Moving to a bigger viv?

[RubikAce]

My ~9-month-old snake currently lives in a 37 x 22 cm (14,5 x 8,6 inches) vivarium that to me seems maybe a tad small for him. His two caves and water bowl take up a lot of room so he doesn't have that much space to roam around. He's quite active, too, so I'm unsure whether it would be time to move him to a bigger viv. I haven't measured him (wouldn't be able to keep him still and straightened out long enough, lol) but I'd estimate that he's probably a little bit over 50 cm (19,6'') long. I have a bigger viv waiting for him, but I'm pretty sure it would be too big (70 x 40 cm / 27,5 x 15,5 in). So the question is, is he okay to stay in his current viv, or should I perhaps consider getting him a larger one that is bigger than his current one, but smaller than the one I already have? Or would it be possible to move him to the big one if I provide him with a lot of places to hide (three caves, one fake animal skull and 3x fake plants)?

 

[Karl_Mcknight]

your bigger viv is not that big. He could easily go in there now, and you'll probably have to up it again later on. A good size for an Adult Corn is about 36 X 18 in.

 

[albertagirl]

Hi RubikAce, have you heard of Serpentine Widgets Snake Measurer? The link is here. You simply take a picture of your snake next to a ruler or something that you know the exact length of, then upload the picture into this site and you can measure your snake without him having to straighten out or stay still. It's quite easy, I use it all the time.

As far as your current viv, what I do is add up the two sides and if my snake is longer than that, then it's time to move. So 37 + 22 = 59 cm, and if your snake is 50 cm, then he's probably okay in there for a little while longer.

On the other hand, if you would like to move him sooner, you can. I always make sure that they have lots of hiding places and foliage for cover so that they can move around from the warm side to the cool side and get a drink without having to feel completely exposed. It sounds like you're ready to provide that. I slowly remove the extra hiding spaces as they grow until I have only the number I want to keep.

Also, I don't know how necessary this is, but every time I move a snake to a new/bigger enclosure, I treat them like they're brand new again. I give them a week to settle in without any handling, and a few days to make sure they have found the warm side before feeding.

 

[DLena]

There really isn't a viv that's too big, as long as it is secure, no escapes) and you provide hides. If your viv is tall enough, you can also suction cup in some vines for climbing or build a second level, like in the DIY section of this forum. Snakes love creativity!

 

[RubikAce]

Thanks for the replies! I think I might just move him to the bigger viv once I make absolutely sure there's no way he can escape since he's still fairly small. Might even buy one more cave and maybe another fake plant just to make sure he has enough places to hide.

If your viv is tall enough, you can also suction cup in some vines for climbing or build a second level, like in the DIY section of this forum. Snakes love creativity!

I've actually been thinking of perhaps buying couple of those really light plant pots made of coconut and attaching a suction cups to them and putting them up on the wall of the vivarium. My sneaky one has a habit of sleeping perched up on top of one of his fake plants so I figured he might like more places to chill somewhere higher up

 

[DLena]

See? You're already thinking like a sneaky one! Good job!

 

[RubikAce]

Thought I'd do a quick update in case you guys are interested in how my sneaky one is doing. I moved him to his bigger viv about thirty minutes ago and my goodness, that guy just doesn't stop surprising me Way back when I brought him home for the first time he hid for about four hours and I was kind of expecting him to stay hiding for a while this time as well but no joke, within two minutes he was already checking out his new home. Climbing the fake plants as high up as he can, tongue constantly flicking, no signs of fear at all. Currently he's very thoroughly investigating the fake buffalo skull and I think he's going to be quite fond of it The real test, of course, is the next feeding time and whether he'll eat after being moved but judging by the success of today I'd say he's going to be just fine.

Also, since this was the very first time I ever saw him completely stretched out, it turns out he's quite a bit bigger than I estimated, about 60cm (which also means he's a little bit older than I originally thought). So, it was definitely time to move him to the bigger viv.

So, from Haglaz and myself, thank you so much for the advice! He seems absolutely exhilarated about having more space and so many new things to explore, and seeing him so curious and fearless about it makes me incredibly happy

 

[Ally.Wolf]

When I got my first snake I was told that as soon as your confident that 1. You can find your snake in the bigger Viv and 2. The snake can not get out of the bigger Viv you can can move them. Just make sure your snake has lots of places to hide in like fake plants, substrate, hides etc etc because if the area is bigger your snake might feel more vulnerable for awhile

 

[Dragonling]

The idea that a small corn will feel intimidated in a larger space is total bunk. Any size space without adequate cover will make a hatchling nervous.