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Custom Made Tank Help

Ally.Wolf

Ally.Wolf

Corn Snake Mama
Hello everyone!

Ok so a little background on me as I'm new to this forum. In the near future I'm going to be getting my first Corn Snake, I'm familiar with everything snake related as my family has had snakes before and my friends have snakes. I don't have one yet as I did have a bearded dragon who unfortunately just passed away at a very old age :( I miss her dearly!

On that note I'm going to be using her homemade cage to house my new baby corn! So I've changed this around on it, example: I moved the lights from the inside of the tank to the outside, put brand new screen on the top of it to fix any small holes, checked the whole tank for any spaces that a baby corn could fit through, and bought cedar chip shavings (won't put those in till later in the snakes life, for now newspaper it is).

I only have one thing that has me stumped! I need ideas!! Here it is, the bottom of the tank is made of some pretty thick wood. Can you see my issue? How do I put a heat pad under there and have the heat come through to the snake?? And would it be safe to have a heat pad under a "wood" floor?

Any ideas shoot them my way!
Thanks!! :)
 
IMPORTANT! Sorry I totally made a mistake in my post! It's NOT Cedar chips that I bought it's pine chips!! I know cedar is toxic to them
 
Pine is toxic too! Both pine and cedar have oils and resins that can be harmful to snakes. You want to use aspen shavings, or commercial bedding specifically marketed for snakes.

Not sure how you can heat your cage, with the bottom being wood. Your heat mat shouldn't be allowed to get hot enough to burn, but the heat probably won't go through thick wood very well.

What are the sides made of? Can you post a photo?

Kathy
 
First off, NO PINE CHIPS! Same as cedar, they contain the oils that can be deadly to corn snakes. Aspen or paper towels are the way to go for corns.

Second, corns don't need lights. They require the UTH for belly heat to help with digestion, the lights just cause more problems than they are worth (lowers the humidity in the viv, can cause fires, and are harmful to some corns eyes and can cause blindness in certain morphs). Since you have a wooden viv then you can put the UTH inside the viv and cover and seal the edges with a clay tile and aquarium caulk. Make sure your thermostat is set properly and use a probe thermometer on top of the tile next to the UTH probe to guarantee the temps are working with the thermostat.

Put up a pic if you can, I would like to see what you have done!
 
Oh thanks for the warning with the substrate! Aspen chips it is once the snake is older!

Can't figure out how to add a picture here but I added one to my albums. In the picture the light are still inside the tank but I'm going to be moving them, right now I'm pet sitting a friends bearded dragon.

So don't snake's need a temp of 75 low end and 85 high end? If that's the case you need heat from lights right? I wasn't going to use any special bulbs just a regular light bulb to give the snake some light, (where the tank is is pretty dark).

Thanks for the advice!
 
Just an add on I've been doing some looking and found Exo Terra Heat Wave Terrarium Substrat Heater, anyone use this? It apparently can be mounted on the side of the tank down low to the area you want to heat.

Not sure if it's what a corn snake needs I'm just throwing out ideas
 
Ally.Wolf said:
Just an add on I've been doing some looking and found Exo Terra Heat Wave Terrarium Substrat Heater, anyone use this? It apparently can be mounted on the side of the tank down low to the area you want to heat.
Click to expand...

No, the one you need is a UTH (under tank heater). Corns don't need lights for heat, they are nocturnal, and the UTH does the heating from below. They require the UTH for belly heat to help with digestion, the lights just cause more problems than they are worth (lowers the humidity in the viv, can cause fires, can't be regulated with accuracy, are harmful to some corns eyes and can cause blindness in certain morphs).

Since you have a wooden viv then you can put the UTH inside the viv and cover and seal the edges with a clay tile and aquarium caulk. Make sure your thermostat is set properly and use a probe thermometer on top of the tile next to the UTH probe to guarantee the temps are working with the thermostat.

Another thing is that the wood viv may cause you problems in cleaning and disinfecting. How did you clean it for your Beardie?
 
Afrederi said:
wouldn't heat tape be a better choice in this situation?
Click to expand...

It could be if the connections are clean and properly covered to avoid electrical shock to the snake, ones self, or shorting and causing a fire. Liquid electrical tape is excellent for this to ensure no metal is exposed. Walmart and Home Depot carry it.

A radiant heat panel could be another option, though pricey. They are used on arboreal snakes though, like green tree pythons. One could still be used, but some sort of elevated platform would probably be needed for basking purposes as the panel is intended to be mounted on the top of the inner cage.
 
I found the Zoo Med Repti Heat Cable and figured I can put that inside the tank (they say the snake can touch it with no issues, you can wrap it around branches and everything) and then control it with a thermostat.

Cleaning hasn't really been an issue with my Beardie as she was on tile so nothing got down to the wood part, same thing for the snake they usually poop on top of the substrate so I don't think it will be an issue. The bottom of the tank is so deep that if I want I can put in a good 6 inches of shavings. Lol
 
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