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My home made PVC hides

Allalaskan

Allalaskan

The Crazy Alaskan
Well after reading a thread about PVC hides I decided to just do it. I tried using wooden hides I made my self but they all started to get mold after 5 or 6 weeks.

I had 7 inch PVC pipe out in the back yard thats been there for years.

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I then took my chainsaw (gatta love the chainsaw) and cut 10 inch long pieces off.

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Then I cut them in half.

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So after that I had 6 pieces when I was done cutting, 2 for each of my 3 snakes.

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I then Took them next door and used my neighbors grinder to grind all the edges down smooth so there was nothing for a snake to hurt themselves on.

This is what I had when I was done.

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One thing I still plan on doing is taking a propane torch and burning the outside and warping them a little to give them more of a "wooden" look. But for now this is where I am.
 
I use pieces of smaller sized pipes (not cut in half) for my hatchlings, they are easy to clean and durable :)
 
Ya I cut these in half for 2 reasons, #1 the pipe was to big for the corn snake, and even when the balls are full grown I figured it would still be to big. #2 was this way they can be in the hide over the UTH and still have plenty of heat coming up and staying warmer, or at least that is my theory haha.
 
Looks good! I'd reconsider taking the torch to them though. First off, they'll be easier to clean as excrement wont be able to stick in the burned/warped areas. Secondly, I highly doubt you'll make then look nice by heating them. You'll end up with a yellow/brown to black looking hide. I'm a pipefitter/plumber, and have seen plenty of burned PVC.....friggen ugly!
 
I was also thinking about maybe using Krylon Fusion Camo paint to paint them brown or green. I know it works great on plastic but im not sure how it would do on pvc.
 
I just finished doing some gunsmithing and used some Krylon to paint an adjustable cheekpiece to match my stock. It is for use on PVC, says so right on the can. It is supposed to be fully chip-resistant after 7 days. I honestly don't know whether or not this is safe to use in your vivarium. I read the can and of course it has a boatload of toxicity warnings all over the label due to fumes. Whether or not it's safe after it cures, I don't know. Ya better look into it further before trying it out.

Mitch
 
Also, Zoo Med makes hides which are exactly what you're trying to do. I think the Habba Hut is actually wood and the Turtle Hut is resin. Check them out. I like the ones you made though.
 
Ya I think I'm just going to leave them as they are and not mess with them any more.

Also I have used the Krylon on a shotgun stock I had shortened up an inch last fall. So far it has worked great. Hasn't chipped, how ever I also tried it on a cheep little hand gun on the grips and I did have it chip on that, but I think if I had used a very fine sand paper it wouldn't have chipped. But I didn't use any sand paper on my shotgun stock and it hasn't chipped
 
Awesome!
I should make me some of those.

I think Krylon would work great- you just would have to let it cure for a week. It is non-porous and sanitize-able. You would just have to watch for chipping.
 
Naagas said:
Awesome!
I should make me some of those.

I think Krylon would work great- you just would have to let it cure for a week. It is non-porous and sanitize-able. You would just have to watch for chipping.
Click to expand...

Ok cool thats good to know. I was thinking about painting them because even though they look fine white I try to make them look as close as I can to be in a wild environment. I know both my BPs seems to like em, but the corn snake seems unsure of his atm.


O and this is where I got the idea of scorching the pvc. Which I am thinking about maybe buying some pvc to build a perch thing for my BPs since they both love to climb then wrapping my fake vines around it.





I hope those work, Thats where I got the idea about scorching the PVC but I might just paint it later. Not a huge deal, not doing it any time real soon. Im still looking around for ideas.
 
I have heard that krylon has been used to re-coat wire rat cages and they actually chew on the bars soooo maybe it would be fine?

BUT when I was looking into covering up some of the rust spots on my birds cage someone told me about rustolium. It says on the can that it dries non toxic and is often used to re-coat childrens toys. I contacted the company to ask if it would be safe to use on my birds cage in areas she would come in contact with it and possibly ingest it. They said that it fully cures in one week and after that it is not toxic even when ingested. Might be a better option if you are considering paint?
 
That is good to know about rustolium.
It is a good product, too. I've gotten great results when using it to spray paint various projects. Non-drippy.
 
BALL PYTHONS HATE HALF LOG HIDES LIKE THOSE ;O PLEASE GET IT OR ILL HAVE A PANIC ATTACK, THEY STRESS THEM OUT, THE SMALLER THE HIDE THE HAPPIER THE BP!!!!
 
Jasonx said:
BALL PYTHONS HATE HALF LOG HIDES LIKE THOSE ;O PLEASE GET IT OR ILL HAVE A PANIC ATTACK, THEY STRESS THEM OUT, THE SMALLER THE HIDE THE HAPPIER THE BP!!!!
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Now now, no need to spazz out and be rude about it.
ALL snakes like and feel safer in hides that there body can touch all sides.
You could have mentioned it to Allalaskan nicely in a PM instead.
 
HazAnga said:
Now now, no need to spazz out and be rude about it.
ALL snakes like and feel safer in hides that there body can touch all sides.
You could have mentioned it to Allalaskan nicely in a PM instead.
Click to expand...

Not meant to be rude acually was in a joking matter oops
:shrugs:
 
I have had those in there since last spring and so far they dont seem to be stressed out at all. They all eat very well (except the fact the female will only eat mice and not rats, but that is unrelated) and show no signs of being stressed.
 
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