Building a display cabinet!

[mrsshep77]

We have aquired a large wall cabinet that we will be turning into a major display enclosure for our snakies!!!

We are wanting to make it GTP friendly and am needing some advice! What would people advise on inclusions for an enclosure to house a pair of GTP's. Do people keep them in together as adults (with seperation for feeding).

I've been scouring the site but so far haven't found an specific information on what people would do for their GTP's!

Any help would be appreciated

 

[Owzi]

The first thing you would want to be sure of is that you can hold the correct temperatures in a larger enclosure, but being in Queensland you shouldn't have too many problems there!

You haven't been very specific in what you would like to know, but here is a brief description of what I have.

I live in Melbourne & personally use a heat panel & heat mat (both from the herp shop) with Habistat pulse thermostats to heat my enclosures. I have a fluro light fitting in for better viewing of the enclosures. Make sure you have also got ventilation in your enclosure.

Then just furnishings- lots of branches & vines for climbing & perching & greenery for looks & to make the snakes feel secure.

I have not kept greens together, but some people do & they are fine (never keep two males together).

Get yourself a copy of "The More Complete Chondro" by Greg Maxwell.
Scales & Tails issue 9- Jan 2010 has arguably the best article on greens, by Michael Cermak

Hope this helps,
Andrew

You may want to be more specific on what you cabinet is made from. If it doesn't have a melamine type coating & isn't made from something like marine ply, it may not hold up well to the humidity in your enclosure. Most people mist/spray their Greens daily.

 

[mrsshep77]

Thanks so much for your advice and I apologise for being so vague but I really didn't know where to start hehe! We have found a large cabinet off ebay (like a wall cabinet) and a friend of ours is going to deck it out with fake backgrounds etc.
So here's my thoughts, it's going to be a "display" enclosure so we're looking at 5 star Hilton kind of digs!! Now it's actually big enough that I was thinking of making part of the rock background a waterfall (would this help with keeping humidity high?) The reason we were thinking of keeping 2 together is that is is big enough to do so but I wasn't sure on wether it's a done thing or not. We are trying to make it as natural as possible so I'm currently scouring Ebay for bargains on vines leaves etc hehe!!
here's something I've never really seen but would they need a hide like other pythons??
Thanks Owzi and I have ordered a copy of that book!!!
But as always I'm too anxious to wait so I thought I'd come here for advice hehe!

I have attached a copy of the cabinet so people can give me any pointers on what to do with it! I've designed our other enclosures but they are in our herp room, this one we want as a feature display

 

[Owzi]

Well it sounds like a big project!
I can only assume the rock wall background would deal with the moisture better than the wood.
Waterfall sounds nice, how practical it is I'm not so sure, but the best way to learn is to try these things. I'm sure it would help the humidity, but remember its also healthy for your greens to not be overly humid all the time. Two animals together in a large enough enclosure is done by some, its really up to you. As stated before, don't keep males together, they will most likely fight & stress eachother out.
Don't be afraid to use natural materials inside your enclosure also. I use fallen gum tree branches. Honeysuckle is a nice twisty vine that most people consider a weed & are happy for you to take.
I personally don't use hides for Greens, they seem happy enough perching amongst the greenery. But feel free to try it & see what they do? Maybe an elevated hide?

 

[melluvssnakes]

One of my friends has got a large wholly glass enclosure and he keeps live plants and a waterfall in there with his GTP. It works pretty well. As for hides, I don't think they would use them. Maybe just make certain sections of the greenery thicker then other parts. I think you'll find that they hide within the greenery pretty well

 

[mrsshep77]

Thanks so much for your advice guys!!!! Can't wait to get my head around some ideas!

 

[user 16324]

GTP's always looking stunning in black enclosures. maybe look at painting the inside? google images comes up with a few nice ones.

 

[hornet]

Honestly i wouldnt risk housing them or any snake together. The risk may be very very small but its always there.

The 2 smaller sections on either side, are you going to knock the wall out so they all join into one big one or leave them for storage or smaller enclosures? Humidity shouldn't be a huge issue, i'm sure you could seal the wood to prevent any rot or swelling. As mentioned you dont want the humidity too high so if you do go with the waterfall idea make sure you have ample ventilation. Do you want a pool that the waterfall runs into or just a bed or pebbles?

 

[mrsshep77]

Thanks Hornet.... advice noted and it's now got my head hurting from all this thinking hehe!! With the waterfall idea, do you think the pool would be too much??? Maybe just a small bed of pebbles would work better so as not to create TOO much humidity??
I have way too many ideas in my head!
Ok so I am sort of falling on the side of not housing together BUT what if it was built as 2 enclosures with a divider down the middle but somehow with a section that could be taken out so that come breeding time they can come and go into each others "side"?? That way I eliminate any "possible threat" of disaster but it allows the to breed when they are ready??? How does that sound?

 

[hornet]

as i said all you need is some more ventilation and it will take care of any humidity problems. Really its up you weather you go with a pool or just pebbles but even with the pebbles there will still be an underground pool where you will have the filter to keep the water good.

You could do 2 enclosures side by side with a small door between them thats opened during breeding season if you wish but would be just as easy to just introduce the male when the time comes

 

[longqi]

We house quite a few of our chondros together
BUT they are never fed in their enclosure together
They are very well fed and so far we have had no problems
Notice I used 'so far'

That enclosure is huge even for adult specimens
If you use glass as a divider it will separate them without looking as if they are separated
Mooloolah is Sunshine Coast if I remember rightly so maintaining temps should not be a problem
We only put hides in just before mating season
Lets the females get used to a nesting box because we dont use incubators

95% of the time they just find their favourite branch and curl up on it
About one day each week we find them in their water bowl in the morning
During the dry season we use an atomiser spray to raise humidity
This is sprayed directly onto the snakes just as a fine mist

 

[greenelephants]

Or you could keep them for most of the time together in the big section and as longqi said, feed them seperately (you could use the sections on either side for that).

 

[maanz641]

here it is,,
not the best pics thou sorry

also have a fogger in the fountain that runs for 3 hours a nite to keep hunidity up ,i onlt spray 1-2 times a week when he is due for a slough ,hope this helps

 

[mrsshep77]

Thanks for the advice longqi, feeding would definitely be something we don't do together!!
As I said I'm appreciative of the comments and advice and there are still so many ideas running around in my head that I need to start writing it all down haha!
Thanks and I'll keep everyone posted of the progress

 

[Jimbobulan]

having the waterfall on a timer sounds like a good idea