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Needed: Clever Ideas!!!

Jujube

Jujube

New member
Okay, so the management where I live has gotten a slight whiff that an "animal" is possibly kept in my room. :shrugs: The only suspect is the sly cleaning lady; I came home the other day as she was closing my door and it appeared the blanket and pillows I usually throw over/around Annabelle's (corn snake) cage had been moved. If the management actually finds her, they'll make me get rid of her, but that is not an option in my book--it would tear me to pieces. An RA on another floor is hiding her for me as long as I need but it's just not the same as having her here. I miss seeing her little head poking out to greet me in the morning. :( And I can't take her out and hold her whenever...

So..

I need some better ideas how to hide her. I have 3 more weeks of class til I go home (I'm a college student) and over the summer I think i'm going to build a table facade to hide her for the following year (being an Engineer is starting to pay off :rolleyes: ). She's in a Vision cage that's 24" L x 22" W x 14" H. I can't fit her in my closet or under my bed (it's a loft bed..) or under my desks. I would be eternally grateful for any brilliant ideas you guys (and gals!) can come up with!!!

Thank you!

Julie
 
if you have a dresser you can put a top on one drraw and keep her in tehre untill they drop it and hide the cage somewear
 
a vision cage of that size might be a little hard to hide. have you thought of making a quick wodden chest (like a cedar chest but don't use cedar) and place it somewhere in your room? Just have to make sure that your chest is large enough for the cage, and put air holes in places that people won't think to look. I would add a lock to the front too, so people with out a key can't open it.
 
How high is your loft bed? If it's high enough you can get a piece of wood to put on the top and turn it into a table with tablecloth under your loft bed - complete with beanbag for a place to study ;)...or even if you had some room for a table in the middle of your floor or something. Get milk crates and put the vision on that and cover like above. Try shelves in your closet - my boyfriend did that all last year with his frogs because there was a bar for shoes on the bottom (just watch lights - during a fire drill public safety saw the lights in his closet and were looking for him after - I think they thought he was growing weed or something stupid like that). Last resort if management comes just say something to the effect of "I'm bringing him home with me and I'm not going home until the end of the semester", then hide her really well next year. Most RAs are cool about stuff like that but management isn't.

~Katie
 
Over the summer, if you have the resources, build a desk/study table with a "false front" or "false drawer"......dimensioned large enough to fit a Sterlite container.....your own "hidden" rack system!

regards,
jazz
 
Just a step more than sherry and Pcar,
Sherys.....remove the two bottom drawers of dresser and put viv there, save both faces of drawers. hot glue/screw or nail lower face back on. Second drawer face install some hidden hinges or cabinet catches on it for access to viv.
Pcar ...make box big enought for viv but make a plywood?? top like a End/coffee table and install hinges to that. tilt up when you need to access viv
In both cases you need air holes room and room for everything else.
good luck with your adventure. :noevil:
 
Ya'll are awesome!! LOL.. wow. Fake drawers.. rigging dressers.. hee hee! Unfortunately I don't have the resources here to build anything here, but I will definitely be combining these ideas to create a brilliant box of sorts when I get home. ;) This seems to be turning into "PROJECT ANNABELLE."

There ought to be a company that builds viv "hides" for college students or for people who live in places with sneaky landlords. Some of us love animals too much to live without them! And honestly, if we can keep fish, I think a snake is just as harmless. Especially a corn. They're small, they don't make noise, and they can be kept in a reasonably sized enclosure.

Anywho..

I've been thinking about all these ideas and it needs to be simple but light and mobile. Plywood is probably the lightest wood material but is there anything else that's particularly light but relatively inexpensive and somewhat heat resistant? I'm thinking of building something along the lines of a box with the top hinged to open to the left side and the front being hinged to open to the right side with latches that can be locked when the panels are closed. These two panels would only be closed on cleaning days when the crafty cleaning lady is afoot. ;) And maybe add some wheels to the bottom--I can't carry a huge box like that by myself. Since she has a UTH, I was thinking about putting in 2 strips of 1" x 1" wood to keep the bottom of the cage lifted and allow some airflow. Hmm... of course holes would have to be drilled for electrical cords and for air and such. What do you think? Input is most welcome!

Thanks again!
 
Wow, what kind of college is this? When I was in college we didn't have a cleaning lady! Maybe you can have the butler hide it for you, or the doorman or the chauffer. ;)

No wonder tuition has gone through the roof!
Slam_anim.gif


Good luck with the project. Whichever way you decide to build it, definitely post some pics when it's done. :)
 
Serpwidgets said:
Wow, what kind of college is this? When I was in college we didn't have a cleaning lady! Maybe you can have the butler hide it for you, or the doorman or the chauffer. ;)

No wonder tuition has gone through the roof!
Click to expand...

