Reptile & Amphibian Forums

I am thinking of going down to home depot and buying two book cases they have there....4 shelves high...$30 each and putting them together. I just wont put the back on the center one so it will create 4 tanks, about 3 feet wide (little less) and 2 feet deep. I was wondering now...how is the best way of heating something like this? The shelves are melamine....which is waterproof (until you get to the edges but i'll be running contact paper over all of this, esp the joints). I am planning on staying with astroturf for my substrate but if someone can give me really good reasons to go to wood bedding i will...astroturf is just really easy to clean and i dont have to worry about injestion or anything. Can I just get a dimmer and put the heat pad under the astroturf? How do most people do heating in their tanks? I've looked through posts but cant find any ideas that fit my need. Thanks!
-Chris
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The reason mainstream thought is thought of as a stream is because it's so shallow. -George Carlin

Battling ignorance one stupid person at a time.

Current snakes:
0.1 Licorice Stick Black Rat(Lola)
1.0 Neonate Black Rat (het for Lic Stk's) (Frankie)
1.1 Texas Bairds ("Bill" and "The Bride aka Beatrix Kiddo" )

Just yesterday I stumbled across a website outling a conversion like you mentioned. Unfortunately I dumped my cache, cookies, etc. this AM and no longer have it on my computer. I think I sent it to a friend so I'll see if he can send it back.

Regardless, heating won't be difficult at all.

I would use Ultratherm heat pads and laminate some plastic over it. As always, I really like expanded PVC.

You could route a section of the floor out and mount the Ultratherm from underneath.

Let me see if I can find that link.
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1.1 Gonyosoma oxycephala - (Silver/Yellow)

3.4 Gonyosoma oxycephala - (Green)

2.1 Gonyosoma janseni - (Black)

Actually I'm not sure this will be as helpful as I thought.

Image

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1.1 Gonyosoma oxycephala - (Silver/Yellow)

3.4 Gonyosoma oxycephala - (Green)

2.1 Gonyosoma janseni - (Black)

Is there any difference between an ultratherm heat pad and say any other brand there is out there? just one that's worked well for you? And I want this to cover approx. 1/3rd of the floor, right?
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The reason mainstream thought is thought of as a stream is because it's so shallow. -George Carlin

Battling ignorance one stupid person at a time.

Current snakes:
0.1 Licorice Stick Black Rat(Lola)
1.0 Neonate Black Rat (het for Lic Stk's) (Frankie)
1.1 Texas Bairds ("Bill" and "The Bride aka Beatrix Kiddo" )

I do believe Ultratherm is the same product as one of the other available heat pads. I'm pretty sure it's not the Zoo Med product so I'd guess either Cobra or Exo Terra is the same. Honestly, the reason I like the Ultratherms is that I can order them from The Bean Farm - one of my favorite herp supply companies. Great guys, great service, and have been so for years.

Regardless, the Ultratherm and it's equivalent is supposedly better sealed from the elements and less likely to overheat.

How much of the floor to cover can depend on several factors. 1/3 is probably a good guess.

Also, this may not be the best approach if your room get's cold during the winter and you're not brumating your snakes.
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1.1 Gonyosoma oxycephala - (Silver/Yellow)

3.4 Gonyosoma oxycephala - (Green)

2.1 Gonyosoma janseni - (Black)

My room actually gets a little warmer in the wintertime...it's a loft bedroom over the living room so all the heat from the vents comes right up into my room...its pretty miserable. I try to keep my room around 80 year round, however. Would maybe constructing a blacklight fixture up in here be a better idea..make a little box with some screen over it so they dont burn themselves? I'm just afraid since it's not going to be huge as it is that would take away from too much space.
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The reason mainstream thought is thought of as a stream is because it's so shallow. -George Carlin

Battling ignorance one stupid person at a time.

