Reptile & Amphibian Forums

hey everyone for my 20th birhday( it was yeserday the 10th) i am getting a custom tank built from scratch (present from my parents). most likey its gonna be made from wood. we have the dimentions (8ft x 2-3ft X 2-3 ft) and all that, but i was wondering if their is anything i need to keep in mind when building a tank. i know ventilation is important, as well as lighting (obviously). however what should i keep in mind when building a tank, such as materials. what kind of paint should i use? any pointers would be great such as the structure of the tank. it seems easy to build, but i realized that it is more complex than i realized!! I have to keep the reptiles in mind when i do it!!
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Guy LoPresti
2.2 collared lizards (Lizzy,Stevie 2,Ike,Adrien)
1.1 firebelly toads
1 baby emperor scorpion (ceasar "caligula" )
( if you know what caligula means you'll get it)
4 dogs (groucho charles bugs Gracie)

First things first... CONGRATULATIONS on reaching ur 20th birthday. I've built a number of large custom cages and the first thing u want to keep in ur mind is making it USER friendly... ergonomics. U want easy access to the occupants, the interior of the enclosure (for feeding and cleaning) and to the hardware (lighting, heating etc...). I would recommend front opening sliding glass doors with a litter dam (a 3-5" vertical piece so that the litter doesn't come pouring out the front of ur cage)

Second, what r the environmental requirements of the occupants (high or low humidity, temps etc..). I've found that 5/8" or 3/4" plywood (8'x4') works best (melamine doesn't hold up to the rigors of an enclosure). U'll have to have PLENTY of ventilation because plywood retains heat VERY WELL).

Don't make the cage TOO wide... standard door ways are no wider than 33". Unless u r gonna build it in the room it will be occupying LOL. Also u will have to factor in the cleaning of it. 8' feet long... don't think u'll be taking it to the sink to wash out (LOL). So if u don't have a wet/dry vacuum, put a bulkhead fitting (with a valve) on the back or side at the bottom so the water will go where u want (instead of all over the floor). Hope I helped u. Good luck... get back to me if u have anymore questions.

hey thanks alot the idea we had was we would build it in two seperate peices, so that it was easy for transport. for some reason i dont like the front opening access, but perhaps i should consider it. i realized that either i would be opening it from the sides, which gives me limited access the top, or from the rear. i like the rear, because its like a zoo enclosure.thats a little bit more of what im aiming for.whenever i go to the zoo, i always pay attention to enclosures and how they are built. i was thinking of using linoleum for a base to keep it clean? would that work? in terms of cleaning i hadent thought about that. i guess i could use a shop vac when cleaning it, but i also wanted to have live plans and stuff in there. more "creature comforts" so to speak. i dont have to many questions now, but im sure i will as the project goes along!!. thanks for your help. ohh what about a hard wood as a building material such as oak? and cant i use a paint will weather proof the wood, but is safe for the reptiles? im it exists i just dont know what im refering too!!
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Guy LoPresti
2.2 collared lizards (Lizzy,Stevie 2,Ike,Adrien)
1.1 firebelly toads
1 baby emperor scorpion (ceasar "caligula" )
( if you know what caligula means you'll get it)
4 dogs (groucho charles bugs Gracie)

I know what u mean when want it to be more like a zoo enclosure (opening from the back BUT, most zoo's reptile displays have corridors on the other side of the glass. I volunteered at the Bronx Zoo (NY) and the have corridors with floor drains for all the messes. Take my word for it, front opening... not what u want but the easiest and best overall. With the floor, u could try acrylic tile grout and adhesive for a stone look (and its water tight). I'm looking into it for backgrounds (gotta get more info though).

Mine is made of wood with a Formica bottom. It has sliding glass doors in the front. I wish they had been placed a bit higher because the lizards are always getting sand in the track. I think access from the top would be difficult for me.

The back and sides are "tiled" with rocks -- thin shale that was put in place with ceramic tile glue. After a very good airing out, sand based grout was used to fill in between the rocks. The lizards can climb the walls and it gives them more living space. It has a trap door in the bottom (leading into the cabinet underneath it) to pass wires through. After I have all the wired things in, I duct tape wires to the Formica floor and seal the edges of the trap door with tape. It is easy to remove the glass and shovel out the sand when I want to clean it. I have never been able to keep live plants because the lizards always dig them up.

I would suggest building a shelf a few inches higher than the floor for their water dish, or for a place to drip water. When I have a water dish on or near the floor it becomes filled with sand immediately.

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Valerie Rae

We may have all come on different ships, but we're in the same boat now.
--Martin Luther King, Jr.--

God bless the USA

What I would do Collared is to search the internet and this website for people that make custom cages and see how they do and what materials they use.

I purchased a new cage about two months ago with access from the front and top. It is a whole lot easier feeding, watering, and cleaning to have front side access. Though as a precaution I would transfer your lizards into a critter keeper or smaller tank while cleaning the custom cage out. I had both Bugsy and Bonnie decide to jump out and on the floor with the cats nearby luckily no lizards losses were incurred but it did teach me a lesson.

