what materials would work for a tank?

[river_jack]

Im having a problem with building my cage. I have all the tools and knowledge but the quetion is plexy glass or regular glass? I have draw out the blue prints. I'm using and old home made table as the frame. The hole length of the table is 30" and 18" tall 14"deep. I dont need it to be water tight do to the snake will have a dish to swim and drink in. Will plexy glass do the same as glass or will I need to get the real deal? I am also puting in a removable devider. My girlfriend havent thought of what type of snake were getting. Were thinking two corn snakes(1 for me and 1 for her) wich is were the removable wall comes in. She is also looking into a rainbow boa wich the tank would be plenty enough for now. If any of you have experience in making a tanks I could really use youre in put.

[johnrandle]

plexi glass is just like regular glass except its cheaper to buy, lighter, and wont crack. the only down side is it scratches easier. just order your sheets thicker for walls and floor but the divider can be thin. you can also buy plastic hinges to silicone to your plexi. i have used it many times it works great i have a 6x2x2 plexi tank im working on now, cost me 257.00 for plexi, 10.00 for silicone ( dow corning 747 is my fav) but its 10 bucks a tube if you can find it. measure your pieces exactly and have them cut where you order your polexi glass so you dont have to try and cut it yourself.. but if you do, use a table saw if you can. the plexi glass or lucite knives are hard to use. you have to score a deep line with a straight edge and then snap itoff if you go that way and the edges are not flat like when u cut on a table saw. making it completley out of plexi is a good idea, so water will not be an issue if it spills everywhere as i have found to be a problem with my earlier wood tanks i made.

[river_jack]

I am now in another perdicament my girlfriend doesnt want a built tank she wants to buy on.Any way thanx for the info. Now I know it works so I can try it out for another time

[johnrandle]

buy an exo terra tank or one with sliding front, way easier to have openening front doors than to take a lid off
that way you can leave your lights and stuff on top all teh time and not have to move them to get a snake out

[Deej85]

I was wondering, what type of plywood sheeting would be safe to use in an enclosure?

Is spruce a viable option?

[johnrandle]

i use 3/4 BCX its very nice and strong looks nice if you finish the outside too, but you have to wait a while for it to dry and for the smell to discipate if you finish it.... i have 3 big hugs tanks for snakes and lizards i made from them.
http://img376.imageshack.us/img376/4848/img2655jw4.jpg
this is a pic of the 3 first ones i built. i didnt finish them, just had to make big tanks fast to put stuff in. cheap too!

[Deej85]

What other types are safe to use?

My dad is a carpenter and he is offering to help me make an enclosure. Also would a heat pad be able to heat an enclosure through plywood?

[johnrandle]

i duno anythin but cedar or pressure treated, nothign with chemicals on it..
but plywood isnt great neither is melamine as its wood and if it gets wet or damp it will rot or get mouldy quickly.

you can use plywood and then coat the bottom in lots of varathane or some clear coat, or just make the bottom pan out of plexi glass or real glass or somethin easy to clean.
as for the heat pad, get a piece of plexi glass or real glass larger than the pad and make a 1" frame for it to sit on, inside the tank.
thats how i did it. so teh heat pad was like 1" off teh floor of the rest of the floor, with substrate in there you dont notice.



you can see in the pic, the bottom two tanks have a bump on the left side, thats for the large heat pad i have put in both of them and they both wire up to a dimmer switch i have put on the side. i also have dimmer switches for the lights inside the tanks its all pretty simple each tank cost me about 100.00 the plexi glass was the most money of it all.
time to build, about 3 hours including electrical and etc.