Snakey's mansion build.

Here are the first pics of Snakey's Christmas present. He should have plenty of room to grow. The inside dimensions of his living area are 46"x19"x27"high. About 3-4" of height will be aspen since he likes to dig so much.

Here's the back. Not much to see, but you can see where the lower vent is. It will be covered with black perforated aluminum sheet.



Here's the front. The lower section will be storage, and access to the flexwatt through a hinged trap door. The living area will be covered with a bottom hinged 2 pane door. The floor, with trap door, will be covered with a piece of 1/4" tempered glass for easy cleaning, and the flexwatt will be taped to the bottom of that over the trap door. The 3 vents can be seen up top, and there will be a hinged top to cover the wiring for lights, etc.

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By the time it's done, it will probably be the nicest piece of "furniture" in my condo.
More to come!

That already looks good.

Very nice!!!.
Can't wait to see the finished product.

Staining...painting it???

Clear coat. it will be natural Cherry, so if you know anything about cherry, you know that it will darken and redden with age. Give it a year and it will have a nice, rich color.

That looks amazing, you're doing great!

So you wanna come up to Saskatchewan Canada and build my Beardie a Christmas present?? Snakies looks great so far!!

I have to admit, there will be some cheating. Our parts guy will probably make the top, and our finish guy will definitely be spraying it. Lights, heat and decor will happen after it comes home.

So you say "our" parts guy and "our" finish guy...what defines "our".

Very very nice.

Asbit said:

So you say "our" parts guy and "our" finish guy...what defines "our".

Click to expand...

My company's. I work for a custom cabinet manufacturer, so this is getting built at work with full use of all of the company's equipment...and in the case of finishing, personnel. Although I can spray, I don't do it often. While I'm sure I could do a decent job on the back and sides, the doors and the insides are a lot harder, and I would end up with drips or a sag, so...

Wow, very nice and impressive looking; can't wait to see some further progress pics.

I have to say I am jealous, and love it thus far. I can not wait to see it progress further.

I'm pretty excited myself! I'm going to try to get the doors done and on by the weekend, and I'll try to get the glass for the floor tomorrow. My flexwatt and heat panel should be here tomorrow, too.

Man now you have my wheels turning. My son is apprenticing to be a carpenter and is presently working at a custom cabinet company...maybe I should just see if they would make me a custom beardie house and how much it would be.

If you can get him to do the work himself, and work on his own time, and he has a nice boss, you might get it for material cost, or free.
I wouldn't be doing this if I had to pay for it. It's probably $150 cost in material alone, and if I designed it for a customer it would probably be $1500+

That's cool. Perhaps I need to think about making Ares & Zeus one.

@ rexracer here is the cabinet he built me in his Gr. 12 cabinet making class for my Christmas present last year. The outer dimensions are approx 6" tall by 2' deep by 3.5' wide. So while it is technically a work in progress, I am still very happy with it.

He did not quite finish it by the end of class. He still has to finish staining the inside of the drawer (at my request) and he has not had time to put the clear coat on it yet. Because we live in Saskatchewan and our garage is not heated, it was moved in and is in use until next summer when he can put it back in the garage and finish it for me.

This picture shows the entire unit.


This one shows that the drawers are fully expendable on sliders, ease of access when cleaning or getting the snake.


This picture shows the gigantic storage drawer at the bottom, it is approx 3.5' wide, approx 1' tall and approx 2' deep.


He has only been at this job for a few weeks so I think he would still be to uncomfortable to ask for the ability to use shop tools and spare time to do a project of his own. Maybe in the future.

Hope you do not mind me showing you what he did for me on his own, he even drafted up all of the plans based on what I described I wanted.

Very nice! Keep an eye on the screws holding the drawer slides to the sides of the cabinet. With a heavy load like that tank, they may loosen and work their way out over time, especially if they're screwed into plywood or particle board/MDF. If they do start to loosen, you can strengthen the screw hole by removing the screw and putting some thin CA glue in the hole, then re-inserting the screw.

@ rexracer That cage unit looks pretty sweet so far. Look forward to seeing the finished product.

@ Asbit Wow! Your son did an amazing job. How are you liking it? Ours is holding up pretty good. One of the drawers is a little stiff, but still working after a years' use.

Rexracer that is going to be awesome cage and Asbit , your is just awesome !!
Maybe I will make something one day .