escape proof hatchling housing

[erewegoagain]

Having read a lot of heart rending posts lately about people’s hatchling snakes escaping, I thought it was a good idea to share with you a method of keeping small hatchlings which I think represents a 100% escape proof method.
Step 1. Buy some food container boxes with lockable lids: I have 2.3l “Lock Lock” boxes, £5 from Waitrose and some smaller “Sistema” ones.
Step 2. Using a hole drilling attachment, drill some holes in the required places. I have put one in the lid and one at either end for good ventilation. The drilling process will create burrs which I removed with a blunt kitchen knife.

Step3. Cut some aluminium mesh with scissors to size bigger than the holes. (mesh available from Halfords for mending bodywork on cars)

Step 4. Run a flat edged soldering iron around the edge slowly: this will melt the plastic into the mesh and bond the two together.
The finished boxes:

A series of boxes can be heated with one heat mat, with usually a third of the box over the mat. The best way of arranging the thermostat probe is to have a ‘dummy’ box exactly the same as the others containing animals and make a hole with a soldering iron in this one for the probe: that way, there are no gaps for your animals to escape from. So if you only have one hatchling, get a spare box and heat the two. And yes, I know it is more visually appealing to keep snakes in a naturalistic viv rather than a box, but they will be just as happy, and you won’t have any escapes while they are tiny.

[bladeblaster]

nice idea, but wouldn't buying a small faunarium work out just as cheap?

[rutters1983]

Thats quite cool well done mate

[chondro13]

Originally Posted by bladeblaster

nice idea, but wouldn't buying a small faunarium work out just as cheap?

Probably but the buggers get out of these

[bluerain]

..Ohhhhhh!!!! These really look good, i so need a handy person round my house!!!

[erewegoagain]

In my experience Hatchlings can sometimes squeeze out of the clear panel in a faunarium roof, probably no differnece in price, just another option.

[bladeblaster]

Originally Posted by erewegoagain

In my experience Hatchlings can sometimes squeeze out of the clear panel in a faunarium roof, probably no differnece in price, just another option.

fair point

[ashley]

Originally Posted by erewegoagain

In my experience Hatchlings can sometimes squeeze out of the clear panel in a faunarium roof, probably no differnece in price, just another option.

Not if you stretch the leg of a pair of tights over the top It's cheap and requires no faffing with holes, soldering etc!

[rachel132002]

1 lock-lid tupperware tub
1 solder iron

Make holes in tub with iron, the holes aren't big enough for even small corns to get out of. Job done

[bothrops]

Originally Posted by rachel132002

1 lock-lid tupperware tub
1 solder iron

Make holes in tub with iron, the holes aren't big enough for even small corns to get out of. Job done

Or, even cheaper, use a kitchen skewer and a gas hob to heat it and then melt the holes in!