Making a Snake-Proof Lid for an Aquarium?

[Tiny Boidae]

Hi so I've been gone a while- school has just been awful but it's letting up as the end of the semester draws to a close (thankfully). Unfortunately my return will probably be temporary for a while, but here I am.

I have a friend who keeps and breeds goldfish, and one of her tanks she dropped and cracked (thankfully without the fish inside). It's a custom-made enclosure, 30 gallons with a bit of height as well as floorspace. I'm thinking an Antaresia could make good use of that space, which one I haven't decided yet. I bought it from her for $15. Overall I really like the tank, not big enough to house the giants I was wanting (darn) but that can wait for a later date.

The only problem is this has some weird dimensions and so I know there won't be one of those aquarium lids at the shop that'll fit. I'm having trouble figuring out how to build it a lid if anyone can lend their expertise- I'm in a rut as far as that goes.

Thank you for all of your help in advance.

[Minkness]

Well, if you can buy some supplies, you could do wood edges with a thick gauge screen. Use some nails and wood glue and sandwich the screen between the wood.

Not sure what an Antaresia is so no idea what humidity requirements would be or if they can push the lid off or heating needs. But I'm all for DIY stuff. =)

[Tiny Boidae]

Sorry, I would've used the common name if I knew which species I wanted. It's still a toss up for me. But they're spotted pythons, children's pythons, so on and so forth. I can deal with the humidity bit, I'm just worried about how to do this lid since I can't really manipulate glass how I want (especially with a giant crack running up the corner and along the top of the aquarium). I mean if they ever escaped... That's one heck of a nightmare for me. So I'm especially wary about aquariums as those flimsy little clothes pins you're supposed to attach to the lids doesn't seem all that secure to me.

But I think I get what you're saying. Like securing the wood to the aquarium itself and using a second wooden frame (with screen) to interlock with it? I'm not sure if that's what you're saying, I'm a bit slow. It needs a way to be gently secured to the enclosure since these snakes, from what I've read, are fairly good climbers and are particularly active specimens. I'm sorry if I misinterpreted something- I'm Bambi slipping on ice over here.

[trailblazer295]

What are the dimensions? In smaller aquariums there is such a wide range of sizes it's possible someone might have one that will fit. Generally have to go above 40g tanks before they start to have less options with the same volume.

[Tiny Boidae]

The dimensions are 26" x 18" x 15".

[trailblazer295]

Okay yeah that's a weird dimension for sure, good lateral space though. What you make the lid out of might be partly what you plan to use it for. Might want a glass lid if you plan on a high humidity snake.

[Tiny Boidae]

It needs to hold some humidity- but it's definitely not a tropical snake. Just a little spritz more than the humidity in my house. I could probably manage it with a nice soil-based substrate and a thorough misting once every day or two.

But adding onto what Minkness said earlier, I do plan on having a heat lamp for daytime heating and a heat pad for night time, so heat-resistant screen would be my best of options since humidity isn't a concern.

The biggest problem for me is that I wanted to put it on my dresser since this would obviously be best executed as a display tank- but it's simply a few inches too wide to fit. It looks like the floor's as cozy a place as ever *sigh*

[Klaire]

I had the same problem however it was a little easier for me as the person already had a wooden frame. I bought the tank with a wooden frame but the inside of the frame had a wire cage wall for it (because it was used to house mice) which was sat in place by 2 bits of wood on top of the frame and these bits of wood is what sat the frame on the cage otherwise the wooden frame would slide down on the outside of the tank as it was a little bigger than the tank itself so what i did was remove the wire caging from the slits of the 2 bits of wood then i removed the 2 bits of wood (unscrewed them) so all i had was the wooden frame then i went to Bunnings bought some ply wood and some nails went home cut the ply wood to fit the frame sat it on top nailed it to the wood frame and drilled holes into the ply wood for air so the ply wood itself sits flush on top of the tank but the wooden frame makes it look nice and keeps it secure weighted down and so that the ply wood stays flat and doesn't bend because its nailed to the frame. (i really hope you understand what i meant i suck at explaining things but attached photos of her tank so you get an idea) but basically get some wood build yourself a frame thats a little wider than the tank then get some ply wood (or any type of your choice) cut it to the size of the frame pop it on top nail it down then drill holes for air simple & cheap.

