>>The bottom section will be holding my other 5 gal aquarium with actual fish in it, but eventually it will either hold another corn or possibly mice. How does the basic design look so far?



Looks good, I don't know about putting mice down there...the snakes will be smelling them all the time and be more prone to biting you when you go in to handle them. I would say make it a second snake cage.



>>As it is, the cage's dimensions are 24"Lx14"Hx12"D; is this going to be large enough for an adult corn snake? Right now mine is only 16" long, but I want him to be able to grow into it.



I would reccomend 30-36" long (minimum), 16-18" high, and about 14-16" deep.



>>I would like the front and sides to be clear, so Plexiglass or regular glass... what are your suggestions? I was thinking Plexiglass because it will be lighter (and cheaper? I don't know) but I've had issues with plexiglass clouding up from evaporated water deposits -- would this be a problem with a snake cage?



Plexiglass is expensive as ****. (Insert your own 4 letter swear word, or if you dont swear, "heck" works nicely as well.) I would construct the entire cage out of 3/4" plywood, 1/4" for the back panel. Also if you have plexiglass sides, a problem you may run into is that your snake will have so much traffic going by his cage, he will get very stressed and not want to eat. You don't want that.



>>I was also thinking about painting the back panel with artist's acrylic paints mural-like (I'm an art student)-- Would these be toxic, even if I sealed it? What sort of sealant would I need to use?



If you paint it, I would use something like a behr latex paint. Prime it with behr interior primer, then you can use that to seal it. As long as you use a semigloss paint, it should be pretty durable. I would seal the rest of the wood with polycrlic - water based polyurethane. On the floor use FRP (fiberglass reinforced plasitc) or expanded PVC. This will prevent your wood from rotting out from under you, literally. I would also run the frp or expanded pvc about 4-6 inches up each wall for a corn snake.



>>Is it feasible to grow plants in a cage this size, and what sorts of plants? Which are not toxic, etc.



plants cause high humidity, high humidity causes wood to rot. i'd stay with silk leaves.



>>Which do you reccomend for cleaning/access purposes; a top-opening cage or a front-opening cage?



if you're going for height, i'd get a sliding track and put some sliding glass doors in the front.



>>How would I heat a cage like this? On the 5 gal my snake is in right now, I have a mini Cobra Heat Mat underneath and a Zoo Med 75 W basking bulb on top that keep the temp at 85* on the warm side and high 70s* on the cooler side. Obviously I would need a bigger heat mat for this size cage, but would it be feasible, or should I just stick to a basking bulb (possible larger...?)?



I would reccomend a RHP, or radient heat panel. They are kinda pricey, but they work wonders...save a lot of electricity....and Ive been told they make your snakes more healthy, because of the type of eneergy produced from them. You can build insets for lights, or take a router and cut out a hole for an UTH, however. I've heard that you can use flexwatt and make it act as a RHP, however I have never gotten an answer on that so im not sure.



>>Questions not directly related to the cage, but heating/lighting in general:

Since corn snakes are nocturnal, should I be providing a "moon" lamp like I have seen in some other nocturnal herp set-ups? Or possibly just a ceramic heat emitter to keep it warm? Or am doing fine by my snake right now, by only leaving on the Cobra mat at night?



you are doing fine. the only reason to add a blacklight would be so you can see it during night time hours.



>>Sorry for all the questions, I just want to make sure my corn is happy. =)



no problem...i was on here for probably 3-4 months bugging people asking a million questions before i actually started construction on my cages. when you get more questions dont hesitate to ask.
-----
-Chris



The reason mainstream thought is thought of as a stream is because it's so shallow. -George Carlin



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