Reptile & Amphibian Forums

I noticed alot of newbies getting into Corallus are usually using aquaria.

Over time, I've realized that aquaria are not really suitable for Corallus, here's why. Although they afford the absolute best visibility of your treasured pet...they are horrible in terms of temperature control. The glass walls are horrible thermal buffers and the heat inside the tank is constantly being lost through the glass walls. This means that if there is a sudden temperature change the temperature insde the tanks will destabilize quickly as glass does not insulate nearly as well as plastic.

Lucily, we live in the 21st century where plastic cages are everywhere, and cheap. All you have to do is fight the little old ladies at the bargain stores for the best tupperware pieces. Unlike glass, the plastic of tupperware helps to insulate the iside of the container better and less heat is lost. The biggest plus to plastic containers is that you can adult the ventilation as needed by simply drilling holes or creating screened panels. Since the only air exchange in a regular fish tank occurs along the top open panel...the air in the lower portion of the tank (near the moist and sometimes dirty substrate) is somewhat stagnant and is prime for causing bacterial and respiratory problems in treeboas.

Remember that these guys spend alot of time up off the ground where there is plenty of fresh air, something like Chameleons.
By far the hardest trick to master when keeping Corallus is achieving the delicate balance of airflow and humidity in your setup...if you can't get a super delux cage for your treeboa, swing the 10 bucks at target and buy tupperware.

Now, if you really want to show off your animals then go for a custom made acrylic...although pricey it's worth it.

Good luck all.

Danny Mendez
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Urban Jungles.com

I agree, but only because I've read so much about what you and the other pros write about Corallus husbandry. I've got a lil over 2 years experience with C. hortulanus and I'm really hooked. I recently built my first acrylic enclosure similar to a design by Toni Nicoli. Here's a few pics on my 24"x 22"x 20"

these pics are prior to all the fake plants and vines. I really love the substrate drawer that the TNS cages used, so I had to copy it. Thanx for the ideas guys :thumbsup:

ok, kingsnake doesn't like html, lets try this.

Nice cages..However i have had no problems with aquariums. i think they work great when the snakes are still pretty small. Its not difficult to heat them or get them to hold humidity.
I do plan on buying or building a couple acrylic cages in the future though.

Very nice! how hard was it to build them? what did it cost to build in supplies? do you need a special table saw???

Thanks for the compliments guys...

Building with acrylic isn't as difficult as it looks. I did some reading and found some really good/helpful sites related specifically to acrylic aquarium construction.

This thread .com/forums/showthread.php?t=8645]here that CraigC of Gems of the Rainforest started was very helpful in directing me to good info sites.

http://www.badmanstropicalfish.com/articles/acrylic/acrylic1.html
http://www.cichlid-forum.com/articles/diy_acrylic_aquarium.php

were also very helpful reads.

I built this one cage for a little over $150, but I bought about $60 or more in startup supplies, such as Weld-On #4 (solvent cement for acrylic), a couple framing clamps, etc. I simply score cut the 1/4" acrlyic and snapped it at the score lines and then cleaned up the joint edges with a router table. I wish I had the table saw and the right blade because it was not a quick process to score cut that many pieces. It took many hours to just simply get the pieces rough cut before they went to be routered. I believe that a table saw with the right blade may make good enough edges to skip the router step as well. After that, assembly is almost a breeze if you've got help. You set it up dry and syringe the cement into the gaps of the joint. The cement is water-thin so capillary action draws it into the joint and then it is clamped tight to dry. The cement sets in seconds and is very strong in under 5 minutes, so you'd better have it in the right place when the cement is applied.

Thanks for all the info!!!