Reddit mentions of Beckett Corporation CGFK60 Submersible Pump and Container Kit Ideal for Mini Fountains, Water Gardens, and Bird Baths, Black

1. I got the container at a place near Nashville called Southeastern Salvage. I couldn't find anything online, but here’s what the barcode sticker says:
   HF1562LAW
   LG antique white planter
   745896421086
   
2. Paver base from HD to level the container.
   
3. The fountain is the Beckett Container Garden Fountain Kit. It's available at Home Depot and Amazon. I added some aquarium filter media which really helps with cloudy water.
   
4. Typical pond liner from HD. This was the smallest size at my store and still way more than I needed.
   
5. Aquarium safe silicone.
   
6. River pebbles from Home Depot for substrate - I know most pond-owners don't recommend this, but my container is small enough to vacuum the gravel when it gets gross. This choice was may too natural/orangey and makes the fish harder to see.
   
7. I happened to have a broken concrete block (like this) which made a a nice base to keep the pump off the bottom and leaning another piece on it gives the fish a hiding spot.
   
8. Floating plants: water lettuce and water hyacinth. Aquatic plants: hornwort, anacharis and golden creeping jenny I pulled out of my flowerbed and tossed in.
   
   The build was pretty simple, when you break it down. It took a while just with life stuff getting the way and I didn't do everything exactly to this order - adding floating plants before I was done sealing the edges, didn't do the final liner trim until very last etc., but this is the gist:
   
   
9. I chose the location and made a pile of paver base wider than the bottom of the container.
   
10. Set the container on the paver base and set a large bubble level across its top. Pushing down, I worked the container back/forth/side/side until it was level all the way around and felt pretty stable.
    
11. Spread out the liner in the container (letting excess hang over sides) and filled with water making sure there were no bubbles or anything. I should have done a better job working out/consolidating the wrinkles/folds at this point. It was pretty hard when it was full, but it turned ok (not great). Once the container was full, I trimmed most of the excess to make it easier to work with, leaving about 12" all around.
    
12. I went ahead and put in some gravel, the concrete block pieces, and fountain at this point, though I should have waited to make it easier to work out wrinkles in the liner. I used the fountain to remove water until the water level was about 6" below the rim to keep the liner pressed against the sides, but allow me to access the edge. Then, I tucked the liner under the rim of the container and trimmed some more excess. Next, I used aquarium safe silicone to adhere the liner under the lip of the container rim so the edge of liner is concealed by the lip of the container. I used clamps in a few places to hold it in place while the silicone set. I had to be careful to keep the outside dry where the liner contacted the silicone to get a good seal. I did another pass later to remove the final bit of excess and add silicone where needed.
    
13. Filled it back up adding pond water conditioner, added plants and fish. I used this new tank bio starter stuff too. I lost 1 goldfish on day 2 so it was probably on its way out anyways but the rest seem healthy after about 2 months.

No worries at all. Not only do you have your own life, you're on the opposite side of the world from me. I've really enjoyed this discussion - not only am I able to help you out, but you're curious about a subject I love. Basically a win/win for me. :)

I honestly couldn't tell you how many teeth snakes have. I've seen maybe 6? on Puppy.

Those pictures are actually a few months old. She's going to shed tonight or tomorrow, though.

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I bought this pump and filter combination, and this bowl to use as the basin. I also purchased some PVC pipe (3/4" inner diameter I think, 1" outer diameter), a couple sheets of flagstone, some flexible tubing (5/8" inner diameter, 3/4" outer diameter - so it fits inside the PVC pipe), some large diameter black pipe for spacing out the rocks, some gravel, and assorted fittings for the PVC pipe.

I built the frame out of the PVC pipe - you can see it a bit in the picture. It's the white pipe. The frame is composed of a rectangular cube, with T-fittings around the bottom edge. Each of the Ts points inward. I then have a single fitting that takes in all four of the Ts and lets you send a central pipe straight up. The gravel is in the bottom of the bowl, and the frame sits on it.

Next up, I cut the flagstone. Flagstone breaks in straight lines, so all you have to do is get a chisel you don't care about, score the line that you want to cut, and then put the chisel in the score and smack it with a hammer. It will break along that line.

Next I used this 1" diamond core drill bit to cut holes in the center of each piece of flagstone. The holes wound up being slightly too small, so I used these diamond files to make them wide enough to fit the PVC pipe.

Then I put the stones onto the frame, using the black spacer pipes between them.

Now, in order to get the water to actually flow, I drilled a hole through the center pipe in the frame, below where the lowest piece of flagstone sits and fed the flexible tubing through that hole and up to the top of the waterfall. Then I hooked up the pump to the flexible tubing.

Last but not least, I got a lamp dimmer and connected the pump's power cord to it. So, I basically have an on/off switch for it. That's necessary because the waterfall splashes a bit. If I left it on all the time, it would soak the substrate.

All told, the waterfall took months of work and a lot of mistakes. The final product turned out well, though.

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If you have the freezer space and your snake cooperates, f/t is the way to go. It's the cheapest and safest option.

I feed Puppy live, but that's because she's a very picky eater. She refuses to eat anything unless it's alive. I recently switched her from a species called African Soft Furs (bigger than mice, smaller than rats) to regular old rats, which she didn't like at all. The entire process took around 3 months of hard, moderately traumatizing work.

However, that's a very specific issue that happens with carpet pythons - they get fixated on a single food source and can refuse to switch. I doubt you'll have that sort of problem.

One more thing - usually you want to let your snake digest for 1 - 3 days after you feed them. If they are full and become very bothered, sometimes they will regurgitate their meal. That is definitely bad.

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Yeah, ideally the shed will be in one single piece. The shed is actually longer than your snake is however - as they are shedding, the skin stretches to let them get out.

What I'd suggest is looking at the skin initially. You should be able to see the eyecaps on the discarded skin, the tip of the tail, etc. If you do notice stuck shed, there are a few common approaches:

1. Soak them in a tub of reasonably temperatured water for like 15 - 30 minutes, then pull it off by hand.
   
2. Put them into a damp pillowcase for a while. The moisture will loosen the shed, and the pillowcase will give them enough friction to rub it off themselves.
   
   Shedding is hard work, so I usually feed them a large meal, let them rest for a few days, and then hang out with them. However, it's totally cool if you want to hang out with your snake immediately after a shed, as long as your snake isn't acting stressed.