Snake room in the basement?

[infernalis]

I never gave it a thought until now, but check the water table issue also.

Our water table is extremely close to the floor here.

when we have really wet spring seasons, these pumps run 24/7 for about a month.

[guidofatherof5]

I bet it turns out to be a very nice rep. room. Know matter what you decide to do.

[Lori P]

I'm not sure why, but they don't seem to do basements much in the south. I remember my parents talking about it when we moved dowm from NY. What's up with that?

[drache]

many places I've been to in the US the houses have crawl spaces underneath rather than basements
I think it may have come about with the lumber based construction (rather than masonry)
and it's way way less expensive to just set something on some poured concrete slab than to dig out a bunch of earth and heave rocks
not to mention that those buildings can be moved in their entirety

[Lori P]

Yeah, we have a nasty scarey bug infested often muddy crawl space under our house. You couldn't get me under there for anything. LOL I'm rediculously claustrophobic, tho, so that's the main issue.

[snakeman]

The only problem I have with my basement room is the temps vary.There is a 10 degree difference from the basement floor to the cieling.

[deborahbroadus]

I think it's a great idea! Too bad that you may have a lot of work to do to get it where you want. I am not sure about digging down though (based on other observations here) is it possible to raise the ceiling (perhaps there is a fake ceiling)?

My set up is in the basement, it was damp and prone to floods but thankfully that was the only thing of issue. It was a simple matter to have the basment waterproofed. I didn't "finish" it. It's not necessary at this point to finish it for the snakes, as I may move them out into a facility in the back (yet to be built) if my collection gets too big for the basement.

The temps in the summer are perfect and in the winter since it's breeding season for BPs (here) then having the room colder and the hot spot the same works perfect for me.

I also had a small sink installed to make cleaning and fresh water day easier and I had a second freezer for holding their food (no one that I know here would appreciate seeing f/t rats, mice, whatever mixed, laying around in the "people" freezer with the food:


I have my bullsnake and corn on top of the male racks.


Female section:


Rat room (automatic watering system):


I even have room for the Ultrasound (it's an older model).



The wooden cage in the bottom front of the pic is where my tort, Samwise, lives in the winter. In the summer he has a heated, enclosed dog house out in the back.

It's a bit messy because I am always moving, adjusting, cleaning (misnomer) and just got done setting up the computer (I was using a laptop down there) system so that I can communicate while I am there.

For those that may be worried about a fire hazard, I had the place rewired and included a bigger fuse box and outlets all over so that no one outlet is over powered. All of the racks are on Johnson controls

[deborahbroadus]

Oh, and while the basement floor is cooler, I have the racks on top of insultation (pink) and will replace these with platforms (when I get the energy). The tort cage is on top of a Kane heater to keep his bottom area warm.

What you want to do is doable..just not feeling having to dig down. If you can avoid it, it may be better because it may weaken the structure of the house..depending on how close to the walls you are planning to dig.

[NetBSD]

wow, i didnt think so many people would respond to this. as for knocking the wall down ive been in to "remodeling" for while and understand about the supports, i would have to keep a nice 6x6 beam or 2 where the wall used to be if i go this route, i have no idea about the water but the plans would be to dig a 4' hole and let it sit like that till spring to see if it collects water or not. as far as i know it shouldnt be an issue and im not in a flood zone or anything so basement flooding wouldnt really be an issues during storms.


anyone else have any ideas the troubles i might run into please share but as for now this is only an idea and i could use the help to rule out all possibilities of failure

[infernalis]

Are you (the house) situated down in a valley or up on a hill.

This region (may not include you) is all glacial deposits, and holds water well.

A giant sponge.