My new double vivs

Hey all!

I built these double vivs over the December holidays and only really put on the finishing touches now. Here are a couple of pics of therm:


Both of the double vivs, they stand on top of each other. I was initially concerned with stability, but they stand very solid (must be the weight).


The larger of the double vivs, it is only 9 or 10cm higher than the smaller one. The bottom cage is still empty, I'm waiting to get something decent to put into it, i.e. something indigenous to SA!


The smaller double viv, currently has a corn and a king in it.


Just a pic showing the inside along with chains to keep the door from smashing down.


This is the first viv that I built, used a router to make the guides for the sliding glass, BIG mistake! It was thoroughly sealed, but with opening the doors the whole time, the sealant got eventually scraped off. Had one water spill in it and the sliding doors where effectively locked with the wood's swelling! luckily I had added the top opening door as well! Made of solid pine.

I am using heating mats in them, covered with a thick tile. Still looking for thermostats though. Luckily I still have some time left before winter kicks in!

Both the double vivs cost me just over R1 000 to build, that includes glass, wood, sealant (interior), varnish (exterior), air vents, screws, silicon and the wiring. I reckon it is not too bad, seeing that it works out to +/- R250 per cage? I used pine "planke" (Afrikaans kicked in, and the English word was forgotten ops: ) for the frame and covered it with laminated pine sheets. Was initially worried about the laminated pine sheet, but it is ROCK HARD! Was a mission and a half to cut it and holes for the air vents!

So what do you guys think? Any criticism is welcome!

i dont like its location
do i need to send you my address so you can rectify this?

These are nice looking. What type of wood did you use?

@ Gelshark: Umm, how about no... Build your own, it really is not that difficult! I was surprised how ell it came out in the end! The only rule with wood... Measure twice, cut once!

@ stormy: Laminated pine and solid pine, with all the varnish and sealant covering the wood I'm not really worried about the pine causing problems. And it is the only type of would that is readily available in SA. I guess you guys will get wood for way cheaper than we get it here in SA.

Yeah we can go to Lowes or Home Depot and have our choice of Pine, Cherry, Oak, Birch etc. I was just curious because of how nice it looks finished!

Someday I hope to built one out of real wood and not fiberboard like I did mine. That looks awesome.

That's a great idea with the chains to keep the doors from flopping down or putting pressure on the hinges. I had contemplated several ways to have the doors flip up and slide in, kinda like a garage door. Have the snakes showed any interest in the chains?

@ Stormy: The only cherry, oak, birch etc. we get here is melamine wood which scratches so quickly it isn't funny. All my melamine cages are plain white (it is thicker, stronger and generally doesn't wear as quickly as wood design melamine).

@ Marica:They climb them quite often, but because the chains move around so much they don't really get a purchase on them (its a cycle of climb the chain, fall off the chain, climb the chain, fall of the chain...). Some people where concerned about them getting entangled in them, but up to now it has never looked like it will happen, the chain can't fold too small because of the links so knotting is impossible!

very nice enclosure. I will have a project to do this summer myself as well.