Sav enclosure

[Skits]

I have to start drawing up a plan for the enclosures we'll be building, and had a couple of questions for my sav's enclosure.

-Would a 5x2 enclosure be alright? My room is 10 feet wide, and we're building the sav enclosure next to my BCI's enclosure.

-For the substrate, how does everyone keep it in the enclosure? I thought a simple piece of wood would be fine, but they need several inches (22 if I'm not wrong?), and I know mine loves to dig and would dig it all over. If I would put a 22 inch piece of wood in front of the enclosure, won't I not be able to see much inside? :sorry:

[kriminaal]

Check this out.
www.savannahmonitor.org

[Skits]

The website hasn't been working for me for a few days now for some reason?

[Bradyloach]

Well, what size is your sav? I just built mine for her and she outgrew it in 2 months! She was 4 inches about to vent. Now shes 10. If you can't build the full 8x4 maybe the 5x2 You could make 5x4? The 5x2 I built is terrible. I hate it. Not wide enough! Anyways the bottom of Cage just cut out the bottom of a kids pool and place it in there, with screws. So it wont rot the bottom! Your sav looks bigger then mine if it's the one I'm seeing :p

[infernalis]

go to Varanus.us...

Savannah Monitors (http://www.varanus.us/bok/)

[Skits]

He must be about a foot long, the enclosure's in my bedroom though so I don't think I can have a 5x4, my boa has a 6x2 and it seems wide enough but I've never seen a full grown sav in person so I'm not sure if he would like it. I can try to figure a way out to have him in something bigger though. :) And I'll do that, thanks. :)

[Skits]

go to Varanus.us...

Savannah Monitors (http://www.varanus.us/bok/)

Oh, thank you. :) I checked it out before but I didn't find that exact page. I must of missed it. I'll look through it now.

[infernalis]

Are my links not working??

There is still improvements being made every evening.

I have to re-do the cage blog, I have it started.

[jarich]

Not trying to be short with you, but the simple answer is no, a 5x2 isnt going to be big enough. They get to be 4 feet long, so a lizard that size turning around in a 2 ft wide enclosure is going to be very cramped. Its not the same with snakes as they are flexible everywhere.

As far as the wood to contain the dirt, keep in mind that the bottom has to be very solidly built. That much soil is incredibly heavy and the weight of it will push out on all the sides. So Id recommend no smaller than 2x4s spaced every 12 inches or 2x6 every 18 inches. Then you can cover that with plywood, something nice and thick like 3/4" or more. That will need to be painted with polyurethane to keep it from molding.

[Skits]

Are my links not working??

There is still improvements being made every evening.

I have to re-do the cage blog, I have it started.

The links you sent are working, savannahmonitor.org isn't working for me though.

And jarich, alright perfect, thank you. :) I'll ask my dad if we could build a way larger enclosure in my basement, or else I'll try to do at least an 8x3 in my room.

[infernalis]

rehash....

Before I begin, I do fully realize that most anyone else may not have all the resources available, and this is a basic guideline only. One source that you may wish to look into for the aluminum sheets (Road signs) is your local scrap yard, many municipalities routinely scrap out used road signs for the value of the scrap aluminum.

Your two biggest priorities here is going to be the ability to hold/maintain humidity & heat within your enclosure, the second being it must be strong/sturdy enough that it will not fall apart over the long run.

With that in mind here we go..

I covered the end panels with 3m sign vinyl, simply because I had it on hand. an acceptable alternative would be to paint it with sealer commonly used on basement floors or patio decks. The extreme humidity will rot your wood otherwise.

http://www.rockyroost.us/Enclosure/sheet2.jpg

The entire inside where dirt goes is paved in aluminum with vinyl undeneath. The concept behind the aluminum is it prevents the dirt (even when soaking wet) from ever coming into contact with the 3/4 inch subflooring wood, another acceptable alternative would be to purchase marine grade lumber. (equally expensive)

http://www.rockyroost.us/Enclosure/bottom.jpg

Nails or decking screws are simply not strong enough to hold well under the extreme conditions the enclosure will be subjected to, so extensive use of nuts and bolts is highly recommended.

http://www.rockyroost.us/Enclosure/bolts.jpg

Combining the top boards, with the bottom boards forms a pattern like this.. With heavy plywood sub flooring sandwiched inside the grid. STRONG.

http://www.rockyroost.us/Enclosure/grid.gif

http://www.rockyroost.us/Enclosure/B1.jpg

http://www.rockyroost.us/Enclosure/B2.jpg

http://www.rockyroost.us/Enclosure/B3.jpg

http://www.rockyroost.us/Enclosure/Bflip.jpg

The back wall, I used sheet aluminum (signs) to cover the bottom 30 inches where the clay soil will come into contact with the wall.

