Cold Side Hide (Pics)

[Dontcome2myhouse]

The left side is warm, right is cool. I found this pretty cool drift wood piece (fake) that is completely hollow inside. Question....Since it is mostly on the cool side could this count as a cool side hide? It's also partially suspended off the ground. Or do I need to get something similar to what is on my warm side?

 

[Karl_Mcknight]

corn snakes love a lot of clutter and hiding spots. Aside from your hide on the left and 1 on the right, the cage is pretty much "Wide open."

Have you seen the fake plants and vines a lot of us use? Many of them have suction cups to attach to the sides of the tank. The more, the better. I would place several of them around the tank. This creates more hiding opportunities and removes that Wide Open Look. And to answer your question - if you places a few of those fake vines around that hide on the right, you'd be able to close it in more and the snake may like it better.

 

[Dontcome2myhouse]

corn snakes love a lot of clutter and hiding spots. Aside from your hide on the left and 1 on the right, the cage is pretty much "Wide open."

Have you seen the fake plants and vines a lot of us use? Many of them have suction cups to attach to the sides of the tank. The more, the better. I would place several of them around the tank. This creates more hiding opportunities and removes that Wide Open Look. And to answer your question - if you places a few of those fake vines around that hide on the right, you'd be able to close it in more and the snake may like it better.

Thanks. My Viv isn't quite complete yet. I am definitely planning on adding some greenery. I heard you can get some fake plants at the dollar store for cheap.

 

[Dontcome2myhouse]

Behold the greenery!

 

[DLena]

Lovely set up!

 

[DollysMom]

Absolutely beautiful. Your snake should love those!

 

[axis1]

Now THAT'S cool! If I were a little sneaky one I'd LOVE it in there! Looks like a jungle!!

 

[Dontcome2myhouse]

It's going to be a bitch to clean.

 

[Dragonling]

It's going to be a bitch to clean.

Not to mention finding your snake lol. I love a pretty terrarium, but I'll stick to racks with simple paper towel tube and box hides.

 

[Dontcome2myhouse]

It's in our living room and I built it for the kid, so I really wanted it to look "fascinating".

 

[DollysMom]

My viv looks more like yours and are easier to clean than you may think.

I put the snake in a secure holding container, and empty the viv. I let decor soak in a bucket of warm sudsy water (I use Dawn). I discard the old substrate and vacuum up any substrate I can't scoop out with my hands.

I wash down the tank, rinse, spray white vinegar to sanitize, rinse and dry with a micro fiber cloth. I rinse and sanitize the decor with vinegar, rinse, and pat it dry between clean towels. (I go back and forth between the viv and decor to give the vinegar some time to work on each item)

Then I put in new substrate and replace the decor. Any decor that is still wet is placed on clean towels to finish drying. I then put the snake back in and secure.

Except for any decor that needs to dry overnight, it's about an hour from start to finish to thoroughly clean the viv this way. The snake is fine without the stuff that is drying because I have plenty of plastic and resin stuff that the snake can use in the meantime. When dry I put the rest of the decor back. If you need to you can alway use temporary cardboard hides while stuff finishes drying.

 

[Dontcome2myhouse]

My viv looks more like yours and are easier to clean than you may think.

I put the snake in a secure holding container, and empty the viv. I let decor soak in a bucket of warm sudsy water (I use Dawn). I discard the old substrate and vacuum up any substrate I can't scoop out with my hands.

I wash down the tank, rinse, spray white vinegar to sanitize, rinse and dry with a micro fiber cloth. I rinse and sanitize the decor with vinegar, rinse, and pat it dry between clean towels. (I go back and forth between the viv and decor to give the vinegar some time to work on each item)

Then I put in new substrate and replace the decor. Any decor that is still wet is placed on clean towels to finish drying. I then put the snake back in and secure.

Except for any decor that needs to dry overnight, it's about an hour from start to finish to thoroughly clean the viv this way. The snake is fine without the stuff that is drying because I have plenty of plastic and resin stuff that the snake can use in the meantime. When dry I put the rest of the decor back. If you need to you can alway use temporary cardboard hides while stuff finishes drying.

How often do you do this complete cleaning?

 

[DollysMom]

When needed or every three months. Whichever comes first. I'm pretty anal about spot cleaning though . Anything that gets pooped on gets thoroughly cleaned as I go. The full cleanings are for anything I miss in spot cleaning and to freshen everything up.

P.S. I forgot to mention it but unplug anything electric when you clean.

 

[Giga]

I have vivs with a lot of decor etc. for all my snakes - my vivs are meant to be decorative items in the house as well as practical enclosures for my snakes, and they seem to appreciate being able to burrow in substrate and explore and climb over the various items and whatnot. I spot-clean daily and then do a monthly 'clean-out' where I move the snakes into a holding box (or more often, give them to my SO to handle for a bit), bin all the substrate, spray everything down with the disinfectant stuff vets use to clean their examining tables, dry it with kitchen roll, put fresh substrate in, put everything back and hey presto! Takes like 10 minutes even for the largest viv, and the biggest part of that is taking out the old substrate.