WHY
my ghost corn jack recently outgrew his 20L, and is now in a 30 gal. he also just got a brand new corner bowl since he was on one of those little dinky rock looking ones before and he would drain it every other day.

Well, after taking a look at urorex's thread about his new viv for his uro..... I got some nifty ideas, which admittedly are basically copying him.... but I made a couple tweaks that are specific to jack, and bear with me if this seems a little tedious or juvenile

anyways, what I did was went to lowes, but im sure home depot or whatever would work, and purchased a 12x12 tile. made sure the edges were all soft, and the corners rounded, lucked out when I found one that had uneven and natural looking edges as well.

I also purchased a treated 2x2x8' and cut 2 1' sections from it. treated wood will absorb less waste and is partially sealed to aid in cleaning. however it is splinter prone so tearing off the obviously loose shards is a must!

HOW
Once home I washed the tile (since it has some dust from manufacturing on it), allowed it to dry, and then attached the wood using a SINGLE thick bead of clear drying silicone bathroom caulk. a quick note on the caulking: the single thick bead in the middle minimizes runout, however, silicone is non-toxic once dried. When ingested by a large enough animal, a dried bead will pass straight through. This is being used for a snake so a little runout isnt a big deal since he isnt likely to pick at it. however for a small lizard you can use a razor blade to remove any dried runout to avoid any complications.

once attached the setup was allowed to dry for 1/2 hour then flipped over so the weight of the tile would aid in bonding.

here is a picture of the finished product.




now, my muse or inspiration for this was urorex, who had his platform on treated wood, but used no adhesive. there IS a reason for this. the tile is heavy! jack would more than likely be fine, but the bottom is sharp enough to sever a tail if the fates were against me and him.... also, jack has a habit of using his midsection to "punch" my hand out of the way when he has had enough of me, and disturbes the furniture. so a solid structure is very important here.

so, the "install":

a standard 12x12 tile is just like a 2x4. its NOT 12x12 but just a little smaller which not only saves cost but allows for a little "fudge room" if needed in the home. what this means, is an almost perfect fit in a 12" wide aquarium.

I first cleared some substrate and placed in some moist moss for a wet hide, since he is currently blue.

here is tank before:


the moss


next move was arranging the new item inside on the cold side (i had noticed he only hides under his driftwood. the overpriced fake rock has gone unused, whether on hot or cold side, for months........ best $30 I ever spent )



his water dish took residence on top of this item, which gives him more crawl room, but doesnt actually diminish his ability to crawl on top and explore at night.



alright, now its time for jack to go into his new home. and the rest of this can be ignored for technical relevence because its good ol specter turning into a quasi-disturbing soccer mom doting about his children
here is jack, so we are all aquainted:


he is about to shed, but is happy enough just rattling at me when hes irritated.

and btw, here is Neo, since I just realized hes in my photobucket

he will probably get an 18x18 tile on a 2x4 tall-wise once he gets a little older


anyways, jack has this tendancy to freak out (i know... spastic corn snake... go figure ) whenever I change his viv. he will explore, then look out right at me like (pardon the french) "WTF did you do?!!?"
as much as he resists both coming out of, or going into his viv, here is him refusing to let go of me until he is comfy with the new arrangements


and now for a couple finished product pics with jack hiding by his fake rock for the first time in 5 months and rattling and hissing like its going out of style (its cool, he is effectively blind right now )





so there you have it. i realize there are alot of pics, i hope they all work and I hope I was able to keep track of them. dont yell at me too bad if this is old news. it was new to me when I saw it in urorex's thread, and he asked me to post pics once I went and did it.

crap.... i realize I doubled a pic.... but oh well. also, if any of you noticed the marks on the arm: specter is not a cutter
I had an incident with some broken glass $150 later the e-room doc let me go after putting glue on me and telling me to keep it clean lol.

well.... ur going to have to thank bittybabe (my gf) for pointing out to me that the cookies kept me logged in as her..... this is actually my post for my snakes..... hopefully now everything makes sense..... im @ her place and she has an account for discussion for her Leo's. sorry for the mistake, but at least the info is up . enjoy

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0.0.1 - Jack, Ghost corn, never sexed, but its a He darnit
1.0.0 - Neo, Columbian Redtail Boa. Everybody's best buddy :) except my roommate.... he bites my roommate....

Nice pics and a very cool idea! I don't know anything about snakes, except I like to hold them...lol, but I like the idea of using natural elements in a habitat. Now you have me thinking how to use that stone tile with my dragons. (Always thinking!)

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"Dare to Dream! Without dreams, there is no Hope."
***Tami***

Interesting setup. With one problem. I would remove the pressure treated wood.
That stuff is chemically treated to deter rot and insects and I would not trust it in a tank with animals.

__________________
Merlin,
What's Life Without A Little Magic!

Ditto on what Merlin said--however here in Canada the pressure treated lumber has recently had restrictions on it use. The old product actually has arsenic in it which was deemed unsafe(go figure). The new product is supposed to be safe. So I'm not sure if the U.S. has changed over to the new product as well.

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Mike
"Never worry about numbers. Help one person at a time, and always start with the person nearest you." - Mother Teresa

The U.S was supposed to begin phasing out arsenic treated wood in 2003-2004. I don't believe you can purchase it any longer.

Arsenic literally seeps out of the wood and into the surrounding substrate. (This is most true when the wood has gotten wet or gets heated.) The reason they wanted to stop treating wood with it is because it is a very serious health risk to humans (arsenic is a carconogen), and I believe they have some documented fatalities in children.

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.:: Rich ::.

+ Spread The Info

Looks great and gives me some ideas as well

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MARSHA
A man without a woman is a bachelor, A woman without a man is a genius!.

We have enough youth, how about a fountain of smart!

thanks for the comments and compliments. i was actually unaware of arsenic being used in the past. however it seems as if that is a thing of the past. It does bring up a couple good points however.
first of all, arsenic is not a topical poison. you will not get sick by handling it, even for prolonged periods of time, you would have to chew on the wood and ingest it in order to suffer any complications.

that being said, i totally agree that anything in the wood can seep into substrate, i didnt think about this. this could cause issue with any herps likely to scratch around at crevices in the wood or in the substrate - however with a large corn snake I do not see any appreciably threat.

my GF did something similar for her little high yellow leo - however instead of glue she got a plastic end piece for a gutter - which is about 3/4 inch tall, irregularly shaped (shape of a gutter) and is open at one end and used this as a platform for the tile. home depot and lowes are like the herp-furniture paradise

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0.0.1 - Jack, Ghost corn, never sexed, but its a He darnit
1.0.0 - Neo, Columbian Redtail Boa. Everybody's best buddy :) except my roommate.... he bites my roommate....

I know.
But knowing my luck I would end up with the one last peice that was laying on the bottom of the pile that finally got sold.
I will still choose to be cautious about pressure treated wood.
Who knows what sort of nasty stuff they are using in it.

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Merlin,
What's Life Without A Little Magic!