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Found thrown away terrarium, hmmm...

Rake

Rake

New member
I was at my sisters apartment on Sunday babysitting, and when I went to throw a diaper-filled trash bag into the dumpster on my way home... I see it. Just sitting there, stood up in the dumpster area, is what I would guess is a 40 gallon terrarium. It's filled with trash bags and other loose stuff, of course, and there's lots of dirt and carrot strips and such caked onto the glass.

I give it a cursory look over, as I need another tank and have been following them on Craigslist and such, but I have no expectations for it. I assumed it was going to have broken glass or a ruined top or whatever, but at first I don't see anything. So then I start looking more closely, and not only was the screen on the top completely undamaged (no holes or bad sags or frayed edges), but the plastic parts still slide into the locks as well. It seems a bit warped and has to be helped into place, but it does lock up.

Now I'm starting to wonder what's going on. The glass is good, the top is good enough... why would anyone throw this thing away? Clean it up and it's worth some nice money on the used market.

I'm looking around wondering if this was put here by mistake or something, and I'm keenly noting that it's not technically in the dumpster. No one's around though, it's full of trash and it's inside the dumpster area, so it looks like, "One man's trash is another man's treasure." Why would anyone consider this trash, though? WHY?!?!? I just don't get it.

I figure it wasn't thrown in the dumpster itself due to its size and weight, and that there must be something wrong with it that I can't see. Maybe it was used for turtles and it can't hold water anymore. Maybe a lizard got covered in parasites and died in it and now it's toxic. Maybe they were just too lazy to clean it up and put it on Craigslist, and decided to just make it a trash can and toss it.

I'm really thrown for a loop at this point and don't know what to do. I don't want it getting taken to the dump and destroyed, but I don't wanna steal it either.

After a lot of indecision on my part, I decide to take it home and clean it up, and I can just throw it out myself when I find out what's wrong. If nothing's wrong, then I'm gonna look for notes about a missing tank stuck to the dumpster and such. If one shows up, I'll give it back and offer to buy it at that time. If neither happens, well... yay for me I guess. :confused:

So I get it home and clean it up, and... it looks just fine to me. It held an inch of water, the glass is clear, the lid comes apart but still works. There are cracks in the trim along the bottom, but no chunks are missing and it holds water anyway.

I was back there all day yesterday, and I saw no notes anywhere near the dumpster, so I'm starting to get optimistic about the best case scenario playing out. It's never happened to me before, so I'm expecting a problem of some kind down the road, but for now... I'm gonna be hopeful and try to hold back my pessimism.

I'm still rather scared about the diseased tank possibility, though, so I need to plan out a more complete cleaning. The first wash was just water and a sponge to check for problems, so it doesn't count. I'm not gonna put a snake in this thing for a long time, so I can do the sanitation properly. What would you guys use on an unknown tank, bleach? Provent-a-mite?
 
I'd bleach it and let it sit over night, give it a good rinse with hot water and let it sun dry :) Nice find!
 
That's a win for you. They probably left it outside of the dumpster with the intention of half-way donating it to someone who would use it.
Around my old apartment when people moved out there were always pieces of furniture and such in decent shape set to the side of the dumpster for taking. I never saw anything quite as nice as a tank but I would say fair game 100%.
If you use a razor blade to remove all excess matter and scrub it with bleach or alcohol even, I can't imagine it would retain any contaminates or bacteria and whatnot.
 
The idea that it was left by someone moving out never, ever occurred to me. "You can have this tank, but you have to deal with the trash and clean it up." Seems more then fair enough to me.

I just measured, and it came out at 36" x 18" x 12" or so, which seems to identify it as a 30 gallon breeder.
 
After you do the bleach, and rinse it, do a 25% ammonia wash down, and rinse it. Ammonia kills crypto, bleach does not. That way you've covered everything.

I leave perfectly good, or nearly good, stuff at the end of my driveway all the time. Kitchen table, grill, printer, etc. Stuff I don't want, but someone will.
 
Lucky you! I kinda need to upgrade one of my tanks and I've been following them on Craigslist too. One person out in Laveen was selling a really nice 40 gallon for only 25 bucks, but it was a bit too far of a drive for me.
 
I found a 9 ft burmyse in a pillow case on top of the dumpster in 100 degree weather and she was still alive. She bit the heck out of my hand when i went to take her out
 
screamindemon17 said:
I found a 9 ft burmyse in a pillow case on top of the dumpster in 100 degree weather and she was still alive. She bit the heck out of my hand when i went to take her out
Click to expand...

You are certainly more brave than I am. I would have left it in the pillow case and taken it to a vet or something!

I imagine a 9 footer would offer quite a painful bite!
 
She got my whole fust in her mouth. And cut the heck out of my upper hand and thumb i keep her for 2 years but when my youngest daughter was born my wife made me give her up cause she bit me atleast 1 a month and would strike at my 5 year old when she came into her room or what i called my cave
 
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