I love the enlosure jammer. Show it all you like! Afterall, for ppl who want to build their own, can look at yours for ideas, right?
meibou, The den is made of 3/4 inch plywood with 2 coats of a non-toxic clear sealer. As you can see from the pics the lide hinges up for access. For the bottom of it, I stapled screen onto it for an extra security measure and then put in a 12" by 12" slate floor tile that is naturally textured and colored. The tile just sets in there with maybe an 1/8 inch of clearance on the sides. I put some lizard litter around the edges and a little pile of aspen shavings for him to sit on if he doesn't want to sit right on the cool tile. The viv is in the basement, so his den sits right on the concrete. It is about 65 to 68 degrees at this time of year. During the hot summer days of 90 degrees or more, the den stays around 71 or 72 degrees. Hopefully, you can tell by the pics that the tunnel leading down to the den opens up so that I can access the tunnel for cleaning, or getting Motega out if he decides to sit in the tunnel. Thanks for the compliment too. Motega slithers all over in there too. You can tell by the little "tunnels" he makes through the aspen shavings. I built this viv in August, because of the heat. He had been in a 29 gallon tank. Now he has a temp range of 67 degrees up to 93 degrees. He seems comfortable and just came out of his shed. He is 15 months old and his shed was 45 inches long. I can never get him to sit still to measure him though.
that sounds like an awesome enclosure...i like to create a natural look as well. i put some live plants in my snakes and turtles vivs. i keep them in terra cotta pots and bury them up to the lip of the pot with whatever substrate i have in there. if you get plants make sure the plants you get are not toxic to animals and can withstand being climbed on. i keep them in pots so that the roots dont get damaged and also it makes cleaning the tank easier. it also gives the animals somewhere to hide and some shade. i use reptibark in my vivs now, but i may be switching to coconut bark...reptibark is very expensive. and it's really dusty, i have to spray it with water or rinse it before i put it in my turtles' tank to get rid of all the dust. if i dont, my turtles sneeze or cough. not good for their lungs. and my local petstores have just started to carry the coconut bark.
I use aspen and our corn snakes love to burrow in it. A climbing branch or 2, a rock or 2, a hide in each end, and there you go.
jammer, how often does your snake go into the den? Thats an awesome idea, I have never seen anyone do something like that. It would work really well if you were breeding them. Would almost exactly mimic real life hibernating. I wish I had the room to steal your idea, lol..... good job on the enclosure. later
mxracer4life_41, Thanks everyone for the compliments. That was my goal, to mimic real life. Motega goes into the den frequently. Like if I take him out just to handle him and check him over, he heads to the den after I put him back about 50% of the time. Also, after he eats he goes down into the den for at least 18 to 24 hours. I did this over the summer when it was 90 degrees around here. I wanted to give him a broader temp range and somewhere cooler than 78 to get to. The den stays 72 degrees or less regardless of the heat outside. During the cooler months, I have measured the temp at 65 degrees now. I am glad that I have the space in my basement to keep him. His temp range now is 65 to 93 degrees.
Leoloz_225, Thanks, I think it's cool. I just wish that more people would start to think this way. You know, bigger more natural enclosures. I think there was a debate a while back about that.
me too...i think natural enclosures are not only more attractive but more beneficial for the animal. newspaper as a substrate is easier to clean, but really it isnt much more difficult to spot clean bark or aspen.
I keep hearing poeple talk about coconut bark being cheap but I havn't seen it any cheaper than reptibark. I use reptibark in my BP habitat and its about $10 for a bag big enough for one substrate change. The coconut bark chips are the same price for a comparable size bag, at least at the stores near me. I use compressed coconut bark shavings in our hermit crabs habitat. It comes in a brick so I soak it in a bucket to let it expand. It holds humidity really well and the crab loves to dig around in it. Evan when the top dries out, it is very moist when he digs into it a little. Now this stuff is about $6 a brick. Its enough to put a couple inches thick in the crabs 20 breeder. This stuff looks really nice and natural but I would think it might be too moist for snakes unless it was dried out. I'm curious what others think of this stuff. I use aspen for my corn and it works great. A huge bag is enough for several substrate changes and costs about half the price of one change worth of reptibark. I have been considering starting to use it for my BP as well for economic reasons but I hear that coconut or reptibark is best for BP's. I think aspen is the **** for Corn snakes though edit: It changed s-h-i-t to poop....thats funny ****
I've seen many places where coconut bark was close in price to reptibark, but I found a pet store in the city I live in (Lethbridge) that charges $7.50 for the largest bag of coconut bark. So at that price, I couldn't afford not to switch to it. I guess if you shop around (mostly at the family owned pet stores) you can find deals. The big chain stores seem to charge alot more for reptile supplies than the smaller non-chain stores.
ScreeminChikin, Aspen rules for Corns. I also use lizard litter in some parts of the viv. I never feed him in there though, so no problems. The lizard litter soaks up Motega's "presents" real well too. Some people have said that the lizard litter is too sharp, even to slither around on. I think it is fine.
habitat setups heres some of my enclosures which are all home built:- this unit has uth's all controlled by thermostat, and lights controlled by dimmer switches. the electrics are conceiled under the bottom tank on the left hand side. this set of enclosures is made from a bookcase turned through 90 degrees and all the stats etc are housed in what was originally the base heres a conversion i did for a customer, all electrics are fitted into the drop down top
oh i forgot to mention that the setup incorperating the 3 tanks has been finished off since the photo was taken and now has a pine board that is fitted beneath the bottom tank.
susyq, Those aren't cedar chips in that last pic are they? Probably not. It looks kinda like it though.