Posted by:
mkraft
at Wed Dec 3 09:40:41 2003 [ Email Message ] [ Show All Posts by mkraft ]
Thanks for pointing out the snake's need for security. I guess if you position the heat source and the hide box together, you can pretty much force a snake to get a burn, right?
Someone (I think Kathy Love, in her book) recommended a long tube as a hide box, with an entrance hole in the middle. The snake can choose the end of the tube that lies over the heater, or it can choose the end of the tube at the cool end of the enclosure.
I sort of did that. My hide boxes are long and narrow, but I put the hole in one corner, rather than the middle. These boxes lie half over the heat and half over the unheated area. I wonder if the snake would always choose to lie deep inside the box, farthest away from the hole? I may need to cut a second hole at the opposite corner, just to even things out. But then, perhaps I'd drive the snake into the middle, eh? I guess I'm wondering just how strongly the drive to be hidden will manifest.
I'm thinking of getting some long pipe from the hardware store, like 4 inch plastic pipe, and cutting it down the middle to make a long tunnel. Kathy Love shows it being done with the cardboard tube inside a roll of paper towels, but that is for hatchlings. If I cut the tube to the right size, it will fit perfectly into the enclosure, so that the ends don't appear to be just open arches. Then, if I put a hole in the middle, it will effectively become twin hideboxes, extending to both sides of the tank.
A secondary thought is that the air temperature inside the hide box might be warmer than the general tank air temperature, even if only half of the box is sitting over the heater. You know, the smaller confined volume of air inside the hide box and all that.
Michael
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RE: One more thought - snake hide boxes - mkraft, Wed Dec 3 09:40:41 2003