Herper/Potter@work

[sachamama]

Just a quick post as Im off to enjoy bit of sunshine we must make most of here in the UK

Wondered if you liked my latest creations from the ceramics course Im doing. Re did like it until we discovered the glaze was cracked and leaked - so now working on improvements. In fact, I think there is a lot of potential in ceramics in herp furnishings...Anyone with any experience or suggestions?

Re is growing, soon moving to a bigger tank. Might build her a little Mayan temple next

Id like to build arty snake houses once I work out the technicalities..

 

[Pal-O-Mine]

Wow! Those are really pretty! I would love to see how they would sell at a reptile show.

I used to do ceramics centuries ago when I was with the ex. But they didn't have the set-up to make you own creations. They just had pre-made greenware.

You ARE using a lead free glaze, right?????

Devon

 

[sachamama]

Hi Devon!

(is that your name..? I actually live in Devon, UK)

thank you for your comment. Of course I use lead free - the very first thing to consider in ceramics with food safe products

Im glad you liked these pieces - I felt they could prove popular, and I hope with snakes themselves too. I feel my corn somehow enjoys the fact this is clay, rather than molded plastic. Its breathable and feels more like a piece of nature. I know mine is glazed, but only partially, actually, and Im going to experiment more with different possibilities anyway. Even if glazed its more nature like - its technically glass, feels a bit like rock.

In my research I came to an understanding that snakes feel safest when they actually physically touch the shelter with their bodies, thats why they like to hide in cracks/crevices and such like... Im working on developping such hide where this would be possible. Basically I make a fairly low hide with varied "undulating" hight &shape, bottomless. Could include tunnel-like spaces but still accessible to cleaning. Then this can sit on a substrate which can regulate the hight of the space inside the hide. This should be as close to a cave substitute as possible...

So thank you for your suggestion of marketing them. As an aspiring ceramicist (I am a student at the moment) I have certainly thought of that. This, so far, is my first effort, a little sampling of possibilities. Will work on it a bit, then probably take some into the local reptile shops - then I will let you know!

Best wishes, Hana

 

[Pal-O-Mine]

Too bad you live across the 'big ditch'! I was thinking I need to make a special hide for my sand boa. I just added a paper towel roll which she LOVES! BUT she likes to double herself up inside it and she's just a wee bit too FAT for that. I ended up cutting a slit in it lengthwise so that when she does that, she's not so pinched looking, the tube actually has room to spread apart. But a custom tube more her size would be preferable.

Hmmmm. Gives me some ideas.

Devon

 

[sachamama]

Great! This forum is certainly brilliant for brainstorming of ideas!

Hey, you should post a picture of her stuffed in that tube! I bet it looks cute!

 

[Nanci]

Those are both really pretty! You could make them to match your snakes!

 

[LawDog1]

WOW!

Very pretty indeed! Please post more pics when you make more.

Also, love the thread title. Almost like Harry Potter... Herper Potter... I assume you meant to do that? Cute either way.

Jimmy

 

[sachamama]

Those are both really pretty! You could make them to match your snakes!

Thank you Nanci! Good idea! Or I could make them in colours complementary to the snake, so that s/he really shows off. Being an artist, I fell in love with cornsnakes because of their good looks in the first place Bytheway, Im enjoying your website which Im exploring in my spare moments. What a fabulous bunch youve got there!:licklips:

 

[Floof]

Lol, Devon! My biggest corn does that, too... Only her tube is one of those really narrow ones from the vacuum seal bag rolls.

Sachamama, those pieces are amazing! It's a shame you're in the UK... Lol. I wish I could do stuff like that, but we don't even have an oven right now.

Good luck with the business idea. I bet it'll do great! It's about time someone comes up with good hides that DON'T cost a fortune! =)

 

[jen murphy]

Nice work! If I still had the means (clay, kiln, studio etc) I would make some nifty things for my snake too. I will live vicariously through you for now. Please post more when you make them!

 

[carnivorouszoo]

I recently began working with clay, freestyle really. No molds and it cures in the oven. I was wondering if I could do anything for my mice or snake with this stuff. I will start a post with pics when I get some done! So Glad to see people making things like that themselves.

 

[Dirk94]

Hey all,
Haha Floof and Devon, my snake LOVES hiding in a paper towel roll too. I only have one problem -- it's so hard to get her out when it's time to handle her! She spends a lot of time in it, but trying to get her out is like trying to...well...pull a snake out of a tight place she doesn't want to come out of! I can't even pull her out, I kind of have to poke her out. Any suggestions of how to get her out with less hassle?

And WOW sachamama, those are AMAZING! EXQUISITE! Haha you will be the Piccaso of the snake world

Thanks,
--Mike

 

[KachineK]

Beautiful pieces! Looks like your snake likes them too.

I think I have the only snake in the world who doesn't like paper towel tubes. I gave her one cut in half when I first got her. She looked at it, recoiled, and slithered to the opposite end of the tank! If her eyes could get any bigger I swear they would have popped out of her head! lol She much prefers her coconut hut.

Kachine Kolgon

 

[Floof]

Hey all,
Haha Floof and Devon, my snake LOVES hiding in a paper towel roll too. I only have one problem -- it's so hard to get her out when it's time to handle her! She spends a lot of time in it, but trying to get her out is like trying to...well...pull a snake out of a tight place she doesn't want to come out of! I can't even pull her out, I kind of have to poke her out. Any suggestions of how to get her out with less hassle?

Cover up one end of the roll with one hand, and just start pulling her out. If she's one of those like my anery boy who spreads themselves out and clings to either side of the roll, start "massaging" and tapping the outside, right next to and above where she is, and she should eventually end up at the end of the tube. I've rarely had the snake actually fall out of the tube, since he just continues to grip at the end of the tube, so you'll probably have to grab and pull her out once you have her in reach. Just don't let her wrap her tail or head around anything, or you could potentially hurt her.

Kachine, I've noticed that, given a choice, snakes are more likely to go for the enclosed hide than a tube. Unless the tube is more of a tight squeeze than the other hides, like in the case of my oldest corn.

I can't wait to see more of the pottery hides. =)

 

[carnivorouszoo]

Beautiful pieces! Looks like your snake likes them too.

I think I have the only snake in the world who doesn't like paper towel tubes. I gave her one cut in half when I first got her. She looked at it, recoiled, and slithered to the opposite end of the tank! If her eyes could get any bigger I swear they would have popped out of her head! lol She much prefers her coconut hut.

Kachine Kolgon

My Rose doesn't like tp tubes either, there iso ne on her setup but she never even looks at it. I tried putting it agains one wall and she just went under it (I did not cut it in half)!