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My enclosures in Progress.

lumene

lumene

rebuilding my life
Well, it's been almost a year for me and my scaley children since we decided they needed a permanent setup that I could clean easily as I cannot do heavy or awkward lifting as required by aquariums and tubs.

Last October, I got in contact with a few people on my island who could build what I was looking for. And I stumbled upon a specialized enclosure builder purely by accident!
I know I could have gotten a faster, and cheaper deal from my friend- but I've been holding out to see what John would produce for me.
I stopped hearing from him in December, after I vetoed a pair of booshelves that I didn't think were wide enough for my largest girl- he popped up in March though with the perfect soloution!

Before:

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Now: In Progress.

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Okay, so Photobucket was being an ass... free service these days...

These are pine wardrobes (freeee!). Yes, Pine is not ideal for snakes- but these will be be painted/water proofed interiors. He's only working on the lighter one at this time.

Dimensions approx 3ftx2ft.

Xenon cabinet pucklights, 20 watt, 12 volt- 120 watts total.

Still no date for completion. But I'm liking what I see! :D
 
Thanks Stray!
I can't wait to have them here with all my babies moved in! Going to be totally worth the price tag. I don't mind the tubs I have now, but I will be so happy to rid myself of lifting anything heavier than waterdishes! :)
 
Wow what an awesome Idea! Maybe my husband will let me convert our wardrobe .......... I love these! And it gives me much more room for more snakes than our one glass tank ...!

Now I've seen a lot of other non-tub or -glass enclosures here, and I haven't thought about asking before, but how do you heat these?
 
Hey how hot do those lights get? I know that Xenon bulbs can get hot. Looks great. That will look great in a living room and will scare the guest when they think its the tv cabinet lol.
 
I had purchased a set of similar lights for my monitor's setup just as a source of light. Didn't need UV etc. I found that they got incredibly warm while not even attached to anything. Needless to say I felt very insecure about leaving them on 12 hours a day and doing so while the house was unattended.

They may have been a different bulb and what not inside but I'd check that out. Then again - I'm nervous about anything electrical running while I'm away.

I like the idea - the pine would look fantastic as a critter setup if it's sealed with a natural semi-transparent sealer. Gives it a darker yellowy look, similar to dried bamboo.

Edit: I just found the set I had bought. They're all 12v 20w so you might want to leave them on for a few minutes and test out the temperature.
 
Hey Guys,

Just wante to let you all know- this is a test setup- will be mantained on a thermostat. And I am home, all day every day to maintain it.

These bulbs will not be as hot as halogens. As far as I know we are Not using heatpads/tape at this time as we want to try a more natural heating source.

These enclosures are beeing built by a Journeyman Zoo Keeper- I think the man knows what he's about!
My babies' new apartments are in fine hands. :)


Stefanie said:
Wow what an awesome Idea! Maybe my husband will let me convert our wardrobe .......... I love these! And it gives me much more room for more snakes than our one glass tank ...!

Now I've seen a lot of other non-tub or -glass enclosures here, and I haven't thought about asking before, but how do you heat these?
Click to expand...

I don't know yet, I suppose you could put heat tape, or a heat pad under a sheet of glass. But I will let you know how it goes!

exar15xe said:
Hey how hot do those lights get? I know that Xenon bulbs can get hot. Looks great. That will look great in a living room and will scare the guest when they think its the tv cabinet lol.
Click to expand...

I don't know yet, we're still in the test phase. He said that the bulbs are 20watts.
Also, I'm probably removing the doors once the setups are in my apartment for complete display. I'll just put them back on before inspections. :)
 
If you intend on keeping the cabinet lights you may not even need a heat source during the day.

I just did a little temp test and after 5 minutes of operation the surface temperature of the lens cover exceeded 310F. Surface reading I got from a piece of select pine at about 2 feet gave me 98ish at the 5 minute mark. The saving factor with these is that most, if not all of the heat generate is pushed out the front(bottom) and generally does not harm whatever surface it is attached to.

