Mexican Black King Snake Enclousure

[claymore]

Ok Here it is. I just finished it and I need critiqueing.

The orignal idea came to me while I was working. I work in residential construction, And I kept seeing all these cool peices of stone that the brick layers would cut off the bigger chunks of lime stone. Since they just throw them away, I decided to help myself to some of their scraps.

The construction consisted of mortoring the stones in with Quickcrete concrete. And thats pretty much it. And don't worry all the stones on the floor are siliconed in to place so they won't topple over.



Here is the right side of the tank, that has the damp hide...I originally was going to use Sedum Morganianum but they were litterly falling apart when I went o buy it. So I went with Gasteria Haworthia instead. I think that they will fill the potter in the ledge quit well.

Panning left here is the center of the enclosure...

The rock retaining wall...




Under the peice of stone is the second hide.


The plant in the rear corner is a young Ponytail Palm. And the Plant in the forground is Aeonium stuessyi.



The Soil mix consists of 2 parts play sand, 1 part oak leaf mulch, 1 part Peat, and one part Coco Fiber.

I would love to get your comments and critiques.

Thanks,

Clay

[momerath]

Wow, I really love it! I really love how nice the dry terrarium setups can look. Nice Job!

[beckdg]

that looks fantastic! great job claymore!

[claymore]

Thanks guys.

I'm going to wait a week or two for the plants to get established and then I'll introduce the MBK.

[Epiphile]

I bet that thing weighs a ton! It looks great- sometimes there's just no substitute for real stone.

If I had to make one suggestion it might be to try and find a way to get some light into the corners of the tank where the plants are- I'm sure they'd appreciate it.

[momerath]

Originally Posted by claymore

Thanks guys.

I'm going to wait a week or two for the plants to get established and then I'll introduce the MBK.

Yeah, let us know how that goes. I know snakes can be pretty tough on live plants. I know I've had trouble keeping live plants healthy with snakes around to smother them!

[claymore]

Yeah It's pretty heavy lol. I would say that with the stone and the substrate it tripples
the weight of Tank when it is bare, so not TO bad lol. Once it goes into my Herp room it's not going anywhere else.

I actually have 2 T-8 bulbs on this tank. One Plant T-8 and one Natural Sunlight T-8.

I just used one T-8 for the photos, because all the light was bouncing off the lime stone and blurring out the pics.

I plan on getting a more appropreate hood for this enclosure. I just don't have the money for it right now.

The snake is actually still pretty small, She is just under 2 ft long. I've had her in a 10 gallon for a while and now it's time for an upgrade. So hopefully she will grow along side of the plants and won't disturb them to much.

[froggsong]

Absolutely fantastic. Congratulations on not only YOUR first sticky, but the first sticky in this category.

EDIT: oops... Well, I THOUGHT it was the first in this category. But it was still the second.

[claymore]

Thanks for all the positive feedback! And thanks to Beckdg for schooling me on the lighting!

[beckdg]

you are definitely welcome!