• Hello!

    Either you have not registered on this site yet, or you are registered but have not logged in. In either case, you will not be able to use the full functionality of this site until you have registered, and then logged in after your registration has been approved.

    Registration is FREE, so please register so you can participate instead of remaining a lurker....

    Please be certain that the location field is correctly filled out when you register. All registrations that appear to be bogus will be rejected. Which means that if your location field does NOT match the actual location of your registration IP address, then your registration will be rejected.

    Sorry about the strictness of this requirement, but it is necessary to block spammers and scammers at the door as much as possible.

Viv building questions

B

bthomas

New member
Hey there,
im planning to build a viv for my first corn snake and had a few questions..

Do you need to seal the inside of the wood in any way before putting a snake into the viv or is it ok to leave it the way it is straight from the hardware store?

Is there any kind of wood that is better to use then others?

Whats the best way to heat a wooden viv? Heat mat inside the enclosure(is that safe for the snake to be able to touch the heat mat?) or a basking bulb of some kind?

Thanks in advance for all the help, im excited to get this build started :)

Beth
 
Melamine is widely used for enclosures/racks, as it has a water resistant plastic coating on it, although it is very heavy. Birch plywood is preferred, as its very strong, furniture grade ( so it can be stained, painted, ect) but it is pricier than other plywoods. You can use "regular" plywood, but it will take a lot more work to get it to look nice, depending on the look you're going for. The inside of the wood should be sealed with a pet safe sealer to prevent rot/mold problems.


Using a UTH on a wood viv is tricky, from what I have read, and what is recommended the most, is to use heat tape/flex watt, mount it to the bottom on the enclosure ( on the inside), then silicone a ceramic tile over that, so no water can get under it. You can only use this method with heat tape/flex watt, regular heating pads need an air gap, and will prematurely fail if they are enclosed.

Using a basking light isn't recommended, as it destroys the humidity, can cause burns, and even blindness in some snakes.

Hope this helps!
 
I don't know if I'd use Hardware store wood, just sayin'.

There are a lot of nice enclosures that are actually made for snakes that you can purchase online or at a Pet shop. If you simply want to build your own, then I'd suggest you go look at one, and then build your's accordingly.
 
Thanks for the reply. I kinda wanted to stay away from melamine because of the weight and color.. But if birch is too expensive I may go with that.
Melamine wouldn't have to be sealed correct? Since it's already costed?

Id be concerned with using silicone to seal in the flex watt/heat tape.. What if it quits working or u need to get to it for some reason?
 
Thanks Karl.. I have seen them before and know how to build them I just wanted to know what materials were OK to use and how to heat them.

Pre-made ones are a bit more then I wanted to spend
 
Yes, the melamine doesn't need to be sealed. If you ever need to get to the heat tape, you can just slide a razor blade between the tile and the bottom of the viv ( careful not to cut the heat tape). Which ever way you go, the heat tape needs to be sealed so water/feces cannot get to it.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top