Dividing a Glass Terrarium

[cayley]

I know that glass isn't the best choice, but my stepdad got all excited and gave me his old 4 foot fishtank, and also ordered a to-size screen lid, clips, and lights. He doesn't know much about snakes but I figured that I would try and make light of the situation... not to mention, if I'm correct, 4 feet is long enough to potentially house a second ball... not that I've been considering getting another one or anything...

I've been reading the husbandry forum sticky about setting up a glass terrarium and it seems a little more difficult but I have a lot of time to iron everything out as it will be a few months at least before this thing becomes an actual home for any critters.

Basically, the main question I have is, how feasible is it to build a divider? What is the simplest way? Am I setting myself up for a complete headache?


Thanks.

[Dxw425]

Im sure you can get an appropriate sized piece of glass or even plexiglass cut at a home improvement or plastics shop. Some animal safe silicone to seal it and its set to go. Like you already mentioned the hard part will be getting the tank (now tanks) to maintain proper temps and humidity.

[CALM Pythons]

To answer your question, yes its easy to make a divider but you have one chance and having it cut the right size by the Lowes employee. Use DURAPLEX plexyglass. It has a bit more flexibility and wont crack with a little pressure like the cheap stuff does.
I have the same tank your talking about. With the 4' screened lid there is a lot of flex in the screen so if the snake pushes on the screen (and he will i guarantee ) he will be able to lift/flex/stretch the screen about 1" and thats enough for him to get caught trying to get over the divider so make sure you have a Tank Brace (otherwise make a brace) 1/2 way across the top of your tank so the divider is Siliconed on all 4 side to the tank. The Floor, 2 sides and on a Top Brace.
With all this said, If i were you I would make a beautiful 4' tank for that Coral Glo and let him live alone like a Rock Star!!! He could have the coolest pad, 2 nice hides, a big water dish and some nice climbing things as Balls Love to climb given the opportunity. They will climb for hours at night if they have a home made PVC type jungle gym like a lot of us make. Plus PVC is easy to clean. I spray painted mine like a branch ect..
Ther reason I suggest giving him the whole tank is because I find they really will use it at night after they get use to the tank change. Some people say they only need 24 to 36".. Well im sure they will live like that, but give them 4' with things to do and they become little investigators at night and I think its acually healthy for them to climb and do things...
Here is something to give you a idea of what you can build very easy if you decide to give him a big cool pad of his own. This one is 46" long by 22" Deep but you can make them 12"Deep for a smaller tank. This costs $12 without Paint & I took the leaves off fake Reptile plants i already had.


Heres Sully at about 100 grams. Just hanging around

[cayley]

ohhhhh Mr Sully that is soooooooo cool :o I would love to see him jungle gym-ing all over the place! I think he would too as he isn't a shy dude and seems to enjoy perching on his hide every night. I was under the impression that balls get intimidated by space but I suppose if I really kind of clutter the tank it would be really fun for him! Actually, I have all sorts of ideas....

[CALM Pythons]

ohhhhh Mr Sully that is soooooooo cool :o I would love to see him jungle gym-ing all over the place! I think he would too as he isn't a shy dude and seems to enjoy perching on his hide every night. I was under the impression that balls get intimidated by space but I suppose if I really kind of clutter the tank it would be really fun for him! Actually, I have all sorts of ideas....

Yup they will use the room. My Male "hence the name" Sully, lays all the way across the tank stretched out.. I think he likes it and it feels good or he wouldnt do it.. Then he climbs around, goes through his 12" water bowl and sometime sits in it for 2-3 min... When he is done, he goes into one of the hides.. He lives good and not cramped up and he isnt stressed. So I'd play with that enclosure and have fun working on it for him.

[JodanOrNoDan]

Or....... You could use this as an excuse to get an animal that keeps easy in that type of environment with little modification. By the time you are done with the modifications you probably will have spent enough to put together a couple of tubs. That said, tubs are utilitarian and I have seen some pretty nice setups by people who know what they are doing.

[distaff]

Jealous of that four foot tank! Recently ordered a forty-long with slide out top for a baby sonoran gopher. Of course, it didn't arrive as scheduled... now, the store says next week...
(Tiny baby is in an old ten gallon, which suits her fine for now.)

Whenever I come across a cheap decent tank used, I snatch it up. Good for fish, good for terrariums, good for viv's.

Agree with Sully, if your snake isn't a hatchling, I'd just let it have the extra room.

Otherwise, maybe you need some fish!

[FishBoy510]

You can go the cheap right and use egg crate and pvc pipe. Maybe paint the egg crate n pipes black so it's less of an eye sore. It's called lighting diffuser I think and you can get it at places like Home Depot.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hH8baKLlCrw

[CALM Pythons]

You can go the cheap right and use egg crate and pvc pipe. Maybe paint the egg crate n pipes black so it's less of an eye sore. It's called lighting diffuser I think and you can get it at places like Home Depot.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hH8baKLlCrw

Thats a bad idea. Snakes get into terrible predicaments trying to escape & that divider would be his #1 nightly routine....


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[MissterDog]

To answer your question, yes its easy to make a divider but you have one chance and having it cut the right size by the Lowes employee. Use DURAPLEX plexyglass. It has a bit more flexibility and wont crack with a little pressure like the cheap stuff does.
I have the same tank your talking about. With the 4' screened lid there is a lot of flex in the screen so if the snake pushes on the screen (and he will i guarantee ) he will be able to lift/flex/stretch the screen about 1" and thats enough for him to get caught trying to get over the divider so make sure you have a Tank Brace (otherwise make a brace) 1/2 way across the top of your tank so the divider is Siliconed on all 4 side to the tank. The Floor, 2 sides and on a Top Brace.
With all this said, If i were you I would make a beautiful 4' tank for that Coral Glo and let him live alone like a Rock Star!!! He could have the coolest pad, 2 nice hides, a big water dish and some nice climbing things as Balls Love to climb given the opportunity. They will climb for hours at night if they have a home made PVC type jungle gym like a lot of us make. Plus PVC is easy to clean. I spray painted mine like a branch ect..
Ther reason I suggest giving him the whole tank is because I find they really will use it at night after they get use to the tank change. Some people say they only need 24 to 36".. Well im sure they will live like that, but give them 4' with things to do and they become little investigators at night and I think its acually healthy for them to climb and do things...
Here is something to give you a idea of what you can build very easy if you decide to give him a big cool pad of his own. This one is 46" long by 22" Deep but you can make them 12"Deep for a smaller tank. This costs $12 without Paint & I took the leaves off fake Reptile plants i already had.


Heres Sully at about 100 grams. Just hanging around

Super cool jungle gym Sully! I definitely wanna try making my own! What do you use to attach the pipes together? After spray painting do you use a sealer? I'm still trying to figure out all the snake safe materials that can be used for diy projects.