Home made hides???

[the_rotten1]

Picture time!



This is my 15qt setup for snakes from 200-500g, modeled by the lovely Illiana. The blue hide is a plastic bowl with an entrance hole cut in it. You can get them in packs of 3 from Walmart for 99 cents. They're super cheap, easy to make, easy to clean, and reuseable. The water bowl I got at Petco and the bamboo hide was from a local pet store. I wouldn't recommend wood hides though. I'm slowly phasing them out because they're a :cens0r: to clean.



I cut the hole with a soldering iron, but if you don't have one you could probably use an exacto-knife or razor. It'd have to be something heavy duty and very sharp. Regular old scissors won't cut it. This is a little loose on 200g snakes, and gets tight by the time they reach 500, but you want it pretty tight anyway.

Here's one of my 28qt setups. I use these for snakes from 500-1500g.



I usually use medium RB hides for these, but this guy grew faster than expected, so I Macgyvered a cardboard box for him.



I tore a hole in this one with my bare fingers. He doesn't seem to mind.



Here's a more typical 28qt setup. I don't use identical hides, but I definitely recommend them if you're starting out. You can do two plastic bowls for smaller snakes/15qt tubs or two cardboard boxes for larger snakes/28+qt tubs. A 34qt should only be a little bigger then this, so if you want to clutter it up it should be fine, but I'd keep the smaller tubs around just in case.



The snake in the last photo was just fed and hugging the hot spot, so here's Genevieve enjoying her Pringles can. She's about 550g, so there's still plenty of room at the other end. I could probably get away with a single hide if I stuck to these. If you place them perpendicular to the heat source the snakes will usually let their coils hang out the cool side to cool down and switch to the hot side after a meal/when they want to warm up. But I use the RB hides too because I like to clutter up the tubs and give them options.



Here's a pic of the bottom. As you can see, it's perfectly smooth. Sand paper does wonders. There is a little rust, which happens after awhile if you keep the humidity up, but if it gets bad you can just toss it and make another. My snakes usually soil theirs well before rust sets in.



Here's a bigger snake in a can. This boy is over 900g, so he fills it out more.

The bottom line is that you can use just about anything, so long as it fits the snake. There are a lot of good ideas in this thread. I may try the bucket thing myself at some point, and I already use small cat bowls with cutouts as water dish/hide combos for my hatchlings. I've even seen a lady use a wicker basket turned upside down with a hole cut in it. Not the best idea imo, but it worked for her.

All you need to do is find something the right size for your snake and make sure there's a way to get into it. As long as the materials are safe you're good to go.