Housing?

[Akren_905]

ive seen sooooo many ways to keep snakes on the net and in books but what is the easiest way to house them.

I have a 28" male in a 15 gallon with 2 lights and the whole she-bang(water bowl to drink and soak, cave, fake plants, stick to climb). But i want to get more and get into breeding. Ive seen alot of tub housing and snake racks.

What do i need to have really to keep a snake happy? I have acces to 64L or 29G tubs i could easily make a rack and put these tub on them like litle drawers. But what do i need to put in there? Do they require a day light and heat lamp each? Or can i just get stick heat pad for the bottom of the tubs and bedding and thats it? and maybe a hide out?

[JLC]

Tubs in racks are, in my opinion, by far the simplest and best method for keeping multiple snakes in ideal conditions.

They don't need specific lights. A little bit of ambient room light shining in through the ends of semi-transparent tubs is more than enough of a light cycle for them.

What they NEED:
overall consistent ambient temps in the low 80's with a basking/warm spot in the low 90's
consistent humidity around 50%
fresh water available at all times
a snug hide
a secure enclosure that does not allow them any means of escape

This can all easily be achieved with a decent rack/tub system and heating pads or flexwatt.

[Akren_905]

Thanks, i was thinking tubs on a rack with heating pads stuck to the bottoms, is it better to get a sticky heating pad? Ive heard from a customer at the store he used a heating pad from liek shoppers drug mart lol.

[JLC]

Thanks, i was thinking tubs on a rack with heating pads stuck to the bottoms, is it better to get a sticky heating pad? Ive heard from a customer at the store he used a heating pad from liek shoppers drug mart lol.

If you're serious about quality enclosures for your animals, don't use human heating pads. And I wouldn't use the individual sticky pads from the pet store either.

With flexwatt, you can use one long piece to heat an entire rack....so you only have one power cord to deal with (per rack) and you only have to fuss with one thermostat per flexwatt strip.

That's the other thing you need....regardless of whether you use individual UTH's....or one long piece of flexwatt....you MUST have control over the temps because any of them can get way too hot when plugged directly into the wall. You have to have a reliable thermostat to maintain optimal temps.

Top four brands of thermostats: Johnson and Ranco (less expensive on/off t-stats) and Helix and Herpestat (more expensive proportional t-stats)

[Akren_905]

Ive seen the flex watt but how would i uses the cord method? im serious about this i want a rack before aprils expos and all the babies are around im working for the one this sunday i have no way to missassaga.

[Akren_905]

is it possible to make an incubator? or are they store bought? but about the cord heater how would i set it up?

[JLC]

Not sure what you mean by "cord method."

Check out our DIY Forum. In there, you will find all sorts of threads for building your own racks as well as building your own incubator. I think you've got plenty of time to do your own research about how to do such things and then do them...or decide to go with buying them from someone else. Doing the research and learning all this stuff is half the fun of anticipating and planning for the future.

[Akren_905]

There is a heating cord i seen called a flex heating cord, its supposed to stay at 90. But most ive seen there is still one cord per shelf. Is there a way i can relay them all with 1 plug instead of 6, for the flexwatt is that possible ?

[JLC]

There is a heating cord i seen called a flex heating cord, its supposed to stay at 90. But most ive seen there is still one cord per shelf. Is there a way i can relay them all with 1 plug instead of 6, for the flexwatt is that possible ?

Ok...I don't know anything about the "cord" you're talking about. FLEXWATT is a long strip (usually either 3" or 12" wide) that can be customized to whatever length you need it. (Flexwatt Imaqes) One single piece can zig-zag back and forth between shelving units, or be placed along the back wall of a shelving unit....and therefore you only have ONE power cord to plug in, because you're heating the entire strip of flexwatt...and you can control the temps of the whole thing with one thermostat.

[BEasy119]

Reptile basics hooks up the connectors for flexwatt if you buy everything from them