Terrarium shape

High or longitudinal terrarium

What is better for a green tree python: an high or a longitudinal terrarium?

A high terrarium can be heated from the ceiling with a heat panel, which can reach temperatures however of up to 80 °C depending on the size. In all the years of care, my Morelia viridis have not suffered any burns.

If this temperature still seems too high to you, you should get a new generation heat panel, the temperature of which does not significantly exceed 50 °C.

A prerequisite for using this heat panel is its use on the ceiling into which the panel is screwed. Impregnated wooden terrariums or terrariums made of plastic are suitable for this. I use the latter.

Alternatively, two or three heat panels can be installed on the ceiling and the rear wall, which have a lower output. The company Lanzo Herp Cages^© follows this approach with excellent success.

I have such a terrarium for yearlings in operation and I am very satisfied.

A raised terrarium requires thicker plastic sheets and must be reinforced at the side joints so that it does not warp over time or the weld seam even tears.

The advantage of a high terrarium is the temperature gradient, which is practically guaranteed.

The terrarium should be planned so high that a green tree python can stretch out completely without any problems. The muscle flexing of the hanging python in wait for food is tremendous.

At night the snakes use the entire terrarium for locomotion, including the floor.

A longitudinal terrarium saves space, can be heated more cost-effectively and is more robust in terms of stability and that with a lower panel thickness. This makes the purchase cheap. But the operation of such a terrarium is also cheaper because the heating requires less electricity.

Even if I'm a friend of the high terrarium, I think that in the end it makes no difference in the care which type I use, as long as the volume is adequate.

The aesthetics of a high terrarium, however, has something, that's my opinion.