In order to optimize the space in my small room, I am building a multiple enclosure snake display. This will be much more space efficient than keeping everyone in their own glass terrarium. My goal was to complete at least three enclosures and have two that i could finish as needed. I also tried to spend as little money as possible because i knew the new snakes would likely be more expensive. I helped my dad build a chicken coop when i was 9, but I have no experience with construction aside from that. Basically it was a "design as you build" thing. Luckily my friend "B" knows how to use a circular saw.
To begin I searched my basement for unwanted furniture and found an old bookshelf made of particleboard and melamine. I secured the shelving with screws and cut peg board to fit the back. I screwed on 3 2x2 boards to the back in order to help stabilize the shelving.
To make the sliding doors, I built sliding track out of some Walmart Yardsticks and pretty wooden trim I bought at Home depot. The yardsticks were thinner than the wood trim, allowing for overlap. this created the slot for the Plexiglas to slide along. I left the two bottom shelves unfinished for storage until I need them.
I then added thinner strips of wood trim on either side of the sliding doors. After creating wooden "locks" to keep the doors secure, and attaching knobs to the doors, the whole thing was looking pretty snazzy.
Lucy in her house
What's a snake enclosure without a heat source? I attached adhesive under tank heater pads to the ceiling of each enclosure. This provides belly heat to the snake above, and a little radiant heat to the snake below.
I drilled 1 1/2 inch hole in the top left corner of the pegboard in order to let the heat pad plugs to go through and then added a cord grommet to close off the holes.
Finally I installed lighting!!!! I purchased some cheep LED light strips and connectors which easily attached to the back ceiling of the enclosures. I had to drill some peg board holes a little larger in order to fit the light connectors through the right side, but i used the cord grommet to let the wires through on the left side. I had to super glue the LED strips in place because Bindi (baby ball python)
kept pulling them down for some reason.
Add some decoration, hides, water dishes and you get a Happy Herp!
Lucy
