Ball Python Wood Enclosure Set Up | OSB Terrarium Assembly

[@CatharticOutlet]

Wondering if this set up was any good? Check out the ✨UPDATE VIDEOS ✨ below! Update on the terrarium set up and the state of the OSB one year later: kzbin.info/www/bejne/jJXak2pnnc-Ma7c Video on why I replaced the ceramic heat emitter with the deep heat projector: kzbin.info/www/bejne/pmHWhqCojs2XoNU

[@JasonJBrunet]

It's so frickin cute that she returns to her enclosure on her own. You made her happy!! 😍😍😍😍

[@CatharticOutlet]

She does occasionally, but often she still wants to keep exploring, so I might actually have to upgrade her again in the future. I let her out so often that she seems to see my entire apartment as her "enclosure". But she's definitely doing much better in this set up than her previous one!

[@royalreilly3882]

awesome video! i love seeing people actually give these animals the space and enrichment they need. thank you for promoting good husbandry practices! i bet your snake is very happy, too :)

[@CatharticOutlet]

aw, thanks! I'm glad you like it :) I hope she is happy, I try to provide her with everything she needs and follow the most updated keeping advice

[@halomaster622]

Watched from beginning to end! I've become exhausted with the normal reptile youtube channels for feeling very bloated and sort of "I have to own every snake I can to stay relevant", so your videos are a nice change of pace! I've downsized what I own quite a bit to focus on only two of my favorite pets (A boa constrictor and a woma python, both young) and worked on giving them more focus and effort into their enclosures and enrichment similar to the work you put into yours. I'm not gonna put the pressure on you to make you feel like youve gotta make more vids, but I enjoy the ones you have now!

[@CatharticOutlet]

Thank you for your nice comment! I agree, I find a lot of the "professional" reptile channels overwhelming. Although there are some that put a lot of effort into their set ups, the sheer amount of animals they own can be alienating, and it's not great that having large collections is normalized. That's a great approach, best of luck with your two pets! Quality over quantity is definitely the way to go. While there are many species I would love to keep, I know realistically the maximum amount of snakes I could ever own is four, and that's not going to happen in the near future. I'm glad you like the snake content! I enjoy documenting my projects and observations so it's nice to know other people are also interested. Now that I have a bit more time I plan to post videos more frequently (although it's still going to be quite stochastic), and most of what I have planned is snake related.

[@halomaster622]

@@CatharticOutlet I'm exited to see more!!

[@sebastiaandrost]

This is one of my go-to videos while setting up our OSB terrarium. Thanks! (Also the follow-ups are great)

[@lulz9268]

Just what I was looking for awesome video and nice edits ☺️👍

[@morneschaap2944]

Nice! Very enjoyable video and some great tips. 😊

[@katkins3998]

I made it to the end . What a lovely new home for your pet snake 🐍

[@henrykeeling3237]

Looks great at the end! Little idea for a cheaper natural hide, use the plastic hide you have and cover it in expanding foam, then carve it into your desired shape and either cover it in tile grout for a stone finish, or use silicone to stick your substrate to the foam. I just experimented doing this myself and really enjoyed it!

[@CatharticOutlet]

Thanks! I think you're the second person to suggest this - I may try it out in the future (that plastic hide is quite cheap and I can replace it easily if I mess up). My only issue is I currently don't have the space and time to aquire and use expanding foam and the associated tools.

[@apocolototh1948]

Hah, wonderful, I screwed together my terrarium 2 days ago, and the water seal and caulking was exactly the thing i was interested about

[@karenschmaltz649]

I made it to the end, of course! I love the idea of making my boy his new enclosure, and this helped to make it more doable. Thank you (and thanks for taking such good care of your noodle!)

[@CatharticOutlet]

Aw, thank you! I'm glad you found this video useful. Best of luck with your new enclosure!

[@gerald4055]

I liked the video, humorous and interesting as well. Thank you 🙂

[@mobydickii8407]

Amazing video. This is the first video from you that I see. I will go see your channel next. With blood sacrifice, a beautiful pole dancer, enemy ceramic heat bulb (I have to look at that, I have one enemy too), it was a good watch. From what I read, many of us watched till the end.

