# My boa gets a banister lol ... aka fake branch



## Jibbajabba (Jan 31, 2011)

Right now the 8ft viv does have quite a few solid branches for her to move on










What I notice is that when I 'park' her on our banister, she is really chilled ... or scared to death - but I hope for chilled lol










So I was thinking ... what I can do to give her that option without throwing anything out ... Naturally I was looking for well .. branches ... near impossible to find something that I can secure in an 8ft viv ... and that is thick enough to hold her weight. Then I considered plastic pipes, rods and all sorts of material but none of them come in a price range that makes it affordable or at least justifiable ...

Then stupid brain engaged ... she's on a banister ... so ... let's get a banister lol

Today I got my pine handrail (ok, sort of a banister).

The advantage : They are sturdy - won't bend easily and are natural and un-treated ...

And you can get them - REALLY long










This thing is 55mm in diameter - probably just about ok ... a bit smaller than the actual banister but it'll do .. I hope / will see.

So the idea is to essentially drill two holes on either side of the viv and slide that thing in. Prior mounting I will wrap / glue it in jute burlap followed by the usual coco fibre / moss treatment.











IF she will end up using it a LOT (sort of doubt it but yea never know) and obviously the coco / moss will eventually come off, the jute should still make it look rustic enough to not be an eye sore immediately. Brackets above are to mount this thing ...

Once pushed through the holes, either side will lay on 18mm wood and 5mm plastic sheeting (that the background is fitted on) which itself are bolted with M10 bolts into said wood. So here's hoping that's enough to carry her.

The handrail has a 22mm flat part to be mounted on the rail fittings, so one side will have the 90 degree bracket screwed to the bottom of the rail and the other part screwed into the side of the viv ..

The straight brackets are for the other side of the rail (obviously can't fit a rail with two 90 degree brackets without bending the rail.

Anyway, just thought I post this to maybe give other people ideas what option there are if you cannot find big stuff for big vivs ...

To be continued .....


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## Jibbajabba (Jan 31, 2011)

Oh and if anyone asks ... those rails are under 20 quid for 3.6m (12ft) ... way cheaper than anything you buy labelled for reptiles ...


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## Shellsfeathers&fur (Jan 18, 2009)

Nice car!

That is one lucky rehomed snake.


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## Jibbajabba (Jan 31, 2011)

Test fitting complete ... still needs 'cocofying' ....










But blends in nicely 



















Fits like a glove


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## Malc (Oct 27, 2009)

Just needs some fake foliage to make it look more natural - you watch she'll totally blank it and stay on the existing branches now


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## Jibbajabba (Jan 31, 2011)

Oh 100% ...


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## ftlo boas (Jan 27, 2021)

Malc said:


> Just needs some fake foliage to make it look more natural - you watch she'll totally blank it and stay on the existing branches now


😂😂 Sods law that is! 
But what a lucky boa! 
That viv' is so nice I wanna curl up and chill in there! 😄


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## Jibbajabba (Jan 31, 2011)

lol well I put my 6yr old onto the big branch at the bottom to make sure it can hold an adult boa so if you fit - it will probably hold you too ... but it may get a bit toasty to properly chill lol ..

Right now she uses only 0.25m2 so yea - sods law it is indeed ....


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## Jibbajabba (Jan 31, 2011)

Well isn't that great .. I was happy to find something untreated. Rail was sold as beech and guess what - when I worked on it I was curious about the smell. 

Seller : Oh yea - It's Pine - shouldn't matter though .. 

Well guess what fella ... it matters :-/ 

Now waiting for a new one that will be Oak ... sigh ....


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## Jibbajabba (Jan 31, 2011)

But our boa 'Squeezy' won't be doing much for a few days I reckon. Wondered why she's a bit 'off' lately ...


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## ftlo boas (Jan 27, 2021)

Jibbajabba said:


> lol well I put my 6yr old onto the big branch at the bottom to make sure it can hold an adult boa so if you fit - it will probably hold you too ... but it may get a bit toasty to properly chill lol ..
> 
> Right now she uses only 0.25m2 so yea - sods law it is indeed ....


