Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Still dinking around with the mechanics, but almost there, made the heat exchange radiator today. Cheers

Really nice! I can't drink soda anymore...I was gaining weight like crazy! Lost 10 lbs in a few weeks once I quit.

So far the cage looks cool from the outside, looks natural from the inside and the snake can have a full life inside the cage great!

I am happy my cage is pretty..I don't see my snakes for days they stay buried underground and I only catch them in the early morning.

David would you post a few photos of your setup? I and others would like to see em i'm sure. Thanks!

This cage is not hog specific, It does have two separate "underground" areas that are heated and cooled separately from the main part of the cage.
The next one will be hognose specific, background will not hognose habitat, not rock. I had this in the parts bin, so I am using it to develop methods. And yes, post some pics of your cage(again)

Sorry, the next one WILL be hognose habitat.

Sometimes He will stick his head out like a eel in a reef tank. pretty cool.

Hey thanks for the photos! Looks like a very nice setup. I guess that's one of the drawbacks of having a natural type cage, you don't see as much of them.

David,
Great setup. I did that with a Cal king back in the day, and I was surprised (at the time) that he stayed underground all day. Dusk, then twilight seemed to be the active time for him.

Your cage there is where lights are very effective as heat sources. And with the right wattage, you don't even have to put the light in the cage. Rather, have it outside pointed through the glass towards the substrate. Or use heat tape on the outside glass below the substrate level.

I wonder if snake keeping in the future will focus on depth rather than length/width for many species. Hognose are a fantastic snake to try stuff on.

I am trying some new polyethylene boxes. They are Cambro bus boxes. Besides being FDA-approved, they are rigid enough to hold PVC pipe fittings. What I want to do is have one box filled with substrate with a lid, then another box with heat and just paper substrate, connected by PVC pipe. The trick is to make it possible to pick up both boxes without stressing the joints where the pipe connects. That is the challenge at the moment. It looks like the smartest way is to do the connectings through the box lids. The lids are quite rigid.

Thank you guys.

I agree Austin I don't see the snakes at all. At the pet store there was all these baby kings really active and climbing the corners of the glass, In my cage they don't do that at all. But mine are older.

I like the idea of substrate depth for snakes. especially for digging snakes. If I put the light bulb outside the cage I think my cats would have eventually knocked it around.

Lets see that prototype bus box cage!

My prototype bus boxes with PVC connectors did not turn out to be as useful as I thought. Apparently, hognose aren't kingsnakes, and I have to remember that.

I am trying to figure them out. They are much more confortable basking in the open and under CHEs or lights than any other snake I have kept. They seem to like to eat out in the open during the day. Dry heat does not seem to deter them like it does for kings and milks. In fact, I can't tell if they actually like it better.

So, I just got some deeper bus boxes for $5 each, and I am constructing lids that have a screened cutout for a ceramic emitter. Then I will try deep substrate with overhead long-wave heat on one end. Curious to see what the snakes do. If that works well, I will need to make a large version.

Sounds great, and please report your results. Hogs in nature, use heat, really high heat compared to kings. More like coachwhips(lizard like heat)

I love the bold red color! Great idea for a cage.