New, naturalistic Snake Habitat

[Callyft]

Just finished this terrarium for my corn snake. I've done all live planted ones in the past (based off of "The Art of Keeping Snakes") ... but this time, I wanted to make it easier on myself and have one that is lower maintenance. I also didn't want to spend a fortune, so everything in here is also homemade. I constructed a ledge out of treated driftwood (found on a beach) and fashioned the dried bark into a hide. I covered it all in craft-style moss & fungus. The substrate is colored aspen chips (which probably took the most time).

My plan is to create a bark background and deeper substrate. All my corns have loved burying so its important to me to allow them to. Since taking this photo I've added a large water dish too. Not perfect yet .... so if anyone has ideas please share!



Here's the inhabitant .... taken a couple years ago, he's much bigger now.

[tetra10]

maybe you could make a natural water dish out of a rock or a fake rock? would be pretty challenging but it could make the tank look a little more natural. nice habitat you have going on there. keep it up!

[Soothing Shrimp]

Excellent! I know my snakes always loved to sit in their bowl, So I always had a large one.

tetra, love the idea of a natural bowl.

Is your corn a snow?

[Steveboos]

Nice Corn! The tank looks great! Natural setups are always preferred for snakes, but makes cleaning harder when they poop and leave urates all over the place.

Corn Snakes should never soak in the water bowl unless the humidity is way too low or they have mites/parasites. Some snakes soak naturally, but most Colubrids do not.

[Callyft]

Thanks for the comments! I am using a clear dish now because it blends in best .... but a rock one would be awesome in the future. Just have to sit down and actually make one. Never seen him fully soak in it before.

My snake is actually a golddust motley corn. He's very yellow, but I think the flash in that other photo faded him. I'll take an updated one soon

[Callyft]

Oh and Steve's right .... cleaning can be a pain! Thats one of the reasons I didn't want to have to deal with live plants - maintaining and moving if I had to clean. This set-up is really not that bad though ... and since it's not real dirt I don't have to worry about a dusty-looking snake either!

[tetra10]

any updates :p

[Steveboos]

Go to your local PetSmart and check out the Forest Bowl they sell in the reptile section. It is meant to be buried in the substrate, but has a pretty deep bowl in it for water. It looks natural and matches your decor and since it is buried in the substrate, it would look like a puddle!

[Soothing Shrimp]

Steve, I think you hit the nail on the head with humidity. Often the soaking would happen in the winter and the furnace sucked the humidity right out of the air. It also helped sheds.

I don't know if they still have it, but I used coconut fiber bricks. The nice thing about that was body waste tended to clump like cat litter and was easy to take out.

[Steveboos]

I've owned over 40 snakes in the past 4 years, so i've been in that same position at one time or another. A lot of my friends were breeders or DVM's, so that helps a lot also haha.

Snakes are very simple compared to other animals, but often the setup is either your snakes best friend, or it's demise...