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Another planted vivarium attempt!

Floof

Floof

New member
A couple months ago, I decided to try a planted viv for my beauty snake, Wyvern. (Some might remember my thread.) It worked GREAT! Until a mite infestation cropped up on one of the other snakes a month ago (damn mites), so I tore it down in order to treat her, just in case.

Well, I haven't seen mites again for a few weeks now, and the female Kisatchie was one of those who the mites never seemed to reach, so I decided to try it again with a spare 20L that was hanging around waiting for a purpose.

Well, here's the final product!

First couple pictures are before she moved in.
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PVC "tunnel"
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Exploring the new digs. The white specks on the glass is diatomaceous earth... I misted the outside of this tank with DE-water while treating for mites (it was empty at that time).
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Taken tonight (4 days after introducing the snake). Apparently, this gal LOVES to burrow. She wasted no time at all tearing up the tank! Luckily, the plants seem to be doing well despite all that... :)
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It's lit by an old fluorescent UVB, and heat is provided by a black "night" bulb, 60 watts (though it looks like I might have to up wattage as winter sets in). The plants are a Pothos vine (on the left) and an Asparagus Fern (on the right).

Thanks for peeking!
 
LOL! Thank you, Mr. Chan, I feel all warm and fuzzy now with my accomplishment... :p

Thanks, Robbie! Really thrilled with it. Now if only I could find the right kind of glass track to repair my big viv so I could get started on Wyvern's next planted viv! I even have a nice little ficus tree set aside for it... It's driving me nuts!
 
You have a very nice setup there. It looks like your snake is really enjoying. I want to try a planted viv but I am no good at keeping plants alive, good thing that's not the case with animals! :)
 
I bet you could make an artificial burrow or den over a UTH if you wanted, and cover it up. It looks great!
 
Beautiful!

For future reference, if you ever have a mite scare again, you might try this instead of tearing it apart. I would get one of the No Pest Strip type insect strips (various brand names available at Ace or other stores). REMOVE ALL REPTILES from the cage, then put the strip in and close up the cage fairly well for a day or two. If the reptile needs treatment, treat in a separate, simple cage in the usual way (lots of threads here about mite treatment). Then air out the viv for a day and replace all water after you remove the strip. Hopefully that would kill all creatures in the viv and you should be good to go.

If the insect strip is placed inside of an airtight Ziploc type bag, it should last for a long time until needed again. It will also kill the annoying little phorid flies (carrion flies that look like fruit flies and get in egg hatching containers). But I am hesitant to use much of this insecticide too close to live herps. Back in the '80s I used it for mite control. I never saw any side effects in adult snakes, but did kill a few babies with too high of a concentration. I also had some babies show neurological symptoms when dosed with too much of it. So I use it away from the herps these days (and not too close to people or other animals, either - or at least not for too long of a time exposure).
 
Newbie -- My thumb isn't very green, either. The key is easy to care for plants! I have often heard how completely bulletproof Pothos are, and I've been abusing that asparagus fern as a house plant for over 2 years now. LOL.

Nanci-- I have been thinking about that. It'd be easy enough to bury her PVC burrow a little deeper (maybe see about cutting out the bottom--that PVC insulates itself a little TOO well) and stick a UTH under it. The heat lamp doesn't seem to be terribly efficient for this arrangement, so I'll probably go ahead and see what can be done once my spare thermostat is freed up. (Just as soon as my new rack gets here... It shipped yesterday.. YAY!) :)

Kathy-- Thank you for the tip!! I will DEFINITELY remember that one if I ever have to go through the mite thing again! So, so much easier (and less heart breaking) than having to tear everything down...
 
It looks really nice, but don't the scalebabies get muddy/dirty?

And like Nanci said, I bet it would be pretty "cool" to put in a partially buried hide with a UTH under it...
 
It looks great!

I'm always in two minds about fancy vivs. (this may not apply here as it might be quite user friendly, so no offence intended).

When I moved my first corn to her first full sized viv, I put in a big log and some branches of smaller dead wood, so she had a real 'log pile'.

She loved it.

Unfortunately I rarely saw the snake, and rarely handled her, as it was impossible to get her out without dismantling the whole thing.

So I'm afraid I pulled the whole thing to bits, and she now has a couple of plant pots. :grin01:

Not trying to rain on your parade, hopefully you have functionality AND looks :cheers:
 
Soulwind said:
It looks really nice, but don't the scalebabies get muddy/dirty?

And like Nanci said, I bet it would be pretty "cool" to put in a partially buried hide with a UTH under it...
Click to expand...

Nope, they don't. :) The dirt isn't kept damp/wet enough to be at all muddy, and the dirt doesn't make a habit of sticking. I just pulled her out of the substrate (where she's been hunkered down for the last day or so, having apparently gone into a shed cycle right after the move), and she came out completely clean. Other than flinging around a bit of dirt trying to get away and burrow back down... Little snot.

Her artificial burrow is a couple 2" PVC connectors linked together to make a nice, curved burrow just big enough to fit her comfortably. It should be simple enough to cut out the bottom so a UTH can be used under it... I just have to learn how to use my jigsaw without removing a finger! :)

Iulia-- It is a little inconvenient as far as getting her out... She was burrowed down deep and did NOT want to come out today, so coaxing her out was a bit troublesome! That's part of why I kept this relatively simple... No "extras" (i.e. climbing branches, extra hides, etc). Even if I do have to uproot half the enclosure, with only 4 things in there (2 plants, water dish, pvc burrow) it's not too terribly much work putting everything back where it belongs after the fact.

It remains to be seen whether she'll be out and about much with this (it seems she went into shed right after going in), but at least I have nice pretty plants to look at if she isn't active. :)
 
So, since I was digging around in the viv today, anyway, I decided to pull the artificial burrow and cut the bottom out while I was still thinking about it. Didn't have to use my jigsaw after all (Hooray! My appendages get to live another day!); my trusty hand saw and some elbow grease did the job quite nicely.

Here's a quick before pic, as it sits in the viv (after being unburied, that is):
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And after. I used a lighter to smooth out the edges a bit.
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This way, belly heat should be able to reach her with no problems. Now I just need a UTH, and to figure out how to mount the thermostat probe. I'm thinking silicone to the side/top of the burrow will be the best way (want to keep it up out of the substrate since it'll be buried down so close to the drainage layer--don't want it to get soaked if I accidentally over-water!)
 
I wonder if you could drill a hole through the roof and feed the probe through, and secure it to the roof of the tunnel.
 
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