# DIY Hides - For Larger Pythons and Breeding Season



## Dapple (Apr 9, 2012)

I have been searching for a hide big enough for my BHP's and i have tried a few natural looking rock hides, but none seem to be big enough.

My Male BHP is 6.5ft and the female is 6.9ft.

Going into the breeding season where i will be introducing my male in with the female, the hides on the market definitly do not accomodate 2 large pythons.

So i decided to make my own.

I made 2 types, one as their normal hide when they are in their own enclosures and one for when i introduce them together.

I went to bunnings and i got a 30 litre crate and a limestone tile. Cut a square from the bottom of the crate and flipped it over, placed the tile on top to conduct heat and weigh down the crate.

I cut an opening for them to get into the hide, placed it in the enclosure, filled it half way with substrate and around the edges i covered. 

Cut a little gap out of the crate to drop a thermostat sensor in the hide. This maintains the tempurature in the hide 31-32 degrees during the day. the limestone helps hold the heat using less power to maintain constant temps.

They love burrowing in and under the substrate inside the hide, creating a perfect inprint nest like mound inside.

here is some pictures of both, what do you think? Cheers! 

Breeding Hide 54L




Normal Enclosure Hide 30L


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## raycam01_au (Apr 9, 2012)

thats hell cool, i use a custom built wooden one for mine, 

they are rather large to find anything suitable

looks gr8


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## JungleGuy (Apr 9, 2012)

looks good, i use a similar idea for my female darwin. She has one of those 30L crates which ive cut lower and put her heat tile on. It works really well. Is your tile fixed down or is it too heavy for them to move? I've heard when they go through ovulation they like to push real hard against the walls and roof of their hide and might result in the tile being moved. For this reason you may need to consider anchoring it to the tub in some manner. I hope this is helpful.
Cheers Tim


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## Dapple (Apr 9, 2012)

thanks for the tips! the tiles have some considerable weight to them, but i will consider this when breeding 

thanks mate


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## CaptainRatbag (Apr 9, 2012)

Awsome snakes :shock: fantastic!

The hide is a great idea and well done. I do agree with jungle guy, prolly good to silastic the tile to the tub so it cant get pushed off and hurt your snakes. I hope you dont mind me saying, but your enclosure is awsome, looks so natural.... except the hide looks so.... man made? Very functional, but doesnt 'fit in' with the otherwise fantastic enclosure. Maybe a brown or tera cota tile instead of white? Perhaps hollow out the back of a foam fake rock wall thing and glue that onto the tile, so the top of the hide matches the back feature wall of your enclosure? The green part of the tub facing the front, you could paint with water based brown paint and sprinkle coarse sand on the wet paint, would make it look more 'rock like'. Just a couple of ideas, dont mean to throw water on your fire 

Like I said, the hide is great, very functional... just sticks out like a sore thumb in my humble opinion


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## Dapple (Apr 9, 2012)

haha yeah totally agree! 

painting the box is a plan in the future  (i like sprinkling it with the substrate idea!)

cheers mate



CaptainRatbag said:


> Awsome snakes :shock: fantastic!
> 
> The hide is a great idea and well done. I do agree with jungle guy, prolly good to silastic the tile to the tub so it cant get pushed off and hurt your snakes. I hope you dont mind me saying, but your enclosure is awsome, looks so natural.... except the hide looks so.... man made? Very functional, but doesnt 'fit in' with the otherwise fantastic enclosure. Maybe a brown or tera cota tile instead of white? Perhaps hollow out the back of a foam fake rock wall thing and glue that onto the tile, so the top of the hide matches the back feature wall of your enclosure? The green part of the tub facing the front, you could paint with water based brown paint and sprinkle coarse sand on the wet paint, would make it look more 'rock like'. Just a couple of ideas, dont mean to throw water on your fire
> 
> Like I said, the hide is great, very functional... just sticks out like a sore thumb in my humble opinion


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## Jande (Apr 9, 2012)

Great idea. You're definitely onto something there.


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## rvcasa (May 6, 2012)

Great idea!
How did you cut the crates?
And the stone?
Cheers


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## Dapple (May 7, 2012)

A sharp knife, fairly easy to cut through. Then i rounded the edges to get them smooth.

The tiles were pre-cut pieces that i bought from bunnings which fit perfectly on the tubs also from bunnings.

God Bless Bunnings!



rvcasa said:


> Great idea!
> How did you cut the crates?
> And the stone?
> Cheers


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## Emilie (May 7, 2012)

I probably get the box with lid, clip the lid on and then cut the hole I need. Chuck the stone on top. That way the snake can't push the tone off from inside


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## thomasssss (May 7, 2012)

I'd be taking out that tile until you've got it fixed firmly to the hide , if they push it off which they could do so easily if it lands on them it could be a disaster and very easily result in the snake having to be put down from serious internal injuries , it looks like a good idea otherwise but that tile is a disaster waiting to happen if it's not firmly fixed


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## PythonLegs (May 7, 2012)

Agreed- Id say just covering the top of the crate in aquarium grade silicone and putting the tile back while it's wet should do it.


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## Python-Lover4lyf (May 7, 2012)

They look great. I love making my own hides. I usually do it out of foam though. When my bredli gets bigger i'll be sure to come back to this thread for ideas!


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## Skitzmixer (May 8, 2012)

looks fantastic.. is the tile heated just from the light above? or do you have one of those DIY heat mat tile things?


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## Dapple (May 8, 2012)

the tile holds the warmth heaps. just the lights above.




Skitzmixer said:


> looks fantastic.. is the tile heated just from the light above? or do you have one of those DIY heat mat tile things?



The tile weighs a fair bit and because the cut out part is in the middle of the tub they cant lift the tile, but i will put some silicon between just to be sure.

thanks !



thomasssss said:


> I'd be taking out that tile until you've got it fixed firmly to the hide , if they push it off which they could do so easily if it lands on them it could be a disaster and very easily result in the snake having to be put down from serious internal injuries , it looks like a good idea otherwise but that tile is a disaster waiting to happen if it's not firmly fixed


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## Wrightpython (May 8, 2012)

If anyone is interested I am a stonemason in the hawkesbury area and I have granite and marble off cuts which work perfectly for this instead of tile. They are free to good home if you pickup pm me if interested.


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