I am planning on getting a Burmese in the future, I want to get everything ready before I do so. My questions are about the size of cage a snake of that size needs, I plan to custom make them I was thinking an 8Lx3Wx4T. Also what is a good material to use as floor cover, and things like hot pads and basking lamps??

I pretty much want to know everything I can about housing a Burmese so it will be happy and mite free

I would seriously consider the fact that Burms are one of the largest snakes in the world capable of reaching 28 feet long. Your looking at a large bedroom or somethin to house an adult.

the size requirements you listed should be the minimum, and i'm basing that on an average length of a burmese, being in the 14 foot range. As Mortal stated, some can attain lengths larger than that and I've heard of them reaching 20 -23 feet. I too would say a much larger room type enclosure is best. We do have many burmese keepers here, I'm sure they will be along to add there experiences. Best of luck

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Ken
" The United States Marine Corps......sure we are a department of the Navy,,,,,,we're the MENS department "

With a snake as large and heavy as an adult burmese you really don't need as much height. Floorspace is the thing. You will also need room for a tub big enough for the snake to soak in. My breeder friend kept his 12 footer in an enclosure 8ft square and about 3 ft high. It was heated with radiant heat panels.

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Merlin,
What's Life Without A Little Magic!

I have a baby burm that was in a 20 long since I got her (about three weeks after hatching), a month ago (six months of age) I moved her to a 37 tall (same footprint as a 20 long). She's currently comfortable in here, though now that we're in spring she's hitting a growth spurt again and I suspect she'll be in a fourty breeder before long.

I have a 2 year old male who's approaching nine feet long, he's lived in the same 90 gallon aquarium most of his life so far, but has pretty much outgrown his current cage.

The box I've built for the next stage of housing for this pair is six feet long, two feet wide, and four feet tall (open on the front). I'll be dividing it in half so that each snake has a 6x2x2 enclosure. This is still on the small side, but both animals are from small parents and aren't expected to grow beyond 12-13 feet (I don't powerfeed).

If you're unsure, most happy 13-15 foot burms I know (locally) are in eight foot long cages. So it really depends on the pedigree of your animal and the room you have available. The burm will grow no matter what. I'd suggest getting average lengths for each sex as far back along your future snake's lineage as possible, and find out feeding habits if you can too. This will give you something of a guage to go by. And as always, the males will generally be smaller than the females.

You'll be fine in smaller cages for your first year or so. In fact, you don't want to put a baby burm in it's final large cage as all the space could stress it out. But since 4'x8' sheets are pretty standard for plywood in most hardware stores, if he's your only burm and more of a pet or display animal, why not go all out and give it that much space? I have a rock python that's growing like a weed too, there's no guarantee that my 6x2x2 will be big enough for my burms for very long and I'll likely be shifting animals again soon. There's a good chance I'll be building 8x4x3 boxes in another year or so.

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Here's the thing, burmese pythons do get huge however you have to keep in mind that length is not the only factor, these snakes, pythons rather, get really heavy which I think should also be a major concern when it comes to bathing, handling and just getting regular check ups with the vet. length tends to also be exagerated alot considering that some of the longest specimens in captivity barely pass the 20' mark, but top off at the 400lb mark,
with respect to the other guys on this post both with very good tips and points. the majority of these snakes in captivity stay between 13-19ft. but if length does bother you, get a male they tend to generally stay about 2-3ft shorter than the females. now for the caging I think that if you switch the width and the height you should be good, for floor covering linoleum is good easy to clean but then you have the problem of your heat pad not being able to penetrate it, i would either use a basic heat lamp(12hr on-12hr off), or use a heat pad with good ol fashion newspaper couple layers thick, another thing is that you might want to recon a feeder supplier in your area for the future, as these snakes graduate food sizes very quickly. in the end the choice is yours, weigh the options and enjoy, i have no complaints with my 9' albino and look forward to many years to come(she's going on 3).