Yeah those heating panel's may slightly stifle my chill session, ha ha.
Sod's law or not! . . . It's another great feature in a great viv' to use if and when wanted.
Your happy when they're happy ☺

Shame to hear bout the pine rail. Still I'm sure your animal will be happy as once it's up!


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## Zincubus (Sep 6, 2010)

Is the bannister thingy ok for grippiness ( if that’s even a word ) ?

Ive seena few snakes wrapped around plastic piping but it rather looked like they were ( understandably) holding on for dear life


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## Jibbajabba (Jan 31, 2011)

@Zincubus Have a look at the first post, I won't be leaving it like that. First it is being wrapped in jute... On top of that it gets the 'background' treatment - i.e. silicone and coco fibre. That will give some good grip .. having said that - she is fine on our actual banister lol so probably isn't needed but certainly looks better. 

So the cocfibre will of course grip and with fibre falling off eventually (assuming she will actually use it) - the jute will give plenty of grip. 

Right now though - I doubt she is going anywhere lol


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## Zincubus (Sep 6, 2010)

Jibbajabba said:


> @Zincubus Have a look at the first post, I won't be leaving it like that. First it is being wrapped in jute... On top of that it gets the 'background' treatment - i.e. silicone and coco fibre. That will give some good grip .. having said that - she is fine on our actual banister lol so probably isn't needed but certainly looks better.
> 
> So the cocfibre will of course grip and with fibre falling off eventually (assuming she will actually use it) - the jute will give plenty of grip.
> 
> ...


Sounds wonderful !!


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## Jibbajabba (Jan 31, 2011)

Took a bit to get that Oak one delivered, but finally got here. 

So as mentioned, first it is wrapped in Jute ... simply to give it more structure and for the silicone to stick to. Even if the soil stuff comes off - the jute isn't as much of an eyesore and it retains some texture for the noodle to move on. 



















Not 100% finished (as the ends where this one is leaning on still need doing) - then a week or so drying / curing before moving into viv ... Besides, the noodle is in shed so don't want to disturb her too much .. she looks really sorry for herself right now


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## Jibbajabba (Jan 31, 2011)

wow how crap .. for my background I used high mod marine aquarium safe silicone (HA6) and the coco fibre doesn't even come off when spraying down. The stuff I now used was also aquarium safe silicone but probably mainly used to build actual aquariums - After two days of drying (only just posted this but did the above two days ago) the coco stuff just falls off when touching ever so slightly ... 

Grmpf ...


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## retic666 (Jan 18, 2021)

FFS 😂🤣


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## Jibbajabba (Jan 31, 2011)

retic666 said:


> FFS 😂🤣


Seriously ... never ending ...


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## retic666 (Jan 18, 2021)

Jibbajabba said:


> Seriously ... never ending ...


Next you're gonna want to get a night camera so you can watch her shed..... Oh wait.... 😂🤦‍♂️


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## Jibbajabba (Jan 31, 2011)

Yea thanks for that Russ lol ....Her eyes went clear a few days ago but she sure takes her time ...


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## Malc (Oct 27, 2009)

Jibbajabba said:


> wow how crap .. for my background I used high mod marine aquarium safe silicone (HA6) and the coco fibre doesn't even come off when spraying down. The stuff I now used was also aquarium safe silicone but probably mainly used to build actual aquariums - After two days of drying (only just posted this but did the above two days ago) the coco stuff just falls off when touching ever so slightly ...
> 
> Grmpf ...


I've used HA6 to build my display and sump tanks... Can't beat it... just goes to show that not all aquarium grade silicone products are the same...


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## Jibbajabba (Jan 31, 2011)

100% ... and the good thing is HA6 is available in multiple colours ...


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## Jibbajabba (Jan 31, 2011)

Much better with HA6 - now time to cure for a few days / a week or so ...


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## Jibbajabba (Jan 31, 2011)

Looking good. HA6 fully cures at 3mm / day so was time to move it in. 





























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## Jibbajabba (Jan 31, 2011)

So far so good. 











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