Snout Rubbing?

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AntaresiaLady

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Okay, we bought our enclosure second hand, and have recently discovered that our beloved Hermione likes to stick her snout up through the 'wire' where the UV light goes.

Its just wide enough for her to fit her snout through up about a centimetre or so, and it seems to be starting to leave a little mark on her snout on the sides.

Now, the problem is....the way the enclosure was constructed means they've 'inserted' the UV light 'cavity' into the enclosure, then nailed the top down over it. SO without completely demolishing it, its difficult to change the wire to smaller guage, and covering it from the top is useless as she can still stick her snout into it.
And because the heat 'light' is in a 'bucket' type thing in the front of the cage (its a really stupidly designed cage really) and the wire is nailed on with thin strips of wood, without demolishing the enclosure its hard to fix the wire problem.

We can't afford right now to buy a new enclosure, we just need a temporary fix. Anyone got any ideas?
 
Can you place a smaller gauge wire around the outside of the holder?
Just laying it over the problem areas and fastening it securely :? JMO
I hope her snout grows quickly for you :lol:
 
Maybe try some flyscreen? you can just tie it on with some fine wire, or even fishing line. Just make sure you finish it off well, so there are no sticky-outy bits :)
 
She will end up damaging her nose/face if you don't prevent this from happening - Stimson's are notorious for relentlessly exploiting any escape possibility. If you can't change the mesh (and don't use metal mesh if you can avoid it), can you cover it with some of the fibreglass (soft) flywire to prevent the abrasion from happening? Injuries caused by rubbing snouts are often the precursor to mouthrot and other mouth related infections. Treat this as urgent. You should generally avoid using metal mesh of any kind as cage vents, as rubbed noses are a very common consequence. The commercial snap-in cupboard vents available from Bunnings etc are the very best choice.

Jamie.
 
I have flyscrean mesh over one of my cages, same concerns. some snakes just do it (like Nike) different enclosure, alternate heat source not involving a wire cage. problem solved. :)
 
antaresia dont need UV so just block it off.
 
I'll see what I can do about the wire- its going to be difficult without completely demolishing the enclosure to do much. I'm a bit peeved that no one warned us, or even suggested we check the wire guage when we bought our girl and her enclosure. Oh well, lesson learned. I'll see what I can do about it..she hasn't shown much interest in the wire in the bottom of her heat lamp, just in one particular bit in the 'roof'.

Might try popping the top off and ripping out the light box, and covering it with a roof high vent. Just got to hope they just nailed it and didn't glue it!
'
 
okay, so taking your advice, we managed to take out the 'cavity' in the top of the enclosure, and we've just screwed in another peice of wood over the hole.

We'll get some vents on monday arvo, and drill for them so theres a bit more air in there than there is now- its not very well ventilated right now. She has fresh air, just not as much as we would like. We cleaned the branch we cut off our tree and put it in from one corner to the other on a graduating angle, and she seems to be loving it- she's made herself at home on it since we put it in!

I'm well pleased.
 
NinaPeas said:
Maybe try some flyscreen? you can just tie it on with some fine wire, or even fishing line. Just make sure you finish it off well, so there are no sticky-outy bits :)

Small cable ties work reall well also. We have had a couple of bad experiences with poorly made cages when we first started, I think everyone has probably had to learn that lesson. In most cases they are more trouble than they are worth! About 70% of the cages we have bought have had to be modified to our standard. Don't know if you are able to do this as well, but we pretty much make our own now so they are exactly how we want them.Our most common cage is approx 1200mm x 600mm x 600mm, and is made of wood on the sides and back, they open from the front - we use two sliding glass doors. All up with hide boxes, turf, bowls lights, light covers, thermostat, and all the bits and pieces we use to make the cage (wood, nails, glue etc) it costs us about $350.00 per cage. Obviously this doesn't include labour costs.
 
We've got some plans to make some enclosures, and we will be doing it soon. We've learned our lesson!
 
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