Glass Vivarium Guide (W.I.P.)

[Krynos]

I'm writing a guide to seting up and maintaining glass vivariums and at this point it's pretty much done.

I've yet to take the photos as I have to wait until Cleo sheds, at which point I'll be taking her viv apart to clean it.

I'd appreciate it if you'd comment on what you think about it. Changes needed, things I got wrong, things that need to be added etc.

It's available on our new personal snakes page the link is in my sig below.

[frankykeno]

Very nice Rick...informative and beautifully presented!


Just a few comments:

* temps - perhaps a caution that anything below 75 degrees is very detrimental for the snake as well as a strong caution against using heat rocks...pet stores push them a lot and we all know how horrible the resulting burns can be....always good to get that word out anyway we can

* stick-on temp gauges - most folks get those stick-on analogs pushed on them by pet stores....again, perhaps a caution that these though common are notoriously unreliable (I wish pet stores would smarten up!)

* humidity - we push to 70% during shed...not sure how high others go....again a caution perhaps that like high temps, constant too high humidity (especially with resultant condensation of the tank) can be a problem for the snake and it's substrate can become constantly damp

* substrate - perhaps a short blurb on the most commonly used substrates (aspen, newspaper, paper towels for new snakes, carefesh, etc) with a caution about pine and the reason for it's being not recommended...also some substrates (like cypress mulch) need to be baked at low temps to both dry them and as a caution against bugs in the mulch - I do my cypress for the BCI at 200 degrees for 1 hour (home depot so perhaps another supplier is better as their cypress is very damp straight from the bag)

Hope you don't mind my suggestions for all the cautions but especially with a lot of pet stores pushing junk on people and just my own personality, I go with a lot of cautions so I don't assume somebody automatically knows the "right" way of things.

Excellent resource for glass viv users though Rick. We do recommend a lot of plastic enclosures here but it's just as important to support and educate the keepers who prefer to use a glass viv. Thanks again!

~~Jo~~

[elevatethis]

Good writeup. I gotta say though, $350-400 per glass viv is definitley a lot of money. You can get a Boaphile or Vision cage for less than that, and are much less complicated.

[frankykeno]

Maybe less cost effective but the joy of doing it, the challenge of it and the satisfaction when it works and looks so nice...I can bet that's worth something.



~~Jo~~

[elevatethis]

Yeah, I can level with that. My snakes live in rubbermaid tubs with upside-down litter boxes for hides, and are happy as can be. I guess I'm a little biased then...

[frankykeno]

Well heck all our bp's live in sterlite with rubber dog dishes for hides LOL....I'm all about efficiency and cost effectiveness with them. I do understand though for single snakes or smaller collections (like for instance my daughter's milksnake) there is a real joy in providing a glass viv that is both good for the snake and pleasing to the owner's eyes.


~~Jo~~

[Krynos]

I'll add all those in Jo as they are great points.

[frankykeno]

Great work Rick. Really well laid out and I know a good resource for glass viv users...thanks for all the effort you put into it and for generously sharing it with us folks.



~~Jo~~

[cassandra]

It'll look nicer once we get the pictures...Imma fix up the PDF as well, make it look better.

[iceman25]

Nice work! Very well writen