Ok, I was trying to wait until the grass had grown in, but I couldn’t stand it! So, here’s my 6 x 2 x 2 indoor enclosure for winters.
First, here’s some pics of Bug, my 4 yr old EBT:
And, here’s some pics of the finished enclosure:
I did a hydroton pellet/mesh base, with 4-6†of eco-earth/orchid bark/leaf litter (sterilized), and added an isopod colony to help keep things clean (I hope they breed faster than he finds em ïŠ! ). The base layer seems to be helping out greatly with humidity and soil aridity, so far!
The background is GreatStuff expanding foam & the same substrates I used for the bedding; the same technique the frog people typically use ïŠ.
The tub is the TurtleTub III from turtletub.com, with a Marineland C-160 filtering the water. I’d initially planned to make a waterfall, but had too many problems with leaking, so the waterfall in the corner got repurposed into a planter ïŠ.
The hide and waterfa…er, planter!...I made from Styrofoam, grout, and Shields-All sealer, using the techniques on lizard-landscapes.com. As for the enclosure itself, it’s an almagamation of a design plan I found online for snake enclosures, plus some extra things I wanted to add in (the mesh top/ hinged lid, 8†litter dam/view obstruction from the plexi, ect.). The whole box is ¾†plywood, and I put a pond liner in the entire base before everything else went in just to make sure I didn’t have issues with the moisture affecting the wood.
For lighting, I’m running 2 ReptiSun 5.0’s, a 150W bask (w/dimmer so I can regulate it), and a 75W moonlight bulb. After some fiddling, I think I’ve got it dialed in just right; the bask sits at 95F, thermal gradient goes down to 80F on the hide end, and the hide itself is staying around 78F.
It’s probably overkill, but I figure that it’s due to get 50 + years worth of use, and I wanted something that would look nice since it had to take up so much room!! He’ll still spend summers outside, but hopefully this solves winter from here on out ïŠ. What do you guys think?
Didn't wanna overload the post limit, here's some more:
It wasn't planted yet here, but it shows the hood off and the lid:
First, here’s some pics of Bug, my 4 yr old EBT:
And, here’s some pics of the finished enclosure:
I did a hydroton pellet/mesh base, with 4-6†of eco-earth/orchid bark/leaf litter (sterilized), and added an isopod colony to help keep things clean (I hope they breed faster than he finds em ïŠ! ). The base layer seems to be helping out greatly with humidity and soil aridity, so far!
The background is GreatStuff expanding foam & the same substrates I used for the bedding; the same technique the frog people typically use ïŠ.
The tub is the TurtleTub III from turtletub.com, with a Marineland C-160 filtering the water. I’d initially planned to make a waterfall, but had too many problems with leaking, so the waterfall in the corner got repurposed into a planter ïŠ.
The hide and waterfa…er, planter!...I made from Styrofoam, grout, and Shields-All sealer, using the techniques on lizard-landscapes.com. As for the enclosure itself, it’s an almagamation of a design plan I found online for snake enclosures, plus some extra things I wanted to add in (the mesh top/ hinged lid, 8†litter dam/view obstruction from the plexi, ect.). The whole box is ¾†plywood, and I put a pond liner in the entire base before everything else went in just to make sure I didn’t have issues with the moisture affecting the wood.
For lighting, I’m running 2 ReptiSun 5.0’s, a 150W bask (w/dimmer so I can regulate it), and a 75W moonlight bulb. After some fiddling, I think I’ve got it dialed in just right; the bask sits at 95F, thermal gradient goes down to 80F on the hide end, and the hide itself is staying around 78F.
It’s probably overkill, but I figure that it’s due to get 50 + years worth of use, and I wanted something that would look nice since it had to take up so much room!! He’ll still spend summers outside, but hopefully this solves winter from here on out ïŠ. What do you guys think?
Didn't wanna overload the post limit, here's some more:
It wasn't planted yet here, but it shows the hood off and the lid: