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building my own enclosure have some ?'s

V

vipper

New member
i'm thinking about selling my 40 gallon. I will be building my own enclosure it's going to be a 2 shelf book case style enclosure for 2 snakes. The floor space will be roughly 34 1/2"-35" x 12" it will be about 15" high with sliding screen's for the front on latches
i'll be using osb and sealing it with water based sealers

my concerns going in this are
what to use for heating?
and would this be safe for them

thanks
 
no there not being kept together, it's going to be 2 shelf's and 1 shelf for each snake with the floor space dimension's i said above
 
Sliding screens? I hope you mean acrylic or glass. Snakes will rub their snouts raw on screen mesh, and make it difficult to heat the enclosures. I prefer under belly heat. like THG or FlexWatt, but there are safety issues with having it inside the enclosure. Must make sure it can't get wet and electrocute your snake.
 
I've looked at that product, in hopes of using it in racks. It is lightweight, but really flimsy. I would think too flimsy for enclosure use, unless a stiff framework is built and the plastic is only used for covering that. We have a company here in Denver that sells 4x8 sheets of expanded polyurethane, which is ideal, but it's like $90 a sheet, so hardly practical on a budget. I'm thinking of just using 1/4" luan plywood normally used for floor underlayment. It's only about $11 for a 4x8 sheet. It will need to be properly waterproofed and probably need reinforcement at most joints since it's so thin, but that's what I'll probably end up using.
 
the osb i was talking about is $8 for a 7/16in 4x8 sheet it's about 11mm thick where as that luan plywood is about 4mm thick. A coat or 2 of sealer with some silicone around the edges inside the osb would be water resistant and protect it the snake from the osb's strands. the only thing i don't know about is heating it or where to place the heating element.

also after telling me that i looked it up and i see now it's very thin thought it was just a big giant piece of strong plastic.
just thinking but might not work, would putting heat tape/zoomed's or eq brand uth's under the plastic i linked, using wood scraps to prop up the plastic for an air pocket to prevent fires and burns?
also using an acrylic hinged front just big enough for 1/4 or smaller air gaps.

If not then my last choice is building 1 floating sliding plastic tub and sticking a zoomed uth and hydrofarm thermostat then use the 40 gal for my other tank
 
These two videos might give you some ideas on building.

The first one with just the music is hard for me to follow (but I'm not handy ;)), but is a good example of building a lightweight but sturdy frame. He's using foam board, which apparently is a bad idea because foam might give off fumes when heated.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SnIBIeoHjv4


The second one is much easier to follow (for me anyway). It may not be the style you want, but again, it's a good example of building a frame. He's using laminated panel board.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YAjfrdOJEM0


I'd try to build one myself, but I have no idea how to heat one with a UTH. I think in both of those videos, they're using basking lights. Maybe you'll figure something out. I don't know how to do a door either...

Good luck with it!
 
hmm never thought about building a frame then use panel board for a floor very interesting.

probably best to build legs to elevate it for ventilation and possiably use 2 pieces for the floor
 
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