Are snakes happy living like this???

I was just wondering are snakes happy in these Sterilite containers like this? how do you put a heating pad under plastic?

http://i32.photobucket.com/albums/d1...s/PICT3309.jpg

ok guess I can't just post the image it has to go as a link sorry

Yes... they are actually. From my experience, they like the small spaces better than the larger ones. My ball python was in a nice, large, well decorated and covered cage. He started to have poor sheds, though his humidity was always around 70%, he stopped eating, and overall seemed to be in deteriorating health. I finally broke down and got him into a rack, and it solved my problems overnight. He resumed eating within a week, and has yet to have had a bad shed. I can only assume that the living quarters before were "too large" despite having heavy cover, a 90 degree hot spot, and proper ambient temps/humidity. The corns don't really seem to care either way what they live in. May it be a box or a viv, they are just the same. I put the more flighty snakes in a rack fer sure though, less stress on them.
Over all, snakes like tight spaces. In the wild, they live in animal burrows, under rocks, etc. They only really go out when they need to hunt/breed etc. So in captivity, the snake is getting fed on a weekly basis, and if it can sit under the hide or in a small space 95% of the time, it will be just as happy, if not more so, living in a box.

It really depends on the snake. I have two 100-flower rat snakes. One of them is in a planted vivarium with a couple of hides, and he's ALWAYS out and about, sheds in full, complete skins, eats like a champ, and is fun to take out. I tried doing a similar setup with my female, and NO, she DID NOT WANT it. She stopped eating, had incomplete sheds, and became incredibly flighty. About two days after I put her back in the rack, she ate, was calmer, and her next shed was complete.

Moral? It's not about what's "generally" good for every snake (after all, peanuts are good for humans, except the ones who are allergic to them), but what's good for your INDIVIDUAL snake.

Here it is.

thanks everyone for your response and thanks pugsley fro posting the pic I clicked on the image and put in the link but it did not post like this. I can say my female Butter Motley like her hide and the Albino Reverse Okeetee was always out and about wandering around and I kept finding him on the side where the heat was not and then also stretched out up top of tank under rim where the top was so when you opened the top he would drop onto the bottom. He just started going under the hide this last week I have only had them 3 weeks and I'm trying to figure out the best way to house two snakes in my boys room I know two 20 gal tanks is not going to work and after reading tons of reasons not to house them together I need to figure out what to do. I just watched a video on youtbe http://youtu.be/vCQINZfrUL4 this was part one of part 2 here is part 2http://youtu.be/dbUM0Ar-fik she mentioned heat tape then I found this http://youtu.be/mrQRZmu7Vh8 is heat tape what is used in these rack systems for heat? since a heat mat will burn the plastic right? I figured I could make something stack able up to 4 containers maybe 6 straight up not side by side? for space... or 4 containers 2 side by side stacked this way if they we wanted to get a few more we could. My only thing is what container size to get? right now my butter motley Kora is about 18" and Boomer is almost 17" not sure how fast they grow.... and when their first shed is going to be or if they even had one already since they were born I asked the breeder how old they were he said give or take 3 months... he has 70,000 snakes so not sure how they keep track. I know in a couple of years my boys want to breed them. Since I homeschool this year I am going t make it a study for them.

Originally Posted by rprimeau95

is heat tape what is used in these rack systems for heat? since a heat mat will burn the plastic right?

No. No matter what you use to heat the tub you need a thermostat. A corn snake's safe maximum is 90 degrees, ideally you'd have the heat mat set to 85... far below the human body temperature, no where near hot enough to melt plastic.

Also, for an adult corn, a 32 quart tub is fine, though I like the 41 quarts myself.

AliCat37 oh I have a thermostat and digital one I did not like the two that came with my snake starter kit. You said have the heat mat set to 85 how do you control the heat on a heat pad? do you know of one with a dial? I have been looking around cause I was worried in beginning the temp in our tank cause those round temp gauges were reading 79 on both the warm and the cool side. My husband gave e his digital one I put it under hid on top of substrate to read the temp and it reads 85-88. So at what age is considered an adult 1yr? right now they are only approx 3 mo's-4 months old? So should I start out smaller than 32quart tub? but make spacing large enough for the 32 quart for later? if so what is the next sized down 28?

The thermostat does control the temperature, I think you probably have a digital thermometer.
Age isn't really a determining factor for adult, it's more size than anything. If they are around 3 feet in length then I put them in a 41 quart tub. I would start out with a smaller tub just for security. You can probably keep them each in a 15 quart tub. I usually will keep my babies in 6 quart tubs, then move to the 15 quarts, then up to 41.