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Stormyva · #1 (**permalink**) 07-26-2002, 04:52 PM

Dillon, my BIC, just completed his first shed and it was horrendous. He had little bits and pieces all over the cage. I ended up spending a half hour this morning with it and a sink full of warm water to get the rest of the unshed skin off of him. I misted the aquarium twice a day, held Dillon and misted him twice a day as well. I even had a towel covering 3/4 of the screen top to hold in humidity. Oh well.... He is now shed but I want to prevent this from happening in the future by building a cage, or better put a habitat for him

What I would like to put together is a large enclosure that will be big enough for him for the next couple of years. I want to put a small water fall in to keep up the humidity and for aesthetics. Substrate is going to be cypress as I am learning that it helps to retain humidity levels much better than the fuzzy green carpet stuff that is in there now.
What I am having trouble finding is the artificial rock to line the back wall and sides and create some ledges for basking. I would like to make this very nice so that I will be able to have this setup on the living room.

Any recommendations on where to find pictures of enclosures built like this as well as link to find stuff to outfit the enclosure with would be great!

Thank You
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eddie · #2 (**permalink**) 07-26-2002, 05:41 PM

Well, I have some pics of the wall you want.

Most of the stone work here is fine mesh as the base, topped with either plaster ( old style plaster, which is cement mortar) or fiberglass epoxy to make the actual stone part, then dyed or painted to look like stone.
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SteveP · #3 (**permalink**) 07-26-2002, 06:10 PM

Because I have typically lived in very dry environments my boids have had shed problems in the past too. To assist them in having a good shed I've used appropriate sized tupperware type containers as hide boxes. I cut a hole in the lid of an adequate diameter for the snake. Inside I place a fair portion of good quality, pre-moistened sphagnum moss. I monitor the moisture of the sphagnum every couple of days or so, particularly around shedding time. I've found the snakes will lounge in this hide box for a few days just prior to shed and when they do the skin will often just be a rolled up ball inside the hide box when they are done. When I lived in Las Vegas I just couldn't keep their vivarium wet enough and lousy sheds were common until I provided them a moist hide box! Just food for thought...
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Stormyva · #4 (**permalink**) 07-26-2002, 06:42 PM

That enclosure looks AWESOME!
That is exactly what I had in mind.

You made it by forming the general shapes out of mesh, laying plaster and epoxy over the form, and then dying the plaster and epoxy?

Did you seal the "rock" wall with anything, or did the epoxy seal in the color and seal up any porousness there was in the plaster?

I thought about using the plaster idea but was concerned with being able to find a safe dye material to color the "rock" and also something to seal it so that it would be safe for Dillon to come in contact with as well be easy to keep clean.

Thank you again!

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eddie · #5 (**permalink**) 07-26-2002, 06:50 PM

I didn't make them, they are the ones at the local nature museum.

I don't know all the details, but if the local to you museum has anything like that, then they may be able to give you all the info about them.
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Stormyva · #6 (**permalink**) 07-26-2002, 07:43 PM

Unless you want to see marine life the museums around here in Va Beach are kind of lacking. Where in NC was the museum where you took the pics?
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eddie · #7 (**permalink**) 07-26-2002, 07:56 PM

It's in Charlotte, just go to the Discovery Place site, and follow the link to the nature museum.
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#8 (**permalink**) 07-26-2002, 10:26 PM

Hmm.. Eddie..hint hint...moving this thread to caging forum...
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MacGyver · #9 (**permalink**) 07-27-2002, 05:18 AM

Here's some pics of the cage we just built for our redtail. Total cost was about 250-300 dollars for everything needed to construct it. That includes a 12 x 24 radiant heat panel as well as a thermostat. We're going to use aspen as a substrate and probably clay pots as hides as well as a few tree limbs so she can access the ledge and such. If you have any questions about constructing something similar feel free to ask.

L8r
Will, Heather, ans Ayasha

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