LOL

I go to UT Austin but live in an off-campus dorm and the biweekly cleanings are one of the few perks of living here. Otherwise this building is so old that we're just waiting for the fire alarm to go off at 3:30 in the morning as it burns to the ground. It's just wonderful.. :headbang:

Question on building material.
Which is better (consider weight, aesthetics, durability, cost):
plywood, melamine, or particle board?
Since this is my first building project, I'm not really familiar with the pros/cons each has to offer.
 
melamine, is pretty heavy, but the most durrable of the 3.

Plywood is durrable and lighter, and will probably cost less depending on the type you get.

Particle board is light. It would last for a while, as long as it doesn't get wet. If that happens, it has a tendency to fall apart very quickly.

If you want better info on the type of wood to use, look for a user on here by the name of Quigs. He is very knowledgable about this type of thing and can help you out a lot.
 
Would varnished pine be okay? Since pine shavings are toxic, I just wasn't sure if a pine cabinet to put her cage in would have any ill effects on her as well. It'd be a nice material to use--lighter than melamine but still looks decent.
 
with this cleaning lady thing, did you sign a release or something? because you can ask that they dont have her come in and youll do your own cleaning. privacy isssues...but if that fails i wish you luck. i am in the dorms now and i have fish...next fall ill have a snake there as long as my RA says ok... she is thinking about it now. i doubt she will have a problem with it.

good luck with your issue with the snake.. mine isnt aloowed home for the summer...
 
You can tell them not to clean if you're there, otherwise they're going to come in because part of their "job" is to make sure everything is "lease compliant." Someone on another floor kept denying cleaning service and the management got all weird and sent the RA of that person's floor a note, freaking out about them denying cleaning service. Apparently last year the management didn't seem to care, but this year it's suddenly a crime. I denied the cleaning previous to the one when they found Annabelle, and I think that's why she started snooping. :angry01: It bugs me to know people sift through my stuff. I'm going to get her from the RA's room (where I'm temporarily stashing her) tomorrow morning to hide her in a corner in my room and cover the area with a pile of clothes (carefully). There's no more scheduled cleaning for the rest of the year so.. I'm crossing my fingers I can make it 3 weeks without incident.

I have a two week window to build the cabinet/box before summer classes start so hopefully I can get it done then. I'll post pics for sure for all you future and current college students who are in the same rut. We will win!!

FlaStangBabe, even if your RA decides against, this cabinet thing I think will turn out to be pretty sly. I'm going to put latches on the doors and pad lock them. If they question why it's locked, I'll say it's to store my laptop or private documents or whatever. :noevil:
 
This summer I plan on possibly building a rack system from a dresser I found. But I am going to keep the fronts of it all and so it will appear as a dresser because I cannot have snakes in my campus apartments and they do random checks for health code and all that. What school do you go to where you get a cleaning lady. I need to transfer that is for sure.
 
pcar said:
Particle board is light. It would last for a while, as long as it doesn't get wet. If that happens, it has a tendency to fall apart very quickly.
Click to expand...

Another thing that would concern me about particle board is that they contain formaldehyde...I think you'd be safer with sealed (varnished-aired well) pine.

I love the sound of Project Annabelle and wish you all the best!
 
Ahh, formaldehyde, huh? That's no good.. reminds me of bio lab. ;) And that wouldn't be good if the particle board got wet, fell apart, and seeped chemicals around her cage. Varnished pine it is then.

Just to give a little update, I woke up painfully early this morning while everyone was sound asleep from a full night of partying and brought her back down to my room. She's safe and sound! I have no idea if the creepy management guy has snooped around while I was gone, but if he decides to pop in this week and send me a little nasty notice, I'll take her back up to the RA's room. The RA got a kick out've having her in there anyway but I'm still crossing my fingers that these next 3 weeks go without incident.

I just want to say thank you for all the support and it's fantastic to see fellow herpers scheme with me! I knew I could count on you all. :cheers: Until the fabrication begins (in 3 weeks and counting), suggestions are still welcome.

Oh, one last thing that I've been pondering. The cabinet would contain her CHE lamp and 18" UVB light and of course her UTH; the CHE is regulated by a thermostat and the UVB is on a night/day timer. How much of a fire hazard would that be when the cabinet is entirely closed? The back has holes to allow for airflow and the CHE only gets barely warm to the touch because of the thermostat regulating it. Just want to make sure it's safe!
 
Jujube said:
FlaStangBabe, even if your RA decides against, this cabinet thing I think will turn out to be pretty sly. I'm going to put latches on the doors and pad lock them. If they question why it's locked, I'll say it's to store my laptop or private documents or whatever. :noevil:
Click to expand...


well i dont have cleaning services, but i have checks once a semester. but the problem is my RA is my friend. so she might be in my room more then that. i cant build a cabinet. i would probably leave her at the boyfriends place...
 
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