Like I said - I was going to instal these in my monitor's vivarium but decided against it. Too much heat for the time I wanted these guys to be turned on for. They would be ok if - like you said - you remove the doors and don't use them as a primary source of light. Having these on for over an hour with a reptile that can touch the surface would invite trouble.
 
Now I've seen a lot of other non-tub or -glass enclosures here, and I haven't thought about asking before, but how do you heat these?
Click to expand...

I made my snake enclosure out of melamine with glass bottoms so I could just use the exo-terra heat mats. I am trying to draw up some plans for another one but this one will be all melamine so I can try out heat tape. Glass is really expensive and added $180 onto the cost of my previous build >.<
 
rosewood said:
I made my snake enclosure out of melamine with glass bottoms so I could just use the exo-terra heat mats. I am trying to draw up some plans for another one but this one will be all melamine so I can try out heat tape. Glass is really expensive and added $180 onto the cost of my previous build >.<
Click to expand...

Unfortunately, I have had an experience with a glass bottomed enclosure that cracked from the heat pad while the snake was living inside (previous owner didn't know what a rheostat was! I coulda choked him). The first thing I did when I found out was buy her a huge tub instead!

Let me know when those babies of yours hatch, rosewood. Might be wanting to pick up one or two besides free baby, lol.

Putty said:
If you intend on keeping the cabinet lights you may not even need a heat source during the day.

I just did a little temp test and after 5 minutes of operation the surface temperature of the lens cover exceeded 310F. Surface reading I got from a piece of select pine at about 2 feet gave me 98ish at the 5 minute mark. The saving factor with these is that most, if not all of the heat generate is pushed out the front(bottom) and generally does not harm whatever surface it is attached to.

Like I said - I was going to instal these in my monitor's vivarium but decided against it. Too much heat for the time I wanted these guys to be turned on for. They would be ok if - like you said - you remove the doors and don't use them as a primary source of light. Having these on for over an hour with a reptile that can touch the surface would invite trouble.
Click to expand...

I will bring this up with him in today's email. He did mention putting a piece of slate beneath the aspen to absorb and release the heat for nighttime temperatures. There is also mention in his emails of adding air circulation. I will go back and read them to clarifiy, but I believe he's going to put a small fan in the enclosures- barred from the snakes of course!


**Please Keep in Mind that this is only Testing**

I'm not going to pop anyone in these enclosures until we are 100% sure that we can stabilize temperatures. They most likely will not be ready for use until October, after we have tested all hazard precautions and anything else we can think of.
 
lumene said:
I will bring this up with him in today's email. He did mention putting a piece of slate beneath the aspen to absorb and release the heat for nighttime temperatures. There is also mention in his emails of adding air circulation. I will go back and read them to clarifiy, but I believe he's going to put a small fan in the enclosures- barred from the snakes of course!
Click to expand...

Yeah I was thinking a small 120mm computer fan within each enclosure or something could circulate a lot of air.
 
Yes,
Don't worry- my pets get the best, sometimes obsessive care. When I found out they were pine my response was "We're going to need pant, lots of it." :)
 
Putty said:
Yeah I was thinking a small 120mm computer fan within each enclosure or something could circulate a lot of air.
Click to expand...

Hi Putty,
So I heard back from my builder. And he has only installed one fan for all six enclosures- there's a fake wall where air will be drawn into by the one fan.

Also- he is having trouble keeping the bulbs at a warm enough temperature. Might be because he is working on this outside... but oh well- I will keep you updated.
 
Those are very nice! I don't have room for anything like that really. I already ave some stacking cages so the easiest thing would be more just like what I have. If I get one or 2 more, they will be from the same vendor and they will be able to run on the same thermostat.

David - I remember you telling me that. I have hides, lots of aspen to burrow in, a grapevine branch with 6' of reptavine throughout the tank for them to hide in/under. I hope they are ok in this setup. It was my best option to get and give the snakes room to grow and they should last a long time.

So, just out of curiosity - a wild baby corn would do what? sleep all day in a safe place and go hunting at night? They would be in open environments then. My setup has plenty of secure places, especially hiding under the aspen, they can even hide in the vines. I've gone to pull vines out to find snakes only to find them in the vine.
 
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