How would you heat something like this?

ReneeB · 08-07-02, 11:32 AM

I saw this on THAT OTHER SITE's gallery and I'm gonna to build one [or two of three.. thinking coffee table with two end tables]

I'm going to change the sides to being solid as to not stress my leos as much from the movement in the living room as well as add a strip of wood going across the middle of the table to better support the glass top.

My only problem would be heating this.. lighting it is easy.. just a floresent bulb on the inside. But then someone suggested putting a lamp [like a desklamp that matches the living room decor] on i to provide heat AND light. Not sure if it would heat the top of the table up too much.

I'm thinking of putting a false bottom and inserting a heat pad on one side. But then the cord would be running across the living room to an outlet. hmm I wonder if I coud put an outlet in the floor of the living room and just run the cord straight down to the outlet..

Anyone have any suggestions?

08-07-02, 12:23 PM

a radient heat panel would work well inside the enclosure, but you still have the cord problem. An outlet in the floor is easy if the floor isn't concrete or hard to find tile, if the house has a crawlspace much easier.

Big Mike · 08-07-02, 01:04 PM

I was thinking that too. I saw that table and thought it was a beautiful & ingenius idea but to make it a good habitat, would require a power cord. I guess if you had the room aranged so the cord could just skirt out from one of the legs under a couch and to an outlet. An outlet in the floor would work if you could put it in.

As always..keep up posted if you do build it.

Cornelsworld · 08-07-02, 01:13 PM

That cage I believe has compact flourescents around the inside perimeter. He actually had a how to for building this posted in the caging forum on K I N G S N A K E . E-mail him I am sure he will help you out. I would tell you who he is but it was posted a long time ago and I forget who he was. It was a cool setup for a livingroom though.

Hope that helps

obeligz · 08-07-02, 03:38 PM

Hi all. This is the first time I post on this forum so I feel I should introduce myself. I'm a 23 yr old gecko freak from Norway that also loves to build terariums. ^_^
The picture above is that of my livingroom table terarium.

"I'm going to change the sides to being solid as to not stress my leos as much from the movement in the living room"

I thought of that too. It is not nececcary. I used slightly tinted glass on the sides of the tank. (note we also have 5 dogs at home), the leo's in the terarium take no notice of the dogs at all, up to now the dogs have not seen the leo's eigther but maybe my dogs are stupid.

In breif, your leo's will not get stressed by the sorroundings outside the terarium.

"as well as add a strip of wood going across the middle of the table to better support the glass top."

I thought of that too. I even made the strip of wood but descided not to put it in. The glass on my table is 6mm thick and I find that this is quite enough. You can't see it on that pic but the top glass is actually devided in two, this enables me to lift off half of the glass in order to feed, rinse ect.

"My only problem would be heating this.. lighting it is easy.. "

I would say that your problem is exactly the opposite.

Heating is easy, lighting is not...
I use a heat pad/mat (or whatever you call it in engligsh) inside the tank under the substrate. the pad covers slightly less than 1/3 of the enclosure and I placed it alongside the terarium on one of the sides. You must have the option to change the heat mat at a later point since overheating might become an issue depending on where you live. The flourecents generate some heat too in addition to the "generator" for the flourecents. mount the "generator" (don't know what that's called in english) on the underside of the tank, it will function as a heatsource for the tank aswell.

For lighting I used 8 small compact flourescents that are hidden in the top frame. later I trew those away and put in 2 long compact flourescents (1 on each side).
Your problem is that if you make the top frame too small you'll get the lamps in your eyes when you sit down by the table.
Make your top frame slightly bigger to avoid all the problems I had. your topframe should be atleast 2 inches wide (preferably 2.5") to hide the flourecents better.

This shows construction of my top frame (frame ir turned upside-down on pic).

Shows test of top frame with flourecent paped on place. 1= additional 5millimeter wooden "list" I had to put there so you won't get light in your eyes when you sit down by the table. 2= top frame. 3. flourecent.

Mount "power point" in the underside of your tank and bring all the cables to this point, from there you can have one powercord further.
Pwer devices that I have in the table:
1 heat mat.
2 compact flourecents.
1 small PC fan.
5 small 0.5V bulbs (attached in string) for nightlighting.
That adds up to a conciderrable amount of cords that you have to run through the top frame. Plan where you'll put the cords in advance since after you put in the flourecents and their reflectors you might not have much space left.

Something else I found out..
fogging might be a problem too. I like to use live plants for all my anclosures. when you water the plants in the table the water will quicly evapourate and fog on the top glass. to avoid this apply a different watering technique. fill a small bottle with water, turn it upside-down and quickly stick it into the substrate. Water will be absorbed by the substrate thus watering the rots of your plants while keeping the top layer of the substrate dry enough so the glass won't fog.

http://home.no.net/obeligz/obeligz/norsk/terarier.htm Here you'll find the progress and the plans for my table terarium (bottom 2 guides. Unfortunally my homepage in in Norwegian (the english version sucks) and I just found out that for some odd reason some of the pics in the guides are gone.. don't ask why.
If you bother to look at the english version of my homepage is't at obeligz' reptile site

Hope this helps.
If there's anything more feel free to mail me, If I can, I'll help you out.

obeligz@c2i.net
regards
obeligz

obeligz · 08-07-02, 03:40 PM

also.
Thank you Mr Greg West for reffering me to this forum.