Current snakes:
0.1 Licorice Stick Black Rat(Lola)
1.0 Neonate Black Rat (het for Lic Stk's) (Frankie)
1.1 Texas Bairds ("Bill" and "The Bride aka Beatrix Kiddo" )

Heating the cage with a low wattage light fixture would probably be your cheapest option. I do think it's worth either building a bulb guard or investing in one.

I don't recall which herp supply company it is that markets a bulb guard.
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1.1 Gonyosoma oxycephala - (Silver/Yellow)

3.4 Gonyosoma oxycephala - (Green)

2.1 Gonyosoma janseni - (Black)

I could devise a way to make the black lights work...would I need to cut holes in the sides to let the extra heat escape? and since its stacked would one bulb heat the one below and the one above it?
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The reason mainstream thought is thought of as a stream is because it's so shallow. -George Carlin

Battling ignorance one stupid person at a time.

Current snakes:
0.1 Licorice Stick Black Rat(Lola)
1.0 Neonate Black Rat (het for Lic Stk's) (Frankie)
1.1 Texas Bairds ("Bill" and "The Bride aka Beatrix Kiddo" )

>>Would I need to cut holes in the sides to let the extra heat escape?

I highly doubt it. The upper cage will be warmer, of course, as the fixture below will provide a bit of "belly heat" to the cage above, but I think this will be minimal.

I assume the shelves are 3/4", vinyl-coated particle board? That will block a lot of heat.
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1.1 Gonyosoma oxycephala - (Silver/Yellow)

3.4 Gonyosoma oxycephala - (Green)

2.1 Gonyosoma janseni - (Black)

I went to home depot tonight looked at the shelving, for a 72" high shelf it's $50...two together plus the trimwork to put the doors on would run me more than buying the melamine coated 3/4" particle board so i'm looking at going with oak and all...I can use 1/2" plywood on something like this...correct?

Thanks. Will post pics when it's done (in about 2 months looking at these prices lol)
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The reason mainstream thought is thought of as a stream is because it's so shallow. -George Carlin

Battling ignorance one stupid person at a time.

Current snakes:
0.1 Licorice Stick Black Rat(Lola)
1.0 Neonate Black Rat (het for Lic Stk's) (Frankie)
1.1 Texas Bairds ("Bill" and "The Bride aka Beatrix Kiddo" )

As for heating with a pad...you could do that. Or buy heat tape of bigapple or something, stick it on there, you do the wiring, get a thermostat, that way the heat tape is cheaper, but ya also gotta buy a thermostat, but then you can control the output temp...

1/2" plywood is a bit harder to work with for the novice. The main problem being getting the screws centered into the 1/2" panels.

But it certainly can be done.

Since 1/2" and 3/4" laminated plywoods are the same cost typically there are other ways to save weight.

Are you set on making a single unit consisting of two or more cages or is making individual, stacking cages a possiblity?

For a one-piece, multi unit cage setup you could use 3/4" plywood for the horizontal pieces of the cage. The sides could be 1/2" and the back could be 1/4" plywood or even 1/8" plywood if Home Depot carries it.

For individual, stacking cages I'd use 3/4" plywood for everything and go with a floor-less design. Simply staple PVCX onto the bottom of each cage.

There's really a lot of factors and it depends on how many cages you need and what size you need.
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1.1 Gonyosoma oxycephala - (Silver/Yellow)

3.4 Gonyosoma oxycephala - (Green)

2.1 Gonyosoma janseni - (Black)

I just talked to my grandfather who
is pretty much a master at all carpantry
things...what we're planning on doing is
buliding 2 cages i'll put side by side.
Each piece will have 2 cages in it. They
will be 2 feet deep, 4 feet tall, and 4 feet
wide, with a divider down the center. I'm
going to make two of them...possibly put them
side by side or i may put them in two different
areas of my room..ill decide that later. I am
going to use 1/4" luan for the back and 3/8" or
1/2" plywood for the floor and the shelf (for
lack of better terms). The 1/4" luan is $9.98
and the 1/8" paneling is $15 or so, so thas
why i'm choosing luan.

