Calculating the Space Required by Reptiles

[SnakeWrangler]

Hi all,

Do you guys know the standard formula used to determine the amount of space required by a reptile to live happily.

I have heard that for snakes you use this formula:

[Length of Snake / 2]w x [Length of Snake / 4]h x [???]d

The text I read never mentioned how to determine the depth. However, this would be different depending on the type of snake, for example a highly arboreal snake would want more height than width.

Ok, so what I am after is the formula for arboreal and terrestial snakes and the same for lizards.

If you can help me out I will be very greatful.

 

[SnakeWrangler]

I found this, which explains how to calculate the enclosure size, this was said to be a minimum with simple accessories, for setups with a lot of decorations the size should be enlarged.

The general rule was to allow 30-40% of the floor area to be open for moving, eating, drinking, etc...

There are probably many conflicting opinions on this, but I think what this document says makes sense. I mean no wild animal has any kind of barrier as to how big its "home" is.

Lizard Enclosure Size Calculation
Width : 3 x Length of the Lizard
Depth : 2 x Length of the Lizard
Height : 2 x Length of the Lizard

Snake Enclosure Size Calculation
Width : 3/4 the Length of the Snake
Depth : 1/3 the Length of the Snake
Height : 4/4 the Length of the Snake (Max. 6-8ft)

Here is the link to the document for anyone who is interested: Enclosure Size

 

[sxereturn]

It's different for every snake. I don't use any rule. Just common sense.

 

[SnakeWrangler]

Do your enclosures come anywhere near the "rules" given, are they smaller or bigger?

 

[NoOne]

I agree i don't think theres any set formula for cage size, it's should be up to the reptile to decide what it likes.

E.G i recently put my 3yr old female frilly into a larger enclosure, thought she'd like a bit of extra space. 3 weeks on and she hasn't eaten since going into the new cage, i put her back in her old smaller cage today and after about 1hr of settling down she had a big feed of roaches.
She didn't seem to like the openess of the cage so i put a big male in there and he's loving it.

 

[sxereturn]

I keep 5 small adult maculosa in a 6ftx2ftx1ft high enclosure. I keep a 10-11 foot carpet python in a 3ft wide x 3.5ft tall x 2ft deep enclosure. Macs = super active. Big carpet = sleeps all the time.

 

[SnakeWrangler]

Could be that she has just gotten "used" to the smaller enclosure, doesn't mean she didn't like it, just that it freaked her out maybe.

Just a thought, I mean she would have eaten in the wild with unlimited space.

 

[NoOne]

Possibly but i find frillies funny like that they have a real taste for what they like. More of her "tastes" include: only eats roaches, won't touch crickets, mealworms etc, only eats red clover not green and so on.
She has been moved into new cages before and it has never phased her but there was something about this cage she didn't like, the male i moved was in a similar size cage and he doesn't care at all. Wild frillies grow up in the wild they are use to it.
Wild frillies are a completly different animal to captive bred ones, as far as husbandry goes, CB frillies are fairly easy to keep but WC frillies are buggers just to keep alive in some cases.