Big enclosure build

[percey39]

Hi guy's this is my new enclosure im currently building for my scrubbies. Its dimensions are 2m high x 2m wide x 1.4m deep. I have made it in two halfs so it will still fit through door ways, to make it one solid piece i have put a small bit of pine which one half slides over. Then all you have to do is put 8 screws back in and its all solid and air tight again. I have been contemplating on wether or not to make another section to put inthe middle to make it 2.1m deep. Also i will be putting rails along the roof which a 60 litre tub will slide into to make a hide that is easily removed to clean.
The glass will be 8mm thick safety glass with a one way tint on it so the snakes dont get to disturbed as this tank will be going in my living room.
The plan is to put a pond and water fall in this one so the humidity will be easily controlled and the snakes can have a bit of a swim.
As you can see there is still a lot of work to go, but im up to the part i hate the most which is painting. I will be painting this tank black as the black will really make the lighter markings on my scrubs pop with the jungle theme i will doing in there.
This build has been reasonably cheap so far and the dearest part will be the decorating i will be putting in there. I would hate to think what it would cost to buy a tank of this size, but for anyone who has bigger species i feel this is a necessity to have some decent room to roam.
Any way i will be updating this thread as i go with pics and what not.
Here is some pics to give you an idea of just how big the tank really is.

[percey39]

Sorry about the poor pics, its ard to try and get decent photo's as the room its in is pretty small and is hard to get the full tank in the photo.

[Grimleo]

That is awesome!

[Freebody]

Very nice set up, now i know where to come if im ever down under and need a place to crash for the night, im sure the scrubbie wont mind home sitting me for a few hours LOL I cant wait to see pic of it all done and set up with them in it :)

[infernalis]

Impressive work.

[presspirate]

Nice job! Can't wait to see the finished product!

[percey39]

I cant wait till this one is finally done, especially the painting haha

[dragunov.762]

that isn't so much a big tank as a small room.

[emseeKAY]

that isn't so much a big tank as a small room.

agreed, the tank is more or less simple. the maneuvering around however doesn't seem to be lol

[percey39]

Hmm i dunno guy's. Yeah the room isnt that big, but i dunno if you have ever been able to fit 8 people comfortably in a tank before. I my self have never seen a tank this big, but have seen aviaries converted to keep snakes outside which have been even bigger.
The floor on this tank measure pretty close to the size of a queen size double bed, its only 80mm short on the width.

[marvelfreak]

Percey it looking good. I can't wait to see it finished.

[percey39]

Yeah im going to go look at some ponds in the next couple of days as the weather has turned crap so i cant paint. I have found a good sized pond for it, it measures 1.4m wide exactly and 0.9m deep which is percfect. It has a rock waterfall in the pond as well that is 1.5m high, but the price is ridiculous.

[.: Laura :.]

Pshh you still haven't painted it yet?? :P

Nice to see you got round to making a thread on the build :)

[emseeKAY]

haha thats awesome its the same size that i sleep on at night haha i should ask the gf if i can convert our bed into an enclosure! haha ;) bet that would go over well

[percey39]

Pshh you still haven't painted it yet?? :P

Nice to see you got round to making a thread on the build :)

Oh come on Laura theres not need to pick on me!!! I didnt think anyone would be interested as its only a box at the moment, but when i read that Chuck was going to make a tank for his yellow conda i thought i might throw pics up.

[marvelfreak]

Oh come on Laura theres not need to pick on me!!! I didnt think anyone would be interested as its only a box at the moment, but when i read that Chuck was going to make a tank for his yellow conda i thought i might throw pics up.

She just jealous. lol I am glad you did you already given me a couple ideas that i am going to use for mine.

[percey39]

Cheers mate, i really like the idea of the tub on rails, the one way glass and the pond as all snakes enjoy a little swim once and a while.

[.: Laura :.]

I am jealous, if I could build my own vivs I most definately would.

[percey39]

Ah its not that hard to do really, they are just boxes after all. I just got a quote for a fake rock background for the back with a water fall and pond built as well as two basking areas on it. Its aztec temple themed and will cost just over $1000 australian so i might do that instead. I just have to decide wether or not i want to spend all that cash.

[.: Laura :.]

I say go for it, since the set up is so big you may as well make a nice feature of it

[percey39]

Haha its easy to say but its a lot of money lol, it would look awesome though. I will be spending a further $400 on fake palms and vines as well as getting my big tree branch, so there would be plenty of spots for a bask. The pond the guy will make is
900mm x 900mm and 100mm deep which would be ideal for a soak.

