Vivarium Automatica - The Plan

My Snake

Snake of the hour

I bought this beautiful orange corn snake over seven years ago, when I lived with my parents. She (defaulting to the feminine as she has never been sexed) is mild mannered and friendly, though she did once mistake my Mother’s hand for food.  She is also very inquisitive, my Father once had to dismantle the fireplace when she got loose and wormed her way into it.

I’ve recently moved into a place big enough to house my little snake, and luckily my house mates are just as excited to get a pet too. I could have left her with my parents, where she has been for the last two years, it probably would have been “easier”, but I could do with the company and she could probably do with a little more engagement. She has recently been having trouble shedding and a few years back she lost sight in one eye due to a cataract, so she deserves some extra loving.

Environment

Current setup at my parents

So the current vivarium, which I am going to use, is 1.22m long, 470mm deep and 520mm high. Notice that the entrance is quite a bit narrower. Currently there is a heat lamp, which is manually turned on/off and a heat matt that is almost certainly too old now. A non-digital thermostat is there on the hot side. Apart from that she has a little hide on the hot side and a giant log in the middle. A water bottle disguised as a rock is in the right corner with some fake plants.   

Structure

Structure brain storming

There are several issues that I want to address by designing a new environment. The first is engagement, corn snakes are by nature very curious, my snake hasn’t had a change of scene in a while, and if she has it’s been something unsubstantial like a new rock. The new environment should include plenty to explore and keep her busy.

To this end I am going to create a large structure out of polystyrene, grout and paint. Included in this will be several different heights and some tunnels into the main mound with a small hide within it. Also there shall be a small hole to put a water bowl in.

Next problem as I see it is the substrate, I didn’t like this newspaper stuff that my parents had got, much prefer something more organic, perhaps going back to wood chips. I was thinking of creating the polystyrene part to cover the whole viv, which would make cleaning easier, but decided against this because I foresaw problems with the heat matt. That and she does like to cut some shapes in wood chips.

When people do these sorts of projects, they usually stick the parts to the actual viv, which stops them moving around, or being moved. I, however, want to be able to remove the sections with some ease. How then to keep the little dear from displacing parts or even the whole thing? Sections will be cut into each layer and filled with some sort of ballast and I will devise some way to make the parts hold together, perhaps velcro.

Her little hide in the main structure will be kept topped up with moss, this will help her shed, usually in the past we have a separate box for the moss, I want to integrate this into the design. The hide will need to have a removable top, to allow for cleaning and replacing of the moss.

Oh yeah, and it’s going to be automated.

Tech

Brain storming systems

Did I read automated? Yes, you did. I have a Raspberry Pi, it’s been laying around for ages, waiting for a job. The system will have to be ready and working before the main structure is made, as wires and battery packs will need to be integrated into the polystyrene from day one.

The plan for now, is to have the Pi read the thermometer and keep the temperature right, for the time of day, based on weather data from the snake’s climate. This of course will have safety boundaries to stop it being uncomfortable. The Pi will also control the main lamp, meaning no one has to be about to manually switch it on/off. Now of course, you can buy timers, but these have to be set throughout the year to keep it in time with the season, and I am lazy.

When the lamp goes off, we should slowly and randomly turn on the LEDs embedded into the structure, these should flicker and glow to give a nice aesthetic effect. I haven’t decided yet whether to have them straight led lights, or to put them behind some coloured plastic, perhaps fake gems.

The slightly more ambitious side is to have the environment remind it’s idiot owner (me) to do several tasks; firstly cleaning (once every two weeks), secondly is feeding (one week~) and third is to replace the water. Now the first two can be done on a timer controlled by  the Pi. There could be a sensor in the water bowl, meaning that when it was low on water I would be notified. This does mean that would have to be built in, making it harder to clean the water bowl or recycle the old water. The other issue is, how will I be notified? A cheap and un-effective way is to have LEDs on the top that flash when something needs doing. I will think more on this and do a bigger blog post about the options.

Stretch Goals

I am a bit of a fantasist, I am trying my best to keep this project within scope. Here is a little brain dump of ideas I’d love to add but probably won’t!

Auto-Refill; The water bowl could be attached to a pipe system controlled by the Pi. It could take from a water tank (1L bottle?) to refill the water automatically instead of contacting me. This would mean however it would need to take the old waste water out to avoid stagnant water. Alternatively a waterfall structure could be made, which solves one problem but creates several others.

Misting machine; She has had trouble shedding before, she might need a slightly more humid environment. Though corn snakes are prone to lung problems if it is too humid. The mister could get water from the water tank and when the humidity gets below X for a certain amount of time it sprays a little.  

Camera; You can buy a small Pi camera, which I could embed at a proper angle in the main structure to give a live feed of her. But I guess what would be the point?

Internet of Things; The pi could communicate with me, either via email or by a specially designed app. It could notify me of things that need to be done. I could view stats like temperature. I could also look at the live cam feed.

Twitter; With all this information, I could create a program that does daily updates and pictures from the tank and posts them to a twitter account. I mean, why the hell not?

Regards,
Ian Thompson