Reptile & Amphibian Forums

I was planning on making cages for my corns, because they havn't grown in a year or two and I feel bad. Has anyone used acrylic? Is it safe? Would a UTH melt it?

All I know is it's kind of a pain to cut cleanly.

Plus, enclosure size has nothing to do with growth.

It's a common myth with fish and reptiles that housing them in a small enclosure will keep them from getting big.

I've seen many extreme examples of how this isn't the case, such as an alligator kept in a 20L for so long that its tail was permanently bent in two 90 degree turns.

Oh..that's what I was told. Why would my snakes stay small if not for habitat size?

Well, after reptiles reach a certain age, they cease to grow in a linear fashion and their body's work more on preparing for reproduction and continued survival.

What I've noticed with snakes is that linear growth usually ends in 2 years or so and switches over to girth building with slowed growth overall.

Reptiles exhibit indeterminant growth, meaning that as long as they are alive they will continue to grow at some rate however small.

Not much other than disease and malnutrition can stop a snake from growing. Unless it has a genetic abnormality, like those ones that have irregularly short tails.

How old and how long are your snakes?

The snakes in questions are only about a foot or two in length, and are about 4 years old. I guess I was always just waiting, irresponsibly, for them to grow. My 5 year old housed right next to them is about 5 feet long. They are housed right next to each other, so there really isn't any fluxuation in heat, and they're on the same feeding schedual (1 mouse for the 5 year old and 2 fuzzies each for the little ones every 6 days) I had never really thought about them not getting any longer. :

That's really unusual.

Maybe dwarf genes? Are they from the same clutch?

Do they look nice and plump or are they skinny?

There other thing to consider could be GI-tract parasites, I would keep them away from the other snakes until you're sure.

Might try picking through their leavings with a paper clip and looking for worms, worm segments or anything that looks like an egg (think small fish egg size and smaller).

They're pretty normal sized. They're in a 20g tank. I'll take a look through their droppings and get back to you.

When you say "they're" do you mean multiple snakes in one 20 gallon?
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0.1 Snow Corn "Hope"
1. Orange Albino Black Ratsnake "Chunk" (Goonies)
.1 Orange Albino Black Ratsnake "Peaches"
0.0.1 MO Locale Black Ratsnake "Molly" (Flogging Molly)

"I'll be whatever I wanna do!"

They're right next to each other in seperate cages. My neighbor has 2 corns I gave him in the same 20g tank because he sucks, and they're both 3foot now. :

Hello,

My father actually owns a business called Aquatic Systems Design, with which he constructs and sells aquarium supplies and other related items out of acrylic. With this large amount of background, I can guarantee you that yes, a UTH would melt most if not all acrylic. However, it is perfectly acceptable to use as the side panels of your enclosure, so long as no heat source is touching it directly. Acrylic becomes very brittle when heated, and will crack easily. I recently tried drilling extra holes for ventilation in an acrylic lid for one of my enclosures, after it had been exposed to the heat caused by a 40-watt lightbulb sitting on top of the lid for a day. It caused the entire affected section to splinter and crack when I drilled it.

Thanks a ton.