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New Bredli Enclosure

Payara

Payara

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A month or two ago I bought a male Bredli from Blake, he is doing great. Eats like a champ. He has temporarily been in a 10 gallon tank til I fixed the 20 long tank. I wanted to create a natural setup for him, so I decided to build a background. It's taking a long time due to midterms and school stuff but this weekend I had a lot of time to work on it. Thought I'd post some pics up. Here are some pics of the lil guy in his 10 gallon tank.
 
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Now the tank. I used half inch Styrofoam sheets and "Great Stuff" to create the background. Basically, I stacked levels from top to bottom with the whole back and sides at 1/2", 2/3 of it at 1" thick and 1/3 of it at 1 and 1/2" thick. After that I filled in gaps and start to smooth things out with your can of "Great Stuff". I just finished putting the first layer of cement on. This is how it looks so far. I plan on putting at least two more coats of cement. I forgot to sand down the Great Stuff, and because of that the cement isn't sticking to it properly. I just hope it doesn't chip or crack. Anyways, let me know what you guys think.
 
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Interesting idea. I would be very careful on what products you use though. Once the cage is heated, any products you use will give off chemical vapors (some which may be harmful). Not sure in your case but wanting to let you know if you didnt think about it!

I used "Great Stuff" on some cars back in the day when I did custom work to them (still do some custom work to cars occasionally). Its a very cool product to work with. Not sure how it works when heat is its neighbor though. Have you put it in an enclosed space and put a heat element to it and smelled to see if it gives any strong chemical vapors?

Nice looking project enclosure though :thumbsup: Post pics once its done!
 
Yaz23 said:
Interesting idea. I would be very careful on what products you use though. Once the cage is heated, any products you use will give off chemical vapors (some which may be harmful). Not sure in your case but wanting to let you know if you didnt think about it!

I used "Great Stuff" on some cars back in the day when I did custom work to them (still do some custom work to cars occasionally). Its a very cool product to work with. Not sure how it works when heat is its neighbor though. Have you put it in an enclosed space and put a heat element to it and smelled to see if it gives any strong chemical vapors?

Nice looking project enclosure though :thumbsup: Post pics once its done!
Click to expand...

Hey Yaz! How are the dalmatians treating you? :rofl:

I thought about it, like you said the only thing I am worried about is the Great Stuff. But I don't think that will be problem considering several coats of cement is being layered on top of it. But just to be safe, I will run all the heating equipment for week before I place the snake in it. All the other products I used are safe and non toxic.

A few years back I did the same thing to a 55 gallon freshwater aquarium, with terrific results, and none of the fish died due to toxins in the water. So I am not too worried.

After I get the last coat I'll post some pics up. Thanks for your comment!
 
Dalmatians are doing lovely, thanks for asking ;) lol

Glad you at least thought about it, some people dont think when heat is involved it brings all the vapors out and some could be very harmful to animals and also us. If it smells strong and it wont go away (even with a few days ventilation before putting the animal in there) then why would anyone want to stick their animal inside that and make them breathe the toxic air?

When I had my custom units built, I had them air out for a week to insure any smell of the products were completely gone. I even researched and talked to quite a few people/companies of what was ok to use as paints, adhesives, etc when dealing with enclosed heated cages. Many people dont think about that kind of thing. Your not just building a cage for a dog house, your building an enclosed (or mostly enclosed) cage that will be heated. All sorts of toxins and vapors come from things (especially when heated) and considering its basically an enclosed cage with an animal inside you need to be careful. Glad your a responsible guy and thought about it :thumbsup:
 
Second coat

Yaz23 said:
Dalmatians are doing lovely, thanks for asking ;) lol

Glad you at least thought about it, some people dont think when heat is involved it brings all the vapors out and some could be very harmful to animals and also us. If it smells strong and it wont go away (even with a few days ventilation before putting the animal in there) then why would anyone want to stick their animal inside that and make them breathe the toxic air?

When I had my custom units built, I had them air out for a week to insure any smell of the products were completely gone. I even researched and talked to quite a few people/companies of what was ok to use as paints, adhesives, etc when dealing with enclosed heated cages. Many people dont think about that kind of thing. Your not just building a cage for a dog house, your building an enclosed (or mostly enclosed) cage that will be heated. All sorts of toxins and vapors come from things (especially when heated) and considering its basically an enclosed cage with an animal inside you need to be careful. Glad your a responsible guy and thought about it :thumbsup:
Click to expand...

I'll definitely see if there's any smell/fumes before I put the snake in there.

I know this is off topic but I know you were looking to get some cages and researching manufactures, who did you finally go with? Have you received the cages yet?

Anyways, here is some pics that I took today. Second coat, sprayed on cement paint to give it a natural touch. Can't wait til it dries to see the final product.
 
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Full tank

Here are 2 pics front tank view. Comments and opinions are more than welcomed.

Thanks!
 
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Nice nice! Lookin good!

I havent bought my cages yet. I plan on buying them in the summer most likely. Not totally sure on which company on going with yet either. Any opinions on it? Not trying to hijack your thread so you can post that answer (if you have one) on my thread in the cage section. :)
 
Thanks Yaz.

What kind of substrate do you guys recomend? I have been using ZooMed Aspen but I think it would take away from the tank. What do you guys think? My "natural" options are red sand or crushed walnut. Any opinions?
 
Dont use sand! If you wanted a 'cooler' look than aspen you could use bark or cypress mulch. Be careful though because they are a big choking-swallowing hazard (well aspen is too but cypress mulch would cause a much worse problem if swallowed)!
 
Is impaction the main concern for not using sand? Aren't the snakes found in arid conditions and found is sandy locations? I have used both coconut husk and bark in the past, and both times I had lil flies pop up in the tank. I really don't want flies in my room.

I was thinking of using my 10 gallon to feed him so impaction would not be hazard. What you think? Right now I am I am testing the tank seeing if their any fumes coming when I heat the tank.
 
I actually have never used sand (dont plan to either) and Ive never seen anyone use sand unless they have sand boas. Using sand is bad in many ways. It doesnt hold humidity at all, with Morelia considering they have heat pits I wouldnt think thats a smart thing as it could get in there and cause major problems, impaction, any type of ingestion of it will be hazardous, sand between the scales isn't good, if water gets onto the sand (snake going into the water bowl and coming out) the sand will clump and also would be a good time for it to get lodged in the scales. I just think its a major headache and waiting for a big problem to happen. You also need to think about if your Bredli wants to shove his face in the sand what are you going to do? Some of my Carpets like 'digging' their heads in the corner of the cage in hoping to make an 'escape' sometimes, if yours does that, your screwed. You just want to take all things possible before using sand... I believe everyone also avoids it because of the hassle of cleaning it. If youve ever had leo's or beardies (and have kept them on sand) its annoying to clean the tank out!
 
Thanks Yaz, that makes sense. Yeah cleaning was a hassle. Whats your opinion on Zilla's douglas fir shavings with eucalyptus?
 
:) I actually have never used douglas fur shavings before. The types of substrate I have used have been: Aspen (mainly) for my cages, bark in the past, and have used paper towels on occasion for my racks. I havent tried any other substrates but if you experiment with some let me know how you like them!
 
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