[@CatharticOutlet]

Thank you, I'm glad you enjoyed the wild ride that was this video!

[@kalthand]

Hesy danke für das video und liebe grüsse aus der Schweiz!

[@hamboneblues8923]

Great job. Beautiful snake and great enclosure

[@contamination1151]

I love your video!! Outstanding "job" and at the end a beautiful (nearly perfect) enclosure!! And from that moment on you handeld the drill machine, I have a crush on you..🥰

[@janar.4436]

im gonna save this video bc ill get the same terrarium for my ball python baby boy and it was very interesting :)

[@rafaelrios1514]

I made it to the end. Great video!

[@Freakskpp]

Really cool video ( saw it till the end haha ) . good job for the diy build , we learn with mistakes on building hehe . we got at home a corn snake took from a family witch was bored of it ( i will never understand this kind of peoples ) and we made the enclosure ourselves , but for the upgrade we will go bigger and better for the confort of Kordulla , she's curious and love to climb . I might myself go for a surinam boa in the future, and i want to build the terra myself and try the expanding foam to get the background i want , let see how it will go. thank you for the content , it's refreshing to see something more close to reality !

[@CatharticOutlet]

Thank you! Glad you liked the video :) Good that you are giving your cornsnake the best possible home, and best of luck with your future DIY projects!

[@SomeGuyNamedRoy]

I work in construction. One of my worst cuts was from the staples on some osb. As someone that wears gloves despite the heckling, it still got me.

[@bipolarchemist]

That was the palest looking coffee I believe I have ever seen. And Bosch really is everywhere in Europe, isn't it? Quite the interesting build and the chill nature of your python has me nearly re-evaluating my opinion of snakes in general. Doubt I will ever own one as I love my tiny geckos, but I think I might try to view them in a bit better light. I think a nice coat or three coats of paint on the interior would have been been nice, but still a very nice build.

[@CatharticOutlet]

The drink featured was a caramel macchiato which is like 10% coffee and 90% milk, fat & sugar, hence the appearance. I think it depends on the country- Bosch is quite prevalent in Germany, but less so in France. Glad you like the build and snake! The way you feel about snakes is similar to how I feel about geckos. They are very cool to look at but I don't think I would ever want to have them as pets. Too high maintenance for me.

[@avaogara]

yes that was alot of work .she gona love her new habitat t.love this

[@reptiletailz108]

I absolutely watched till the end I wish they sold those kits in the us atleast I don't think they do but it is absolutely perfect u did an awesome job

[@CatharticOutlet]

Thank you!

[@phillipanderson3715]

Great work.

[@officialwhiteboyswag103]

I love the video dope set up I build my 4 month old ball Python house out of a i entertainment stand I made him a big home so he can live in it forever

[@Kay_Reptiles_]

I made it 🙃. Great video love that you offer enough space! I hate that the recommended space requirements are so low. The double hide was a great idea.

[@CatharticOutlet]

Thanks! Glad you feel the same way about giving snakes the space they need :)

[@EndasTrial]

avesome! you did a great job. I need a end terra for my corn snake and was a bit anxious because i didn't know how to assemble it but your video was a great help, my corny is just a little worm atm so his 100 x 50 x 50 cm terra should be enough for a while longer

[@CatharticOutlet]

Thanks, glad you found the video useful! Good luck with your little corn snake :)

[@tarantularamblings3149]

that's a great video . Yes I watched to the end .I could probably be classed as a DIY pro since I do it for a living so it was funny watching you with that drill😅

[@papajavaleri]

This video taught me that living in an apartment sucks for yet another reason.

