glass?

[reptile boi]

Hey everyone,
I was just wondering, what kind of glass would you use to build an enclosure for a boa thats strong enough to not shatter when struck at?




Thanks,
Ben

[Zoe]

I'd use wood and plexiglass... its supposed to be way stronger than glass. Or just really thick glass.

[reptile boi]

wood and plexi? Never heard of that before, but do you silicone the wood to the glass or somthing?

[Zoe]

no lol, hinges. :) The glass is the door.

[Linds]

I would agree with Zoe in that plexiglass is your best bet. It's a lot stronger than glass and won't shatter even if it managed to break (which there is no way a snake could do). If you wanted to go with glass, you should use tempered glass. 1/4" thickness works fine for both materials. Glass can be attached with sliding glass tracks, built into a door that is on hinges, and plexi can be attached using the forementioned methods, as well as it can be attached by just hinges alone (without a frame).

[Jeff Hathaway]

Plexiglass (a brand name) and various other transparent plastic materials sold under names such as Acrylic sheets, acrylite, lucite, lexan and polycarbonate (not all the same, mind you) should be installed with hinges (if a door) or screwed to a frame (predrill and countersink holes in the plastic). Although much stronger, given equal thickness, than glass, the plastic is much more flexible. If you install it in the standard glass sliding tracks, it could be flexed outwards enough for it to pop out of the tracks. Also, the point where the two sliding pieces meet is difficult to secure, due to the flex in the materials. Actually, this can be a problem even with glass. We once had a boa escape by squeezing between two sliding glass panels. The panels were quite tall (~40") and there was enough flex in the 1/4" glass for it to escape without breaking the glass.

Speaking of glass, tempered is much better than regular float glass. It is stronger as well as safer. Remember that once tempered, the glass can't be cut, drilled, etc. Best of all is two layers of tempered laminated together (or 3 layers, etc.), but this gets expensive! 1/4" (float or tempered) is strong enough to hold most snakes, but large constrictors potentially could break 1/4" tempered.

Jeff Hathaway
Sciensational Sssnakes!!