Reptile & Amphibian Forums

I've built a cornsnake cage out of birch plywood and melamine. Now I need to vent it. I was wondering if I just drilled a bunch of little holes if that would suffice. I've seen people using screen vents or premade plastic vents, but wouldn't just drilled holes suffice?
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1.2 Normal Cornsnakes het Anery
1.0 Snow Cornsnake
0.1 Blizzard
1.1 Candycane
1.1 Banded Motley

Drilled holes will work fine. You might try to squeeze some of that water-based polyurethane you bought into the holes.

Speaking of which, what exact brand/product of WB Poly did you buy?
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Current snakes:

1.1 Gonyosoma oxycephala - (Silver/Yellow)

2.2 Gonyosoma oxycephala - (Green)

4.3 Gonyosoma janseni - (Black)

>> but wouldn't just drilled holes suffice?

Yeah, drilled holes would suffice, but it'll be harder to seal that wood. Chris mentioned getting that sealant into the holes, which can be difficult. I've always found it easier with a wood cage to use a hole saw and drill out holes for circular soffit vents or use a jigsaw and make a single large hole and then use the aluminum foundation vents. I always put the foundation vents on the outside of the cage though because the edges can be kind of sharp. Just make sure to seal the raw edges of the wood. Oh yeah, drilling holes takes longer and unless you use a template like a piece of pegboard it's hard to get a decent result. I just think the larger hole and vent cover works better and is much easier.
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Matt Campbell
25 years herp keeping experience
Full-time zookeeper
Personal collection - 21 snakes (9 genera), 20 lizards (4 genera), 6 chelonians (2 genera)