new enclosure plan ok?

[Steve'sMom]

Hello,

I just got a bunch of tanks and cages from a friend who was moving and didn't want to take it all. Among the stuff I got was 3 home-made chamelion enclosures. I'm not going to get a chamelion, but I took them anyway. I have been wanting to get a bigger enclosure for my corn, Steve, for a while, and I was wondering about converting one of those into a home for him. Two problems I'm not sure about though...one, they are made of screen (regular metal window screen). Would this hurt him? He doesn't try to escape his enclosure now, but who knows if he was in a new one...maybe it would cause nose rubs? Number two, it is taller than it is wide, obviously for climbing animals. But if I added like a "2nd floor" to it with a hole for him to climb up there, would it be ok? I could make it warm up there and cooler "downstairs". The base of it is pretty big to begin with, it's probably 2'x2' on the bottom and 3 feet tall. Would he climb to the upstairs, or would he still feel cramped? I know many corns are kept in racks just fine, but he's my only boy and I want to spoil him

Thanks!
Becky
my snakes:
Steve - 6 year old male ghost(anery?) corn
unknown corn(s) getting this weekend

 

[sbourget]

The biggest problems with an all-mesh cage are: 1) Nose rubbing: the snake will sometimes rub their nose raw trying to find a way out. 2)Temperature and humidity control. It's hard to get any sort of real grip on humidity and ambient temperature in a mesh cage.
That said, if you live in an area where the temperatures are near what they should be anyway, then you shouldn't have a problem with #2, as for #1, watch carefully when you first put the snake in the cage, make sure that he doesn't injure his nose. As for the second floor deal, that's a good idea. So long as he has a way to get upto it he's likely to use it. My corn snake loves his little suspended hide that I have held up by vines.

 

[Steve'sMom]

Thanks for the reply. I definately don't live in an area where corns live, I'm in Wisconsin But it is very humid in summer. He is in a Reptarium (I think that's what it's called?) now. The kind that's mesh and has a zipper. He has a big tub of water because he is obsessed with swimming, and I mist it every day because I have frogs and I'm going around doing that every morning anyway. He sheds fine, one long peice, so I'm assuming this is ok. As for the screen, maybe I can take it off and replace it with something else.

Becky

 

[zwyatt]

The humidity would probably be the biggest issue, but you might be able to make it work by using a humid hide during shed cycles. I'm sure I've read of someone thinking about a bi-level enclosure before. Your guess is as good as mine as to where that thread is!
Also, if you go with the bi-level it might be easier to heat the bottom, and have the upstairs as cool. I know heat rises, but in an all mesh cage the heat would dissipate outwards and not just rise and accumulate above. It would be hard to heat the top unless you're using a lamp. If you heat the bottom, you can still use a UTH. Plus, using a UTH on the bottom shouldn't generate enough heat for it to produce any detectable heat on the second level.

Just a suggestion, if you're not going to get a chameleon, you might look into finding someone to buy those 3 cages and use that money to buy a new/bigger, more traditional tank for Steve. :shrugs: