Ok I have been looking for a place to house a corn snake. So far I have found a 20 gallon long fish tank, a 20 gallon long reptile tank with a sliding top to it already, and a tank from a freind. The tank from a friend has a wooden bottom, no lid, is longer, wider, and higher than the other two, but is free. The other two I could get from Petco. Which one would you personaly pick for your snake.
The free one...always go with free! lol As long as the one from your friend is in good shape and the wood is sealed well, then you can work with it. I would use some silicone caulking to seal any seams or corners and glue some thick plastic sheeting on the bottom for extra protection, then put whatever substrate you decided to use on top of that. If you can make a proper lid that is secure enough, I'd go for the free cage. The others are fine as well. Nothing wrong with any of them for a single corn so it's really up to you. The free cage will take more work, but will be slightly cheaper to upgrade than buying a new cage. Are the sides glass I assume? Since it's a bigger cage, make sure the corn has enough places to hide (like hides, caves, artificial plants) so it doesn't feel like it's been thrown out into the open and defenseless.
Thanks and yes the sides are glass, but there is a mirrir on the back side. Was wondering if this would drive the snake nuts, and how would i heat the bottom if it has wood there.
I would cover the mirror somehow, spray paint it or something. I don't think it would hurt or bother the snake per se, but it may reflect too much light from overhead lamps. I don't know if a UTH would heat through the wood, but if not, then just use heat lamps. They should easily provide enough heat for the cage, especially if the sides are glass.
You do not want the one with the wooden bottom. You cant place a heat pad under the tank. One of the other tanks are fine. I have 5 corns and they are in glass aquariums. I house a two pairs in 50 gallons each, the one thats by herself is in a 20 gallon. More serious breeders use "the shelf system". Sure the wooden bottom tank is free but you need to think about properly heating the tank. Glass or Plexiglass works great.
Ok now im confused biochic says that using a heat lamp would produce enough heat, then newtchaplin says that I couldnt produce enough head using overhead heat lamp. Well thats what I get from it. Can someone else make a bit more sense of this for me. Thanks
Ok one last question. Could I use an Exo Terra Ceramic Heat Emitter and produce the heat needed in a tank without a heat pad under a tank.
You can produce plenty of heat for heating a tank with heat lamps. We've always used them with out snakes as well as other reptiles without any ill effects and the temperatures are even and constant...I know...we monitor them constantly digitally. Our animals are part of a university collection and are therefore kept under strict guidelines provided by the USDA and NIH. I've known dozens of keepers that use UTH, heat lamps, and a combination of both to heat their tanks. It's a matter of personal preference. What you have to do is monitor the temp to make sure what you are using is appropriate for the type of enclosure you have. And yes, you could use a ceramic heater, even in conjunction with lamps depending on the cage temps. There are different sizes of ceramic heaters so you need to take into account the size of the cage, the allowed wattage of the lamp you use, and the amount of supplemental heat you need for the cage. Don't get me wrong...there's nothing wrong with using a UTH...they're great. It's just that they're not the only way to heat a cage properly. BTW, our snakes are housed in wooden exhibit enclosures. Here's a pic of the Great Plains Ratsnake Exhibit: http://gallery.pethobbyist.com/index.php?p...97&size=big It doesn't quite look like that now after the plants were changed and some thing moved around, but you get the idea. It heats fine, is easy to clean and the snakes have lived there for 3 years now. But like I said, it's personal opinion. Some people swear by UTHs and other prefer heat lamps only. Some people don't use anything if the ambient temp of the room is high enough. I say, you use what you have to use as lone as the temps are consistent, safe, and easily maintained and monitored.
i would not use just a heat lamp. you should really provide a normal light cycle(night/day). If you have just a heat lamp, yould would not be able to provide constant temps. i think having no heat source at night would not be warm enough. I personally wpuld get a glass bottom tank and throw a UTH under it with or without a heat lamp. Also, creating all your heat from just a lamp could cause the tank to remain too dry. A CHE would work fine as well.
Besides the ceramic heater, you can also infrared night bulbs for night time heating. And we've never had a problem with humidity or shedding. Again, I'm not saying that the glass tanks are bad or that you shouldn't use a UTH...I'm just saying it's entirely possible to use the wooden cage safely and easily.
i use various tanks/vivariums for my 12 snakes and 5 lizards, with my wooden vivs i use the heat mat inside the viv secured to the base with drawing pins and controlled by a thermostatic controller so as not to be to hot, the rest of the heat is supplied by normal light bulbs or ceramic heaters, i build all my own vivs using surfaced chipboard recycled from old furniture (ie wardrobes, cupboards, video/hifi units etc) so its green as well
