Creating a Landscape for Enclosure Question

Phazetic · 10-01-17, 10:03 AM

Here is what I would like to do. I would like to create a more aesthetically pleasing cage, especially the bottom. My question is if the materials I use would be bad for my corn snake.

My hobbies are model building and airbrushing. I know I can create a sandy hard surface on the bottom of my terrarium using glue and sand, creating a permanent bottom. I like the idea of creating a more natural looking environment without the natural environment clean up.

I cannot see any problems with dried glue and sand but thought I would ask if there is any experience with problems that I might not foresee

TRD · 10-01-17, 05:05 PM

Why not make it bio-active and you do not need to clean up at all --- and it looks natural?

I haven't cleaned out my bio-active enclosures in months, and they smell fresh and the snakes thrive in them..

Just a question..

daisymaisy · 10-01-17, 06:32 PM

As long as the glue was nontoxic it would probably be ok - but would you still have some kind of bedding? Corns aren't necessarily big burrowers but mine likes to nose around in the bedding somewhat.

SerpentineDream · 10-01-17, 06:42 PM

I have a bioactive setup for my White's tree frogs and it's great. I never need to poopy scoop. I didn't set out to make it that way; it just happened. They need high humidity so I put in Eco Earth coco bedding on top of some Hydro Balls in water. Undyed sphagnum moss sits on the top. That was all I was going to do, but some of the bugs that were offered to the frogs got away and hid in the bedding. Several nightcrawlers made it "underground" and began breeding. It's an earthworm farm now. They didn't like the dubia roaches I offered and those also took up residence, eating poop and any dead leftover crickets (which they DO eat). Between the earthworms and the dubias there is never anything to pick up. The earthworms also do a great job fertilizing the live plants that I put in.

Now I want to do that for all of my adult / subadult snakes but it's going to be costly at first. We have 50 snakes and will probably have 60+ before all is said and done. We're still working on getting the rest of the stacking modular cages for all of them (We have a large basement). However it will be worth the investment because we'll save a lot of time and effort cleaning cages and a lot of money on aspen and cypress bedding over time. For snakes that need high humidity it's easy enough to keep the coco bedding moist and for those that don't, leave it mostly dry.

Phazetic · 10-01-17, 07:28 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by TRD

Why not make it bio-active and you do not need to clean up at all --- and it looks natural?

I haven't cleaned out my bio-active enclosures in months, and they smell fresh and the snakes thrive in them..

Just a question..

probably because I have never heard of bio-active enclosures before.

Google? here I come.....

Phazetic · 10-01-17, 07:32 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by daisymaisy

As long as the glue was nontoxic it would probably be ok - but would you still have some kind of bedding? Corns aren't necessarily big burrowers but mine likes to nose around in the bedding somewhat.

I would have some kind of bedding. I just wanted a textured base, rather then the smooth glass that is currently there. My corn snake goes under the aspen bedding and the sheets of mechanics paper towel that I have now... I have a heater glued under the glass and they say not to let the snake get directly on the glass there. Kind of why I wanted to get that seperation, and don't want to use the paper towel

BillyCostume · 10-02-17, 02:53 AM

Bioactive would be the way to go, happy researching