P.s This is just temporary and only works for the meantime as she is still small and has no strength strong enough to lift it up whatsoever. (I'll be buying her a custom made enclosure when she gets big & strong enough).

[Minkness]

Are you afraid to let it hang over a bit? My tanks almost all hang over an inch or two.

This is a pic of the comparison of a 20 gallon long fitting in my shelves and the new enclosure I got 2 weeks ago whichhas the dimensions of a 40 gallon breeder tank (I think....)

Kind of hard to see it, but I hope that makes sense. =)

[Tiny Boidae]

That's gorgeous. It makes me jealous looking at it.

I understand what you're saying- don't sweat it.

I'll probably do that but instead of having the whole lid be removable, I'll just permanently attach it to the tank and have a hinged door on the top to make sure that everything's bullet proof. I'm not sure how I'd do that without drilling into the glass (the crack is in an icky spot and I don't want to worsen it any). I might silicone it or glue it depending- but I already have one leg over the hurdle so that's good.

Thank you. I'm gonna try and do something for the cracks this weekend. Run some silicone over them and see if I can give this tank a cane to hobble on. Even without the silicone though, it should be fine for housing a snake. It's just when I have to move it- I don't want to take the chance that it shatters completely.

Thank you all!

[Tiny Boidae]

Oh sorry Minkness, your post showed up after i posted.

The problem is the stand I was going to put it on is a skinny thing- only 14" wide and those four inches are sitting right on the edge of uncanny valley for me- I don't like it. It'll just worry me because I have big dogs who frequent my room and might be inclined to wrestle and knock into the dresser or the tank itself by mistake. It'd worry me to no end so I'd rather play it safe and just leave it on the floor until I can think of something better.

[Minkness]

That makes more sense. Floor is good. Also, for hinges, get normal hinges and just use a bit of Gorilla Glue and something tonput on theboutside flat part of the hinge. Some cloth or a bit of wood ir plastic. Just something to keep the glue from going all the way through the screw holes.

Also, just using duct tape works!!!

I use duct tape on the screen lid on my 20 long and my crestie tank.

Included some pics. The latch is just folded over velcro. Used to have a fake flower on it but it fell off. >_>

The duct tape goes the full length of the tank.

[Tiny Boidae]

That's a good idea. I'd need something a little stronger than velcro to hold the lid in place, but the duct tape would save me some hassle (as well as being a little less permanent).

Does the glue on the duct tape wear down quickly from openihg and closing the lid? And how does it do with the moisture from those crestie's?

[Minkness]

I have only replaced the ductape once in 2 years, so I think that's pretty sturdy. Also, the velcro works great! I used it on my 'pushy' BPs tank before he was moved into the front opening/locking enclosure. Just put it in multiple places. On his, I had it on each end corner, and the lid NEVER lifted (much to his frustration lol such a grumpy snake). The only downside to the velcro is the sound. It tends to spook the cresties and hoggies, but never spooked Moko or Amara. I don't use ir for the hoggie enclosures any more since they REALLY didn't like it, but the cresties are getting used to it and don't jump around like maniacs any more lol. They just jerk and look at the noise all O_O....but that's kind of their faces 100% of the time lol.

[Tiny Boidae]

Oh wow that surprises me. When I think velcro, I typically don't picture it being strong enough to hold back a determined snake. An excellent surprise nonetheless.

So I'll probably build a plywood lid- nothing too fancy there- and secure it using the duct tape and velcro. Perfect.

I already went ahead and tried to reinforce the crack with silicone and then painted it over with black paint to make it look purdy. I'm waiting for it all to dry now. I would show and not tell, but the only camera I have (the one on my phone), the lens is cracked and it won't focus on anything other than the crack. It's been like that for a while but hopefully it'll get fixed sometime next year.

