Tank lid Reworking

[Kaetlinv]

Alright, the pictures suck cause of the reflection, and I have no in-progress pictures, but i'll explain as well as I can.

These are roughly the adhesive 'dots' I used, which were originally for scrapbooking purposes.


Romeo's lid, the smallest;

Because I wanted to make sure the foil would stay, I wrapped it around the lip of the lid, using two sheets overlapping to cover the space desired.


Here is where I wrapped the foil around the lip, creasing the foil as necessary and trimming also.



On the corners I put the adhesive dot directly on the foil, then pressed against the metal of the lid so that no adhesive is exposed.


Valentine's lid;

Valentine's lid is a custom wood and mesh frame, so rather than wrapping under the lip (since there is none), I creased the foil to the inside raised edge of the lid and wrapped around to the other side to apply the adhesive dots.





And finally, Shanti's lid;

Repeat of Romeo's lid, as it's the same style. I accidentally used too much foil, so ripping around where foil wasn't supposed to be made an easy fix.




hope this explained a little ^.^'

[Juicykirstie]

Thank you so much! I'm going to do this to a few of my tanks. I totally agree on the whole make do with what you have. =) Thanks again!

[Kaetlinv]

Not a problem, Kirstie! I'd been meaning to do this to my tanks for a while, but with two of the three snakes heading to shed I figured then was as good as ever to try. Valentine finished shedding before I applied these, but romeo had a good shed (would've been whole except when I went to get him to give him a warm soak the shed opened on his hide as I pulled him out! oops), and now Shanti is headed there as well, pink belly, faint eyes and everything. I'd gotten the idea from various members here on the forums.

[Aaron_S]

Originally Posted by JustBitten

I started with tubs, (even set up for 2 weeks before I got Monty to stabilize temps/humidity) but got tired of never being able to see my snake. I picked up a 36" x 18" x 18" exo-terra, and since you don't have to take the top off, I ran saran wrap just under the edges of the one piece lid and re-secured it. The saran wrap was nearly the exact width of the enclosure top so one long piece worked perfectly. There are vent holes below the front doors and I put a few small ones in the saran wrap. Because that stuff is clear, you can't even see it unless you're looking for it. I would have bought a plastic snake enclosure with the plexi front but there is no one in my area (BC, Canada) that makes them for a reasonable price and while it would be easy to make one, I didn't have the time then.

With the exo background, jungle-scape cling on the ends and lots of places to hide, Monty hasn't missed a meal, has had perfect one-piece sheds and a great temp gradient since I did it about 6 months ago. Best of all, I actually get to see him cruising. It also makes me more confident that he is in good health because I see him so regularly. I use a thermostat and thermometers with probes so I'm also confident of my measurements.

Tubs work great and if I had more snakes I would be using them for at least some, but there is more than one way to get something done properly IMHO

I'm glad it's working for you. I never said this wasn't proper but it's a lot of hassle in my opinion for something I can do in 2 minutes to a bin by just poking holes and it's ready to go.

[Juicykirstie]

I'm curious to see if this helps my balls. I've been using damp towels over the lids the past few times and its helped, their sheds only in two or three pieces now. Hopefully this works better(: By the way Kaetlin, how often do you mist the tanks? (:

[Kaetlinv]

I haven't really ever misted, but I have a bottle now that I will be misting with to help out. I used to use towels before I did this, and found that it just didn't cut it, even when I utilized the way water would drop from them like rain when poured on.

At the moment I pour water directly onto the substrate, just until it's springy (it's eco-earth coco-husk mix), so that it's neither dry nor runny. No need to make the substrate too wet and risk scale rot...