Hides - pottery

[wolfy-hound]

Hides - pottery

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I'm thinking about hides for snakes(and small lizards).

What's everyone's opinions on the openings?
Top opening: Neat and doesn't need to be placed with any orientation. Good for zombie invasion defense. Bad - let's in light, and snakes may need teeny ladders.

Traditional side door: More what people are used to seeing, darker interior, higher resale value if snake decides to move to a higher income enclosure. Bad - may not feel as secure, harder to cut opening, must be oriented in cage, and snakes may lift the hide up when entering/exiting.

So.. What's the serious opinion of everyone.. And why?

Also.. What decoration would YOU like?
Rock colored? To look natural?
Bright solid colors?
Camo?
Ethnic patterns for different locality of snakes? Like african designs for ball pythons? Etc?
Tiny house painting? LIttle windows with curtains, flower beds, roof?

Let me know what YOU think!

[Icatsme]

Having used terra cotta pots with widened drain holes quite a bit for hides, I'm partial to the top opening.

If I have a smaller sized problem feeder, I pop in a terra cotta pot. The problem feeder will poke it's head out to strike, constrict and sometimes pull the prey back into the hide to eat.

It doesn't work as well for the larger snakes since the vertical clearance isn't enough. Front openings for those guys.

[snakelady]

You forgot these pros and cons:
Top opening - if the snake gets too big for hole and you don't notice, it could get stuck and hurt itself.
Side opening - if the snake gets too big for the hole, the hide lifts but because the bottom is open the snake does not get stuck or hurt itself trying to get in or out.

I vote for side openings.

[Icatsme]

Top opening - if the snake gets too big for hole and you don't notice, it could get stuck and hurt itself.
[

IMHO, if you don't notice your snake is too big to fit through an opening you're not paying enough attention.

edit: Now that I've taken a moment to think....If someone has a sizeable collection..I guess I could see how it could be overlooked.

[wolfy-hound]

Good point snakelady! Some snakes might also get stuck after feeding!

[frankykeno]

Well now Theresa, I was going to say "top" but I just HAD to go with the "get away from my snakes" option LOL

[wolfy-hound]

Yeah, just because I drool on your snakes' pics... pish.

[frankykeno]

I wish! I have nice snakes but I have a crappy camera!

[nevohraalnavnoj]

For pottery, I recommend a hole on the top if you are feeding live. The snakes love to periscope out and hunt from elevation, rather than having a rodent intrude through their side door like an uninvited door-to-door salesman. In general, here's my thoughts on (unglazed) clay pots:

Pros:
1) Cheap
2) Quasi-natural looking
3) The weight provides some security

Cons:
1) Porous material could harbor bacteria, e.g. when they doodie on them.
2) They are fragile, especially when you cut holes.
3) You have to sand the rough edges you make in cutting.
4) The weight: This not only adds to rack sagging, but consider the number of times you will lift that pot off the snake. Even if there's only a 1% chance you will drop it, you can expect to drop that pot on your snake 1 out of 100 times. I've had it happen, with no ill effects, but I simply don't like this....especially as the pots get bigger.

I am much happier with plastic bowls from WM. They are 4 for $2.00. I snip a front entrance, round out the edges with sandpaper or a hot soldering iron. My snakes love them, and they are colorful which brightens up the snake room.

Just my $.02

-JonV

[wolfy-hound]

Thanks JonV!
With making the hides here, I'll eliminate 3 of your cons. They will be glazed, so non-porous, already have the hole when I make them, and so no breaking while making the hole, and no sanding, since it will already have the hole.
They will still be heavy.
Hmm... there's loads to think about! Thank you very much for the comments so far!