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Here are some pics of the new cages we've been working on. They are in our living room and I find myself watching the snakes more than the TV now.

We knew cleaning the bottom cages would be a pain with the drop down doors, so we built brackets instead of using hinges on the bottom cages. This way we can lift the doors out of the way.

We put ventalation holes half way up the back on one side and in the top of the door glass on the other side to have good cross ventalation, thanks Mikie for that idea.

We used LED rope light mounted in the ceiling. We routed a groove 5/16 inch deep and 1/2 inch wide for the 1/2 inch rope light. It fits snug, but we still used some silicon to make sure it doesn't fall out. We tried using the incandescent rope light, but it heated the cages up too much, even on a dimmer.

The whole thing is heated using flexwatt. We routed a recess in the bottom of the floor about 3/8 inch deep. Then reinforced the floor with 3/4 inch square steel and used reflectix to keep from heating the cage below.

We used 2 Herpstat Pro's and 1 Herpstat II to control the heat. One Herpstat Pro controls all the hot spots and the other one controls all the ambient heat. The Herpstat II controls the top row of cages, hot spot and ambient. We also put the components for the TV on drawer slides so we could easily get to the back of them.

This took several months to complete, but was worth it in the end.
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Randy and Michelle
Art In Scales
(719) 439-4199
info@artinscales.com

Very cool
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0.2 Rotts
1.0 Super Tiger (Dash)
1.0 Amel Retic (Mahola)
0.1 Ball Python (Cyeanne)
0.1 Red Tail (Memphis)
1.0 Coral Sun Glow Boa (Rodman)
0.1 Blood Python (Danica)
1.0 Green Ananconda (Prefontain)
1.0 Emerald Tree Boa (Bing Bong)

That setup looks fabulous, and a sleeping snake is definitely more interesting than most of what you can see on TV nowadays.
Just one question: If say, there was a problem with the light rope on one of the bottom cages, would you have to dismantle the whole unit, or could it come apart in smaller sections?

Vinny

There is a connector between the cord and the rope light. You can see it in the rope light pic and in the ventilation pic. If anything happens to the rope light I can replace it at the connector.
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Randy and Michelle
Art In Scales
(719) 439-4199
info@artinscales.com

just curious as to what you used to seal the floor? Thanks,

Kelly

Thanks Kelly, I glued maple laminate to the plywood floor then caulked the edges after we built the cage.
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Randy and Michelle
Art In Scales
(719) 439-4199
info@artinscales.com

Great Setup guys! Plus it gives you something else to look at on the commercials. You can't go wrong with the herpstat pros either.

Hope things are going well for you guys this breeding season!!!

Take care,
Ben

Thanks Ben. Commercials aren't a problem, we have TiVo. Haha
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Randy and Michelle
Art In Scales
(719) 439-4199
info@artinscales.com

It turned out really nice, Randy. You should be proud of it. Excellent craftsmanship!

What gets me is you moved your snakes (or at least, some of them) from another room into your living room while I had to move mine from my living room to another room.

I really like the idea of the lift-out bottom doors.

Stand up & take a bow - A job well done.

Later tater!
Mike
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Due to political correctness run amuck,
this ol' hillbilly is now referred to as an:
Appalachian American

www.natures-signature.com

Thanks Mikie, you and I spent a lot of hours discussing this. It's good to finally see it completed.
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Randy and Michelle
Art In Scales
(719) 439-4199
info@artinscales.com

maybe if I copy his idea I can keep herps in my living/party room? I like...only problem is I have a huge TV (50" so I don't know about working it into that...but damn...I WANT!

Do you worry about the low frequencies from your entertainment system bothering the reptiles?

The speakers are sitting on 2 inches of foam. The snakes don't seem to notice, but we haven't been jamming either.
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Randy and Michelle
Art In Scales
(719) 439-4199
info@artinscales.com

Very very nice. Is there any chance of getting the plans for this? I would love to build something like this for my collection. The wife wants me to build an entertainment center and this would work great. If you dont have plans could you send more pics and more details on how you wired everything. Oh and I love the rope light idea.
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Dragonmwt

Normal Burmese Python
Albino Burmese Python
Granite Burmese Python
Labyrinth Burmese Python
Red Tail Boa
Ball Python
Speckled Caiman