new hatchling box...warning and fix

[Jimmy Johnson]

Hey all,
I don't know if any of you have seen the new 6.44 quart storage boxes, by RubberMaid, at your local WalMart.
I think they are called creative lock or something like that.

Well, I saw these and at $1.27 each I thought they would be excellent for my two current hatchlings and the five more I should be getting in the next week.
When I got home, I drilled my air holes in the boxes and switched my two hatchlings to their new boxes.
Luckily I placed these in a large RubberMaid box just in case.
After about an hour both snakes were loose in the larger box.
After looking the new boxes over I found the escape route.
In the lid there is a gap large enough for any small snake to squeeze through.

I was upset when I thought I had just bought seven useless boxes. Then I had an idea.
I knew where they were escaping so all I needed to do was block the opening.
I had some aquarium silicone so I ran a bead of silicone on the inside of the lid to block the escape route.

My two hatchlings have now been in their boxes for several hours and they can not escape. The bead of silicone did the trick.
Now my $1.27 boxes will work.
Just thought I would share the warning and the fix if anyone else saw these boxes and decided to give them a try.

 

[moreptiles]

I tried the same boxes, and mine escaped just the same. I tried the silicone thing, and the problem with silicone, is that it won't stick for long to the rubbermaid type plastic. So I would recommend getting rid of those containers and going with something more escape proof. I had such a bad experience with those particular enclosures.
Mark