Questions in regards to glass tank repair

[Rodop]

Hey guys! I hope your evening/morning is going well!
Anyways, back in November of last year my dad gave me his 40 gallon glass tank from when he used to have boa constrictors (this was back in the late 90's very early 2000's). However, before I got it a friend of mine-who lives near him- had it for a while and it was left out in their garage for who knows how long: there was bird poop on the lid it came with and who knows what kind of grime and gunk in the tank.
Last week or so I finally got around to at least washing it with dawn soap and rinsing it heavily just to see if there were any problems with the glass itself. The glass looks okay except for some non-threatening scratches and a rust spot -no bigger than a quarter- on the inside bottom glass. Since the tank is sitting out in my parents' garage I haven't bothered to sanitize it. Apologies for potato-quality photos. ^^;

Don't mind the chickens in the background, those belong to my mom.
It's 48"L x 12"w x 16"h. There are cracks in the top, black plastic bridge part of the framing and the bottom frame is actually missing a piece on the side. It also looks like whatever sealer/silicone was used on it has been eaten away by something/decaying?




I would be using this for my corn snake if this tank can be used/saved (unless you guys suggest a different type of cage for corns, but seeing as they don't need high humidity, need lots of breathability, and I love watching her move about in her cage I feel like the glass would be ok). Please don't yell at me if I'm wrong, I am still learning/researching and the options for caging are honestly overwhelming to me.

First of all, is it worth repairing or am I better off getting a new glass tank? Or a different type of tank? I am willing to put the work into it, but Pet Supplies Plus has a $1 per gallon sale going on their aquariums (I believe getting a 40 gallon is about $40-$50 depending on tax). But the nearest one is 45 min to an hour away.

If it is possible, what do you recommend I do?
How would I remove the existing silicone (do I just gently scrape it off or use some type of chemical remover)?
Do I need to replace the bottom plastic frame entirely (because of the missing piece) or can I put something else there and it would still work?
Does the top frame need to be replaced as well or can I leave it be because I am not filling the tank with water?

Any advice, tips, tricks, or suggestions to youtubers, other forums, or websites would be much appreciated!

Thank you for taking the time to read/respond to this and I hope all of your herps are doing fabulously!
(If anybody has any vanilla scream/lemonblast ball pythons I'd love to see them!)

[Bogertophis]

All that work to fix it sure wouldn't be worth my time but I can't speak for yours. I don't know of any chemical that removes silicone, just manual scraping.
(any chemical that corrosive wouldn't be very nice to hang around with anyway...) The thing is, the plastic framing dries out & breaks after so many years,
& since some has already broken, the rest is probably not far behind, & you need ALL the framing to support the glass. If you want to take it all apart, just
saving the glass, and rebuild it, I know they sell wood molding that forms a right angle, and maybe the same thing made of other materials too, but that's an
awful lot of work for scratched glass, & I wouldn't trust it to hold together without doing all that. Glass is heavy, even without water in it, so for safety you
wouldn't just want to stick on a piece of molding to make it look OK, as the molding is essential to the structure. So by the time you buy all that plus do all
the work, you might as well buy a new tank for $1 per gallon. I would...

You don't want to use the kind of glass lid they sell for fish with a snake: Corn snakes need the ventilation. I make my own lids of wood frame with "hard-
ware cloth" (welded wire screen), or Petco will sell you theirs for quite a bit, & they need clips to secure. What ever you go with, corn snakes WILL push
up on the lid, so you need to make it escape proof. If you make a wood/screen top, you can chain the corners of the lid to whatever the tank sits on, by
installing eye bolts, buying multi-purpose lightweight chain & using "dog leash" type clips (all sold in hardware stores)...no snake can EVER push that kind
of lid off.

BTW, I'm a keeper of corn & various rat snakes, and yes, glass tanks are perfect for them. Adult corn snakes do well in a 40 gallon, as you were figuring.

[Craiga 01453]

I personally would grab myself a 40 breeder at the dollar/gallon sale. Corns would prefer more height anyway. The dimensions of that other tank just don't make a good corn tank. Only the most terrestrial species would do well in that.

[pretends2bnormal]

It would probably be best to get a new tank, all things considered here.

However, as someone coming from aquariums first, in a lot of cases the plastic border at the top is about 50% decoration, 40% use for supporting a lid, and maybe 10% actually used for structural integrity. A lot of mods to smaller tanks (29 and smaller) involve permanently removing that top piece of plastic for a tank holding water. As long as the silicone was in good shape, that wouldn't concern me at all to have part missing or removed on a non-aquarium.

It does look like heat or cold or both has destroyed most of the integrity of the silicone, though, so the plastic is probably doing more to hold it together here than normal. I'm not even sure I would trust that as-isto keep things safe for any animal without re-doing the silicone.

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[Rodop]

...that's an awful lot of work for scratched glass, & I wouldn't trust it to hold together without doing all that. Glass is heavy, even without water in it, so for safety you wouldn't just want to stick on a piece of molding to make it look OK, as the molding is essential to the structure. So by the time you buy all that plus do all
the work, you might as well buy a new tank for $1 per gallon. I would...

You don't want to use the kind of glass lid they sell for fish with a snake: Corn snakes need the ventilation. I make my own lids of wood frame with "hard-
ware cloth" (welded wire screen), or Petco will sell you theirs for quite a bit, & they need clips to secure. What ever you go with, corn snakes WILL push
up on the lid, so you need to make it escape proof. If you make a wood/screen top, you can chain the corners of the lid to whatever the tank sits on, by
installing eye bolts, buying multi-purpose lightweight chain & using "dog leash" type clips (all sold in hardware stores)...no snake can EVER push that kind
of lid off.

BTW, I'm a keeper of corn & various rat snakes, and yes, glass tanks are perfect for them. Adult corn snakes do well in a 40 gallon, as you were figuring.

You do make quite a point: this tank is not easy to just tote about and even when I first got it I had to have help moving it. Even if I did fix it all the stuff I'd put in there would add up weight-wise.
It actually came with one of those lids you'd buy at Petco/Petsmart for reptile tanks. I don't have a picture of it, but I did spray the bird poop off of it. It still has a couple zip ties on it from whatever my dad had on it, but also has a few holes in the wiring. :/
As for the diy lid, do you happen to have a picture/example of it with dog leash clips?