I was cleaning out the large snake enclosures yesterday at work. This involves cleaning an empty one. Then, I move the first snake to the clean one and clean his. Then, I move the next snake down to the clean one and clean his, etc. When I am all done, I put the snake back into their respective enclosures. These enclosures are walled in on all sides, but the front. The front is made of small sliding glass doors. After I had put all the snakes back into their original enclosures, I realized, that in one, I had forgotten to put some items back. So, I went to slide open the glass door. And met resistance. What? I had no problems with it a few minutes ago. So, I put a little force on it. Nothing extreme. And, it shattered and fell into the enclosure. Fortunately, the snake was on the other side, so she did not get hit by any glass. I had a mental image of what would have happened if the glass had fallen on her. She may have panicked and started to writhe around and could have ended up getting cut. So, I moved her back down to the empty enclosure and cleaned up all the broken glass. This was not "safety" glass, which shatters into small pebbles. There were long jagged pieces all over the place. I started to panic then. "Oh no! They are going to be so mad at me!" I pictured the owners taking the cost out of my paycheck, etc. I was the only one there at the time. I had to wait for someone to come back, so I could tall them what happened. Their daughter pulled up about 5 minutes after I cleaned up all the glass. I walked out and told her what happened. Apparently, this happens once in awhile. Why? She went to the back of the room and pulled out another piece of glass that was already sized to fit. I didn't think to ask her what causes this. It could be that the heat from the heating pads and heaters make the glass brittle over time. I don't know.... So, all that worry for nothing! (I will be careful from now on and not force anything, even a little tiny bit.)
Posted by Valkyre at July 19, 2003 07:25 PM