Reptile & Amphibian Forums

im planning to build a semiaquatic enclosure and i would prefer to have some sort of blueprints or a guide to go from to get some ideas as to how i should go about building something somewhat professional. is there any websites or information anyone may have about this?

What species is this for?

What size enclosure and what sort of look are you going for (glass, furniture quality, or what?)?

This type of project is hard to find links for. But I may think of some ideas depending on exactly what it is you want to do.

I'm in the process of creating a semi-aquatic terrarium right now. It's for a pair of checkered garter snakes. I have a 30gal long aquarium, and I'm buying a piece of glass to silicone seal off one corner to hold water. I'm going to use a interior water filter to keep that water clean (and frequent changes) and create a water fall cascading over rocks and keep guppies in there for the snakes to eat (along with a varied other diet of mice and earthworms). The other side of the glass, I'm using a 3 level bioactive substrate system with live plants buried in their pots in the substrate to look planted. I will have full spectrum lighting, incandescent daytime/nighttime bulbs (all on timers), and heat tape along underneath the tank (with thermostat). I ordered the glass today, it will be ready this weekend, and the only thing else I'll need to buy is the heat tape and thermostat. I got a lot of good info from reading Philippe de Vosjoli's book The Art of Keeping Snakes, and from browsing blackjungle.com website on terrariums. I'll post pics as the project progresses. Good luck,
Kirk
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1.1 Jungle Carpet Python
1.1 Ball Python
1.1 Corn Snake
0.1 Gray band Kingsnake
0.1 Desert Kingsnake
0.1 Pueblan Milksnake
1.0 Bullsnake
1.0 Rhodesian Ridgeback (Hondo)
0.1 Spouse (WC)
3.5 hatchling ball pythons

yeah, i really like the 3-layer biosubstrate idea and i was thinking of doing pretty much the same kind of layout with a waterfall and stream, but on a much larger scale. i forgot to mention that the cage im building is for a male green basilisk. so, its going to be a large enclosure, and i know kind of how i want it set up, im just not great at describing it. and im not sure how to lay out any kind of pump/ filter system.
thanks for the help

Treemonitors.com
You might go to this guys site and check out his DIY (do it yourself) page, then "building natural looking rock" page. He makes very natural looking waterfalls, ledges, etc using that technique which he discribes pretty well. He's posted on this site quite a bit, you might try emailing him for advice.
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1.1 Jungle Carpet Python (both gorgeous)
1.1 Ball Python (normals, he said proudly)
1.1 Corn Snake (Okeetee, Amel)
0.1 Gray band Kingsnake (Blairs)
0.1 Desert Kingsnake
0.1 Pueblan Milksnake (Apricot)
1.0 Bullsnake (my garbage disposal snake)
1.0 Rhodesian Ridgeback (Hondo)
0.1 Spouse (WC)
3.5 hatchling ball pythons minus 0.2
1.1 Checkered garter snakes, one albino, one het

The second page on that site is called "faux rock construction"
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1.1 Jungle Carpet Python (both gorgeous)
1.1 Ball Python (normals, he said proudly)
1.1 Corn Snake (Okeetee, Amel)
0.1 Gray band Kingsnake (Blairs)
0.1 Desert Kingsnake
0.1 Pueblan Milksnake (Apricot)
1.0 Bullsnake (my garbage disposal snake)
1.0 Rhodesian Ridgeback (Hondo)
0.1 Spouse (WC)
3.5 hatchling ball pythons minus 0.2
1.1 Checkered garter snakes, one albino, one het

what ever you do, if your going to go with foam back ground covered in concrete or anything of the such, consider the economy of motion and don't over do it. also, don't paint cement. there are many types of pigments that are permanant
and most concrete expoy or acrylic sealers will crack and flake
off! it's not recommended to do the above mention approach.

you can either build it with the land encased in you cement - vivarium mortar or like in these example, enclose the water feature. both have their good points but, make sure your sealer is either going to soak in like ours or it's not used. chips can get an animal hurt, don't look good and yellow. don't paint, use pigments or dies or acid stain. Lower the pH of your work! portland or plastic cement are high!!!

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close up of drained palidarium - 3' x 2' x 14"d

if your building a palidarium or a vivarium you don't need three layers of substrate. a false bottom solves all that, allows air to contact plants roots as they are growing to the drained water below that is bio-active and your flora succeed.
also, a sump tank should be used if at all possible for the filtering and pumping of the water. I've built many palidariums for animals like garters, water dragon to boa contrictors which
the water feature was more for show and not half the tank like a garter snake or water dragon might but the plans are still the samel. false bottom, epdm, vivarium mortar or other cemement(lower the pH of it!!!) and some sketches of your idea.
i suggest also to section off the water very good! one littl leak and your whole land area could be ruined.

what type of habitat do you want to build? something that looks real or maybe just functional? it's based off your budget of course but here are some photos of a lower priced design as it's basically a bowl that is dump able as well as part of a water fall but you could build a stream or just a pond! it's really up to you and your creativity! i hope you post photos!

Deven
Terra5Designs | The Vivarium Group

False bottom with bulk heads for palidarium

i just wanted to thank you guys for all your help and advice!!
when i get it built i will be sure to post photos!!