Planted Enclousure w/Gopher

[Jay]

Here Is my male S.gopher snake and hour after shed in the planted tank I made for him.
http://i1129.photobucket.com/albums/m517/jay0133/IMG_7194.jpg
http://i1129.photobucket.com/albums/m517/jay0133/IMG_7197.jpg
http://i1129.photobucket.com/albums/m517/jay0133/IMG_7205.jpg
http://i1129.photobucket.com/albums/m517/jay0133/IMG_7206.jpg

[stephanbakir]

Puts mine to shame, got my snake in an aspen enclosure hiding in a pizza box while I make him a hide :P

Edit: its pretty bad when you misspell shame =/

[Jay]

Puts mine to shame, got my snake in an aspen enclosure hiding in a pizza box while I make him a hide :P

Edit: its pretty bad when you misspell shame =/
80% of my tanks are cardboard hides and aspen. I keep the other 20% as displays with large rock hides.

Don't worry I misspelled the title of the thread wrong XD

[stephanbakir]

I am not alone in my quest for proper spelling :) Dyslexia is a pain in the neck lol.

[ilovemypets1988]

beautiful looking enclosure :P (im just teasing with the spelling),

im hoping that all of my snake tanks will be natural habitats for them, i believe that if u can replicate their natural way of living, then you make the snakes happier with there homes and you may even see behaviour that you wouldnt normally see in captivity as they may feel more at home than just aspen bedding and other man made solutions would.

[youngster]

oh man that looks soooo nice

[ilovemypets1988]

can you use sand to put the plants into or do u need soil, as im thinking of doing a planted tank with coloured sand but if i need soil then i will use moss.

actually, how do u get moss to grow on the base of the tank and on top of the substrate anyway

[stephanbakir]

Peat moss comes from the store dry, you just add water.

[Jay]

can you use sand to put the plants into or do u need soil, as im thinking of doing a planted tank with coloured sand but if i need soil then i will use moss.

actually, how do u get moss to grow on the base of the tank and on top of the substrate anyway

What kind of snake?

[ilovemypets1988]

it will be for the following: western hognose, bci (common boa) and a ball python

[Jay]

I may have read your post wrong so correct me if I'm wrong but I would highly recommend that you do not put any sand in any of those listed snakes.

[stephanbakir]

i believe he was referring to planting them, regarding what type of soil to use.

[Jay]

Well I used organic top soil...

[ilovemypets1988]

yh thats true, i was thinking of the plant substrate and i currently use childs play sand in with the hognose, and the boa (its an emergency thing as i use sand for my gecko and was the only thing i had lying around but will be changed pretty soon) but the bp is currently on beech chipping substrate.

thanks, i will get some soil for the planting.

[Jay]

You need to get your boa of the sand I understand you said emerg. but I can list 100 items in your house that would be better...Toilet paper newspaper napkins, paper towels, rags, pillow case blanket ect...

[ilovemypets1988]

that will be done sometime this week, probably on the weekend tbh

[Teckdragon]

A simple, yet effective display tank! That's an umbrella plant if I'm not mistaken.

As per questions regarding soil, I highly recommend you make your own as opposed to purchasing topsoil, which often contains many chemicals such as phosphates and nitrogen that can irritate animals' skin. I highly recommend the ABG Mix (Atlantic Botanical Garden) which is: 2 parts tree fern fiber, 1 part peat moss, 2 parts cocofiber, 1 part charcoal, and 2 parts orchid bark. I know some keepers also add a pinch of calcium sand to the mix for consistency, but that's just personal preference.

If you're interested in moss, you can buy dried peat or sphagnum moss from any garden center, plus companies like Exo Terra, Zilla, and Zoo Med all sell compacted, dried variants. Once water is added it usually spring back to life. If you want to avoid the dried stuff, you can try to find java, ricca, or pillow moss online. I know several tropical retailers stock and ship it. These species can be finicky, and usually require some type of misting system to regulate humidity.

But before you can even consider soil or moss, you have to think: drainage. You'll need somewhere for all that water to go. You have a couple options, including false bottoms, a layer of LECA and mesh screen, or some combination combined with a drain and/or siphon.

[stephanbakir]

How would one go about doing that? I know that for our T we had 2 inches of gravel at the bottom with 2 tubes going to the top through the rest of the substrate. We poured water through the tubes to add to the bottom and that keeps up the humidity. Would that work for the mosses/plants?

[Coffee Black]

Looks great. How often are you going to have to change the soil ? I know that you can get it so that you rarely need to change it but I'm not entirely sure how that works.

[Teckdragon]

How would one go about doing that? I know that for our T we had 2 inches of gravel at the bottom with 2 tubes going to the top through the rest of the substrate. We poured water through the tubes to add to the bottom and that keeps up the humidity. Would that work for the mosses/plants?

You could do some type of hidden siphon/tubing up the back, but you'd still need either a false bottom or a drainage layer for the water to collect in. If you have the time and money, I'd simply suggest drilling a hole and installing a simple valve.

[Teckdragon]

Looks great. How often are you going to have to change the soil ? I know that you can get it so that you rarely need to change it but I'm not entirely sure how that works.

In a properly regulated tank: never. The biotic wastes from the animals act as fertilizers to feed the plants. The only real maintenance comes from cleaning the glass.