[@nirrepluap]

I've made some experiments on my side to try to seal OSB2 boards; I've tried putting water on: - raw OSB2 => water still not absorbed in 4 different places after about 45 hours - with 2 coats of V33 varnish (raquires sanding at first, and small sanding between coats) => water absorbed after 30 hours in 4 places - with same product as you chose, with single initial sanding => same result as v33 varnish Asked my father who's a carpentry teacher, he basically told me that the only way to seal wood, in a significant manner is to use things like epoxy, liquid rubber, silicon, or marine grade sealers in ~10 coats or so... He told me than in my case, the results are probably reversed because sanding down the OSB removed the oils or glue reminders at the surface of the OSB, which made it less water resistant than the surfaces that I didn't coat... But it's still probably worth to varnish because it'll probably be better that way after those oils slowly fade away if it stays raw. I decided I would just try out the V33 varnish, and apply 4 coats minimum, as it is far less toxic than the other product, and also cheaper... Will see how it goes on long run, otherwise, I think I will replace with OSB4 boards and liquid rubber if it doesn't last on my next terrariums ! Please make follow up video to check how the wood evolves on your side ! Really hard to find quality feedback on that when researching... Thanks :) PS: About your plug "adapters", it's not horrible, but it can make overheating/fires easier... I wouldn't worry about it too much tho, since you probably do not have too much power consumption with those appliances ^^' If you care about it, or just for practicality, you can try swapping the plugs, it's not too hard and costs less than the adapters if you have to redo it some other times !

[@CatharticOutlet]

Looks like you've researched the topic quite extensively! Based on your comments and those of others, it seems that sealing OSB is not as straightforward as one would think... A terrarium tour/update video is planned (although I am still working on another video beforehand). What I can say so far is that I had the terrarium for almost a year and the OSB shows no signs of deterioration or mould. Both the untreated parts (top and sides) as well as the sealed parts (base and bottom part of sides) seem to be fine. I've heard OSB-related horror stories from other people who had mould after a few months already, so I'm wondering if my OSB came pre-treated. In general, I noticed I was able to maintain my desired humidity (50-60%) in the terrarium without having to keep the soil especially damp. Most of the ambient humidity came from evaporating water from the water bowl and the humid hide, and when I spray the terrarium down, it is mainly the top layer of substrate that gets damp and not the part that comes into contact with the OSB. Therefore, even if my sealant isn't the most powerful, it seems to be fine for my ball python set up, as it is not consistently damp. However, if you want a terrarium for a high humidity species, then the strategy you mentioned may be better. I also checked the websites of one the German OSB terrarium sellers and they recommend a three-step sealing process: 3 layers of acrylic varnish, followed by silicone for the corners, and then 2 layers of Elastupor (whatever that is) or liquid pond sealant. Best of luck with your set ups!

[@nirrepluap]

@@CatharticOutlet Yeah, it might also be your OSB class which is good enough for the humidity ( OSB3 or OSB4 ) ?! Gone a bit cheap on the wood myself, will see how it goes, worst case will do better next time ! Ayway, thanks for the answer :)

[@CatharticOutlet]

@@nirrepluap I wasn't even aware that are different categories of OSB until your comment. There is no information on the terrarium maker's website but I'll try and ask them before I make my terrarium update video.

[@CatharticOutlet]

@@nirrepluap random update, in case you are still interested: I asked the terrarium maker and they said the OSB they used was OSB 3, which is a kind that can allegedly withstand humidity of up to 85%. So far still no mold or deterioration of my terrarium.

[@sauen1988]

I love this video! Just stumbled upon your channel, and your ball python videos are truly great! I live in Europe myself and are doing my research before getting my first danger noodle, and I love seeing how you are giving your snake this amazing home 👏👏👏 This inspire me to make a similar home to my future snake. Do you spot clean your vivarium?

[@CatharticOutlet]

Thanks for the nice comment! Yes, I mainly spot clean the area where the snake did its business by removing all the contaminated substrate and than spraying the terrium base down with desinfectant before adding fresh substrate on top. Every few months I clean out the whole thing.

[@peetakispeetopoulos3982]

Thank you

[@Edward..de..lanndo]

Bravo.....excellent video...thanQ.

[@BEAZY_5150]

You’re funny. Beautiful noodle and thank you for the video.

