The Snake Enclosure

So I've finally pulled my finger out and started some work on something that's needed doing for a while. Phoenix, our jungle carpet python, is growing and getting too large for his current glass tank. That's him on the right. He was burnt by previous owners, someone I know rehabilitated him but needed to rehome him when they moved so we took him on. 

I picked up this enclosure free a while back. It seemed like a quick and easy upgrade since it had already been in use. Give it a clean, whack the snake in, good to go! 

Sadly that wasn't the case. Interior still had a lot of crap in the bottom. Old substrate, excrement, dirt. It was grotty. I didn't take before photos.

Worse was that while it looks nice on the outside, it's been slapped together without a lot of thought to what's going in it.

Clicking on the photos will enlarge them. Take a look at the base of this. It's unsealed wooden panels. Also look around the wooden bracing pieces. Big gaps in them. THere's knots in the wood. That's all spaces for moisture (Snake pee) to collect. Also breeding places for mites, bacteria and other assorted things that can be harmful to pythons. 

The base, ideally the entire thing, should be sealed so that there's no little cracks like that. The plan to rectify this? 

Today I've vacuumed, scrubbed with a stiff brush then vacuumed again until as much of the loose matter as possible had been cleaned up. I then gave it a good soaking with F10. This is a veterinary grade disinfectant that's widely used for animal enclosures because once it's dry it's animal safe with no requirement to rinse it. It also doesn't lead to antibiotic resistances. 

Once it was dry I've used a full can of spray foam around the cracks. This should expand into the cracks giving a good seal and preventing anything further getting in there. 

Once it's set, I may need a second can, as I'm going to shape it into a fake rock looking base. I'll then use some polymer render (Polymer is more flexible than standard concrete) to seal the entire enclosure. This will give a solid, watertight coating which can then be painted to look like rocks. 

I also intend to put in a couple of shelves that will act as ledges. My intent was to use spray foam to make these look like rock ledges too, however my experience this afternoon leaves me doubting that it'll stick to the underside of the shelf. I need to think a little more about options.