[Minkness]

Cool. The only thing I would add, would maybe be some weather stripping on the plywood. It will make a better seal and harder for any snake to get through. It will also help protect yhe top of your tank.

Felt strips will also work.

=)

[prairiepanda]

You can get industrial strength velcro from hardware stores, which is designed for mounting heavy tools on walls and stuff like that. The glue tends to be more reliable on the industrial stuff than on the craft-grade velcro. I have used it several times to secure lids on both plastic and glass enclosures. You can use it to make a sort of hinge like Mink did with the duct tape too, by putting pieces of "rough" velcro on the lid and tank and connecting them with strips of "soft" velcro. I did that a couple times too and never had to readjust the velcro hinge part.


If you go with the duct tape, make sure to get the heat-resistant variety! Regular duct tape is sturdy, but the glue melts when exposed to heat, which isn't a concern with cresties but certainly would be with Antaresia species.

[Minkness]

Good points Panda!

I may try the velcro for the hinge next time. Never thought of that! Would make it easier to remove the screen for cleaning too. =)

[Tiny Boidae]

That's a good idea. I hadn't even thought that far concerning the seal. Weather stripping's not that expensive, so I'll use it definitely. Thank you Minkness for your help :)


I was thinking that the humidity and moisture would be the duct tape's Achilles heel- but it makes sense. I'll probably just avoid duct tape all together then and just have a removable lid with the industrial velcro. That would probably be the easier of my two options there. Thank you.

[toddnbecka]

I found 1" wide velcro at Wal-Mart, along with 1" wide nylon strapping. I put 2 small pieces of the velcro hook tape on the plastic rim of a 75 gallon tank, and Becka sewed some of the velco loop fabric onto the ends of the 1" nylon strap I cut to length to fit across the top. The top of the tank is covered with a piece of pegboard cut to fit inside the plastic rim. The pegboard provides plenty of ventilation, and though it's not the greatest for humidity retention, it's better than a commercial screen top for that.
Given that you'll need to keep a little python warm, a RHP would be a good option. I use them, mounted to the pegboard lids on a couple tanks. The Reptile Basics 80w model for the 75, and a 40w in the 40 breeder that currently houses my larger young carpet python.

[Tiny Boidae]

I'll have to look into heat panels, which were an option that hadn't even crossed my mind until you brought it up. As far as the pegboard goes, I understand that you said that these don't hold humidity well, which is fine as these don't require high humidity environments, but how does it do with moisture? I'm just wondering if I need to seal it to prevent it from rotting and getting moldy, or if it isn't prone to that in the first place.

[prairiepanda]

You can get pegboard that is already sealed and painted to resist moisture damage. After cutting it, it would be best to seal the cut edges to prevent any binding agents from seeping out. The amount of moisture you'd expect in an Antaresia enclosure won't be an issue for the paint or wood, though. Alternatively, you can also get PVC pegboard, but it's much harder to find. There's also metal pegboard, but I'm not sure whether that might get too hot with the RHP mounted on it.

[Tiny Boidae]

Thank you. The metal one just doesn't sound like a good idea to me- I'll stick to the wooden one or the PVC if by some miracle I find one by chance. I won't go looking for it though when the wooden pegboard won't pose any problems.

[toddnbecka]

You can always use minwax polycrylic to seal/waterproof the pegboard if humidity becomes an issue. Regular pegboard is cheap though, and you can actually cut it with a utility knife if you don't have a table saw. I also use styro foamboard (available for $1/sheet at the dollar store) (and peel off the paper) under the pegboard to help retain humidity in several of my tanks. Just don't block off ALL the holes in the pegboard, you do need some air circulation, but about 80% coverage of the top with the styro sheets will retain a good bit of the humidity.
Cypress mulch for the substrate is also good for that, I dump water on mine 1-2x week to keep it moist in the tanks, hardly ever in the plastic totes with ventilation holes in the sides instead of the tops.

[Tiny Boidae]

It shouldn't be an issue- not for the species I'm planning- but I wanted to play it safe even then. If by some chance I do struggle to keep it at a moderate humidity (or even heat if too much manages to escape from the holes), I'll remember that. Thank you.