Arachno-Condo

BWSmith · 01-11-05, 10:13 PM

This is my latest project. I had some extra 1/4" Sintra PVC sheets left over and some 1/4" Acrylic. I figured it was time for my wife's Tarantulas to get a new home. The PVC works pretty good aside from having to chemically bond it. I probably used a little over half a sheet of PVC, but it was mostly scraps. And of course, the material is cheap. A 4x8 sheet only costs me $37. But I used alot more acrylic than on any other enclosure.

She has 6 Tarantuals right now. All of the spiders have to stay upstairs and out of the herp area because of permethrin. 6 spiders were starting to take up alot of room. So I came up with the condo idea. The unit is 38" long, 13" deep, and 16.5" high. I divided this into 6 enclosures. My main problem was light. There was no way to add additional lighting. So I made the sides and the dividers acrylic so that light from the room would reach even the center cages. It turned out looking pretty nice. Not bad for about 8 hours actual work time. Especially since I had no idea how I was going to design it, I just started building and figured it out as I went.

Shad0w · 01-11-05, 10:14 PM

Hey thats cool!

brutus · 01-11-05, 10:17 PM

Man, spiders creep me out. I am a 260lb bodybuilder that would probable scream if one of those were on me.

Nice design though!!

Mark

HetForHuman · 01-11-05, 10:31 PM

Awewsome lookin cages BW

BWSmith · 01-11-05, 10:33 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by HetForHuman
Awewsome lookin cages BW

Actually it is just one cage

That was the hard part to figure out.

Being one big cage, it is great with 6 cats in the house. Individual ones that size would be too easy for them to knock over.

BOAS_N_PYTHONS · 01-11-05, 10:57 PM

BWSMITH:

Sweet creation indeed.

Are those condos time shares, always good to check out Georgia in the fall

LOL.

Tony

dudsky · 01-11-05, 11:29 PM

Those look great! awesome cage and i was actaully thinking of making something liek taht for my spiders, but i think that the substrate in those tanks is way too shallow and i would not use aspen shavings(or pine?) for tarantulas at all. its not a good substrate for them. doesnt look liek you can do much aobut the depth now, but at least change the substrate to top soil, black earth, peat moss or similar (if you do, make sure u take one with no pesticides). sorry if i am telling you things u already know, but thats what i would deffinately do. Very nice work. Nice genic u got there

also, is PVC the plastic material sheets taht they build like boaphile type cages out of??? can you please tell me where you get it? and how do u work with it anyways? cant raely screw it together can u? i want to get my hands on some of that stuff so bad! and i didnt think it was easy to get. so any help or brief description on wher to get and how to work with it would be a big help.
thanks
igor

BWSmith · 01-12-05, 12:06 AM

Aspen is actually acceptable for arachnids since it has no oils. Pine and cedar, of course, are very bad for them. I have kept T's on about everything, and I have found my preference to be aspen. Actually I just took my versicolor off of soil and put it on cypress tonight in another enclosure I built. I can put up to an inch of substrate in this condo. I have done some very extravagant caging for Ts in the past such as this one:

But the T didn't like it and neither did I. He went off feed and became extremely skittish. Once I moved him to a smaller enclosure on aspen, he calmed back down and started eating again. I also need easy access since half of the Tarantulas I have eating F/T Pinkies. Heck, the only T I have ever had die was killed by a Black Widow. Granted she got a good meal out of it.

Yes, the PVC is the same material that Boaphiles are made of. Gives you an idea of the markup, huh? He is at about $200 for a 2'x4'x1'. The material needed runs me about $50 or $60. We probably use the same company. I know I use the same one as 4 cage manufacturers. But I had a nice "in" since I work for an architecture firm and have an account with them. The PVC is pretty easy to work with. Cut it with a saw and use a special adhesive to put it together. A table saw and clamps, that is about all you need unless you want to router the corners or edges. Pretty easy to work with, just time consuming because of the adhesives.

oscar · 01-13-05, 03:38 PM

wow.. fantastic craftsmanship! not into inverts, but i can still appreciate. you look like have some great skills using PVC and acrylic.

btw.. whats permethrin?

BWSmith · 01-13-05, 03:52 PM

Quote:

btw.. whats permethrin?

The active ingredient in Provent-A-Mite. Most of us would rather spend $4 and get the same thing from Wal Mart than pay $20 for a can of Provent-a-Mite.

So we just refer to it as permethrin.

Tim and Julie B · 01-13-05, 04:04 PM

My god that kicks ***. I wish I had half that skill. Great job to bad your not closer you would be hired!

Lucky T's.