| T O P I C R E V I E W |
| sandi |
Posted - 16/04/2011 : 20:31:13
At last, I'm on easter hols so finally got round to building a new viv for Boris.
Had a result on materials, got all the cutting done for free at B&Q, needed 2 sheets of 18mm MDF but the nice lady on the till only charged for 1. Obviously, being an honest sort, I rushed back to point out her error
The glass doors are salvaged from old cupboards, 6mm plate glass with rounded edges. Shame its not toughened but plate is damn nearly as good.
The runners and door handles and vent covers, not fitted yet, came from viv bits on ebay, cant remember exactly how much but were under a tenna!
Sundry items...silicone, screws etc...about 5 quid.
The varnish for the interior was left over from a job and so is the paint I'm going to use on the outside.
Total cost of building a 4.5ft x 2ft x 2.5ft viv.....£30.00
Here's the first pic after putting it together but not with any fittings added yet.
Will add more pics when i can. Next stage is to paint it and seal the inside, then the worrying bit...heating a viv this size! just hope the 150w ceramic is up to the task.
Add finally, here is the boy himself!...
 |
| 20 L A T E S T R E P L I E S (Newest First) |
| sandi |
Posted - 02/05/2011 : 08:37:25
Ha, stripey horse! Nay Nay! so thats why hes been eating grass! |
| Lotabob |
Posted - 01/05/2011 : 20:34:47
quote:
Originally posted by sandi
Reality is always bigger in real life!
Not always!
Yeah when your inside it its easier to see the size and thats not a dog its a small stripey horse.
I really like the white, and it will look aazing when its all finished and stood on the wicker drawer thingy. |
| sandi |
Posted - 01/05/2011 : 20:25:08
Ha ha, for size reference just look at the pics of me in the viv with my dog, the dog is 49kg and 29 inch at the shoulder! I am 5 foot 7inch!
It looked a lot bigger once it was built. I had in mind a nice piece of furniture but ended up with a huge piece of furniture. Reality is always bigger in real life! |
| Lotabob |
Posted - 01/05/2011 : 17:51:35
That is incredible looking. Without any size reference though its hard to picture how big it is until you mention the hide is 3 feet long. I'm so jealous, I think I just heard Sanke sigh too, looking over my shoulder at it. |
| sandi |
Posted - 01/05/2011 : 16:53:09
Oh you are Sooooo right!
putting the guard in was the hardest part....almost impossible on my own, i was hurling obscenities in every direction! I also panicked as i had made the flex hole too small so needed to enlarge it but hubbie had gone to work with our only working drill, rang 6 friends before i got hold of one and all the time boris was in his old viv without heat! |
| n/a |
Posted - 01/05/2011 : 16:04:28
Wow, that is superb - really really good! What can I say? It's fab!
I have only one piece of advice to add, chiefly for would-be viv builders ...
... Confucius he say, measure and make holes for bulb guard before installing viv ceiling ...
Confucius also say - get the buggers right and don't drill hole for bulb flex in hole for guard as Lil did with one of hers ...
|
| sandi |
Posted - 01/05/2011 : 15:54:30
He is in...all moved and unpacked! put him in on Friday after a grueling day fitting the bulb guard and insulating the ceiling and generally faffing about with odds and sods. He shot straight into his hide and stayed there with his head out looking slightly puzzled!
I can see track lines in the aubiose substrate so i know he is out at night! Tonight is feeding night so should feel more secure after that.
The set up so far.
The wicker baskets on top will be the drawers of a storage unit i am building to go under his viv.
The big cork bark hide is 3ft long so allows Boris to move from warm to cool in one hide. The smaller one is being replaced with a ceramic one that i am making but its not finished yet.
Managed to get the temperature gradient perfect but it was more luck than judgment, i just put the heat lamp a third in from the end and it worked! Haven't put the 250w lamp in yet so still on a 150w which is fine.
The substrate is Aubiose (hemp bedding for horses) I chose this because its cheaper, it would cost a lot to cover this size of viv with anything else. also, its highly absorbent which is a bonus with Boa's as they like to spill water!
Will try to get a pic of him in it if he ever shows his face! |
| sandi |
Posted - 25/04/2011 : 21:47:02
Oh bob...poor bob, you got it all to come!!!!
That viv was so easy to build, b&q did the cutting! all i needed to do was make sure i had every measurement worked out to the millimeter. I then needed help putting it together but only cos i couldnt physically hold up 1.5 meters of mdf on my own!
I will happily send you my cutting list if you want? you could adjust it to suit your size, its based on 18mm thick MDF. |
| Lotabob |
Posted - 25/04/2011 : 20:45:14
Oh please make me one of those vivariums, it looks fantastic, I'm so jealous.
