My 4 Reptile Tanks

[BigTreeFallHard]

Below are my current reptile enclosures. I have a bit of a guilty conscience letting such long-lived animals stay confined to an drab or lackluster enclosure. I like going the extra mile to really ensure my reptiles are in a stimulating and naturalistic environment while simultaneously providing me with greater viewing pleasure.

All of these tanks are equipped with a UTH heater controlled by a dimmer and probe thermostat with day/night functionality. There are linoleum tiles positioned directly over the UTH within each tank to ensure the heat is more evenly spread out and dissipated instead of the reptile laying directly on the heated glass. Additionally, I have CHE's (ceramic heat emitters) above each tank hooked up to a day/night timer with a probe to ensure better ambient air temperature gradients throughout the day. Lastly, I have a hood light fixture on each tank with low wattage day and night bulbs to provide a more cyclic light cycle found in nature, and I use dimmers on the night bulbs to really make sure the night light is minimal.

Since all of these tanks have screen lids, I've done a couple things to help retain heat and/or humidity depending on each reptile's needs. I've cut and taped a sheet of tinfoil along the inside of the screen lids to help reduce air convection (i.e. hot air rising) out of the tank, and I've cut thin sheets of fluorescent light covers to help retain a humidity barrier.

All of these tanks have a thermometer/hydrometer combo adhered to each end of the enclosures so I can monitor temperature gradients, and I use a infrared heat gun for frequent spot checks.

The plants are all fake and really add a nice touch to help these habitats looking au natural.

Any feedback or comments are always appreciated.
If you have any further questions about how I set up certain things, please feel free to ask.

Without further ado....


Here is my 10 gal. setup for my Kenyan Sand Boa:





Here is my 55 gal. for my Corn Snake:




Here's my 20 gal. for my baby Brazilian Rainbow Boa which I'll be getting in a few weeks:





And here's my 20 gal. for my Leopard Gecko:

[EL Ziggy]

Awesome enclosures Big! Welcome to the forum.

[DJC Reptiles]

Wow, spectacular enclosures. I love what you did with your leopard's enclosure!

[Jim Smith]

Very pretty enclosures! I suspect that you will be needing a larger enclosure for your BRB in the not-too-distant future. They're great eaters and grow pretty quickly. The good news is that they seem to get better looking with every shed.

[Scubadiver59]

Sweet looking setups!

[TeamSlitherin]

They look fantastic! Great work.

[BigTreeFallHard]

Thanks for the kind words everyone. My leo's was the first enclosure I did, and once I realized what an extra few bucks and some craft time could do to that tank, everything else kind of snowballed afterwards.

The only think that irks me is removing the light and heat fixtures to access the inside of the enclosures. I've considered buying/building a rack system with sliding acrylic door entry, but I don't see the monetary trade off just yet to save myself a couple seconds of inconvenience.

Originally Posted by Jim Smith

Very pretty enclosures! I suspect that you will be needing a larger enclosure for your BRB in the not-too-distant future. They're great eaters and grow pretty quickly. The good news is that they seem to get better looking with every shed.

Indeed! I only plan on keeping the BRB in that enclosure for a year or so. I just purchased a 125 gal. reptile tank + stand off craigslist for a price I couldn't pass up, so I gotta deal with storing that in the meantime, but that will definitely serve as a proper home for the duration of that snake's adult life. Once the BRB upsizes I'll use that 20 gal. for the sand boa once she is grown.

[IDvsEGO]

great looking enclosures. I have my creatures in tanks right now but am building new ones in a couple of months. It has been very hard for me to resist making this temp cages pretty but I dont want to waste money. The levels for the gecko are neat and I am totally stealing that idea.

[kazz]

does 1-st enclosure have live flora ? Really nice!

[BigTreeFallHard]

Kazz:
Thank you! The flora are all fake/artificial.

IDvsEGO:
I wouldn't call your money wasted if the décor you use for the temp cages gets used in the new ones you're building. That said, I definitely understand it could be difficult to cohesively plan aesthetics for the temp cages without being finished with the cages everything will eventually end up in.

As far as the level in the gecko tank, that was something I saw many years ago in a bearded dragon enclosure to help them get closer to their basking spot. It definitely makes for a nice tree house vibe and makes great use of dead air space in the tank while simultaneously giving the gecko something to crawl both on and under. I truthfully don't know how much she uses it, but it was cheap to construct and looks neat. Just be careful, depending on if you have a top or front entry tank, that you're able to easily get it in/out of the tank. I have a shelf directly above the tank in that photo which makes for removal of that level a bit precarious since I have to rotate it instead of being able to lift it out vertically.

[kazz]

BigTreeFallHard, where is heat sources in your enclosures ? Do hides are cold ?

[IDvsEGO]

Originally Posted by BigTreeFallHard

Kazz:
Thank you! The flora are all fake/artificial.

IDvsEGO:
I wouldn't call your money wasted if the décor you use for the temp cages gets used in the new ones you're building. That said, I definitely understand it could be difficult to cohesively plan aesthetics for the temp cages without being finished with the cages everything will eventually end up in.

As far as the level in the gecko tank, that was something I saw many years ago in a bearded dragon enclosure to help them get closer to their basking spot. It definitely makes for a nice tree house vibe and makes great use of dead air space in the tank while simultaneously giving the gecko something to crawl both on and under. I truthfully don't know how much she uses it, but it was cheap to construct and looks neat. Just be careful, depending on if you have a top or front entry tank, that you're able to easily get it in/out of the tank. I have a shelf directly above the tank in that photo which makes for removal of that level a bit precarious since I have to rotate it instead of being able to lift it out vertically.

well, since I am pretty sure of the full grown size for the geckos, I am concentrating on them for now. I dont want to get good looking hides for my small snakes that they will outgrow in a year. I have 3 babies and my other 3 are maybe halfway to their full grown size.

[jjhill001]

Looks great.

[Snakegirl2017]

Great looking enclosures!!