• Hello!

    Either you have not registered on this site yet, or you are registered but have not logged in. In either case, you will not be able to use the full functionality of this site until you have registered, and then logged in after your registration has been approved.

    Registration is FREE, so please register so you can participate instead of remaining a lurker....

    Please be certain that the location field is correctly filled out when you register. All registrations that appear to be bogus will be rejected. Which means that if your location field does NOT match the actual location of your registration IP address, then your registration will be rejected.

    Sorry about the strictness of this requirement, but it is necessary to block spammers and scammers at the door as much as possible.

Tank setup-comments and critiques

T

Twovultures

New member
Hello all,

So this is the tank set-up I have. About 2 inches of aspen shavings as substrate, a warm hide, a cold hide, and a waterbowl and piece of driftwood between the two in a 12" by 36" terrarium. There's some aspen stuffed on the inside and at the entrances of the hides, to block out the room lights and create a more 'squeezed' feel for the snake which they apparently like.

In addition I have a hygrometer and 3 thermometers! (Meant to get two, but ended up with an extra). One's a probe that goes into the warm hide, one came with the hygrometer and I put it on the cool side, and one I put in the middle-it tells minimum and maximum temperature over a 12 hour period, I got it to monitor temperature fluctuations in my room (which is a large basement, and therefore hard to keep stable-I'd like to know what I'll be getting the snake into when I'm gone for work. So far, it seems it only gets cooler by 2 or three degrees over the course of the day, so whatevs).

I'm using the Zoo Med Reptitherm UTH for the heat. We'll see how well it works over the next week or two.

So, what do you guys think? How can I improve the terrarium for my future corn?
 

Attachments

  • Front View.JPG
    Front View.JPG
    82.2 KB · Views: 157
  • Top View.JPG
    Top View.JPG
    78.8 KB · Views: 157
  • Left View.JPG
    Left View.JPG
    92.8 KB · Views: 157
  • Right View.JPG
    Right View.JPG
    84.1 KB · Views: 157
It's pretty barren. You should put some suction cup vines on the walls. Then take a bare twisty vine and wrap a leafy silk vine around it, and shape it into a serpentine shape, and form it to fit the back wall and sides,on the ground. And throw in a paper towel roll- however unnatural, they love those.
 
Yup, all my snakes LOVE their paper towel tubes. I get fake vines and flowers from the dollar store and line the bottom edges of their tanks with them. Their vivs all look like fake flower/greenery gardens, lol, you'd think I never see them. But I see them all the time because they feel safe with all the cover.
 
I bought a bunch of aquarium plastic plants off of eBay for cheaps and my girl LOVES them to hide under or slither around. Definitely get some plant material, it will "green" up the place! Other than that you look like you have all points covered.

As for the tubes, I would change them out because they may get soiled and they cost nothing to replace.
 
I like the fake plants because the snake can kind of hide under/in them, but I can still see him.
 
Is your warm side probe actually in the hide, or on the glass directly above the uth? It needs to be on the glass, so you are measuring the hottest temperature your snake can come in contact with.
 
VampMN said:
Is your warm side probe actually in the hide, or on the glass directly above the uth? It needs to be on the glass, so you are measuring the hottest temperature your snake can come in contact with.
Click to expand...

It's in the warm hide. I thought that corn snakes wouldn't burrow all the way to the glass through the substrate?
 
Twovultures said:
I thought that corn snakes wouldn't burrow all the way to the glass through the substrate?
Click to expand...

Oh they will and they do! I have one corn that prefers to burrow over using her hides. She has tunnels all through the aspen in her viv. They self regulate their heat, so they will burrow further down to contact heat. If you don't have your UTH regulated, it will get too hot and burn your corn if it comes in contact with the glass.
Your viv looks great! Some fake plants will make it look outstanding and definitely make your corn feel more comfortable. I also bought plants and vines at the dollar store as well picked up some drift wood from the beach ( soaked it then baked it at 300 for two hours). Be creative! I've seen some absolutely fantastic ideas on here. Have fun, creating an awesome viv for your snake is the fun part! Check out the DIY section :)

Another tip- what are you using as a lid? If it's just a screen top, make sure you secure it very well! Corns are houdini's! If you add plants, vines, etc. and they allow your corn access to the top of the viv - Definitely make sure your lid is secure and escape proof! If they can get it to budge, they can get out
 
The way snakes get burned is, they don't sense heat the way we do. They don't touch it, and think- that's too hot, and leave. They lay on it, and by the time they react to the heat, it's too late; they have been burned or even overheated to the point of dying.
 
Second watching the lid - my little one has slithered up the temp probe cable and wedged into the gap between the screen top and the enclosure ledge. They can get out of really small openings...

Fake plants are nice - I have one that is extremely popular as a perch. Forget Snakes on a Plane - it's Snakes in the Trees!
 
