I'm taking care of my sister's snake while she's doing a tour in South Korea and I was thinking about adding a shelf inside the tank for him. He's currently probably around 5' long and is in I'm fairly certain a 55 gallon tank. There are four clasps on the mesh lid to keep him from getting out. Multiple people have watched him try for over an hour at a time and he can't get the lid off. He's an albino burmese python btw.

If I were to do this, what should I do/not do? And if I do this, might this give him the extra help he needs to pry the lid up and thus mean that I need to better secure the lid?
Yeah, I know he's close to outgrowing it. I'm waiting for my sister to get me the cash for the new tank and she's waiting for the army to fix its payroll mistakes. So, when the army fixes its "oops!" he will have a bigger tank.

just like everyone has been telling that tank is going to be too small soon, the shelf is a good idea, you might want to concider some driftwood from your pet store, pythons like to climb, make sure the branches arent to big, he/ she stil needs room to crawl arond.

All I can say is, you are a wonderful sister for taking care of her snake! I'm not sure I could do that for my brother!

Starring so real snake-lovers can see this.

Your 5 foot snake still has plenty of time to grow out of a 55 gal tank. No need to worry about that. For the shelf thing...The shelf Will not help him lift the lid, he would have done that already if he could have or really wanted to. A 5 foot snake is a lot of snake and much taller than the tank thus, leverage is on his side so...What you could do is put a nice heavy branch in the tank and the snake will love you for it. chances are it will turn the branch into his new bed. Note: Make sure the branch will support his weight. If your not sure make a few phone calls. Good Luck.

You still have little bit of time, depending on whether the tank is long or tall...55 is a good size. 5 foot is definitely a lot of snake and those suckers get THICK!

Instead of a shelf, try a large piece of driftwood or a U-shaped log he can hide under -- just make sure it's big.

BTW, what are you feeding it? Just curious...I have corn snakes so I can relate.

My sister studied herpetologia (snakes) and natural sciences in the University. I asked and she said a snake change habits and behaviour in a different habitat / with a new owner. Please take a look into http://www.anapsid.org/burm.html