New Cage, Plz Help

[ballpython5000]

Well there shall be a Maine expo come August, yippy! Well anyway I intend to get a female bci, or bcc if my wallet has enough for a 250.00 snake. And so I figured summer vacation is comming soon, why not finish that 5x2x2 cage that's been un-finished for nearly 5 months? So I have a few question before I begin construction again. Well first of all is 3 100 watt bulbs enough to heat this cage? One will be places on the right end directly over the hide, the other two will be all the way on the other side of the cage side by side. It'll give a gradient I hope without letting the temperature get too low. And i plan on putting a heat pad under the hide so it won't need to sacrifice heat for safety. Well should this work? I'm not really sure if that will be enough to keep the cage warm. It's made of plywood painted with about 4 coats of white paint, not to mention the layer of primer. So they question also comes to mind, will that be enough to keep it from rotting? Iplan on sealing most of the edges with silicon or something. And the front is sliding plexi glass. I hope to get a 5-6 foot female to put in it, but I could always get a macklot's python off KS. I have really been wanting one for a while. So well anyway is the three 100 watts good enough to heat it? Will the wood rot even with the paint. And do you have any tips? I plan on misting the cage about 4 times a week just to give a humidity boost. Those 100 watts might dry it up quite a bit. Also, does anyone have pics of their boa, or python cages? Well ones that they made themselves. Should help me out a lot. Thanks in advance!

[dvs]

I haven't built any cages yet myself but 3 100 watt bulbs kinda sounds like allot....... plus then your going to have to make or buy 3 seperate gaurds for them... it may not matter to you but personally I think it would look a little ugly unless they can't really be seen. Also, the snake doesn't really need all that light.... I think maybe a 150 watt CHE for the hot side would probably do the trick just fine.... or even better just heat tape wired up to a dimmer swith (found some on ebay really cheap) and just reley on the natural light (if there is any) from the room. As far as rotting.... I think most are going to tell you to seal it all with a coat or 2 of Minwax.... otherwise it will deffinitly rot, and probably pretty quickly too with the heat.

Anyways.... hope that helps a little, and hopefully someone else will point out anything I missed or was incorrect.

[ballpython5000]

I plan on using red bulbs. Maybe if I'm feeling up to it I'll buy a florescent fixture and put it in. But with red bulbs I don't have to worry about timmers and stuff, and it should be in direct sunlight for long enough. I used a heat emmiter once, I just hate them. As far as heating goes, they work nicely, but during the bight I can't see my reptile at all. Thats what really bothers me, I like to sit and watch them when bored. I was thinking maybe I could lay down tarp or something underneath the bark to keep the water from hitting the wood. And on the sides i plan on stappling one of those plastic backgrounds for aquariums all on the back and sides. I think that should do the trick. I also am not exactly sure if just one 150 watt bulb will work. It may heat up a good part but I notice that snakes are too lazy to move themselves out of a too cold area to the basking spot. My bp did that and got RI, so I now make sure that there is no spot too cold where they can lay. The two hundred watts should create a nice basking, and the third on the other side might give that cold side a little boost.
thanks for the help.

[dvs]

you can also try lining the inside with plastic shower surround.... it's just big white sheets of plastic, cut to size and silicone the seams and all should be good. Just another option.