Enclosure Pictures

[Stefan-A]

What kind of random junk do you mean? No strong smells, no sharp corners (molded plastic usually have some, but they are easy to file down) and nothing that can get stuck to the snake or its food then it should be safe enough. Childrens toys, for example, should be pretty safe for the snake and plastic toys are easy to keep clean. I know one guy who has a toy castle in his rat snakes' cage. It looks out of place, but it doesn't bother the snakes.

[Spiderqwan]

I need to make this vivarium more interesting too look at, my son Joel was worried the snake would be lonely so he added a couple of his jurasic friends. A branch or two and some foliage wouldn't go amiss.

[Stefan-A]

Branches, fake plants and maybe a one or two extra hides can do wonders.

[Spiderqwan]

There are 2 hides in the tank at the moment. The one at the left which is in the cooler gradient, is quite large and covers about a quarter of the floor space do you think the snake would prefer even more hides than this. I was going to try and add some branches and foilage this weekend. Is it something I can simple hack off a tree or should I buy it from my local dealer to make sure it's bug free, do you think.

[Stefan-A]

Just avoid pine trees and remember to heat the branches so that you kill everything still living in it. Pouring boiling hot water over it should do the trick, but if you have the opportunity to heat up the entire branch and not just the surface, then that would be even better. If you hack it off a tree, let it dry for a while before you bring it indoors.

Buying it from a dealer probably doesn't guarantee that it's bug free, it's possible for diseases to spread through the store from one of the reptiles that have passed through there. Either way, it's recommended that you thoroughly clean everything you put in the tank.

[abcat1993]

By random junk I meant things commonly found in households that could go in your tank. Just a thought though.
Spiderqwan, you could add some green to your tank or another natural color. I used to have aspen in my tank and after I switched to wood chips it looks a lot better.

[Cazador]

Two hides are plenty, but they blend in so well that you can't see them. I think you would appreciate the look of a vertical structure or two. You can make simple structures by making a tripod out of branches by hot-gluing them together. Then you can hang things from them or slant other stick across the tripod. You could also just take a walk in the woods and look for forked sticks with a lot of character. I normally heat new wood in the oven at about 150 degrees F for 15 minutes or so. I also bleach them afterwards. Then rinse them thoroughly with clean water and allow them to dry. Untreated wood might introduce mites, which you really want to avoid. Just a few ideas.

[Stefan-A]

Made some modifications to my first home made enclosure (see page 1), that has been empty for the last few months. All it took was 5 minutes with the circular saw, 2 minutes with hammer and chisel and 1 minute with a drill. It's now 25cm (just under 10") lower than before and now I can actually get to fit in the back seat of my car. Lost about 110 liters of volume in the process, but it's not that big a deal. It was unnecessarily high for ground-living snakes anyway.

Now to decide what to do with it. Keep it as a backup cage, sell it (cheap), get more snakes (if so, Thamnophis or Nerodia), take it and one of my snakes with me when I move back to the city where I study, or do something else with it.

[Cazador]

That really looks nice, Stefan. In fact, I like it even better now.
Rick

[Stefan-A]

Should have made it right the first time. Pretty much everything is/was wrong with it. The design, the materials, the color etc. But I learned a lot from it and that's the important thing.