Reptile & Amphibian Forums

After Marishka's (my baby Apricot Pueblan) great escape yesterday, I'm determined to buy a more SECURE tank - something akin to Fort Knox! I made a few more adjustments last night (weather striping etc..) to the lid on Marishka's current ten gallon tank, but after my ordeal yesterday, I still do not fully trust it. I plan to go ahead and buy the size set-up I will need for her when she is fully grown. Any suggestions? I've been looking at the Vision line of cages and was wondering if anyone has experience with those. I currently have one of those heating pads that affixes to the bottom of the aquarium. How does this work with a vision cage? I can only tell so much from the pictures and those type of pads are supposedly only to be used on glass. Any info or links you could post for me would be really appreciated! I've been researching online, but personal experience would be helpful.

Thanks!!!
Amber

p.s. - Does anyone know of a good free picture hosting site? I'd like to post some of Marishka!

personally i use aquariums. they are much cheaper then a vision cage. i house my 2 year old honduran in a 20 gallon long tank.
just a thought or two...be careful with that weather stripping..if your little baby get it stuck on him/her it can be very difficult to get off. also don't want to put babies in a hugh cage right off the bat. it will freak them out and they can go on hunger strikes. esp some milks that are very nervous from the get go. i have a baby corn snake in a 10 gallon that is doing fine.

Try Photobucket.com... it's free and easy 2 use.

~ZF

Let's see if this works:

I use a Vision to house my sinaloan, and he has gotten out of it twice. You really have to put weather stripping into all the gaps in the sliding doors (we also put a lock on it to finish the "snake prison" look). Any little gap is an escape route, no matter how tiny.

But all in all, I am very pleased with my Vision. It holds humidity and heat extremely well, and it just looks nice. I have a UTH on the bottom of the enclosure and use a thermostat with a heat probe to regulate temps.

They are pretty expensive, and are not "escape proof," so you might do fine with your aquarium.

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1.0 sinaloan milksnake
1.0 western hognose
1.0 colombian boa

Posted by: HLuterman at Thu Apr 21 15:11:56 2005 [ Report Abuse ] [ Email Message ]

I use a Vision to house my sinaloan, and he has gotten out of it twice. You really have to put weather stripping into all the gaps in the sliding doors (we also put a lock on it to finish the "snake prison" look). Any little gap is an escape route, no matter how tiny.

But all in all, I am very pleased with my Vision. It holds humidity and heat extremely well, and it just looks nice. I have a UTH on the bottom of the enclosure and use a thermostat with a heat probe to regulate temps.

They are pretty expensive, and are not "escape proof," so you might do fine with your I love your set up real nice. I looked into visions because as you know great looking and look like a piece of furniture but heard from owners they werent escape proof so stuck with my tanks and glad I did.
I am suprised that a co that makes cages for snakes has that flaw in the cage. Your set up I love.

Tanks are as secure as any cage once you use those inexpensive but great escape proof screen clips.
They are metal screen clips that attach to the side of the tanks screen top. For a 10 to 20 gallon all you need is two of them.
Its impossible for a snake to than get out. I got them few months dont know why they arent popular on these boards.
Unless your a breeder (this in my own opinion ofcourse) and you need the room . Tanks are great they allow you to look on all sides,screen top option,heating options just more options and dont scratch like those plastic front cages.
www.herpsupplies.com has the screen clips but any pet store has them they have two types.

Thank you for all of the suggestions! What I currently have is a ten gallon aquarium with a screen top and 2 screen clips on each side. I believe the problem lies in the lid. The clips were still firmly in place when Marishka escaped two days ago and I still find it hard to believe that she was strong enough to push the lid up with 4 clamps in place. I think the actual lid must not fit tightly around the tank and she managed to find a way up and over and through a crack. I plan to go to Lancaster soon (they have a HUGE petstore there with an awesome reptile section) and see if I can find a tighter fitting lid for her. In the meantime, I had added some calking stripping (mistakenly called it weather stripping earlier) around the inside of the lid to make it fit flush against the tank. It's a mess though, so I think an entirely new lid is in order - live and learn. It's no big loss since this was just an old screen lid from a rodent set-up I used to have. Marishka is currently housed in a critter keeper that I brought her home in with a huge "boulder" of a rock sitting on top of it! On a side note, Marishka's first feeding was today and she actually struck the mouse before I even put her down in the feeding tank! The lil' girl was hungry!

Oh yes it might be the lid as my clips hold that lid down tight. I think I know the pet store you mean its called That Pet Place used to be called That Fish Place. It is huge the area eating places arent bad either lol.

I have heard that young milksnake can squeeze through the doors of vision cages....I have a vision cage for my red tail boa and I can see how a young small milksnake could get out of this type of cage. My milksnake is in an aquarium with a screen top and a heavy book and clips on the top. I lost a sinaloan a few years ago and was never able to find it...hard way to learn a lesson. GOOD LUCK!!!