New Emerald Tree Boa Enclosure

[Mettle]

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.











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!

[CoolioTiffany]

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

[Oxylepy]

Cant wait to see it with the snake inside.

[Lucas339]

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!

[Jason Bowden]

AWESOME! Live plants and all, love it!

[Mettle]

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.

[CoolioTiffany]

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)?

[Mettle]

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.

[lance]

I love it look's great

lance

[Mitch21]

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