Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Hi,

We've been reading your posts for a week and you all seem to have hundreds of snakes. We have only one cornsnake, who is now living in a plastic shoe box duct taped shut after her escape from a 20 gal aquarium. We have a screen lid, which doesn't fit tighly (it slides around) over the top and we had clips and bricks on it.

How do I modify this to become escape proof? Any suggestions? I've read about railed lids, Neodesha cages and screened lids which fit down on top of the lip inside the aquarium.

We only have one snake, we can spend some bucks. Is there an escape proof cage out there? Or any suggestions for modifying this twenty gallon tank to keep even the nosiest 2 ft long corn inside?

Thanks for taking time with a hobbyist.

Wallymod

You must have a very determined corn snake. I've got a juvenile California Kingsnake in a similar setup (clips and 2 eight pound barbells holding a fitted screen top) and he's never gotten out.

As far as escape proofing your present cage, you could try putting a cushy, stick-on molding (that's not the word I'm looking for but it's the stuff they sell at hardware stores to weather proof the gaps in doors and windows) and hope the clips and bricks compress it enough to eliminate any gaps. I've also read where some people accomplish the same thing by glueing the soft plastic aquarium tubing along the top of the enclosure.

Neodeshas - I've got two and my ball python and dumerils boa have never gotten out. Of course they're probably thicker than your corn but you should be able to use some kind of clip to secure the tiny gap at each end of the sliding glass front.

Welcome and good luck !!

I have 3 of the 24" Neodosha cages. I use them when I buy a new hatchling kingsnake. I have never had an escape. The ONLY think I do not like about teh Neodosha is that the glass has to slide out past the edge of the cage, which limits where you can put it. If you have the room to put the cage and have the glass slide out then they are GREAT cages.
Good luck.
Paul

Well if you got some time to spare you could make a lid for your tank? i was thinking about geting a piece or two of plywood. i'm guessing if you could find 2 pices of 1/8" or 1/4" thick and only about the size of the top of your 20gal. Probably easy to find something in a trashcan or something.

get some strong wire mesh or something i wouldn't use the screen you have cuz you may be able to use that in the future on someother tank.

Take the two pieces of wood and cut them as shown in the pic below (black area). The pieces of plywood should be able to fit inside the lip of the aquarium. then put the screen inbetween them and screw and glue them shut.

Hopefully the center "brace" in the should be able to hold a wieght so that your critter can't get out. Just make sure that it can hold the weight by making it pretty wide. if its not well then your will have one broken top.

Shouldn't take more than 30min if you got the tools for it.

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Later,
WhisQuila