Cornelsworld · 08-07-02, 04:16 PM

You are definitely welcome. I can definitely see you baing a definite asset to this web site. On a side note, if I can convince my girlfriend that we need a coffee table like this, I would also like to try this design. It is a great design. I don't think that I would tint the side glass, and also I would want a space that had sliding glass panels on the side instead of lifting the top every time. We'll have to see

Cornelsworld · 08-07-02, 04:19 PM

I don't think that I would tint the side glass

The only reason I say this is, there should be no difference between this cage in a living room and any other cage in the living room. My cat is forever peering into cages that she can't get into. My animals must know this because I have never noticed any effects from my cat. The only thing i could see causing stress would be people putting glasses onto the table top, but that is what coasters are for.

Greg

ReneeB · 08-07-02, 05:10 PM

WOW thanks obeligz!!

I was going to email you but my ISP's mail server has been screwy lately..

I know it's alot to ask but would it be possible to get the instructions in english? I LOVE the design and want to build one but I don't speak or read norwegian so I'm lost..

The reason I would need solid sides is because of my kids.. I just KNOW they would be poking and taping on the glass sides all the time..

Joe mentioned in a chat earlier that using an area rug would cover the cords

so I'm gonna to that

I've got tons of questions but I have to do some stuff tonight so I will email you or PM you later..

Thanks again..

Quervo · 08-07-02, 07:57 PM

If I may throw a thought in here .. I don't see any indication of ventilation. Is there some kind of vent or screen in the table? You mentioned fogging which would lead me to believe there isn't enough air flow inside the tank. Just a thought.

Great design idea by the way.

Jotun · 08-08-02, 09:02 AM

That's an awesome idea! Might be something for me to consider doing for my parents around Christmas. I'll keep my eye open for a coffee table like that

Thanks guys

But the question of ventilation does concern me...

08-08-02, 12:15 PM

That caught my eye Obeligz now I need to adjust it to my needs, heat dissapation mainly while trying to retain humidity (gotta love the desert). Thanks for the ideas.

obeligz · 08-09-02, 03:22 PM

Cornelsworld:
As far as I have experianced nothing outside the terarium will stress the geckoes. Glasses put on table, poking on glass, TV, loud music from time to time, running around in the livingroom, powertools, vacum cleaners act. As long as the animals get a peroid of quiet time each day, Im my house that is between 11pm and 10am when I'm not at home or sleeping. The geckoes quickly adapt to their new sorroundings. Imagine geckoes ¤ snakes in a zoo, ppl poke on the glass all the time even if they're not supposed to.
Further. If I had to build the table again I don't know if I would have put tinted glass on the sides. I may have since it looks kinda cool but not for the geckoes' sake, they don't mind things outside.

ReneeB:
I would love to translate the "instructions" for you in english but don't have the time right now.. Sorry.

(
I don't even have any blueprints. I just descided on how big I wanted it and what shape. Then I started building.
Just make some drawings, take some mesurements and you have a plan.
Keep in mind that the table will be really heavy when finished, if you have the oppoirtunity then oversize the components for added strength.
I recon my table weighs about 100 kilos (220pounds) maybe more.
I used a 21mm MDF board for the bottom of the tank, a material used for making quality loudspeakers. Then I was finished with the bottom part of the table before I put in the side glass I stood on the table and jumped a bit to see if it was strong enough. it was.

)

Quervo:
That is right. In the beginning the ventilation was inadequate.
I started building the table keeping in mind that when I come to the ventilation part "I'll think of something", just shoved the problem under the rug so to say..
When I came to the ventilation part I still hadn't solved the problem of course. At that point the only ventilation for the table were two 1.3 inch holes on the top glass (one on each glass). I use these holes to lift off one off the top-glass halves, just put my finger in and lift.
This is how I solved the problem.
I drilled about 90 small 3mm (0.12 inch) holes along the side of the top frame. A hole for every 5 cm. I also onstalles a very small PC fan (the kind used for laptop PC's), it runs only during the day.
This solved the problem.
It is easy to test if your enclosure has poor ventilation if you light up a cigarette and put it in the middle of the enclosure and monitor the air currents.

Here is a pic that shows the setup inside.
I found a large rotten root in the forest, then I scrubed it, washed it, washed it again with water under pressure to get off the rotten parts, after this I used a steel brush to get off all the sharp pics and points an finally I made it smooth with a medium grade sandpaper.

My favorite leo at her favorite spot.

Regards
obeligz
obeligz@c2i.net

Cornelsworld · 08-09-02, 03:33 PM

That is a pretty descriptive picture. That should help everyone a lot. Thanks

I was already told no, so im not goign to be building it any time soon. Anyone want to buy a girlfriend? lol

Greg