jarich
11-17-11, 05:21 PM
So I quickly found out that when I personally designed my enclosure, I didnt take into account some important things. Needless to say it has bowed and is going to be in a bad way soon. Hence beginning the new digs for Steve, my savannah monitor. He is presently in a different room from the others but for heating/humidity consideration, Im going to be moving him back into the room with the rest. The room is fairly small though, but luckily the ceiling is quite high. I guess that leaves me with putting in a second floor!
My ceiling height is 15 feet, and Im going to devote the top five feet of that to his enclosure. I will make it the width of the room, which is 12 feet, and have it be 6 feet long as well. (giving him a 12' x 6' x 5' enclosure). Of the five foot height, two feet will be windows along the front wall so that he can look out into the room.
Im lucky enough to have a lot of friends in the engineering/construction industry and posed the problem to them of dealing with the weight of all that soil and water. They made up some drawings for me...and like all construction projects Im already over budget! Ha! (my budget of $1000 quickly had to be redone). I am going to be starting by tying into the masonry wall at one end, and adding metal support pillars to the opposite side. Unfortunately only one wall is masonry, so I cant count on the other two for any support. I am then going to be making floor joists out of 3" x 12" wood, running one every 10". I will be using this same size to make the frame for the front wall, and for the walls that are just normal drywall, as added support. The front windows will be two pieces, measuring 4' x 2' each. I will be buying a large 30 gallon black tub like the one Wayne has for Chompers enclosure, and permanently placing it with a fixed drain that runs out through the floor. Im going to cover the inside floor and walls with 3/4" marine plywood and then lining it with tin to avoid any problems if he starts to try to dig his way out.
Its kind of a daunting project, but Im excited to get started and give him a home he can live in for the rest of his life! :D
My ceiling height is 15 feet, and Im going to devote the top five feet of that to his enclosure. I will make it the width of the room, which is 12 feet, and have it be 6 feet long as well. (giving him a 12' x 6' x 5' enclosure). Of the five foot height, two feet will be windows along the front wall so that he can look out into the room.
Im lucky enough to have a lot of friends in the engineering/construction industry and posed the problem to them of dealing with the weight of all that soil and water. They made up some drawings for me...and like all construction projects Im already over budget! Ha! (my budget of $1000 quickly had to be redone). I am going to be starting by tying into the masonry wall at one end, and adding metal support pillars to the opposite side. Unfortunately only one wall is masonry, so I cant count on the other two for any support. I am then going to be making floor joists out of 3" x 12" wood, running one every 10". I will be using this same size to make the frame for the front wall, and for the walls that are just normal drywall, as added support. The front windows will be two pieces, measuring 4' x 2' each. I will be buying a large 30 gallon black tub like the one Wayne has for Chompers enclosure, and permanently placing it with a fixed drain that runs out through the floor. Im going to cover the inside floor and walls with 3/4" marine plywood and then lining it with tin to avoid any problems if he starts to try to dig his way out.
Its kind of a daunting project, but Im excited to get started and give him a home he can live in for the rest of his life! :D