Yet another project

[adamanteus]

Melamine is a good option for vivs with high humidity, provided all joints are properly sealed. I've been using nothing else for many years, and it works for me.

[aSnakeLovinBabe]

oh and i'm sure you guys know this but it's important that you replace a UV-emitting light source every 6 months. After that point the UV radiation starts to wear off. the bulb may still light, but there's no beneficial UV coming out of it.

[adamanteus]

Garters in captivity don't really need UV radiation though.

[aSnakeLovinBabe]

you don't think so? I dunno, i just feel that any reptile would naturally be recieving UV outside and so i provide it even to my garters. I have heard peole say they don't need it, but they seem more perky to me when they do. Either way though, for your other reptilians it is a good tip

[adamanteus]

I've never used UV for my Garters. Diurnal lizards I've kept in the past have always had UV lights, but generally speaking I don't provide it for my snakes at all. Except for a couple of African Sand Snakes I had... but then I fed them on live lizards, so the light was more for the prey.....

[enigma200316]

I don't think they actually need it, but it helps with aesthetics......

[Loren]

I dont use uv for any snakes. I do for my diurnal lizards and my tortoises.
There are actually a few people I have come across online that claim they have raised and bred all sorts of diurnal lizards and tortoises without uv of any kind- and that they instead provide basking spots of 130-145 degrees F. with a good thermal gradient down to room temp. Takes a good size cage to allow for this obviously.
One of them has successfully raised and bred reptiles that way for about 15-20 years.
I'm not quite ready to try it myself though, need to do more research first.

[Tori]

James, you may have already thought of this. Have you considered coating the wood with non-toxic clear epoxy coating? That's what I have to use on my waterfall. It isn't cheap but you can get pretty good prices for it on Ebay. You can totally waterproof anything with it.

[Stefan-A]

I'm considering making another enclosure, but I'm not quite sure what to make it from. Glass or wood. It would be a small one, about 50x40x25 cm. Big enough for a couple of babies.

I have all the 4mm glass panes I need, left over from earlier enclosure projects. But I suck at cutting glass and my schedule doesn't really allow me to have a professional do it for me.

The alternative is 18mm wood. That's something I can get easily, but it needs to be cut, and I suck at that, too. It's more expensive, since it still needs to be bought. And I can't use a heat pad to heat it and there won't be much of a heat gradient if I use a bulb to heat it. And lighting is going to be more difficult to provide. The upside is that if I make two of them, I can make them stackable.

Wood is more durable, but needs to be treated. Glass breaks relatively easily (and I move a lot), but is ready to be used practically as soon as the silicone has dried. It's easier and quicker to put together. If I choose to make one out of wood, I need to finish it within the next 2 and a half weeks, after which my own housing situation changes once again for the next 8 or 9 months and I'll no longer have anywhere to build it. If I choose glass, I don't have that problem, I can put it together anywhere.

A "hybrid" solution seems like the only possibility right now. I could make thin plywood floor and glass top for a wooden enclosure, but then it wouldn't be stackable, unless I sacrifice space and design it so, that the enclosure on top of it doesn't have to rest on the glass.

I don't even want to think about how to make the doors at this point. But tubs and plastic boxes aren't compatible with taking pictures, so they're out of the question anyway. I'm not buying a glass enclosure either, they're always designed "wrong" and why do it when I already have all the materials I need to make one myself.

[adamanteus]

I don't think it would be very expensive to have the glass cut proffessionally, Stefan... as you already have the material. Or is it a problem with carrying the glass to the glass cutter?