Well, I definitely did not do the research on heating (especially since I'm now looking at the reviews for Med Zoo's undertank heaters, and it looks like I may have spent $20 on a lemon). I guess I'd better find myself a better heating system-I'd appreciate any suggestions.

The top will be a screen top-my dad and I will be building it ourselves tomorrow. I'll be getting the measurements tonight, we'll be getting the material from Home Depot and putting it together, 'cause that's how we roll.

The tank's actually pretty deep (17 inches) so I'm not too concerned about it even reaching the top any time soon, but I'll make sure that the top fits well and is weighted down. I don't really plan on having fake climbing vines reaching the top or anything. That said, out of an abundance of caution, should we use an anti-mosquito or similar screen with uber-tiny holes to keep the snake from getting out if it did somehow reach the top?
 
I've got a Zilla UTH (came with the basic kit) and haven't had problems. You will, however, be shocked at how effectively corns can wedge themselves into the vertical seams of the tank and "climb" - mine is about 14 inches in length, and has gone 10+ inches up the corner of the 10 gal tank with no support whatsoever.
 
Tank... I'll agree, it looks fairly barren. Not sure what age/size snake you're getting but personally I'd clutter it up a bit. You'll find they like to crawl on anything that will support them. Not arboreal by nature, but crawling on and over things is definitely something they love to do. I agree with vines and plants too. Little plissken spends more of his time curled up in a good fake vine or on the leaf of a plant than he does hiding in or under things. I can't comment on toilet paper and paper towel tubes, I tried it but Plissken has absolutely positively no interest in them so I eventually pulled them out. I can recommend egg cartons, the paper kind with holes. Plissken LOVES his egg carton made hides. And yeah, anything you can't clean that goes in will have to be disposed of and replaced. Things are gonna get pooped and peed on, things will get dirty, possibly wet, etc. If you can't clean it, better to get rid of it to prevent bacterial build up.

Heating... I've been using a ZooMed UTH so I have no experiences with the Zilla but I'd say they are probably hit or miss like any product. I wouldn't let a few bad reviews turn you off, out of the potentially hundreds or thousands of purchases of them. Not sure if it was covered already but you're gonna want a thermostat and possibly an extra thermometer for the glass right above the heater.

Escape... don't let the depth of the tank and the size of your snake fool you. Houdini ain't got nothing on a determined corn snake! And they're deceptive in size and strength. Even if the tank is taller than the snake is long, you have probe wires and driftwood and hides. As far as the screen itself, just about any small mesh will work, as long as it's well secure to the frame of the lid so the snake cant push a corner or side up. You'll also want to make sure it's pretty good quality screen/metal in case you ever consider any lighting. Don't want to heat the screen up too much and make it brittle or burn your snake. You can get screen lids that fit most popular terrarium/aquarium sizes from pet stores or online, made by companies such as Zilla, probably Exo-Terra, etc. Whatever router you take, get some clamps or clips. It'll save a lot of worry every time you look over and don't see your hidden snake, knowing that it's hidden and not escaped.

Aside from that, seems like you researched well and it's good to know you're setting things up before getting the snake.
 
My dad gave me his entire collection of driftwood, so at this point the tank is nice and cluttered-it's practically a two-story tank, with a layer of driftwood above a layer of substrate! Will post pics later.

The heater isn't doing anything for the substrate surface, but on the glass is 120 degrees! I'm going to be heading out to the local pet store this evening, I'll have a talk about thermostats and heating there. Thank you all for your help!
 
yes, that's the max temp the heater will reach..

You need to invest in a thermostat/rheostat to control the heat output.

most petstore's don't carry them unfortunantly.. so you'll more than likely have to order one. I know amazon sells a cheap one that works well, and is highly recommended by members on here.

I hope this helps! :)
 
What is the surface temp? What's that substrate, aspen? What are you measuring with? I agree, you aren't going to easily find a thermostat at most pet shops, but if it isn't heating the surface of the bedding, turning it down isn't going to solve things. I'd look first for an IRL thermometer.
 
Thanks Justine. I guess I do have a follow up question for fine tuning the temperature-Is it alright to just have the glass beneath the substrate/warm hide at 80-85 degrees, or do I need to keep more of the cage warm?

I ask because it's a big tank (so hard to heat) in a big basement room (so hard to weatherize properly, although the temperature is at least stable most of the time.)

From what I've read people seem to prefer either/or on tank heating, but should I be getting an overhead heater so that the snake can enjoy some warm air in addition to warm aspen?
 
First and foremost, be certain the temperature reading you are getting is accurate. My thermostat probes are put on the heat tape at about 115 for a surface temp on the plastic of 86-88, top of substrate stays a few degrees cooler, usually. I run very open tubs, glass is a different beast.

Reptile Basics are good people. Bean Farm is another place. I hate Amazon with a Walmart passion, so hate to send people there.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top