building new, any thoughts?

[steve-00]

i just bought 2 new baby corn snakes and now looking to build a little better enclosure for them, i also have a leopard gecko and a few other animals so im going to make it multi "room",
http://www.cagesbydesign.com/entity...kage-24h-x-72l-x-24d-multi-unit-ultimate.aspx
heres a link to what im thinking, im a carpenters soon so i want it to look good, and its kinda easy to do, (having everything i need just outside)
so seeing as all of u have had way more experience with all of this, if u have any comments or suggestions id love to heir them

 

[StrangeCargo]

Nothing beats a good locking slide top ten gallon aquarium for a baby cornsnake. They can be cleaned/sanatized easily...heated properly...and secure.

Cages by Design makes some beautiful showcase cages...If I was you'd I'd buy seperate 10gal reptile tanks for each baby corn... and wait until they are a bit larger before building a homemade enclosure.

Things to consider are

cleaning- wood absorbs smell/feces/etc...can't sanatize it.. you'd wanna use something like melamine and use a waterproof caulk on all the seams/joints.

ventalation- too many people use the wrong vent materials and either animals escape or rub thier noses raw.

heating- it's hard to properly heat a wood enclosure... interior heat lamps are dangerous (animals get burned on them)... can't use stick-on heat pads... probably have to make a top screened vent where you could set a heat lamp...or if the cage was over 3' long (ie adult corn cage size) then one of those heat panels on a thermostat might work great.

Make sure it's escape proof- soooooooooooooo many animals escape from homemade cages.

Best of luck in your quest... there are some very nice plastic enclosures being made for reptiles...and slide racks are always great...

 

[Blue Apple Herps]

cleaning- wood absorbs smell/feces/etc...can't sanatize it.. you'd wanna use something like melamine and use a waterproof caulk on all the seams/joints.

Actually, if you take your time and give the wood a nice silky smooth finish and seal it it very well, it won't absorb the smell/feces and it will have a nice finish on it that can easily be sanitized with a bleach solution or chlorhexidine. Melamine is definitely easier to work with, but wood can be as well.

heating- it's hard to properly heat a wood enclosure... interior heat lamps are dangerous (animals get burned on them)... can't use stick-on heat pads... probably have to make a top screened vent where you could set a heat lamp...or if the cage was over 3' long (ie adult corn cage size) then one of those heat panels on a thermostat might work great.

On the contrary its not hard at all. Get some flexwatt, seal up the connections with silicone, then place it in the cage and cover that with a piece of glass/plexiglass/acrylic and seal that up with silicone as well and you're all set.

So back to the OP, I agree that for hatchlings something smaller would work best for them. But once they're older, you can easily make a custom enclosure for them. On my website I have plans to make one that you can download as a .pdf and print off. Maybe worth checking out.