[.: Laura :.]

Exactly, if you're shelling out for a beautiful set up you may as well complete it :)

[percey39]

Well did you want to donate to the cause haha. I put a few pics up of moosey for you as he has grown heaps and lumi just shed so will go get photo's for you now.

[.: Laura :.]

Yeah I saw :) Moose is so beautiful, be careful Lumi doesn't chomp the camera :P Got a rather sweet picture of the sick patient the other day, I'll have to change my avatar

[percey39]

He was very well behaved and enjoyed his treat of his 4 adult mice afterwards lol he just went nom nom nom. Throw up a pic of the little girl in my new pics thread, i would like to see how your patient is doing. I hope she is getting better!!

[Jennet]

Brilliant build idea.... really can't wait to see how this moves on. You are also really lucky to be able to keep outdoor enclosures for snakes - weather over here precludes this, except for our native species!

[percey39]

Cheers Jennet. We can only keep our natives here also, but where i live there are now wild pythons only venomous species. This does not affect me to much as i keep mainly venomous species and im about to start maikng outdoor pits for them. As i have seen peoples animals that live in pits and they act more wild and hunt more avidly.

[percey39]

I have now only got 2 more coats of paint to go YAY. I have one more coat of black and then the clear water proof sealant. I have just sent away some photo's of the designs i am getting done for my background. I will put them up for you guy's to look at. It will be a front on view like the second pic but will have ledges on the window for basking spots as well as the branches of the tree.

[.: Laura :.]

je préfère le premier :D

[percey39]

Yeah but the first would be harder to tranfer as a background, but they are the same temple. I will be using the colours from the first but have a front on view i think.

[percey39]

Here is the enclosure and its finally painted. Three coats of black and a clear water proof coat later and me getting covered in paint lol. Its very glossy but looks good, now im getting my mate around in the next few days to wire in a couple of down lights and hook up the thermostat. Also waiting on my background to be built and the glass is being installed in the next couple of days. Its coming along but has taken me some time.

[.: Laura :.]

It's looking really great so far :)

[percey39]

Cheers i will be glad if i never ever and mean EVER have to paint again!!!

[Freebody]

Cheers i will be glad if i never ever and mean EVER have to paint again!!!
LOL. Looks great tho, so it did pay off in the end.

[presspirate]

Cheers i will be glad if i never ever and mean EVER have to paint again!!!I hear ya, I could build stuff all day, but painting is just such a chore.....

[percey39]

Haha im going to build another tank around the same size im thinking at the moment lol, but just got to see about room and decide about painting lol. I ended up getting the glass for free for this tank which is great as it saves me A LOT, i still have to tint it though.
Also completely siliconed every join in the entire tank so it will be very safe even with the pond spilling or waterfall missing it. It will be a while before the background arrives but construction has began so i cant wait!

[shaunyboy]

thats one cool looking tank for your heat seeking missiles mate

cant wait to see it full of scrub python

cheers shaun

[marvelfreak]

Looking good!

[percey39]

Well i have installed the glass and ended up going with out the one way tint, so hopefully they dont strike to bad. I have also just purchased another yearling male ( i pick him up once this enclosure is finished ) for my girl, both are around the 8 foot mark now. The background has been started and will be finished in 2 weeks or so. I cant wait to finally have this one set up and inside.

[percey39]

Well my background budget has been blown big time lol. I ended up making basking shelves 500mm wide x 800mm long, there is 2 of these basking sites one under the heat and one down the bottom. This has bumped my freight up to $650 lol so now the background will cost me around $1500 in total. Im a little annoyed that i didnt think of this ealrier but it will be for their entire lives so i can justify the money that way. Im waiting on some photo's to be sent then i will post them up on here.

[marvelfreak]

Can't wait to see pics. I just started working on my snake room.

[percey39]

Yeah i cant wait to have it finished! Im just starting plans for my hot room to get rid off all the seperate tanks. Im building a 12' long x 5'5" high x 2' deep enclosure rack. Each enclosure will be 4' long x 1' high x 2' deep so there will be 15 tanks across one wall and a further 10 tanks in similar set ups along the other walls. Will be nice to have a neat and tidy room instead of tanks bundled everywhere lol. Once again i am dreading the painting so i might just use melamine instead, although it will get brittle over time. Decisions decisions.

[presspirate]

Thats great Percy, where's the dang pics already:crazy2:?

