First of all I am new to the herp hobby so please go easy on me, I don't know everything. I recently got my first python and chose to turn an empty marine fish tank into a display enclosure. Ive taken photos throughout steps of modifications I made to get the set up to where I wanted it to be.
Ive done a bit of reading on here and I would like criticism on some of the things I chose to do, namely it being a fish tank and second, the substrate. I really wanted desert sand for the natural look (and because I have a bredli) and to be honest none of the other options are very natural.. anyway there is little open coverage and my python spends most of its time on obstacles and the spots I provided. Now as I said before, I chose a fish tank because this is for display, but is the reason people dont like to use them due to the occupant may get stressed with movement etc outside the glass? I think I found a solution to that with this tank and so far it seems to work well.
The main thing I liked about this tank is that it had an open air filtration system and with all the filters and stuff removed provided a perfect hiding chamber for the snake, so it can get away from the main enclosure.
(below: left hole is now plugged, entrance is the middle hole). Just to note, I thoroughly cleaned the lid pieces after these photos.
There are two entrances to the filterbox shown by the arrows. And for now this is the basic idea I had for the set up:
Added a backboard, which I had to modify a little bit to fit the tank:
Fake plants were added:
And the substrate and some rocks:
The vine didnt look right obviously so I fixed that, strengthening the main entrance to the upper chamber
For ventilation I made this piece out of clear PVC for the holes of the light unit (the lid for the aquarium is in two parts):
The simplest thing I could think of to secure this piece was nuts and bolts and it works perfectly. Also I had overshot my budget so no money left for fancy mechanisms haha
The ventilation piece slides back with just a bit of line there to pull it back.
This photo shows the two-piece lid with the hide (filter box) on the left and the light unit on the right. I cut another piece of PVC to fill the gap between the two units so they sit securely. The blutack was replaced by superglue:
To lock the filterbox lid I just used these things I had lying around. They are used for keychains. You push down on the slender bit and it unlocks it so you can open the lid:
Filled the chamber with Carefresh:
So here is the final product:
Added the waterbowl. There is another hide in the left corner. The snake doensn't use it very often because it has the superior filterbox but it likes to curl up on top of the flat rock above the hide. There is another flat rock behind the log in the right corner so really the only substrate space that is what you see in the front. Mainly it likes to hang around on the log and vines though. The best thing about this is that it likes to do its poos on the carefresh . Spends most of its time there and the box provides me easy access to my snake so all in all this set up works perfectly for me.
and the occupant
To anyone who bothered to read all this thanks! and I appreciate any comments and suggestions. Also any questions welcome because I didnt cover every aspect of the set up.
Ive done a bit of reading on here and I would like criticism on some of the things I chose to do, namely it being a fish tank and second, the substrate. I really wanted desert sand for the natural look (and because I have a bredli) and to be honest none of the other options are very natural.. anyway there is little open coverage and my python spends most of its time on obstacles and the spots I provided. Now as I said before, I chose a fish tank because this is for display, but is the reason people dont like to use them due to the occupant may get stressed with movement etc outside the glass? I think I found a solution to that with this tank and so far it seems to work well.
The main thing I liked about this tank is that it had an open air filtration system and with all the filters and stuff removed provided a perfect hiding chamber for the snake, so it can get away from the main enclosure.
(below: left hole is now plugged, entrance is the middle hole). Just to note, I thoroughly cleaned the lid pieces after these photos.
There are two entrances to the filterbox shown by the arrows. And for now this is the basic idea I had for the set up:
Added a backboard, which I had to modify a little bit to fit the tank:
Fake plants were added:
And the substrate and some rocks:
The vine didnt look right obviously so I fixed that, strengthening the main entrance to the upper chamber
For ventilation I made this piece out of clear PVC for the holes of the light unit (the lid for the aquarium is in two parts):
The simplest thing I could think of to secure this piece was nuts and bolts and it works perfectly. Also I had overshot my budget so no money left for fancy mechanisms haha
The ventilation piece slides back with just a bit of line there to pull it back.
This photo shows the two-piece lid with the hide (filter box) on the left and the light unit on the right. I cut another piece of PVC to fill the gap between the two units so they sit securely. The blutack was replaced by superglue:
To lock the filterbox lid I just used these things I had lying around. They are used for keychains. You push down on the slender bit and it unlocks it so you can open the lid:
Filled the chamber with Carefresh:
So here is the final product:
Added the waterbowl. There is another hide in the left corner. The snake doensn't use it very often because it has the superior filterbox but it likes to curl up on top of the flat rock above the hide. There is another flat rock behind the log in the right corner so really the only substrate space that is what you see in the front. Mainly it likes to hang around on the log and vines though. The best thing about this is that it likes to do its poos on the carefresh . Spends most of its time there and the box provides me easy access to my snake so all in all this set up works perfectly for me.
and the occupant
To anyone who bothered to read all this thanks! and I appreciate any comments and suggestions. Also any questions welcome because I didnt cover every aspect of the set up.