Hey, my name is Charel and I'm from Luxembourg (next to Germany, Belgium and France).

I've always wanted a corn snake and finally got permission of my parents to get a snake and decided to get a ball python. Running a bit short on money (other projects), I want to build my own cage.

I thought of the following:
The cage should be at least 1m / 3.2' wide, 50cm+ / 1.7' long and 50-75cm / 1.7'-2.5' high.
The cage is made out of wood with maybe one side plexiglass and the front is a door similar to this one:
(ARBReptiles)

To use a heating pad from below I thought about cutting out a square or similar on one side of the bottom and cover it with plexiglass so that I can attach a heating pad (would this one work?) as close to the substrate as possible, also avoiding to place the cage on 4 support cones or similar.
For the light I thought about 2 colored LED lights either inside the cage (protected) or partially outside, depending on the height.

I'm not so sure which wood to use. Here in Luxembourg it's pretty difficult to find good wood at a reasonable price so I thought about using planks from Ikea, like Ekby (pine), or Antonius.


Please tell me what you think. I'm open for any critics and suggestions!

Thanks in advance,
Charel