Is this gap asking for trouble?

DLLNP · 08-29-17, 07:59 PM

Hello!

I am putting together a viv' for my boa's. The viva have sliding glass doors and there is about a 4 mm gap between the glass doors where they overlap. My boas are about 38" long and 500-600g. I know they can't squeeze themselves through a gap that small but does anyone think that gap is too big? I.e. Would a boa TRY and squeeze through that and end up getting stuck..?

Ronin · 08-29-17, 09:41 PM

A good rule of them is if their head cant fit they cant fit. Only thing i can think of is maybe humidity and heat loss. I feel like acrilic for door would be better, with such a strong animal. Glass breaks so easily. I mean i was just framing art today and holding some glass and facening it to the frame and it broke with almost no pressure. Would love to hear more about what you got cooking!

akane · 08-29-17, 10:05 PM

After seeing someone's large python (retic?) cram it's body shortly behind it's head into the gap of a mounted heat panel to then fall and choke itself near to death I don't trust any gap. It's head sure didn't fit. It must have shoved in sideways while bracing against the top somehow. They did save it. They only had a pic because they were already taking pics and snapped one when they saw it before pulling it out.

**Tsubaki** · 08-29-17, 11:33 PM

That was my python, yes it was a reticulated one. If they can wedge themselves and really use force to get in between something, they can get into gaps smaller than their heads. Never have seen this snake even try to wedge in between the sliders, also sliders tend to be smooth and not have upstanding edge like the rhp did, or an angle to really shove their bodies into. I'd still be cautious.. I've certainly gained a few trust issues towards tiny gaps.. The topic is still up but all the pictures have vanished bc of photobucket. Once my pc is back ill fix that.. And yeah i barely managed to save him, took one picture thinking he was already dead though. He made a full recovery luckily, now he lives to find new ways to give me a heartattack.

dannybgoode · 08-30-17, 01:49 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Ronin

A good rule of them is if their head cant fit they cant fit. Only thing i can think of is maybe humidity and heat loss. I feel like acrilic for door would be better, with such a strong animal. Glass breaks so easily. I mean i was just framing art today and holding some glass and facening it to the frame and it broke with almost no pressure. Would love to hear more about what you got cooking!

I have never had a glass viv door break except for the ones I stood on. In the UK where the vast majority of enclosures is glass doors I very rarely hear of anyone having a breakage.

4mm float is plenty strong enough for most applications and she's more strength is required the is always toughened glass.

Acrylic marks really easy and often doesn't stay transparent in my experience. It's often more expensive also.

akane · 08-30-17, 04:23 AM

I've broken a lot of glass aquarium tops but usually because I set them somewhere random while doing things lol I've never broken anything properly set in place. Picture frame glass is usually quite thin and weak stuff in my experience. Probably one of the easiest glass panels to break of anything I've handled. Not what you'd use for an enclosure.

I've actually been building with plexiglass though because it's not that expensive here at my hardware store and they cut it for free. Cheaper than glass to the point by the time it marks up in a few years I could replace it easily. My husband cracked the corner off the first one he drilled. No, you can't start with the final size of bit you want a large hole to be.... I thought this was common knowledge or I would have supervised the first plexi project better. They do sell kits for reducing the scratch damage and improving clarity again on acrylic for aquariums. That might prolong other sources of acrylic but quality does vary with some having scratch resistant coatings. It is much easier to cut the plastic materials yourself if it's not super thick should my needs change. Such as just cutting the top off the one with the cracked corner because technically we didn't absolutely need that much height to fully enclose that side. A lot of glass can't even be drilled with basic tools so you have to watch what you get for various purposes.

DLLNP · 08-30-17, 05:50 AM

Quote:

I mean i was just framing art today and holding some glass and facening it to the frame and it broke with almost no pressure. Would love to hear more about what you got cooking!

I am using 5mm thick tempered glass, it is very very strong so I am thinking I should be safe from any glass breakage. Later today I will post a picture so you can see what I made!

Quote:

I have never had a glass viv door break except for the ones I stood on. In the UK where the vast majority of enclosures is glass doors I very rarely hear of anyone having a breakage.

4mm float is plenty strong enough for most applications and she's more strength is required the is always toughened glass.

Ya I definitely designed this viv's off of what I have seen in the UK. The classic wooden viv with sliding glass doors you're used to seeing is pretty uncommon in North Am but I really like the way they look so that's what I decided to go with. Yes, I am thinking 5mm tempered glass is plenty strong enough. And it certainly seems like a long shot that they would try and squeeze through a 4mm gap (although still possible), when I had them in tubs they never tried and to get through the gap between the tub and the shelf which would have been about 2-3mm and they were much smaller back then (60g).

Quote:

My husband cracked the corner off the first one he drilled. No, you can't start with the final size of bit you want a large hole to be....

Classic

sounds like something I would do... I'm sure it was followed by a few good words too

DLLNP · 08-30-17, 04:32 PM

I still have to rearrange them, etc. I just chucked all my cage decor in so I could test humidity and heat etc. but here they are! glass is so clear you can hardly see it lol

Herpin' Man · 08-30-17, 05:39 PM

You might try putting some weatherstripping between the doors, nearest to the gap as possible. This should discourage the snake, in the unlikely event that it is able to push it's head in to the gap. It's not exactly pretty to look at, but neither is a dead snake.
I have sliding doors on my paludarium, and I use the weatherstripping that has a bulb on one surface, and an adhesive back. You will probably need the smallest size you can find, or else the doors may bind.