[shaunyboy]

Can't wait to see pics. I just started working on my snake room.


i never realised you had a snake room chuck

your lucky

i have to wait on my 17 year old son leaving the house before i get my own room for snakes

at least he's got a girlfriend so theres hope for me yet:yes:

percy cant wait to see the finished product mate,hint,hint:yes:

cheers shaun

[percey39]

Im still waiting on the photo's damn it lol. I will start finishing the designs for the tank racks soon and hopefully start those as soon as this monster is done.

[Sithis]

Very nice!

[marvelfreak]

i never realised you had a snake room chuck



cheers shaun
My wife had said my yellow anaconda was my last snake. Then one day out of the blue she said I could turn the kids game room (in the basement) into a snake room. They haven't use it in years. So we sold off all games. And now i am working on making it into a snake room. Just got a utility sink put in. Next i got to the plumbing hook up to it. I got a old 9 drawer dresser that i am turning in to a rack it holds 32 quart tubs perfect. Best part by having a snake room she said i can get more snakes. The room is 29 1/2' x 11'. Plus there's two other rooms i can use if needed. So when me and my buddy Shawn start breeding snakes in a couple more years will have plenty of room. Also give my a couple years to get more rack build and everything ready.:)

[presspirate]

That sounds GREAT Chuck! I'll bet your head is swimming with possibilities!

[marvelfreak]

That sounds GREAT Chuck! I'll bet your head is swimming with possibilities!
I know for sure we're going to be breeding CRB, BRB and Diamond x Jungle and Jaguar Carpets. Maybe Bredli Carpet and Marble Borneo's. Now that i know all my python are females i been thinking of when i get a male i Jag of putting it also with my Bredli. My wife suggested putting it with my big Jungle, but she be 13 by then and i not sure how old is to old for breeding snakes.

[percey39]

Well here a pic of the background, the pond and water fall are being finished now. The white wood is only a support for the basking site as sits there for the photo. Im really happy how this has truned out and cant wait till its finally finished and installed in my tank!

[presspirate]

That looks Awesome Percy! I can't wait to see the finished product with it's residents!

[percey39]

Cheers mate. Yeah im hopefull of getting it in a couple of weeks as i fly out for work next monday. It will be a good christmas present for them!

[marvelfreak]

:Wow::Wow::Wow::Wow: OH my god is that sweet as hell. You got some really lucky Scubs to be getting that sweet background. :)

[percey39]

Cheers mate, hopefully they will enjoy it lol. Im pretty confident they will love their big pond as well. That background and pond is whats cost me the most money out of the entire build, but money well spent in my eye's!

[Freebody]

Holly #%^^ thats amazing bro. thats got to be the best looking setup i have seen, hands down!! :)

[percey39]

Cheers mate, i will have to grab pics of the pond and water fall and post them up as well when they are done.

[TylerWortman]

Percey I can't wait to see snakes in that cage! Looking sa-weeeeet

[Freebody]

you take care of your snakes better than i take care of myself lol :)

[red ink]

Well here a pic of the background, the pond and water fall are being finished now. The white wood is only a support for the basking site as sits there for the photo. Im really happy how this has truned out and cant wait till its finally finished and installed in my tank!

Mate who made the background for you? Ronny or Steins?

[percey39]

Haha cheers freebody, this tank was going to be my feature tank as it will be in our living room so it needed to look nice.Ben from Stein enclosures made this for me. He is a pleasure to deal with and is fair with his prices considering the quality of his work.

[Ch^4]

The enclosure and the background look stunning! I can't wait to see the finished product, pond, waterfall, and all! Great work percey!

Those are some lucky scrubbies!

[percey39]

Cheers mate the build was very easy as its still only a box lol, but its the features that you put in them that can really make them pop. This is the only enclosure i will go all out like this as i keep mainly small venomous species and your better off with less little hiding spots ( for your own safety )

[presspirate]

We need an update Percy, How is this thing going?

[dshin963]

We need an update Percy, How is this thing going?
Agreed... I just found this thread and I am frigging fascinated... That is amazing, that background is... wow...

[percey39]

Cheers guy's. I have been quite busy doing other things around the house lately and have left this beast alone. I just need to get the light fittings and thermostat done as well as the down lights, then this one will be complete. I will be getting a electrician around hopefully next monday to do all this work and install a new circuit breaker and wall sockets in my snake room. I will be letting the thermostat settle and get stable temps, so all going to plan a couple of scrubbies will be in there next wednesday! I will be sure to post pics.