Continued next post.

[infernalis]

http://www.rockyroost.us/Enclosure/back1.jpg

http://www.rockyroost.us/Enclosure/back2.jpg

http://www.rockyroost.us/Enclosure/back3.jpg

The back wall set into place and ready to bolt down.

http://www.rockyroost.us/Enclosure/frame.jpg

The framing is treated 2x6 lumber bolted together to form 4x6 spars with locking tabs for the bolts.

http://www.rockyroost.us/Enclosure/closer.jpg

http://www.rockyroost.us/Enclosure/frame1.jpg

The top portion features the use of a ceiling/roof with framing to allow for two layers of insulation. Heat rises and the biggest thermal losses would otherwise be through the top of the enclosure.

http://www.rockyroost.us/Enclosure/topie.jpg

http://www.rockyroost.us/Enclosure/cielin.jpg

[infernalis]

Once I got the ceiling installed, I sealed up the gaps. I used hot glue (carpentry grade) to seal all the little cracks and gaps that would allow for humidity to escape. This will prevent the dirt from rapidly drying out into dust.

http://www.rockyroost.us/Enclosure/glue.jpg

Then I installed all the insulation except where I need to wire it for lights.

http://www.rockyroost.us/Enclosure/insulate.jpg

Then installed the hooks to support the lights

http://www.rockyroost.us/Enclosure/hooks.jpg

Drilled holes for the wires..

http://www.rockyroost.us/Enclosure/holes.jpg

Wiring is in, the roof is on, and one end is bolted down.

http://www.rockyroost.us/Enclosure/endon.jpg

The center light is on a conduit, so it cannot "wind chime" into the outside lights and shatter...

http://www.rockyroost.us/Enclosure/lights.jpg

ensuring the correct parameters are being met.

http://www.chompersite.com/2011pics/digital.jpg

Continued on next post

[infernalis]

Insulated the front..

http://www.chompersite.com/Jan2012/Finsul.jpg

The observation window/door is a hotel shower stall door, the glass is heavy and tempered.

Put on some of the finishing boards..

http://www.chompersite.com/Jan2012/frontslats.jpg

dumped in a whole boatload more dirt..

http://www.chompersite.com/Jan2012/logpipe.jpg

Getting close to all finished, just need to cut a bunch of the finishing boards to cover the bottom ugly.

The dirt. Clay creek soil, Harvested from my property..

http://www.rockyroost.us/Enclosure/dirt.jpg

http://www.rockyroost.us/Enclosure/dirt1.jpg

support columns...

My house already has a row of them down the middle. I added 2 more directly under the cage to prevent my reptile room from collapsing, The cage itself weighs hundreds of pounds, and the dirt adds about 1500 more pounds bringing the weight up to just over a ton.

http://www.rockyroost.us/Enclosure/jacks.jpg

Now what's really important is getting another foot deep of dirt in there.
as you can see the entire bottom is heavy treated 2x6 lumber like what would be used to build a lakefront dock.

http://www.chompersite.com/Jan2012/lookout.jpg

There is still another several hundred pounds of dirt heading into that box, The darn ground froze up on me out there. The weather is supposed to be quite mild this weekend, so I am taking my pickup truck back to the creek and getting another truckload of that sweet clay.

This was a serious project and was planned out carefully.

My previous cage was of similar dimensions, but not as well build, it fell apart after about 2 years. When I tore it down to get it out of my house, I found wood rot in the structural joints, You simply must use marine grade treated lumber or you will regret it later.

I have seen quite a few lesser builds (through pictures) that all fell apart, when a sav gets digging and moving stuff around in there, it puts a lot of stress on the enclosure walls.

Decorations will be kept minimal, Monitors destroy anything put in his cage with them, it's the nature of these beasts.

Thanks for looking.

[Skits]

Wow thank you. :) I'll definitely follow this when I start building the enclosure, I never thought of using alluminum on the wood.

For the front door, would plexiglass work or would he be too strong for it?

[infernalis]

You can get windows and doors already framed at hardware stores / building suppliers and even demolition people.

I got several of those glass shower doors for free, they were tearing down a hotel, all I had to do was ask.

If you lived closer, I would give you one.

[jarich]

Ya, you can check out places like CL too. They often have people that are giving stuff away like that.