Reptile & Amphibian Forums

I am needing a mesh screen sliding lid that must be 36 inches long by 15 inches wide. I recently got two excellent tanks in great shape except that one is missing it's lid. Anybody know where I could find this?
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Bob/Chris
Pyromaniac AKA Greatballzofire

If it the Zilla Critter Cage, you might go to their website and click "Contact us".

Here is a link.

http://www.zilla-rules.com/products/critter-cages.htm
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Kent

0.1 Hypomelanistic striped cornsnake
1.1 Hypo (het lavender, striped) cornsnake hatchlings
2.2 Normal (het hypo, lavender, striped) cornsnake hatchlings
1.2 Gray-banded kingsnakes, blairs phase
1.1 Oregon rubber boas

When using glass tanks I only trust the ones I make myself. All you need to do is make a wood fram that fits snug around the top lip of the tank then use a simple staple gun to secure a screen mesh all the way around. Don't use the fiberglass mesh, get aluminum mesh. I use screws to hold the wood fram together, but predrill the holes first so the 1 x 2 wood stips don't split.
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King Snakes! Who can make a better mouse trap?
J Sierra

Yeah, when I was a young kid in the early 70's, my old man would make me nice wooden cage lids out of mitered corner molding. Then he "hot-glued" the wire screen to the inside of the molding lip. They worked out great!

Of course this was back in the day when you had to use bricks or really heavy books on each end to weight it down..LOL!

~Doug

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"a snake in the grass is a GOOD thing"

my website -serpentinespecialties.webs.com

I remember those days well my friend!

Yeah, it is funny how things have evolved since then.

Metal bookcase shelving, old fish aquariums, and lots of bricks were the "state-of-the-art" rack systems..LOL!

~Doug
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"a snake in the grass is a GOOD thing"

my website -serpentinespecialties.webs.com

Metal bookcase shelving, old fish aquariums, and lots of bricks were the "state-of-the-art" rack systems..LOL!
Snakes are the power lifters of the animal kingdom. I wonder how many people had their snakes get injured or killed by squeezing out the top of the tank but then get halfway stuck when they couldn't continue with the lift and be crushed in the middle by all those bricks, books, what have you.
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Bob/Chris
Pyromaniac AKA Greatballzofire

Yeah, that must have happened countless times to people back then I would think. When I think back, I am pretty sure most of my escapes were from other stupid mistakes I made, like forgetting to put the bricks back on at ALL!. Or have the lid off waiting for a snake to eat undisturbed, only to get side-tracked doing something else while waiting, and come back later and glance over to see a VERY empty cage..LOL!

Since those days, I have had very minimal escapes, because I knew very early on that the escaping abilities of a snake cannot be underestimated by ANY cercumstances whatsoever. If a lid is even slightly questionable, it ain't good enough at all, and the snake will be eventually end up gone.

even in the past 20 years or so, with many countless hundreds of snakes, I have only had maybe three or 4 snakes escape, and that was because I left the lid off while they were feeding, and accidentally got doing something else that got me side-tracked.....ARRGH!

In about 1995, I had a big male "sunglow" cornsnake out casually cruising in my backyard while I cleaned my pool, and I inadvertently ran inside because of a phone call. Well, several hours later, I walked into the snake room to discover the snake's lid off of it's cage!!!,...my stupidity hit me like a freakin ton of bricks of what I just allowed to happen. Anyway, I searched the entire back yard up and down to no avail. that beautiful big solid orange amel was GONE FOREVER!

~Doug

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"a snake in the grass is a GOOD thing"

my website -serpentinespecialties.webs.com

Anyway, I searched the entire back yard up and down to no avail. that beautiful big solid orange amel was GONE FOREVER!
That would make me sick! The only snake I have lost and never seen again is the wc Cali king I rescued from the cat in 2008. He finally managed to escape this summer out of a big tub when I didn't have the lid bungeed on tight enough.

My bull Alphonzo escaped out of his feeding container, one of those silly little Kritter Keeper things which he popped the lid off as easy as taking a breath. I found him under the swimming pool platform seeming confused as to what to do next. My big Pacific gopher got out of her screen cage because the little latches failed (since reinforced!) Found her in the ivy by the front steps. Some of my pyros escaped in 2008 as babies but the cats have ratted them out, and I have recovered everyone safely, and fixed the cages so they don't get out anymore.
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Bob/Chris
Pyromaniac AKA Greatballzofire

Yeah,.....you had pretty good luck recovering most, so that is a good thing.

"Live and learn" as the ol' addage goes!..LOL!

Around 1996 I had the lid off a big adult female tangerine's cage while she ate, and I went off to do something real quick while she finished. Well,...AGAIN! a few hours later I noticed that I forgot to put the lid on her cage..LOL!

About 2 months later I went to put on some baggy army cut-off shorts on one morning that were in my laundry basket on the floor of my bedroom. Imagine my surprise when I lifted them up and found her all coiled-up in one of the big front pockets..LOL!.

Talk about a huge instant SHOCK of adrenaline!!. It woke me up INSTANTLY better than 50 cups of coffee ever could have!

A true ...."is that a snake in your shorts?" punchline..HAHAA!

~Doug
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"a snake in the grass is a GOOD thing"

my website -serpentinespecialties.webs.com

Gives a whole new meaning to the term "trouser snake"!
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Bob/Chris
Pyromaniac AKA Greatballzofire

Hey, believe it or not,I think I may have a used top for you!I have an older model critter cage or whatever they call it that is all to crap but the top is fine!I'll go measure it and let ya' know! Take care! Jeff

Thanks! If it fits that would be great.
I did some research and realized this lid is just a screen like the framed screen things you can put in a sliding window. So I can either make one of these myself or have my local window and screen guy make one. I have one in perfect condition from the other tank as a template; all I have to do is copy that. I like the sliding feature as no snake can push up out of that once you put the little lock on it.

So now I have these two really nice big tanks in my cabin standing empty, as they are for my pyros when they come out of brumation next spring. The pyros are so pretty I want to be able to see them, and the opaque tubs don't work for visual pleasure.
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Bob/Chris
Pyromaniac AKA Greatballzofire

I just realized which sliding lids you are talking about. Those are very good! Probably one of the best for snakes. Most home Depots and Lowes have the materials that you can cut to size if it the same as window screens.
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King Snakes! Who can make a better mouse trap?
J Sierra

I'll be at Lowe's this week and scope out what they have.

One of the tanks with it's lid on. To prevent me succumbing to Empty Tank Syndrome and putting something other than the designated pyros in these tanks I have instead put these other "pets".
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Bob/Chris
Pyromaniac AKA Greatballzofire