[@benthechainsawsculptor7553]

Loved the video!! Thanks , I was wondering with your double stack hides, is the humid hide a cooler temp? I was always told to have 1 hide either side of the tank. Love your idea, I want to try it.

[@CatharticOutlet]

Hi, Thanks! the humid hide is always a bit cooler than the hide on top. Usually it's quite similar to the temperatures on the cold side. At the moment my warm hide is 30 degrees celsius and my humid hide is 27-28 but this is because the ambient temperature in my apartment is quite high (26 degrees) due to the summer weather. At normal ambient temperatures, the humid hide is around 24-25 degrees. I always provide a hot hide, cold hide and humid hide in my terrariums so my snakes have at least three options.

[@its4yourowngood_yvfw]

80 cool side is what I've always used. A gradient of 80f cool side to 90f hot side.

[@hremaddox]

Maybe you could put the vinyl contact paper on the inside next time to waterproof it?

[@ljbaba287]

of course i watched till the end :)))

[@CatharticOutlet]

thank you, I appreciate it!

[@LeonardoTMiranda]

Amazing!

[@mlblue5355]

I like the setup, but I think I would be a bit nervous having the heat source too close to the side of the OSB. Seems like it’s working out ok for you though, I like how you said sometimes your snake goes back into the enclosure by it’s self. I think that’s a big success!

[@CatharticOutlet]

Thanks! so far I've had no issues but I do keep a close eye on the set up to check if there are any problems with the materials.

[@avaogara]

great job I enjoyed watching you make her new home ! in the u.s. we have more options on light weight enclosures .which I plan to get..lol bobette.on the lamp lol she so beautiful n curious girl lol .wonder you don't use a heat mat ?

[@tokec8471]

I've found some aquarium silicone, but in the description it says it's good for glass, metals etc, does that mean it doesn't work on wood?

[@CatharticOutlet]

I think you can use it for any surface - I used aquarium silicone for my OSB terrarium and I saw other people use it on their wooden enclosures as well!

[@marjoleinvnoort6961]

You should do the whole terrarium with the sealer. Ball pythons need humility to shed. I heard they advise to use epoxy to seal the terrarium. I hope the terrarium will go a long way. I bought one from someone and later I nodes it was moldy and the wood was expending. So it was no good anymore. I build my terrariums myself now so I know they are good and will have a long lifetime.

[@CatharticOutlet]

I made an update video on the state of my terrarium after one year, in which I also addressed people's concerns regarding OSB, if you are interested you can check it out. But basically, there are different types of OSB, and some can tolerate humidity while others can't. The wood used for my terrrarium is OSB category 3 which is a type that can withstand fairly high humidity levels - it doesn't absorb much moisture and it hasn't gotten moldy (even the unsealed parts are fine). If you want to be on the safe side you can seal the whole thing, but in my case, the humidity levels are fine, the snake is shedding fine and the OSB is fine.

[@nigeldevos]

Man I'm a first time snake owner to be in belgium and finding supplies is just so difficult. I have the same enclosure for a ball python. I've been looking up stuff for over two years and finally made the decision to just start buying stuff and begin to build. I don't have the snake yet because I'm very unsure about how I'm going to heat the place. I wanna use a heat mat and a heatmat only. However the base of the enclosure is so thick, I'm going to have to put the heatmat inside. But I don't trust it under the substrate. I think it's going to catch on fire. What do you think?

[@CatharticOutlet]

@@nigeldevos hi there, yes it seems quite challenging to find equipment for reptile keeping in some places compared to countries like the US… good luck with your set up! Personally, I wouldn’t put a heat mat into a wooden enclosure, though I witnessed some people install it under a glass plate and then put the substrate on top of that. In general, I wouldn’t use a heat mat as a main heat source and instead use a heat lamp or a ceramic heat emitter (if a lamp is not possible), as those are a more naturalistic heat source that helps promote more naturalistic behaviors like basking.

