Setup comments sought

[surfimp]

Okay! I think I've gotten the heating questions pretty well answered at this point, so now I need some feedback on my interior decoration setup.

Here's my current design:

http://www.stevelange.net/boa/images/playground01.jpg

I've tried to cover the basics: water bowl, hide box, and a way for my soon-to-arrive baby boa to get up on the shelf! :)

My specific questions are as follows:

1) Should I add one or more hide boxes, either on the floor of the cage or up above on the shelf? I know it's good to have a hide on both the warm and the cool sides of the cage, and what I've got right now is sort of a compromise--it's right in the middle, should be in the mid to high 80s inside.

2) Anything else? I'm not doing plants or anything fancy like that, at least not for now. I'm trying to go as simple as possible, and then if I get brave I might try something more "naturalistic".

3) A quick vote: who thinks that my snake will actually ever curl up on that little crook in between the two sticks? The temperature at that part of the cage will probably be in the high 80s. I don't think it'll ever happen, but we'll see ;)

Thanks for any & all feedback! I know it's pretty ugly, but I don't think the snake will care.

[Tegan]

I would add at least one more hide box (can never have too many hide boxes LOL). Otherwise looks pretty good, just be sure that those sticks cant move and pinch your baby when it's climbing up them.

Tegan

[surfimp]

Tegan,  thanks for the feedback. Based directly upon what you wrote, I've improved the branch setup design so that the branch can't move, but I can still get it out for cleaning:

Here's the top support:
http://www.stevelange.net/boa/images/branch_support.jpg

Here's the "anti-sway bar" setup, the perpendicular piece at the bottom of the shorter stick:

http://www.stevelange.net/boa/images/branch_swaybar.jpg

And finally, a support at the other end of the long stick, you can just barely see the white collar on the right side of the base of the stick:

http://www.stevelange.net/boa/images/branch_basesupport.jpg



It couldn't really move before, but now with the way it's setup, it can't be moved at all, unless you lift it out just right. I wanted to still be able to remove it so that I could clean the cage and so forth. We'll see who's more clever, me or the snake!

(I'd bet on the snake, for sure)

Also, I added two more hide boxes, one down low over the Flexwatt (so it should be nice n' toasty inside) and another up top in the warmest part of the shelf.

This results in the following setup:

http://www.stevelange.net/boa/images/playground02.jpg

If there's additional feedback, I'd love to hear it! Thanks again Tegan!

[The_Boaphile]

Dr. Steven Hendrix Lange Frankenstein...

You good sir are a Mad Man!!!

Keep up the most excellent informative posts! Does your wife know about all this stuff your doing!?

Wow!

[Tegan]

Wow awesome! Great job! You really do have the best interests of your babies in mind. It's people like you that give herpers a GOOD name! Keep up the good work!

Tegan

[surfimp]

Thanks for the encouragement :)

Another classic quote from my wife (she's Spanish, so imagine a thick accent when you read this):

"Geeesus, I cannot believe all the work joo have to do for theese esnake. When wee have children, are joo going to doo all theese theengs for theem? I don theenk so...joo probably make me do et."

LOL!!!

The best part is, she's pretty snake-o-phobic...all the gopher snakes, kingsnakes and rattlers that she sees while hiking around the hills here in Santa Barbara really freak her out...I'm hoping that a positive boa experience will help change that.

She's actually getting pretty excited about our new baby now, seeing all the work that I'm putting into the cage and everything. She's a real animal lover; I think she'll love the snake after about a month or so. She probably won't want to watch me feeding it, all the same :)

Thanks for all the great feedback everyone, if there's any more comments on how I can improve further, I'd love to hear about it.

[Tegan]

I think about the only thing you can do to improve it would be to give it it's own jacuzie! LOL  Ok no seriously it looks really really great! You've done an awesome job hehe.

Tegan

[surfimp]

Jacuzzi...hmmm...

Seriously, I think an automatic misting system would be awesome, if somewhat unnecessary in a cage this small. There couldn't be anything much cooler than watching it "rain" in your boas "mini-rainforest" enclosure! :)

[surfimp]

I can't believe...she likes the little crook in the branches!

http://www.stevelange.net/boa/images/branched.jpg

I'd read that they really go for this stuff, but wow...she's spent nearly all her time in and around that area so far. Gosh, am I just the gushing newbie or what? LOL