Newly built screen with tub

[Calift]

I just finished a mini project of adding a mesh screen to the top of a plastic tub. For the screen part (visible on the underside) I used a thick mesh, and glued it down with special plastic glue. Then I added a layer of cardboard over that, and then reinforced it with tape (with no sticky parts out)....then I covered the tape with a cardstock paper.

I'm new to this all.....and I don't want my girl to escape. Any suggestions for improvement?

http://i3.photobucket.com/albums/y77/cally_dog/CIMG6191.jpg
http://i3.photobucket.com/albums/y77/cally_dog/CIMG6190.jpg
http://i3.photobucket.com/albums/y77/cally_dog/CIMG6192.jpg
http://i3.photobucket.com/albums/y77/cally_dog/CIMG6203-Copy.jpg

[gregmonsta]

Looking good so far ;) ... the lid is the most important thing ... just keep on top of checking it for gaps and making sure it's a snug fit.

[Calift]

Will do....thanks for the tip!


Right now there's no heating.....I have several extra heat mats (and thermostat hook-up), think I should add one?

[gregmonsta]

It's always best to have that thermal gradient ... only have about a third of the enclosure on the heatsource. You should aim for 30C at the hot end and 20C at the cold end. Be careful with your ambient temperatures too. If your room gets above 25C then so will the cold end of the snake enclosure. ;) be vigilant and you will find a balance in no time.

[Millinex]

I picked up 3 large 30 gallon tubs a couple weeks back and found myself doing the same thing and it works great. As for heating I am not personally using any extra heating, somehow the idea of heat + plastic = bad in my book. I live in an area where it is already naturally very hot, and we do not have AC so my snake enclosures get into the 80s in the day anyway ;).

[gregmonsta]

Heat works fine with plastic as long as it's on a thermostat of course ;) you might need this once the weather gets cooler. 27C is the optimum to help with digestion and garters benefit greatly from bottom heat.

[Millinex]

Heat works fine with plastic as long as it's on a thermostat of course ;) you might need this once the weather gets cooler. 27C is the optimum to help with digestion and garters benefit greatly from bottom heat.

We keep a steady temp in the house during the winter, it is never really cold so I'm not overly worried about it, I ran 0 heat forever and never had any problems with it, snake is still a beast haha.

[DrKate]

Be careful with your ambient temperatures too. If your room gets above 25C then so will the cold end of the snake enclosure.
Sorry to hijack, but I've been wondering about this... I don't have A/C and my indoor daytime ambient temperature regularly gets to 80 F (~26 C) in the summertime. The hot side of my enclosure has a thermostat and stays around 83 - 85, but that doesn't leave much of a gradient.

Do any of you in hot climates actually *cool* the "cold" side of your enclosure during the day? How??

[Stefan-A]

Do any of you in hot climates actually *cool* the "cold" side of your enclosure during the day? How??
I bet they just cool the whole room.

[DrKate]

I bet they just cool the whole room.
Sure, but I'm unlikely to convince my landlord to install central air just to make my snakes more comfortable. ;)

Anyway, I was just wondering if anyone had any innovative ideas...

[Stefan-A]

Anyway, I was just wondering if anyone had any innovative ideas...
I'm sure it would be technically possible to build a thermoelectric cooler for an enclosure. ;)

[drache]

we've had summers without ac and the snakes have coped about as well as we have
I've given them refrigerated moss hides on really hot days; just make two plastic food storage container with damp moss and a hole somewhere for each tank and you can trade them in and out of the fridge or freezer; the snakes usually figure them out pretty fast; first they just lie next to them, later they move in; if you insulate the tank a bit, the cool stays longer; I tape those blue foam insulation tiles from the frozen rodent shipments around the tanks
frankly - we only got ac when I used to have tropical fish and realized that for the price of a couple aquarium chillers we could all be more comfortable, but now that there are no more fish, we hardly use it

[mustang]

TAPE THE LID DOWN!!! ...i had to it looks great so far

[twmedford23]

I did the same thing recently with my 35 gallon Sterilite tub. One thing that I did to keep the lid more secure was drill two holes in the back corners where the lid meets the tub and put in a couple of nuts and bolts. It keeps the back completely secure and I just use a couple of small plastic clamps on the front end. It does make opening the lid a little difficult as it now doesn't open all the way, obviously.