Reptile & Amphibian Forums

******I posted this message this morning in another area of this site and was advised to re-post it here******
I'm a fool, I think. I just acquired an Amazon tree boa Sunday from a pet store. I had built a spacious enclosure out of plywood with a sliding glass panel in the front. I had a few branches placed for him to climb also. Anyway, this morning I found him dead. My first reaction was to want to bring it back to the pet store and demand money back. But when I thought about it, the plywood must be pine, which is poisonous to snakes, right? I have four other snakes, one of them for about four years now, this is the first one that I've lost. I deserve whatever criticism I get. My question is, if I lined the inside of the enclosure with plastic panels and sealed the corners with caulking, would it be safe for another snake? Or is it just too dangerous and enclosure must be junked?******
Someone replied to that message and said the plywood was ok but that I should seal the enclosure for moisture purposes.

I highly doubt that any toxicity problem would have killed your snake. Even when snakes react to cedar - which everyone seems to agree is much more toxic than pine - the reaction is initially subtle and does not cause acute death. At least as far as I have heard.

Pine has been used extensively in snake enclosures. In fact pine shavings used to be a frequently recommended substrate.

The only problems I know of with pine have to do with the shavings. But with those you have a very high surface area exposed to the air and the pitch/resin is much more likely to cause problems.

Your cage is should be fine. It also sounds like you do not need to seal it for moisture reasons given you've already siliconed on some plastic panels.

I can't even begin to think how of how many snake cages I have built using some sort of pine. In fact I built an entire reptile house for a zoo using an A/C pine plywood (well, at least for the interior).

I won't use pine shavings for substrate anymore since some toxicity problems have been reported but I won't hesitate to use it for cage construction.

I'd ask for my money back on the snake.

Thanks Chris, I'm heading to the pet store in a few minutes, after I stop home and get the "late" snake to bring back. Unfortunately I've already talked to someone there and it seems they have a no refund policy. stink. She said "how bout a ball python?" A ball python was my first snake when I was 16, 12 years ago. Ball pythons are all right, but I've moved on to collecting more exotic snakes. I've got a red tail Columbian, a Pueblan milksnake, an Osage copperhead, and a ringneck. Guess I'll have to throttle someone's neck at the store... talk later.
Darius

Where are you located and what is the pet store? That sucks, if the snake died shortly after you bought it the store should totally credit you. Not give you a ball python. I sell ball pythons for thirty dollars. I dont see how that can compare to a $400.00 snake.
Buy from shows or on the kingsnake clasifieds. Most breeders would refund you or hook you up on another snake in return for the dead one. I have bought most of my snakes through kingsnake.com and have'nt had a problem yet (knock on computer).
Pet stores are usually a rip off when it comes to buying or selling reptiles. They need to make their money I guess. Sorry you got screwed, your post got me totally pissed.
Your cage should be fine. I have never had a problem either with pine caging. In fact I am working on plans for a new snake room using pine wood.
Let us know what happened.
Good luck:
Jason Mc
www.mcelroyreptiles.com

They have a post on their counter at the register that says "NO CASH REFUNDS". So they had their bases covered I guess. Their store policy on live animal sales is 3 days from the time of purchase. So I was still able to return the dead snake and get store credit for: $53.46. That's what the total of the snake with tax was. That's why I bought it, 'cause of the deal. Actually the label on the tank in the store said it was a Cook's tree boa, which after seeing what a real Cook's boa looks like, was convinced I just had an Amazon tree boa of sorts. I'd never had a tree boa before, so I didn't have anything to compare him to, but I remember that he did look sort of scraggly and sickly. But I just thought the species looked that way. I buy feeder mice there on a regular basis, and they have plenty of other herping supplies, so no sweat, store credit will be cool. They also get some pretty exotic snakes in from time to time, so I'll keep my eye open, tho I probably wouldn't get another snake from there anyway.

By the way, I'm in Asheville, NC. And the pet store is in the Asheville Mall called Pet Luv. Gotta head out to the field to survey. Land surveying does lend itself to snake hunting a lot, tho you'd be surprised how rare it is that I actually find a snake. But my eyes are constantly roving about searching for him...
See ya
Darius

Thats cool to see that they did the right thing and gave you the credit. As I mentioned before, keep your eye out in these classifieds and you'll find some cool stuff for sell.
Happy Herpin:
Jason Mc

I'm glad everything worked out for you!Ya take your store credit and buy supplie's.Keep your eye's on the classified's and find you a C.B.B. Amazon Tree Boa they are a Great snake to work with !
Have A Good One ! !
Kenneth