Enclosure size for large colubrids?

[Roman]

I suppose by „tiger“ you mean tiger ratsnake (Spilotes pullatus)? If so, an enclosure of this size would be suitable only for hatchlings of any of the three colubrids you mentioned. The floor space would be OK for semiadult snakes up to ca. 6 ft, but the height is too small.

I have no personal experience with king ratsnakes (Elaphe carinata), but I kept a male Taiwan beauty snake (Orthriophis taeniurus friesei) for 18 years and I keep Spilotes pullatus since 2009. Spilotes is at least semiaboricol, so they need a lot of climbing space and a lot of branches. Beauty snakes do also like to climb so if you add some branches they will use them. I suppose the same is true with the king rats.

You have to understand that all of the mentioned colubrids are very active snakes. They will use every inch of space you provide them with. Of course you might keep them alive in a much smaller enclosure, but you would deprive them (and yourself) their activity, they would just lie somewhere without moving much (where should they move?).

This enclosure has a good size for many medium sized colubrids like kingsnakes, milksnakes, cornsnakes (for them it could also be higher), Russian ratsnakes, garter snakes, water snakes etc., but if you want to keep large colubrids like the three you mentioned you need a larger enclosure.

I keep 2,1 tiger ratsnakes in an enclosure of 250 x 90 x 150 cm (ca. 8 x 3 x 5 ft / 98 x 35 x 59 in). For more detailed information have a look

here --> http://www.ssnakess.com/forums/gener...-pullatus.html

and here --> http://www.ssnakess.com/forums/gener...us-update.html

As you can see, I keep three of them together without any problem. The same is true for beauty snakes. I don’t know about king ratsnakes, but since they also eat other snakes I would probably keep them separate.

An additional remark about lighting. These snakes are diurnal, so they like bright daylight to be active. I do also provide some UV light for my Spilotes, I don’t know if they really need it, but they like to bask beneath it. If you use some metal hybrid light you might not need any additional heating, I have some RHP in my enclosure, but they are offline since 2 years.


Roman