[@nigeldevos]

@@CatharticOutlet I've figured out now that i do indeed need an extra heat source. I will use the heat mat mainly at night and will use a heat lamp during the day. However I've now ran into the problem where I don't know what wattage i need. The lamp will hang at a hight of 50cm and the enclosure is 120cm x 60cm x 60cm. I dont know how to gauge what wattage would be good

[@CatharticOutlet]

@@nigeldevos nice! If it’s a wooden enclosure I‘d say 100 watt should be enough but it’s hard to say for sure since I don’t know the details of your environmental parameters. I would definitely hook it up to a dimming thermostat so the temperature stays controlled - since you probably won’t need or want the lamp blasting at full power during the summer. You can either attach the lamp + thermostat set up to a timer or use a digital thermostat that controls time and temperature. With a dimmer you could even go for 150 watt if you want to be safe

[@nigeldevos]

@@CatharticOutlet i think I'm going to go to a shop and literally feel the lamps. I think you are Right tho, 100w is in the middle and definitely going to use with thermostat

[@karentogel1553]

Love!

[@majazmajapapaja]

Heyy, one quick question!! I just got mine osb terrarium and I'm wondering about the heat...which heat lamp would be the best? and what about heating matt?

[@CatharticOutlet]

Just a standard heat lamp would be best if you can install it! Otherwise you can use a deep heat projector. I would not recommend using a heat mat or a ceramic heat emitter as these two heat sources do not really replicate the kind of heat the snake would recieve in nature, so if you want to provide naturalistic basking behavior, the two first options would be the way to go. I actually made two videos on the topic if you want to know more about the science behind it.

[@majazmajapapaja]

@@CatharticOutlet Thank you for the info!! Yes, I will check out your vids as well!! I got Halogen Lamp of 75W for 120x60 terrarium and Arcadia UVB 15W lamp as well, and got my snake as well yesterday 🎊

[@CatharticOutlet]

@@majazmajapapaja sounds like a great set up! Best of luck with your new snake!

[@QuavyQua]

14:38 so can I buy any human finger?

[@CatharticOutlet]

@@QuavyQua I’d recommend using one already attached to you (those can typically be used for free)

[@DarkWidget]

Just FYI, you might get issues from the humidity if you don't seal the whole thing (just make sure it doesn't contain fungicides 😅). OSB is kind of like a sponge 😅 What you can do also is to smear some silicone on those plastic hides and press substrates onto it quickly to make it look alot better 🥰

[@CatharticOutlet]

Oh, I hope I will be able to avoid that! Do you have experiences with mold on OSB? Based on the information provided by some of the terrarium manufacturing companies I checked, it is not necessary to waterproof ball python terrariums, although one recommended a complete waterproofing service for OSB terrariums used to house high humidity species (humidity over 70%). As my terrarium humidity levels are generally in the 50% range, I thought it should be fine to only seal the lower area, but I will keep an eye out for any signs of mold on the untreated parts. I am always a bit hesitant to try the silicone + substrate method because I'm scared it will look ugly, and I don't know how easy it is to clean/disinfect if the snake decides to poop on it.

[@DarkWidget]

@@CatharticOutlet I don't have experience per say no, I do have an OSB terrarium which I'm currently building new ones to replace it with, but that one is COMPLETELY sealed, both inside and outside haha (I didn't make it, it's ugly as all hell). I'm just making the assumption tbh, but who knows it might work 🤷 Regarding the silikon and substrate I mean, it's gonna look like the substrate you put on really, instead of a random plastic bowl you can make it look like a natural burrow. About cleaning, they rarely do their business ontop of the hides in my experience, much more often inside them and you don't really have to silicone the inside. Tho once the silicone is completely dry it's waterproof so you can rinse it and fk about as but as you want, worst case scenario some substrate/silicone dropps of and in that case you're left with a cooler hide with a plastic spot on it. But yea in my experience they never poop on them anyway but it's up to you, just figured I'd give you the idea if you didn't like the look of random plastic :D

[@CatharticOutlet]

@@DarkWidget yeah, it could be an option, I just need to look up ways to distribute the substrate on the hide to make it look natural and not too messy. And I guess if you waterproof the entirety of the terrarium you will definitively be on the safe side.

