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Build a Vivarium for a Corn Snake |
It really is very easy... |
Ok, so you want to build your own vivarium - well, that is a good idea because it will save you a bit of money and is quite easy to do and with the help of this page, should hopefully prove to be a successfull project. But first of all, a word about safety...
You will need to know how to safely use a few tools, particularly a drill, a saw and a screwdriver. If you do not have these tools or do not know how to use them, then please get someone to do the work of actually building the vivarium for you - it really is very easy, but you could cause yorself a serious injuey or even death if you did not know what you were doing and misused the tools or did something silly like stab yourself through the femoral artery in your leg with a screwdriver and bleed to death... Ok, you might think I'm being dramatic, but I have to make some effort to warn people not to do something stupid or dangerous... This is, of course, entirely the fault of money grubbing lawyers with dollar or pound sterling signs in their eyes.
And I know this page does look rather long and complicated, but don't let that worry you - really it is quite easy - it is just that describing the actual building of a vivarium tends to get a bit involved and I tend to blather a bit too... But read it all the way through a couple of times and you will begin to realize that it is no big deal to produce something like this - and with the right tools and someone who knows what they are doing, a vivarium like this could be made in only a couple of hours or so.
Anyhow, to business... What we are building here is going to be a vivarium similar to mine, which is 36inches long by 24inches high by 15inches front to back - see the picture, below left. It is mostly made from chipboard and has sliding glass doors and is suitable and plenty big enough to house two adult corn snakes. For a hatchling you would be better off buying one of those small plastic vivariums, say 14x9x7inches, which would be plenty big enough for the snake until it reached two feet long or was about 18 months old, when it could then move into a vivarium such as the one described here.
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| 36inch long snake vivarium for adult corn snakes | 14inch long snake vivarium for hatchlings |
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Materials ListSo, to begin with, here is a list of materials and things you will need - a shopping list... Most of this stuff can be bought at B and Q's or any other of the large DIY stores.
- 1 3metre length, 15inch wide, piece of chipboard shelving, commercial name Contiboard. It has a wipe clean plastic surface that comes in various wood effect colours.
- 1 hardboard plastic covered bath-panel, which is covered with a white plastic film on one side.
- 1 3metre length of 2x1 inch wood.
- 1 30inch long piece of 1x1 inch wood.
- 1 glass runner pack, which comes as 2 long lengths, with both a shallow and deep channel runner.
- 24 screws, size 8, 1 1/2 inches long.
- 20 screws, size 6, 3/4 inch long.
- 1 light bulb holder, suitable for screwing to the inside of the roof.
- 1 2metre length 2-core electric lighting cable. (2m is the minimum, buy more if you need it).
- 1 packet of suitable sized cable clips to hold the lighting cable in place.
- 1 small tube of woodglue.
- 1 small can of woodstain or varnish.
- 1 vent of some kind - more about this in a minute.
- 2 glass doors 18in wide by 19in tall (457mm by 483mm by 4mm thickness). Explain to the glazier what you want them for - get them to round off corners and chamfer edges and cut two holes and fit appropriate 'button' open/closers.
Tip... Click on this link and save a copy of the text of this page...
http://www.snakepictures.co.uk/build_vivarium.txt
Then open Notepad or some other text editor and
print the text to take with you to the store...
...Instant shopping list... ;-)
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Method of ConstructionFirst, you need to measure exactly how thick the chipboard is - the standard measurement is 5/8 inches (in) or 15 millemetres (mm). You will need to know this measurement in a moment. From the Contiboard chipboard shelving, cut one piece from the 3 metre length that is 36in long and then another piece that is a bit shorter... It needs to be shorter by 2 times the thickness of the chipboard, ie if it is 5/8in thick then it needs to be 1 1/4in less than 36in, ie 34 3/4in long. The 36in long piece will be the top of the vivarium, the shorter piece will be the base.
Now, from the remaining piece of chipboard, cut two pieces of it, each to be 24in long. Next you will need to mark and drill 3 holes and countersink them, at both ends of the top piece, all 5/16in from the edge for the screws to go through and drill corresponding small pilot holes into the top edges of the two side pieces. Be very careful to measure everything twice and get all the holes in the right places. See Diagram 1.
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Turning your attention to the base, you need to drill the larger holes and countersink them through the side pieces, again 5/16in from their bottom edges and this time drill the pilot holes into the base piece. See Diagram 2.
So, next take 12 of the large screws and screw the four pieces of chipboard together, standing on it's front, as it were, to minimise movement of the joints while in this weak and critical stage. Use a smear of woodglue between the pieces just before you finally screw them tight together.
The overall outside dimensions of the rectangle created will be 36in wide by 24 5/8in tall - the extra 5/8in is because of the viv top being attached on the top edge of the sides).
Now take the 30in long piece of 1x1in wood, cut it into two pieces 14in long and chamfer off the sharp 90degree corners. Drill 4 holes in each piece, 2 holes going one way and 2 going the other way and then drill corresponding pilot holes in the base and in the side pieces of the vivarium and then glue and screw the pieces of wood into place to provide some extra stiffness to the structure.
You now need to measure and cut the 'bath panel' to these exact dimensions, 36in by 24 5/8in and then drill holes through it 5/16in in from it's edge, for fixing it to the rear of the viv.
The easiest way to do this, after you have carefully cut the panel to the correct size, is to fit it to the rear edge of the chipboard and hold it in place with sticky tape it so it cannot move and then get a black marker pen and mark where you are going to drill the holes. It is up to you how many holes you drill, but I would recommend drilling every 6in or so.
