there, but she’s a clumsy climber, so I’d avoid providing any climbing opportunities high enough to cause injury if they fell.
Since you said you’d be selling these enclosures with babies but want them to be able to last for the lifetime of the snake, you might consider designing it so you could put dividers in, that way you could make the enclosure smaller for little ones, and could expand their usable space as they grow.
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