Duke's poop doesn't smell either though it does look like a gorilla's leg where as Sanke's sloppy bombs stink to high hell, I feel your pain and Sanke is only tiny, I dread to thing what will happen when she is bigger. |
| sandi |
Posted - 25/04/2011 : 17:07:08
Ewww! a double whammy eh? not nice at all! Florence, her royal highness, is so posh that her poo doesnt smell! Boris, on the other hand, likes to make up for what she lacks! He always seem to drape a huge turd over the edge of his water bowl, half in and half out! nothing easy with boas! He had a pee the same night on the other side of the viv, poor boy was stuck between a rock and a hard place with nowhere nice to hide till i rescued him from his own! |
| n/a |
Posted - 24/04/2011 : 17:25:40
It's looking very good ... and all your own work too - congrats! Lovely piece of work.
Boris is a very lucky guy!
You made me laugh about his dump - they're not gentlemen are they? The other day I was changing Shahi's water, got a whiff ... there it was. Lifted out his warm hide, as he was in the cold one, cleaned up ... About to replace his warm hide (a large hollow bamboo) and did a double take - he'd been in there all the time!
Erm, no he hadn't. It was black and thick and at least 9" long by a rough estimate, curled up in the bamboo. The stuff I'd already cleaned up was just by way of an afterthought after his magnificent main effort1
It's something nobody warns you about when you buy that cute little hatchling ... |
| sandi |
Posted - 24/04/2011 : 12:19:56
All painted up and ready to go, just need to add all the bits and bobs, hides, guard etc.
I got an ok temp gradient with the 150w lamp but its only just big enough as the outside temp is hot right now so on a cold day its going to struggle. Just ordered a 250w lamp and intend to fit a heat reflective panel into the ceiling.
Woke up to a terrible smell this morning....Boris poo! he had thoroughly soiled his old viv so i think he is ready to be re homed!
|
| sandi |
Posted - 19/04/2011 : 19:33:13
The 150 ceramic that i just got will fit into the existing guard in Boris viv but i would need another bigger one to fit a 250w ceramic. Did my homework last week on sizes and thought i had it all sorted!
Hubby is a sparky so he had the cunning plan of fitting a solar panel and an inverter with a battery to power the 250w if its needed. Now i feel all keen to go large on the bulb front!!! |
| blackskull |
Posted - 19/04/2011 : 18:51:40
i use the lucky reptile dark spot ceramic builbs and the 250w ones fit in the larger of the two off the shelf cages |
| markmifsud |
Posted - 19/04/2011 : 16:06:10
Hi Bats, I dont have a clue whats best for the snakes, but you can easily run both heat bulbs off the same stat. (electrically speaking) Most stats seem to be rated at max 600w I think, and your looking at 2 x 150w so still under half capacity. |
| n/a |
Posted - 19/04/2011 : 14:35:18
Might need to make your own guard - I've found the 150w IRs don't fit into standard guards.
I thought of running two bulbs off one stat - easily done with a 2 way adaptor.
AH! I was thinking of the practice of running 2 mats, in separate vivs, with 1 mat stat.
I thought - well, with one stat, if a bulb blows, then if the probe is in that viv - the other bulb, unstatted, is going to go skyhigh.
BUT - if both bulbs and probe are in the SAME viv, then if one blows, surely the stat is going to up power on the remaining bulb to compensate.
So that one stat would be okay??
(It takes me a while but I get there ....in the end....) |
| sandi |
Posted - 19/04/2011 : 08:20:22
I was wondering that too but dont want 2 stats, so then wondered if i could rig one stat to 2 lamps? Then again, no point if i just get a bigger 250w lamp. Going to need a bigger guard for that i expect....nothing straightforward in life! |
| n/a |
Posted - 18/04/2011 : 20:45:50
Aww, ain't it always the way - remember when my electric screwdriver died on me in a March dusk, up at the allotment, half a mile from home and ... arrgh, frustration!!
Hey, this may be a silly question, but would two light fittings ensure the necessary temps (need two stats. it's true.)
Good luck to us both! |
| sandi |
Posted - 18/04/2011 : 20:11:27
Lol, yeah, even the dogs get more space than me!
Starting to wish i made it lower but i designed the whole thing around the glass doors as i already had them, now i'm worried that i wont get enough heat in it.
Blackscull, i need the same temps as a royal so i dont think the 150w is going to do it.
Eeek! Oh well, the lamp holder and cable have arrived so time will tell!
Bats, I got what i thought were normal runners but they dont snap on thats for sure...just glue on! epoxy should do it i hope!
Oh and one last moan....battery died on drill today, wont take a charge anymore so need to beg one off a mate....grrrr! |
| blackskull |
Posted - 18/04/2011 : 17:46:44
nice job. i don't know what temps you need for a boa but i first used a 150w ceramic in my 4x2x2 viv and it didn't get hot enough for my royal so i now use 250w |