Leave the panel in place and with the smallest drill you can find, like 1/16in, drill pilot holes through the panel and on into the rear edge of the chipboard for a depth of about one inch. Start by drilling a hole at each corner and then, on the sides, drill 2 more holes on each side and on the top and bottom drill 5 more holes, making 18 holes altogether. Now carefully unpeel the sticky tape and remove the panel from the back of the chipboard. You need to enlarge the holes slightly in the bath panel, using a bigger drill.
Before fitting the bath panel to the rear of the viv, you should cut a hole in it, near to the top edge of the bath panel, of a suitable size and shape to take the vent that you are going to fit to it. The kind of vent that could be used is the same kind of thing used to cover what is called an 'air-brick' or outside wall ventilator - the one in my viv measures 11in by 4in and is made from white plastic material. It is held securely to the front (interior) of the bath panel with six screws with the washers and nuts on the exterior side of the bathpanel, at the rear of the vivarium.
On the other hand you may prefer to buy a piece of metal mesh and then cut a circular or elongated oval hole in the bath panel and using small threaded screws and nuts and washers, attach the mesh firmly to the rear - outside - of the panel.
Anyway, in any case, there must be a vent of some kind in the rear of the panel and it must be absolutely snake proof - in other words there must be no way that a snake could ever get it's nose through any tiny gap around it's edge. The heatmat and/or light will be going at one end of the viv, so place the vent at the other end rather than in the centre.
Next, you need to cut 2 lengths from the 2x1in wood and the plastic glass runners into 34 3/4in lengths. Drill 4 suitable sized holes up through the base of the vivarium, 1/2in from the front edge of the base, countersinking them on the outside - underneath side - of the base. Fit one of the pieces of 2x1in wood in position on the front edge and drill pilot holes up into it, corresponding with the four holes in the base. Glue and screw this piece of wood in place and then glue the shallow glass runner to the piece of wood flush with the front face of the wood.
Fitting the top piece of 2x1in wood is slightly different. Drill one
slit it down lengthways and fit this over the vertical centre edge of the innermost glass door - the tube will self grip to the glass and will considerably reduce the gap between the panes, thus making escape even by the tiniest snake impossible. If you do fit a piece of tubing to the glass or if you live in a warm climate, you may want to consider drilling a few small holes through the bottom piece of 2x1in wood for added ventilation.
To make the vivarium easier to lift, you could cut two 15in long pieces from the remaining piece of 2x1in wood. Smooth off sharp edges and corners, drill and countersink two holes and two corresponding pilot holes in the sides of the vivarium such that, when fitted, the top edge of the 2x1in wood is flush with the top of the vivarium. These two pieces and the other two pieces of 2x1 could now be stained and/or varnished.
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| Top front right corner of the vivarium | The ventilator in the upper left rear corner. |
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The picture above left shows the corner of the vivarium, with the screws going down through the top into the sides. The screw going through the side into the 2x1 piece of wood is obscured by the piece of wood screwed to the outside for ease of lifting. The other picture shows the ventilator attached to the rear bath panel. This vivarium was the prototype and if making another, I would make the ventilator fit snugly up against the top of the vivarium, because I found that Shaggy used to climb up there using the top edge of the ventilator as a ridge to climb on. So I have taped over it, making it impossible for him to get a grip and stopping him going up there.
It only remains to now fit the heatmat and a light. Decide which end of the vivarium you want the light and put the heatmat underneath it, ie at the same end. Fit the heatmat in place, taping it down very firmly all round it's edge to the floor of the vivarium. Note where you need the hole for the cable and then drill a small hole only just big enough for the cable and then another hole next to it for the lighting cable. Fit the light bulb holder unit to the top of the vivarium, at least 6in away from the end and front and back - in other words, not closer than 6in to any vertical surface. I strongly recommend buying one of those 11watt long life bulbs that are available in most shops or stores. Not only do these bulbs save you money in the long run, they don't get so hot as, say, an ordinary 40watt bulb...and so a guard is not strictly necessary. Yes, they do get warm, and yes your snake will climb up and look at it one day, and yes he will stick his tongue out and find out that it is not pleasant to do so...it is a bit hot - and so it is very unlikely he will ever do it again - and no permanent harm will be done. But make sure the light is securely fitted, because when turned off and cool, the snake may try climbing onto it if he can via a branch or somesuch. Fit the cable into the corner and secure with suitable size cable clips. As an optional extra, you could then rig the light up to one of those timeswitches that will switch the light on automatically during the day for about 10 or 12 hours and then off for the night.
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| The light unit in the roof of the vivarium. |
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The heatmat - which should be one of the 17x11in size - may well need to be connected to a thermostat and heat sensor of some kind, because if left on continuously the temperature will get too hot in a vivarium like this, being constructed from chipboard, which is a pretty good insulative material. On the warm end, over the heatmat, if you measure the temperature with a LCD strip thermometer laid on top of some woodchips, you want a reading of around 82-86F or 27-30C. On the other - unheated - end, the temperature will be around normal room temperature or a little above it. Glass tanks, like aquariums, on the other hand, tend to lose heat too quickly in moderate climates like the UK - and as such, they are not really suitable in winter.
And that, as they say, is that..... I hope you managed to understand all the above and found it easy to read and follow the steps to making your own vivarium. Obviously, this page is really only a guide to give you an idea of what is needed and involved in building your own vivarium - you may easily to change or adapt the design for yourself. I am happy to receive feedback about this page - it is the first time I have attempted to do an instruction sheet like this - and your comments will help me to improve the page over coming months. |
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