Basic terrarium.

Before I will talk about the specific adjustments that are made for keeping a certain group or species of snakes.
It is important to know what I do and how I use the materials and techniques.
So in this part at first I will describe the basic terrarium I use and what techniques are used for lighting, heating and more.

Material:
For many years now I use shutter-plywood as the base material to construct all my enclosures.
Shutter-plywood has many benefits over the mostly used glass.
To begin it is very solid and hardy, it issent likely to break when under pressure or if you let a decoration material drop in the terrarium. For keeping venomous snakes this is extra important considering the safety against escapes.
Also it has a good resistance against moist. When getting wet, it won't expand easily or go bad after a while. It is very durable and a well constructed terrarium will last for many years.
Also it is easy to work with so you can easily make adjustments, create holes for cables, attaché things to it and u can create an enclosure to the measurements you need.
Another benefit of using this wooden material is that all sides except the front are closed and cant been seen thru by the snakes. This gives the snakes living in it a more save feeling and it is less stressfull when there is al lot of commotion in the suroundings.
For some people this also can be a negatif effect, because sometimes it is harder to see where a snake is laying. But when decorated in a smart manner, this shouldn't be a problem.
Another trade of shutter-plywood is it's very good isolating. A terrarium made with this wood is easy to heat and doesn't get affected by the outside temperature as easily like a full glass terrarium will do. This can have his positive and negative effect. Later in this part will be explained how to use this isolating trade of the shutter-plywood to your benefits.

Basic construction:
When creating a terrarium it is important that the sides and back are placed between the bottom and top. This makes the enclosure sturdier than when the bottom and top are placed between the sides and back.
All sides are attached together with screws and silicon in between the two sides toughing each other. Even though the wood is resistant against moist, all the seams are extra closed with silicon. Also the bottom and lower sides of the terrarium are covered with a layer of pond foil.
The foil is attached to the sides with a strip of aluminum. This makes sure no enclosure will leak water when sprayed a lot and prevents water getting into the wood. At the front side a hollow aluminum square tube is placed. In this tube every 2cm a 3.5mm hole is drilled to create a ventilation strip. On top of the ventilation strip the profile is placed where the glass windows will slide in.
On the sides the windows also slide into a U shaped aluminum strip.

After rebuilding the room I added some small square blocks under the terrarium on each corner. This raises the enclosure about 2cm. Next that it looks a lot better; it also has the benefit of extra ventilation between the terrariums. This prevents the building up of the warmth when the enclosures are stackt upon each other.

Light box:
In all my terrariums I create a light box where all the lightning and heating is placed in. Having the light units apart for the living area of the snakes makes it very easy to change a lamp or fluorescent light without the need of taking the snakes out of the enclosure. This way the snakes won't get handled and stressed unnecessarily.
Another benefit makes that snakes aren't able to touch warm lamps and get burned, or climb on cables creating dangerous situation with the electric.
All the lighting, heating and ventilation are placed in the light box.

-Ventilation:

To separate the light units from the living area I use 50% glass in the front and an aluminum ventilation screen in the back half. The glass and screen are fixed between a U shaped aluminum strips.
Above the ventilation screen a computer ventilator is placed on the backside of the terrarium. This ventilator is used to improve the ventilation in the enclosure and prevents a buildup of heat caused by the lamps and isolating characteristics of the shutter-plywood.
The ventilator in combination with the ventilation strip creates a good airflow in the terrarium. This is very important for the wellbeing of the snakes. It also prevents the growth of fungus and bacteria that can cause deceases and respiratory problems.

Enclosures used with snakes coming from the cooler climates the ventilator is on 24h a day. This pulls all warm air coming from the fluorescent light fixture out the light box.
Also these enclosures are placed in the lower parts of the room. In combination with the temperature control of the snakeroom this creates an constant low temperature.

When snakes need a significant difference between day and night temperature the ventilator is turned on only at night. Using the cooling of the snakeroom at night, this produces a difference in day and night temperature that is around or even more then 10degrees Celsius.

For the snakes coming from a more warm or tropical climate. The ventilation goes on for 5 minutes every hour. Ensuring a good ventilation. The halogen spots are attached to a thermostat ensuring the right temperatures.

-Heating and lighting:

In the left-back corner of the lightbox there is placed a halogen bulb. The bulb is placed directly against the aluminum screen. With the halogen bulb a hotspot is created for the snakes to bask.
Normally I placed a fluorescent light in the front of the lightbox fully behind the glass window to ensure optimal spreading of the light. The glass also prevents most of the warmth coming of the fluorescent light. This prevents the extra rising of warmth in the living area of the enclosure.
In the newly build enclosures I have placed the fluorescent lighting above the border of the glass window and ventilation screen in a diagonal line on the ceiling. This is because I am using new daylight UV-B fluorescent lights. When I placed this light in some of my terrariums I noticed a behavior change with especially the basking species like the Vipera. It also looks a lot better and natural.
UV can't penetrate thru glass. For the UV-B to have effect this is needed and that's why it is placed partially behind the ventilation screen that lets thru the light. Because the snakes are basking in the backside they will get in contact with the UV light while basking. For big sunbathers I use the fluorescent lights of Arcadia, for the forest floor dwellers and snakes living under the canopy I use the Exo-Terra ReptiGlo 2.0.

For snakes that come from warm climates but don't naturally bask I use a simple light fitting on the left third of the terrarium. Here I use a heatbulb with a reflection plate behind it. This way the overall air temperature rice's more equally. But still creating a warmer and cooler zone for the snakes to choose from for their thermo-regulation.

Thus far this is how I construct my basic terrarium. When properly used, this setup can be used for a lot of different snake species.

Stefan 27-10-2010