Naturalistic Vivarium Build (Picture Heavy)

[DragonGuide]

Hello again, as promised in my introduction thread, I am going to show everyone our new snake tank. We have been working on it for the past 3 weeks, and are pleased with our progress. We wanted to go with a naturalist theme for the tank, and I think we pulled it off well.
The dimensions for the tank are 48" L x 18" D x 21" H and I believe is a 75g.
We are using Eco-Earth as the substrate, I know aspen is the preferred bedding material, however I happen to be allergic to the dust in the aspen and due to the amount we needed to put in this tank it was not an option.
Now to the pictures!

After the initial cleaning and set up.

Setting in the main decorations for sizing and getting a general idea for the setup.

Adding the Eco-earth after re-hydrating two bricks and letting them sit in the sun for 3 days.

Beginning grouting of the fake rock background.

After painting, waiting for the sealant to dry.

A close up of the paint and texture of the fake rock.

Adding the fake rock wall to the tank.

Adding the foliage to the nearly complete tank.

Highlight of the tank!

Thank you for viewing!

 

[hypnoctopus]

Wow, that's a really awesome tank! Are you getting a baby corn or an adult?

 

[DragonGuide]

Currently we are looking for a sub adult or an older "baby". The tank is quite large and I'd hate to stress out a hatchling by having so much space.

 

[diamondlil]

Lovely set up!

 

[hypnoctopus]

Currently we are looking for a sub adult or an older "baby". The tank is quite large and I'd hate to stress out a hatchling by having so much space.

That's definitely a good idea. And you'll never have to get a bigger tank!

 

[Zombiegirl]

ooooOOOOOOOooooo love this!!!! thanks for sharing

 

[AliCat37]

That is quite fantastic!! I wish I was skilled enough to make such neat backgrounds
Your new baby will love that!

 

[Nanci]

Really cool!!

 

[nocturnalheaven]

I love it! You have talent!

 

[DragonGuide]

Thank you all for the complements! Just a little while ago the boyfriend and I started to play with the greenery and decided the tank was just missing something. I think we figured out what....

What is a naturalist Viv without a skull? Haha.

We even decided to hollow out the inside of the nasal cavity, so there is no chance of the snake getting stuck. I worried briefly about the hole into the brain cavity where the spine attached, however with a little creative use of a cork, the hole is no longer accessible.

 

[AliCat37]

Fantastic! I love putting bones in my cages
I had a whole rib cage in one for a while. That looks really cool!

 

[visceralrepulsion]

Looks awesome! My snakes enclosures look so desolate in comparison. Makes me feel bad now. Can't wait to get this build for my Colombian BCI done hopefully sooner than later, And add some decor to his and one of the others' homes' =]. But for all the decorating and planning I do, I've yet to see any of them actually use their accessories! Ughhhh.

 

[Lycari]

Oooooh, dream viv! o.o I love it! XD

 

[Sacred_Nightmares]

That's awesome!! Cleaning might suck. When I take decorations out of their cages, that is the only time I spill aspen all over. But major kudos, this is incredible! I love the wood and how clean it looks

 

[Lineman_dh]

What are u using for the toplid im building a viv and havn alil problem making something good and nice l

 

[DragonGuide]

Hey guys! Thanks for all the replies, let's hope the new snake likes it as much as you all. If all goes to plan, we should be getting a yearling Miami soon. It's so exciting!

Lineman_dh we built the top ourselves out of 1-1/2 x 3/4 inch boards and about 6$ worth of No-See-Um netting. We measured the tank and cut the long front and back pieces to be the exact length of the tank, then the side pieces were cut to 3/4" over on each side to connect evenly with the long pieces. We nailed them together with 1-1/2" finishing nails making the first half of the frame for the lid. We then made it into an upside down L shape by adding 4 more pieces on the top of the frame, making a lip to catch the top of the tank.

After that was finished, we made 2 "doors" that each covered half of the lid frame, however our nails weren't long enough to hold them together, so we pre-drilled holes for some 3" screws. Then we used a staple gun to attach 2 layers of the mesh to the bottoms of the doors. The two layers makes the netting strong enough to hold the weight of a full grown Maine coon cat. (We don't encourage her to get up there, but since we do have two cats we made it more than strong enough just in case.) As a last step we added 4 hinges to the back of the frame and attached the doors.

We could go ahead now and add some locks to the front, but I think for now we are just going to use the old fashioned method of stacking things on it, we have some driftwood we didn't use inside the tank so we will be placing it there.

Here are a few pictures of it now that it is finished. If you want to ask anything more about it feel free.

 

[Lineman_dh]

Thanks tank looks great and great touch with the deer skull!!

 

[electronfusion@gmail]

Impressive tank! I'm sure your corn will love it.

 

[ceduke]

What a beautiful viv! Post pics of your snake in it when you ger him/her please!

 

[DragonGuide]

He's Here!

So our new snake came in on Wednesday, and we gave him until today to settle in and get used to his new home. He's been coming out and roaming the past two nights, so we decided to get some pictures!

Meet Jörm, short for Jörmungandr our little world snake. I'd like to say thank you to Carol for letting us purchase him from her and for just being awesome with the entire transaction. He's a yearling Miami 66% poss Cinder from her famous zombie lines. (Please excuse the glare from the flash, the tank didn't want to cooperate with me on these.)

And this is the picture Carol sent us when we asked about him.