[@DarkWidget]

@@CatharticOutlet I've done it tons recently, tbh I just smeared the thing and threw substrate on it and pushed it to really stick.. But I mean you can put some rocks with it or fakemoss or whatever :D

[@MPRbyHamlin]

@@CatharticOutlet hi just to jump on this with the talk of waterproofing. When I've made backgrounds for lizards or snakes before, I have always sealed them in decorators varnish. The product I use is both waterproof and non toxic when fully dry. You could apply that straight to the wood and you wouldn't need to worry about humidity at all.

[@Ilyas-dt8nu]

❤

[@ag6655]

Hello there, I'm interested in purchasing one for my male boa but the height is 50cm, which is 1,5cm bigger than my available space :( is there any chance that they could adjust that? Also how much was the shipping cost? I'm from Greece 🇬🇷

[@ag6655]

I just found out they offer custom made options, I hope that they'll reach me soon... (I want a 110×65×47cm one) how long do they take to respond?

[@CatharticOutlet]

@@ag6655 nice! When I emailed them, they typically responded within a day or so

[@ag6655]

@@CatharticOutlet so they sent me a mail in German, is it sure that they ship to Greece? Cause I didn't quite get that. I didn't get if they only ship in Germany. Also do you ,by any chance, remember how much the shipping cost was?

[@CatharticOutlet]

In my case, they shipped to France for 30€ (shipping within Germany would have been free if I remember correctly). If you have trouble understanding the email I recommend running it through deepl translator, it’s a very powerful tool. If they don’t ship to Greece you can try searching for other OSB terrarium makers (there are some on Amazon but I don’t think they don’t do custom builds), good luck!

[@ag6655]

@@CatharticOutlet thank you so much! I sent them an email asking about that. I assume they ship here too as it's pretty common after all. What's your review so far? Is it worth the money? Will it last for the rest of the pets life?

[@tokec8471]

Where did you buy the cork?:)

[@CatharticOutlet]

I bought it second hand on leboncoin (French craigslist)

[@Braidyn-_-]

What did you do with the old enclosure? I’m sure you could get a new baby now

[@CatharticOutlet]

I sold it to someone looking to house baby turtles, as I currently don't have the space for another snake

[@shinigami6337]

I did

[@avaogara]

I made it to the end lol

[@AF3NI]

Lmfao not me finding these terrariums beautiful I felt offended 😅.. l like the natural look .. or maybe with a color painted

[@CatharticOutlet]

you're not the only one who seems to prefer OSB - since the posing of this video I've come across a handful of you people 😆 At some point OSB furniture was even a trend! I wouldn't recommend painting over it though, at least in my opinion, the layer of paint doesn't look good on the rough OSB texture.

[@collien3284]

Im one of the one human beings yaaay

[@Burritosarebetterthantacos]

Osb is a terrible choice. Wow. Next time ask for help from a carpenter.

[@Kuroki_8142]

Do it better, before you talk shit

[@Burritosarebetterthantacos]

@@Kuroki_8142 I build actual houses bud.

[@Kuroki_8142]

@@Burritosarebetterthantacos ok fair. What would you suggest instead of osb, that is affordable

[@Historybuff_769]

​@@Burritosarebetterthantacoshighly doubt

[@Goddess.Rosalie]

The fact that your only down side was that it’s ugly made me laugh so hard I hope you don’t start reading this comment and be like 🤨 cause when I told you I LAUGHED 🤣😭 mama can’t you just paint it asking for both of us cause I’m getting on as well 🥲🥲

[@CatharticOutlet]

Glad you enjoyed the video 😄I wouldn't recommend painting the outside - I have seen some people sell second hand OSB enclosures that they painted over, and most of the time those are even uglier than the plain wood because the paint just emphasizes the uneven texture of the OSB (I mean, maybe you can seal the wood before painting but that would be too much effort for me). Personally, I would go for wallpaper - there are some really cool patterns and designs out there and it's an easy way to make the terrarium look decent.