Wooden Caging- Questions and Concerns

[Trisnake]

Hey guys.

So I was browsing my local Craigslist and I found a guy selling some enclosures he had built a couple years back. They're wooden, with a front-opening swing down door with locking mechanisms, inside lined with tile and (from the photos) sealed with what I assume is some sort of aquarium safe silicon or epoxy. Two small mesh air vents on either side of the enclosure for air flow, and the cages are stackable. 4'x2'x1' dimensions, FOUR of these guys for 300. Heating already installed.

My only reason for not absolutely pouncing on these enclosures is the way he heats them. Because of the thickness of the wood he had used to build the enclosures, he has the heat pads installed INSIDE the tank. This is worrisome to me as everything I have ever read (as well as what common sense tells me) is that the heating pads are absolutely NOT supposed to be inside the tank, as the snake can come into direct contact with the heat pad (possibility for burns) and because the pad can get wet and malfunction/electrocute the animal. When I asked about this, he outlined his system as putting the pad in the cage, thermostat probe underneath, then adding several layers of newspaper on top of the pad, with a cut piece Astro Turf topping it off. Despite the fact that he has "housed animals in these enclosures for 6 years like this with no problems yet", it still worries me.

My question is, is there a way to make these enclosures work in a way that is not an absolutely massive effort on my part yet is still safe for my snakes?

I've seen people with wooden vivs like this put the pad on the inside, and then put a piece of slate tile over top of it so the animal doesn't come into contact with the pad itself. Anyone think this would work? I would of course seal the tile down with aquarium safe silicon so that no moisture can leak under to the heat pad.

All insight is appreciated I'm just hoping I can find a way to make these cages work, I really like the price and they look like nice, well made enclosures.

edit: and no, these won't be for ball pythons

[Randall L Turner Jr]

You can find heat mats that are completely safe to be used inside of the enclosure, like Kane mats. Can also get radiant heat panels and the worry around heat mats will become moot.

[Trisnake]

You can find heat mats that are completely safe to be used inside of the enclosure, like Kane mats. Can also get radiant heat panels and the worry around heat mats will become moot.

Was not aware there are heat mats designed for use inside the enclosure, I will research those. I'm new to radiant heat panels though and am not sure about using them, though admittedly that was the first place my mind went when I was thinking about the heating situation. I would need to do more research on those as well.

Thank you for your reply

[Zincubus]

There are THOUSANDS of snakes on heat mats in wooden vivs in the uk .

They HAVE to be regulated by a thermostat !

Maybe we have different / special heat mats ??

Things are different over here on a few things - LIVE feeding aside ... we also use Callingtons to guard against and treat mites...


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[Trisnake]

There are THOUSANDS of snakes on heat mats in wooden vivs in the uk .

They HAVE to be regulated by a thermostat !

Maybe we have different / special heat mats ??

Things are different over here on a few things - LIVE feeding aside ... we also use Callingtons to guard against and treat mites...


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk Pro

Really?? I guess things are a bit different in the U.K.

So what you're saying is that so long as the heat pad is thermostat regulated to a safe tempurature they should be okay? And it would be set to a lower temp than normal if it's inside the viv and not having to transfer heat through a medium like PVC or glass, I assume? With my glass tanks I always have to set the thermostat a couple degrees higher than 90 to reach a 90 degree hot spot, but I assume this won't be the case if the pad is in the viv?

No prevalent problems with sticky adhesives from these heat mats, or issues with them getting wet?

Tbh when I was initially researching this, I came across quite a few different threads on different sites where putting the UTH inside the tank was admonished for the reasons I outlined (electrocution/malfunction/burn risk), but I have yet to actually find any incident reports of problems with UTH's getting wet and malfunctioning, or snakes burning themselves on a *regulated* UTH in the cage. Only ever some heat spikes from the snake getting urine on the probe, which I feel should be easy to avoid with proper placement, or people burning their snakes with unregulated heat sources. Maybe I'm just not looking hard enough though.

[Zincubus]

As I understand things the heatmats are all waterproof insulated governed by the strictest health and safety standards in the world ..

Never had an issue . Most use a glue gun to attach the thermostat probe onto the heat mat .

Heat mats are generally used for the slimmer snakes like Corns and kings etc


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