New Emerald Tree Boa Enclosure

Pretty much finished off a new tank for my emerald tree boa. Hers has gotten super tiny for her. So it's time for an upgrade! This will do her for a little while until I plan something bigger and permanent. Afterwards, I'm sure I'll find someone new to live in it. ;)

The tank is an 18x18x24 Exoterra. I have Zoomed corkbark backgrounds installed on all 3 walls. I had to trim the side ones to fit, but they fit. (I used the 18x18 backgrounds instead of the 18x24 ones. This saved me money and ensures that the cork won't rot in the substrate. Win/win!) I put silicone along the outward facing edge to conceal the cork and then patted it down with some fairly dry cocofibre. I made the branch supports from pieces of corkbark. Man was that difficult since my branches are all so irregular. The branches are manzanita wood. I got a huge box of it a while back. Love the stuff. It looks great and is perfect for any tank with high humidity. All branches are removeable so if the snake is wrapped on one I can just take the whole branch out.

The substrate is multiple layers. I used Hydroton expanded clay pellets on the bottom for a drainage layer. I then sandwiched some cotton batting between this great plastic knitting/sewing screen stuff I found at Walmart once and used often to make dividers for fish tanks back when that was my main hobby. The top layer is a mix of cocofibre, cocohusk, Exoterra forest bark and Exoterra moss. I then topped this off with a layer of just moss. The plant is something I grabbed half price. Don't know the specific species, so if anyone can help that would be great.

The water dish is a TRex Bark Bowl that I thought would look great in the tank and in my opinion does. It takes up a LOT of space but is nice and shallow providing for lots of surface area. Good for humidity.

I'm going to be heating the tank using a radiant heat panel hooked up to a thermostat and dimmer for double insurance. Just making sure to be safe. The lighting is one of those nifty Exoterra hoods specifically designed for the tank. It holds two compact fluorescent bulbs to grow the plants.

ANYWAY... Here are the pics.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v6...nk/tank001.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v6...nk/tank002.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v6...nk/tank003.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v6...nk/tank004.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v6...nk/tank005.jpg

To finish things off I want to find a nice shelf liner and attach it to the outside of the tank to hide the layers of substrate as well as the siliconed corkbark. And then I add the snake and I'm done. ;)

Thanks for looking!

Awesome enclosure, I really like it!! Great job, it looks fantastic!:gj:

Cant wait to see it with the snake inside.

i am loving the naturalistic caging that people are doing now. i love the way you used the wood in there. should work out great!

AWESOME! Live plants and all, love it!

Thanks everyone.

My emerald is a display animal/pet for the time being. (Unless I find her a boyfriend some day.) So I figured I should make a nice display enclosure for her to reside in. While I get the expedience of sterile enclosures and that the snakes do just fine in them, this is more so for me.

Hopefully the live plants grow and do well. She'll spend most of her time in the perches anyway. In the time I've owned her (since last February) I've only ever seen her on the ground once in her current enclosure. So I don't imagine she'll do much damage to them.

We'll see how it goes and I'll make the appropriate adjustments when and if necessary.

It's just a shame that she'll outgrow this tank too, heh... But it was a good trial run while I contemplate what her final enclosure will look like. It'll definitely be something custom made.

I didn't even notice those plants were real until you said they were LOL. This seemed pretty fun to make. When are you planning on putting her in the enclosure? Plus. wouldn't it be hard to clean out that water dish since you cannot move it (or, if you can move it out of the enclosure and stuff, never mind about this question LOL)?

I was hoping to get the snake in this weekend, but I need to set up the radiant heat panel and get my temps right first. Unfortunately I'm really sick and just don't have the energy.

The water bowl is made of plastic and comes out. ;)

I love it look's great

lance

Great job so far! There's no better display snake than an ETB or GTP in my opinion.

Updated pics of my emerald tree boa, Ursula, in her new home...

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v6...nk/tank006.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v6...nk/tank007.jpg

So gorgeous

Now that is sweet! Nice job......and really great snake.

Thanks so much! I love this girl. She's the perfect display snake.

Sweeet! She so pretty.

Daniel

You might want to rethink that mansanita (sp). If it isn't sealed, the high humidity required for emeralds can produce mold that would be harmfull, both resiratory and scale wise. Emeralds also tend to prefer level pearches, equal to thier maximum girth. Just relaying my experience.

