Wooden/melamime enclosure

[EvilDes]

Hi guys, just after a bit of advice or suggestions.

Basically, my current snake collection consists of 2 ball pythons, both of which are currently kept in tubs. The tubs are ace, and are still suitable for both my BP's for a while yet, but Clyde, the bigger of the two is looking like he could be needing more space soon as he's getting to the width plus length of the tub rule.

However, I do not plan to own a massive number of BP's, so have been thinking of making a custom enclosure. I've already made our bearded dragons enclosure, aswell as our water dragons, so I'm not a complete novice and am fairly handy with DIY. My main concern is how I would appropriately heat the enclosure should I make it out of wood? I would prefer to stick to UTH, but obviously, with a wooden enclosure I'm not sure the heat would transfer enough to give the correct temperature hotspot, and I'm not too keen on using a bulb as the sole heat source.

So, what would be the best way heat an enclosure made from wood/melamime? I have 2 spare tv stands which I'll be converting, both are identical and so I thought I may aswell build the 2 together for our new BP for when she's big enough to go in it, and they'll be stacked on top of each other. A heatmat inside the enclosure doesn't seem the best idea, unless I sheild if from the snake so as to avoid direct contact.

I'm just a bit puzzled as to the best way to go about getting the setup correct with a different type of enclosure. Any help or advice will be greatly appreciated!

[Gloryhound]

Some UTH's are completely sealed and water proof. You can actually stick these in an enclosure with the snake. You just have to figure out a way to mount the thermostat probe so it can not move from the UTH at all. One of the best ways is to tape the probe to the bottom of the UTH before taping the UTH down. The next option would be a radiant heat panel with a piece of tile or something under it so it acts like a rock out in the sun.

[EvilDes]

Hi, thanks for the reply! My UTH does look completely waterproof yes, but I was worried about the snake sitting on it and didn't think of something like a tile to place on top of it. I have some spare slate tiles from when I built my beardie's enclosure, so I can test that out on the UTH to see if it gets to the desired temperature!

Thanks very much for that suggestion! Nice one!

[starmom]

Radiant heat panels would work really well. To read about them: http://www.reptilebasics.com/Reptile...l-p-16371.html and http://www.pro-products.com/proheat.html

[mooingtricycle]

This is my melamine 41Qt 9 slot rack. I use a strip of 11" flexwatt on the back right side, and it has been running for me for a good long while! ( t-stat too! )

Im going to be getting rid of it soon, probably. but it was really easy to make, IF you have all the tools available to you.

The sides have slots for each shelf dadoed out, and then each shelf was hammered into place, and there are screws in every other shelf going up.

Works well, but i prefer plastic racks, as this thing is just WAY too heavy to move!