Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Ok guys, prepare to be amazed, I have designed and built the ultimate jungle carpet python enclosure in existance...eat your hearts out! Just teasing, I hope this gives someone some ideas for their own cages. I'm pretty proud of it. Have a great day!

Looks nice, a few questions.

1) is that a complete pegboard back with nothing solid behind it?

2) how is it heated? Are you using those incandescants on the right hand side? If so what is your tempreature varation from the front to the back?

3) What is that framework around the right hand side? Extra support or what?

4) could we see a picture where it's not shadowed out?

5) looks like a flourescent strip from walmart. Warning you, I bought 4 of those, the ballasts blew on 2 within a month and i had to vacate the tank to air it out. Keep a close eye on it.
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-Chris

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

A fool doesn't learn. A smart man learns from his mistakes. A wise man learns from the mistakes of others. Which one are you?

My Website
N. American Rat/Corn snake care sheet I wrote
Information on substrates

Current snakes:
0.1 Licorice Stick Black Rat (Lola)
1.0 Black Rat (Frankie)
0.1 Texas Bairdi (Rosa)
0.1 Blue Beauty (Brunhilde)
1.0 Green Tree Python (Monty)

Yes, it's all pegboard backing, but it's really stiff, and it's attached with screws all around the outside edges and again across the shelves.

The cage is heated with 40W incandesent bulbs, they are on rheostats to adjust the temperature and have the wire cages to prevent the snake from touching them directly. With the lights heating the shelf above it, the snake also has ventral heat in addition to ambient heat. At sunset the white 40W lights go off and the 75W night time light comes on, it's also on a rheostat so it doesn't get too hot. It's usually about 90 degrees in the cage just above the lights. If you look close, you will see a stick-on thermometer on the wall, top right side. It's about a foot from the light on back of the cage and the temp usually reads about 85-86 degrees, while on the left side of the cage it's usually about 75-76 degrees. The full spectrum florescent light comes on at 10 am and goes off at 5 pm. All the lights are timed with a Radio Shack timer, you just plug the lights into the device and then plug that into the wall. Then the main control box can be set to turn them on or off at any time.

The half shelf on the top right is secured with screws from the outside of the cage on the right, and is attached to the pegboard back, and is attached to a additional support that is vertically dividing in half the front of the cage. Accessing the cage is really easy because the double doors open out from top to bottom so the entire cage is accessable with only the vertical support in the middle. The cage doors latch at the top and the bottom and has 4 hasps for locking if I want too

The florescent light is from Big Apple and was purchased about 12 years ago. I've had this cage in my garage for several years now, sitting empty, I originally built it for a boa, which got to be too big and aggresive, so I sold the snake and kept the cage and have since got into jungle carpets which is much more manageable size for me.

All the support screws on the sides of the cages have been countersank, puttied, and painted over. The cage is painted solid black, and then I used FlecStone paint to give it a kind of granite treatment. I'll try to take a pic that doesn't shawdow that out and post.

I recently added 11 more plants, 4 of them air plants attached with hot glue to that grapevine, my hope was that not only looking nice, but increasing the humidity which stays about 40%. I'm planning on replacing the aspen bedding with cypress mulch for a more natural look and I understand it holds humidity better without mildewing.

Yes, it's all pegboard backing, but it's really stiff, and it's attached with screws all around the outside edges and again across the shelves. I recently added 11 more plants, 4 of them air plants attached with hot glue to that grapevine, my hope was that not only looking nice, but increasing the humidity which stays about 40%. I'm planning on replacing the aspen bedding with cypress mulch for a more natural look and I understand it holds humidity better without mildewing.

Your biggest problem with humidiy is actually your pegboard backing. Jungle carpet pythons need to be kept at a bare minimum of 60% relative humidity. Preferably 70-80%. I would highly reccomend to do one of several things to remedy this problem. You can either get some 1/8" crystalite (basically plexiglass) or 1/8" FRP (fiberglass reinforced plastic paneling), showerboard liner, etc... and screw this onto the back and run hot glue around the edges to seal it. Drill a couple holes along the bottom for ventilation, then you can put some scotch tape over it if you need to raise humidity. This is from the outside of the tank. Or use a piece of 1/4" luan. Point is to seal up this pegboard as tight as possible. You are never going to get good humidity with the pegboard. For a snake that doens't have a humidity requirement, it is a very good idea, however. The cypress will also give you a significant boost in your humidity levels. But if you dont cover the back, it's all gonna go out there. Also, what's your bottom made out of? If it's wood, you may want to also get some FRP or plexiglass and cover that. If you don't and you have a wood floor, it could rot out within a couple years time.

The cage is heated with 40W incandesent bulbs, they are on rheostats to adjust the temperature and have the wire cages to prevent the snake from touching them directly. With the lights heating the shelf above it, the snake also has ventral heat in addition to ambient heat. At sunset the white 40W lights go off and the 75W night time light comes on, it's also on a rheostat so it doesn't get too hot. It's usually about 90 degrees in the cage just above the lights. If you look close, you will see a stick-on thermometer on the wall, top right side. It's about a foot from the light on back of the cage and the temp usually reads about 85-86 degrees, while on the left side of the cage it's usually about 75-76 degrees. The full spectrum florescent light comes on at 10 am and goes off at 5 pm. All the lights are timed with a Radio Shack timer, you just plug the lights into the device and then plug that into the wall. Then the main control box can be set to turn them on or off at any time.

The fact that it's all attached on the back would make me worry. I would get an infrared thermometer and take temp measurements around the cage... you'll probably find a pretty drastic temperature gradient from the front to the back. This could be fixed by mounting your light fixtures on the ceiling or a RHP.

You may also want to consider eventually adding some more branches for the snake to climb on.. jungle carpets love to climb. They're basically a non-arborial version of the chondro. Non arborial meaning that they don't HAVE to live in the trees, but still enjoy it. You could try the old burnt pvc trick in making some branches.

Just some suggestions.
-----
-Chris

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

A fool doesn't learn. A smart man learns from his mistakes. A wise man learns from the mistakes of others. Which one are you?

My Website
N. American Rat/Corn snake care sheet I wrote
Information on substrates

Current snakes:
0.1 Licorice Stick Black Rat (Lola)
1.0 Black Rat (Frankie)
0.1 Texas Bairdi (Rosa)
0.1 Blue Beauty (Brunhilde)
1.0 Green Tree Python (Monty)

Thanks for the feedback...I have some thin plexiglass in the garage that I can attach to the back to help with the humidity. I really never gave it much thought, but that might be just what I need. I just got one of those ultra fine spray misters from Big Apple two days ago, I've been spraying the plants with it every couple of days and that seems to have helped. I'm considering mounting one in there that you can program to spray a couple times a day. And my next toy is going to be one of those laser pointing thermostats that they advertise on this site.

It looks great your jungle python must be very happy . Roomy and climbing tree to.