Craig

Manzanita wood is perfectly capable of withstanding high levels of humidity. I've used it in many gecko tanks that have equal or higher humidity levels and never seen any mold growth. People successfully and easily use it fully submersed in their fish tanks as well, and it's worked fine. Part of avoiding mold growth is allowing for adequate dry-out periods between mistings anyway. You might be thinking of grapevine.

I do find the one back perch is a bit thick. But I'm going to leave it as is.

Thanks for the advice.

she's a beauty

lance

That is exceptional!
Great work and excellent attention to detail, especially on the wood
If I were an emerald tree boa, I would definitely want to live there! ;)

Well, she ate her first meal tonight since being moved into the new enclosure. So I guess all is well and comfortable for her.

She's stunning! More pictures please!!!

all i got to says is THAT SWEET, nice job man

Thanks! I'll try and do a photoshoot this weekend and maybe get some more pics of her.

That's an awsome looking ETB enclosure!!! Congrats and nice job!!!

Holy crap.... that's impressive. That snake looks so hot in that enclosure! :O

Hey Mettle, nice enclosure you have there.
i cant help but notice these pics are way better than the ones i saw on fury :O

hope the ETB is doing well, speak to you soon bud :cool:

I've used several layers of fiberglass screen under a layer of sand in vivs before...the cotton batting is a GREAT idea. Its a natural fiber so it is a little more prone to mold. Makes me want to start over with the vivs!

Fantastic job.

Nice cage, how big is the ETB?

Very nice enclosure!
Just make sure to keep up with the maintenance really closely or you'll get molding and all sorts of nasties growing in there.

Great looking enclosure! Good work, more pics please!:gj:

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Joey'D

Hey Mettle, nice enclosure you have there.
i cant help but notice these pics are way better than the ones i saw on fury :O

hope the ETB is doing well, speak to you soon bud :cool:

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Haha, yeah. I never posted the updated pics over on PFury of her in the enclosure. I really liked how they turned out, though. Thanks for the compliments!

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Kuba

Nice cage, how big is the ETB?

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I'm not sure how big she is to be honest. I've never measured her length or weighed her. She's really not all that big. But I'm growing her slowly. ETBs being arboreal snakes have very slow metabolisms. So she only eats once every two weeks and the meal isn't all that big either, just a hopper mouse. I'll see if I can figure out her length though and maybe get a weight on her.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by blackcrystal22

Very nice enclosure!
Just make sure to keep up with the maintenance really closely or you'll get molding and all sorts of nasties growing in there.

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I definitely keep an eye on it. But you'd be surprised how easy it is to maintain a tank like this. As long as one is good about cleaning up poop and you do proper dry out periods between mistings it's all good. And my girl only poops in her water dish it seems so it's pretty easy to clean up, heh.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by juddb

Great looking enclosure! Good work, more pics please!:gj:

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I'm actually going to try and get some more pics tonight. Some of the plants have actually been growing since I planted the tank originally so it'll be neat to have some updated shots.

I just had her out really quick and measured her. (Or tried to, lol.) And it seems that she's just shy of 30" in length. I didn't weigh her though.

It's great having an emerald tree boa that you can easily handle. :D

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Mettle

I'm actually going to try and get some more pics tonight. Some of the plants have actually been growing since I planted the tank originally so it'll be neat to have some updated shots.

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If you have the room in there, i say throw alot more plants in, some pothos, philodendron's, etc... Good luck.

There isn't a ton of room, actually. And the plants that are in there take up most of the available room as is. I might look into air plants at some point though and attach those to the sides.

I didn't get any pics last night... My girl had a bad shed a little while ago. It was the first bad shed I've ever had with any of my snakes. :( We had turned on our furnace for the winter and forgotten about the humidifer so the house was pretty dry. Even though I mist her once or twice a day, I guess it still affected her somewhat, and yeah, bad shed. Anyway. She has a little piece stuck on her snout that I can't seem to get off so I'm going to wait til her next shed when that comes off to show some new pics. :P

since its an ETB i would suggest a larger water feature in the next cage, waterfall and pool, some guppies, and some dart frogs and a day gecko or two... all of that would look awesome !!! keep up the good work, i wish i had skills and resources to make an enclosure look like that

Lovely setup all around!:)