If you are going 8ft I would recommend at least two screened over access panels on the bottom of the cage with catch buckets beneath them.

Can u post a pic of this? sounds cool.

and HAPPY BIRTHDAY collaredsguy. I'm 20 also!

Here is our terrarium. The second photo shows the floor and the door covering the holes used to pass cords through.

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Valerie Rae

We may have all come on different ships, but we're in the same boat now.
--Martin Luther King, Jr.--

God bless the USA

the big box on top, is that for the lighting/heating fixtures? cuz ive been debating whether to put my lightining inside the tank, outside, or like you have it. how does that ventilate? and i cant remeber from your previous posts, but how do you access the lizards? is it from the front?
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Guy LoPresti
2.2 collared lizards (Lizzy,Stevie 2,Ike,Adrien)
1.1 firebelly toads
1 baby emperor scorpion (ceasar "caligula" )
( if you know what caligula means you'll get it)
4 dogs (groucho charles bugs Gracie)

The terrarium is about 4x2x2. The box on top is a removable screened lid. It was built big like that to help hide the lights. There is a lip around the edge to support the fluorescent light fixture, and the lighter basking lamps just sit on the screen. A lot of the screen is covered by the lights, but there is still some left uncovered for ventilation. We don't take the lid off except for cleaning. The glass doors on the front slide open and that is how we access it daily.

For lighting we use two 4 foot Reptisun 10.0 fluorescent bulbs in a regular fluorescent fixture that would normally hang from a ceiling, like in a shop or garage. We have not looked into MVB. I bought a lot of the 10.0 bulbs a while back at an online place that was closing. They do a great job, so we will use them up. And there are 3 DayGlo bulbs of varied wattage in the basking lamps. We heat from the bottom, using thermostatically controlled Flex Watt heat tape (only on about half the floor) and there are also a couple of heat rocks.

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Valerie Rae

We may have all come on different ships, but we're in the same boat now.
--Martin Luther King, Jr.--

God bless the USA

So you could use MVBs on it! Cool. I don't think that I've seen a custom enclosure with a screen top. Did yall build it yourselves or where did you get it?

It was home-made to fit the stand for a big aqaurium that got broken during a move. I found the shale while driving around out in the boonies one day.
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Valerie Rae

We may have all come on different ships, but we're in the same boat now.
--Martin Luther King, Jr.--

God bless the USA

Did you do anything special after building the rock wall? I mean as far as letting it air out, or did you bake it after you sealed it? And what did you use to seal it?

We washed the rocks before sticking them to the wall with ceramic tile glue. Then we let it air out for a few days before filling in with sand based grout. We didn't seal it at all.
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Valerie Rae

We may have all come on different ships, but we're in the same boat now.
--Martin Luther King, Jr.--

God bless the USA

>>ive been debating whether to put my lightining inside the tank, outside, or like you have it.

If you decide to put it inside, just remember how well these guys jump - make sure any lighting has a protective screening around it so no lizards get cooked. And make sure the screen is wide enough to allow sufficient UVB to pass through (1/4" hardware cloth is good).
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Torey
Eugene, Oregon, USA
1.1 Saharan Uros (Joe and Arthur)
3.0 Mali Uros (Spike, Turtle, and Tank)
1.1 Ornate Uros (Scuttlebutt and Shazzbot)
0.1 Collared Lizard (Rorschach)
2.0 Green Anoles (Bowser and Sprocket)
1.1 Chubby Housecats (Roscolux and Jenny)

That is a very nice viv! What kind of UVB are you using? Is the ceiling high enough for a MVB? The one thing about custom vivs that I always have a probelm with is how to integrate my MVBs.

How weird! My post shows up as part of the whole thread, but not on the main page!

Anyway, Valerie, in case you can't see my post, what kind of UVB do you use. That viv is really nice looking.

I answered your questions in a post above this one.
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Valerie Rae

We may have all come on different ships, but we're in the same boat now.
--Martin Luther King, Jr.--

God bless the USA

:0) LOVE IT Valerie
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PHEve / Eve

As far as getting sand in the water dish, I have also gone through this problem so many times. What worked for me was building a ledge of some sort as part of the background, and putting the waterdish underneath it. This creates just enough space for her to get into and out of it, but she doesn't jump into it and jump out of it and get sand everywhere. Solved my sand problems!

hey val...jim k here dear..........

hey.i have the same problem with the samd in the door tracks. i simply turned the tank around and put the doors on the back side now. i covered the tracks with clear mailing tape. you can't hardly see the tape and the tracks stay clear.
also, i came home one evening and one of my smaller females worked herself into getting stuck between the sliding glass doors. never realized they could fit into such a small opening. another good reason to tape off the tracks...........

Hope it was a very happy one, and that you have a ZILLON more to come, lol

**************** HAPPY BIRTHDAY GUY *****************
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PHEve / Eve