|
Plants don't survive heavy-bodied snakes very well, and "bio active substrate and plants" with the needed warmth & humidity is the perfect medium for growing mold & all sorts of harmful pathogens, without the cleansing sunshine & air circulation that takes place in the great outdoors. No matter how nice & natural it looks, I wouldn't do that.
Are you sure you'll enjoy servicing a cage that's so heavy it has to rest on the floor? Also consider that floors are drafty- probably harder to heat the cage there.
Wood is a great insulator...heat from UTH doesn't get thru it very well without careful planning; keep safety foremost in your design, as some UTH requires air circulation so it doesn't over-heat. You don't want a cage (& house) fire. I personally prefer UTH but in this type of cage, you might be better advised to use RHP? Wood that is constantly heated also dries out & becomes more flammable in time...I'd never try to use UTH thru wood. Never.
One thing you might consider is using a kennel heat pad inside the cage: I used to have some that were designed for dogs whelping quarters etc, so they were insulated & safe with moisture etc. Don't know what's currently on the market, research thoroughly if you decide to try that. And of course, the 'pad' would have to be connected to a thermostat, goes without saying. The ones I had were plenty large & about 3/4" thick.
I think "pig blankets" are still on the market too, same idea, only for livestock.
If you use a suitable heat pad within the enclosure (instead of underneath the floor), another thing you might do is to make a frame for it to sit on & attach to, so that it sits about 5" off the floor. That way you'd provide a warm "hide" under it, plus a surface the snake could lay on top of or just crawl across: it expands the floor space & options, while heating the air too. (yes, I've done this before, on a smaller scale, with ceramic professional heat pads made for zoos-) And when I kept a large BCI, I did use UTH but made her a huge hide box that she used just as I described, ie. she loved basking on top, but also being inside of it; essentially, it's like a "loft". I made 2 rounded doorways in the one end so she could move in/out easier- that way your snake doesn't have to go all the way in to come out again...boas are heavy-bodied, it's harder to move in/out, this encourages them to 'cruise', or at least it had that effect on mine.
|