On the sliding doors...I was looking at
these tracks
www.rockler.com/ecom7/product_details.cfm?&sku=2275&filter=track&search_handle=DADBDBDJDADADDDGDADEDHGGGEDEGDDBCNDJDHGBDHCNDEDEGBGDCNGBDCDDDACNGBDCGDGFDCGDDEDEDIDHGDGCDADADADBDADADADADFHEHCGBGDGLDADADADEDADADADADADADADBDBDADADADBDADADADDDAEDGFGMGFGCHCGPHDEEGFGGGBHFGMHEFAGFHCHDGPGOGBGMGJHKGBHEGJGPGODADADADADADADADBDADADADADA
and apparently it is nothing more than just
a plastic groove...so I was thinking I could
cut a small groove in the wood and inset the
glass in that groove and it would do ths ame
thing, wouldn't it? Also..has anyone ever used
something like a wooden frame with sliding door
aluminum screen securely stapled to the frame...
that way I wouldn't have to worry about
ventilation. I dont think that they could bust
thru the screen, and if I put staples constantly
in a line theres no way to really get around it.
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The reason mainstream thought is thought of as a stream is because it's so shallow. -George Carlin

Battling ignorance one stupid person at a time.

Current snakes:
0.1 Licorice Stick Black Rat(Lola)
1.0 Neonate Black Rat (het for Lic Stk's) (Frankie)
1.1 Texas Bairds ("Bill" and "The Bride aka Beatrix Kiddo" )

That's great that your grandfather is a skilled cabinet maker. Take the opportunity to learn while this cage is built.

Regarding the glass track, it is a bit more than a groove. The bottom actually has a radius which has a two-fold purpose. First, it reduce the contact area between glass and track. Secondly, it acts to channel away small amounts of substrate, dust, urates (yes, it will get in the track) and whatever else may fall in.

You can still cut your own track with this radius. You'll need to make a two passes per groove with the appropriate bit. Thats a total of 8 passes per cage.

Not difficult with the right blade, a router table, and some patience.

Your grandfather will know what I'm talking about.
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1.1 Gonyosoma oxycephala - (Silver/Yellow)

3.4 Gonyosoma oxycephala - (Green)

2.1 Gonyosoma janseni - (Black)

Yeah, I know what you're talking about. How close do I need to make the two grooves so that my snakes wont escape...or should I make it wide enough so that I can cut a thin slit of 1/4" acrylic and glue to one piece to fill in the space?
-----
The reason mainstream thought is thought of as a stream is because it's so shallow. -George Carlin

Battling ignorance one stupid person at a time.

Current snakes:
0.1 Licorice Stick Black Rat(Lola)
1.0 Neonate Black Rat (het for Lic Stk's) (Frankie)
1.1 Texas Bairds ("Bill" and "The Bride aka Beatrix Kiddo" )

I made a mistake in my previous post. Only the lower track needs the radius.

>>How close do I need to make the two grooves so that my snakes wont escape...or should I make it wide enough so that I can cut a thin slit of 1/4" acrylic and glue to one piece to fill in the space?

Either choice will work. But I'd use glass instead of acrylic for your doors.
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1.1 Gonyosoma oxycephala - (Silver/Yellow)

3.4 Gonyosoma oxycephala - (Green)

2.1 Gonyosoma janseni - (Black)

Im building a 4x2x18" cage for my Rock python. what would be a better way to build a door?

If you're rock python is still small enough to fit in a 4x2 cage you have a lot of choices.

I prefer double sliding doors, always have. Regular 1/4" plate glass with plastic track should work fine.

If you go with a hinged door, I prefer a frameless acrylic door. If you have anymore questions you might start a new thread at the top.

I'm not a big fan of framed and hinged doors. I just don't like the looks.
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1.1 Gonyosoma oxycephala - (Silver/Yellow)

3.4 Gonyosoma oxycephala - (Green)

2.1 Gonyosoma janseni - (Black)