To improve the appearance, protect the wood, and make cleanup super easy, you can also cover the wood with vinyl laminate bathroom/kitchen tiles. There's a huge variety of stone patterns that even have realistic textures. I get them at a big box hardware store in the US for ~$1 per square foot. I'm sure they can be found for even cheaper online. You can space them out and fill the gaps with grout or butt them together and use silicone sealant between them for a total seal. The stone patterns I've used are very easy to cut/shape. You can cut actually them with scissors, but for longer cuts, you'll get much better results by using a utility knife to cut a shallow groove and then just bend the piece along that line until it snaps apart. Using a vinyl sheer is even better if you have access to one, but not necessary. Also, they usually come with a an adhesive backing. I'm not sure how well it sticks to wood, but I have had to apply a few extra lines of good adhesive to make them securely bond to glass. There are also many other wood/marble/brick/granite patterns available that are used for flooring. Just make sure the one you get is in fact waterproof if using it for a an interior surface.
I did this for a rabbit enclosure once. I made a tray under a screen section where they eat, since that is where they do most of their business. Unfortunately, it didn't quite hold up to the amount of urine a rabbit produces, but I imagine it would do well for a snake. Just be careful the vinyl products don't off-gas too much that it leaves an odor in the enclosure. Covering them in substrate might mitigate that.
Thanks for explaining how to place comments. I recently watched one of your videos about OSB. I have considered a lot of mediums but weight was always an issue( never thought about placing wheels so thanks for that). I enjoy your video’ your compassion and your humor- keep up the good work!
I made a custom enclosure out of solid pine for my BP, leveraging two hobbies in one! I found that epoxy is far and away the best way to protect the floor of the enclosure, but I'm not skilled enough with epoxy yet to do the sides. I made the mistake of using spar polyurethane which I have a lot of experience with. Unfortunately, even after two months of curing, the poly still gives off a vapor that would be unsafe for my buddy to live in, so he's forced to spend a bit more time in his temporary tank. If I had to do it over again, I'd use water based acrylic for the sides since it has a lower VOC and faster curing time. Probably similar to the wood sealer you used.
I made a shower stall last year and researched about the best waterproofing because I have mold allergy. Ended up using a kind of waterproofing paint-on membrane… just one part, not mixing any two parts like epoxy… they would recommend fiberglass to line the edges and corners but it’s not epoxy… minimal smell, seems to be doing well for the shower so I thought it may be a good idea for a wooden snake enclosure. I think there is something about UV light and epoxy.
To anyone who has already seen the terrarium assembly video, I recommend using the chapter annotation to navigate to the parts of this video that are less redundant - i.e. the second half! Also, did you like the OSB montage?
wow I loved this update, her terrium beautiful!n she is too.know she loves this home, always hear it best to sanitize branches with boiling water 1st,.but wow it came from a pet st. strange ! you did a beautiful job on her terrium .n good info .I'll probley watch again to gather all the info again.snake is stunning ...
Thanks, glad you liked it! I did attempt to sanitize the surface of the branch by dousing it with boiling water and lathering it in disinfectant (and then rinsing it with shampoo and water) before putting it in the enclosure for the first time (after a quarantine of two months in the cellar) but unfortunately the larvae were probably deep inside the branch, so they were unaffected. For smaller branches, I just stick them in the oven at 100 degrees celsius for an hour to disinfect them!
Thanks so much for this video. Why would placing the humid hide under the hot hide help with thermal gradient? We are struggling to get our cold side up to 26c. Our viv is 3foot and wanting to find ways to spread the heat.
Is it a big problem if i have my deep heat projector installed over the right side where the vents are on the lower part? Its already installed so im asking if its worth moving it like u have yours. Thank you for helpful video
Hi! So i started following your Chanel which is great since i'm also living in France, i think i got the same terrarium as you, can You confirm if it is an reptiterra terrarium?, i'm a little concerned about sealing but if it's the same, then i can relax a little (i sealed it with epoxy resin anyway but i was concerned about the tickness of the layers), i got two ball pythons (so double trouble), thanks!
Hi there! It was actually not a Reptiterra terrarium but a German brand. However, since you sealed it with epoxy resin you should be more than safe in terms of waterproofing :) I recently obtained a DIY OSB terrarium second hand that was sealed with resin and I‘m really happy with it
You mentioned wanting to switch to Heat Lamp over the Deep Heat Projector. Can you explain the reasoning? I'm looking to buy a bulb soon and looking for advice.
I explain that in my video on why I replaced the ceramic heat emitter with the deep heat projector (see the link in the desciption if you want a more detailed explaination), but basically, it's because of the kind of infra-red radiation the two sources emit. The heat a lamp emits is primarily in the form of infra-red A and B, which are waves that are able to penetrate a reptile's skin and warm its inner tissue. A lamp is also the heat source that is closest to the animal's primary heat source in nature, the sun. A deep heat projector emits alsmost no infra-red A, around 50% infra-red B and 50% infra-red C. Now infra-red C is not a good way to heat a reptile because these waves are unable to get past the keratin in a reptile's skin, so it only heats the surface of the animal, making it less efficient to warm its entire body. That's why ceramic heat emitters are really bad - they only emit infra-red C.
