Reptile & Amphibian Forums

The top enclosure houses 1.0 Honduran Milksnake
Followed by 0.0.1 Argentine Black and White Tegu
Followed by 0.1 Desert Kingsnakes
Followed by 1.0 Bearded Dragons

Give me some feedback and or ideas for my next setup, this one took 1 1/2 days to build, it is solid white-washed oak.

Thanks for your time,
Ralph

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0.0.1 Argentine Black and White Tegu
2.1 Bearded Dragon
0.0.5 Hatchling Bearded Dragons
1.1 Honduran Milksnake
1.0 Florida Brooksi Kingsnake
1.0 Blood Red Cornsnake
1.0 Jungle Carpet Python
0.1 Desert Kingsnake
1.0 Western Hognose Snake
1.0 Bull Mastiff

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0.0.1 Argentine Black and White Tegu
2.1 Bearded Dragon
0.0.5 Hatchling Bearded Dragons
1.1 Honduran Milksnake
1.0 Florida Brooksi Kingsnake
1.0 Blood Red Cornsnake
1.0 Jungle Carpet Python
0.1 Desert Kingsnake
1.0 Western Hognose Snake
1.0 Bull Mastiff

greetings

the company helix makes VERY good thermostats which can initially accomodate 500watts. i believe they can be used with lights as the heat source. they have came highly recommended to me by other green tree python keepers and im getting one in about a month. they are proportional which means they dont merely go on and shut off but instead fluxuate the ammount of power sent to the unit. they are relativily inexpensive costing about $130.00. you can also buy an additional component to add to the wattage. you would need another light source because when the temp was met the lights will stay off. a single compact fluorescent would light that entire four unit structure if placed in front and aimed at it.
www.helixcontrols.com
www.pro-products.com
www.herpsupplies.com

steve

Thanks for the tips and advice, Much appreciated!!! I will be going through those sites and doing more research on those t-stats..the helix brand looks really good, I Think I am going to make my next enclosure out of oak, with glass shelving so as I can use heat-tape to heat the terrariums rather than lights...

Thanks again,
Ralph
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0.0.1 Argentine Black and White Tegu
2.1 Bearded Dragon
0.0.5 Hatchling Bearded Dragons
1.1 Honduran Milksnake
1.0 Florida Brooksi Kingsnake
1.0 Blood Red Cornsnake
1.0 Jungle Carpet Python
0.1 Desert Kingsnake
1.0 Western Hognose Snake
1.0 Bull Mastiff

I'd look into radiant heat panels, specifically those made by Pro Products... Supposed to be very efficient and they take up much less space than a light. The folks over at Pro Products are very helpful. They'll explain what you need in terms of panels and thermostats/rheostats. I know a guy with lots of big-ticket pythons that uses their panels combined with rheostats. GCS makes a nice multi-cage proportional thermostat. IIRC, it works out to about $65/cage for four cages...

That looks great. Hell if you lived near me I would pay you to make one..

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0.0.1 Argentine Black and White Tegu
2.1 Bearded Dragon
0.0.5 Hatchling Bearded Dragons
1.1 Honduran Milksnake
1.0 Florida Brooksi Kingsnake
1.0 Blood Red Cornsnake
1.0 Jungle Carpet Python
0.1 Desert Kingsnake
1.0 Western Hognose Snake
1.0 Bull Mastiff

It looks like those are glass doors, but I see screws through the frames. What are the frames made of? Are the doors glass or acrylic? Thanks.

Hey Mark,

They really do look like glass in that pic, huh? I wish they were glass, it would make it more asthetically pleasing, actually the doors are screen,it just looks glass from the view.

What we did was buy some screen track and then cut it to fit our needs, and then just put screen around them. It was a bit annoying to build a screen that was so long and thin without having very wrinkly screen, it took a few times to get it to look good, but after you get the hang of doing such small screens, its no problem.

To attach the screens to the cage itself, they hinges are screwed into the frame of the terrarium, and then to attach the screen to the hinges we "pop" riveted the screen tracking and the hinge together, as it was too small for screws.

Thank you for your interest and compliments and let me know if you have any more questions!!

Ralph

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0.0.1 Argentine Black and White Tegu
2.1 Bearded Dragon
0.0.5 Hatchling Bearded Dragons
1.1 Honduran Milksnake
1.0 Florida Brooksi Kingsnake
1.0 Blood Red Cornsnake
1.0 Jungle Carpet Python
0.1 Desert Kingsnake
1.0 Western Hognose Snake
1.0 Bull Mastiff

Here I thought you came up with some amazing way to frame glass!! Oh well, still beautiful work you did there. Now that I think about it, having the vent in the door also function as the window - not a bad idea.

wow its nice.Can you give the bearded more light tho liike flouresecent to?For the snakes its fantastc.
Bianca

Awesome design! I like the enclosed lighting method; next time use a material that will allow the heat from your light to penetrate into the cage adjacent (radiant heat from the reflector lamp), as it is that heat is lost in the wood. Maybe peg board or even hardware cloth instead. One major downside... if that is regular window screen, your tegu is going to destroy it. 1/8" hardware cloth I hope...
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Zoodude

1.1 Acrantophis dumerli
0.0.1 Morelia veridis
0.2 Bogertophis subocularis
1.0 Pogona henrylawsoni
0.1 Geochelone carbonaria
3.2.1 Phelsuma laticaudal laticauda
1.2.0 Morelia spilota mcdowelli

Hey,

Thanks for the compliments, yeah that is regular window screen, and yeah he IS going to destroy it, lol...I am building another wall unit to house him and other species and I will be using "Pet screen" sold by home depot, if my 130lb bull mastiff can't break through it, I don't think the Tegu will be able to either, this stuff is highly recommended!

Again,
Thanks.
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0.0.1 Argentine Black and White Tegu
0.0.1 Baby Aru Green Tree Python (Awaiting arrival
2.1 Bearded Dragon
0.0.4 Hatchling Bearded Dragons
1.1 Honduran Milksnake
1.0 Florida Brooksi Kingsnake
1.0 Blood Red Cornsnake
1.0 Jungle Carpet Python
0.1 Desert Kingsnake
1.0 Western Hognose Snake
1.0 Bull Mastiff

You need much more light for the bearded dragon's cage, and the bearded and the tegu both need UV lighting (can't see if you have it or not in the pic, but it doesn't look like it).

later