Need help with Enclosure

[Reptilelady86]

Hello everyone,
I currently have a 36" x 18" x 18" glass enclosure for my beardie. Hes approx. 3-4 months old. I know this size is fine for him but i would like to upgrade him to a 48" x 24" x 24" enclosure. I would like to have a wood enclosure for him as this retains heat. The issue that I'm encountering is that most of the wood or melamine cages have fixtures on the inside. I have all the fixtures and light equipment that sits on top of screen. Is it possible to get a wood or melamine enclosure that just has the sides, back and bottom pieces and i can make a custom screen to put on? I am not sure if anyone else has done this before but if so, can you please share some tips or advice. Thank you so much.

 

[BeardedHippy]

most of the wooden enclosures are designed to have the lights mounted on the inside. It is fairly easy though to cut holes and add a screen to the top, you can buy the screen on ebay/amazon.

 

[Reptilelady86]

Thanks. Ill have a look on ebay/amazon. Hopefully there is one for a 48" x 24". Also, just wondering would be okay to have some parts of it screen and others open? I don't have any other pets in the house besides him.

 

[Reptilelady86]

Also, i have suction cups for my temperature/humidity gauges how would that adhere to the melamine or wood enclosures?

 

[Hdrydr31]

Also, i have suction cups for my temperature/humidity gauges how would that adhere to the melamine or wood enclosures?

The 3M hooks work really well and the double sided foam adhesive you can pull it down to take it off to change things up.

 

[Reptilelady86]

Awesome thank you for those tips

 

[Hdrydr31]

Awesome thank you for those tips

I find suction cups fall off alot..

 

[Reptilelady86]

Yeah for my current glass terrarium it works fine as long as its not directly under heat lamp lol i tried to experiment on my wood cabinets and hold about a few seconds and then pop came right off. I will try the 3M stuff and see how that goes just wanted to figure out all this before getting another enclosure. What do you guys have has enclosures? Glass or Wood/Melamine? Other?

 

[BeardedHippy]

I have 4x2x2 melamine vivs, really spacious, I like em but they are the only ones Im familiar with really. The adhesive type hooks didnt work for me, the combination of heat and being pulled at an angle made them fall off. In the end I just used little screw in utility hooks, they will never come off.

 

[Reptilelady86]

Ok ill have to try different things and see which works haha Is it true that melamine's retains heat better than glass terrariums?

 

[BeardedHippy]

Yes absolutely, glass' reflectivity and heat retention is almost zero. Wood is a much better insuator so different measures are needed to keep temperatures stable. Vents and air movement are important but dimmers are used to regulate the output of the basking lamp. I went all out and bought these snazzy touch screen computer controlled units (EVO microclimate controllers), they take most of the guesswork out.

 

[Reptilelady86]

OMG those sound awesome. Do you have the website for this? Would love to check them out

 

[BeardedHippy]

They are cool, its a UK company but they sell on amazon. They are expensive toys though....
http://www.microclimate.co.uk/evo/

 

[Reptilelady86]

Oh wow... you were not joking about that
They do look cool and would look great in enclosure but at the time cannot afford that much
Hmm, is there something else that would work similar to this but not as pricey?

 

[BeardedHippy]

indeed, you can buy a much more basic thermostat of this kind.
https://www.internetreptile.com/the...MImf7C3Jfk1QIV1mwbCh3cEgXmEAQYAiABEgINzPD_BwE
They do the same thing for a third of the price, there are lots of types and makes and I dont know which the reliable ones are. Maybe other here can say, it will need to have enough wattage for your lamp tho.

 

[BeardedHippy]

sorry, not that one, its just on/off
https://www.amazon.co.uk/Digital-Vi...751&sr=8-3&keywords=vivarium+light+controller

 

[Hdrydr31]

Yeah for my current glass terrarium it works fine as long as its not directly under heat lamp lol i tried to experiment on my wood cabinets and hold about a few seconds and then pop came right off. I will try the 3M stuff and see how that goes just wanted to figure out all this before getting another enclosure. What do you guys have has enclosures? Glass or Wood/Melamine? Other?

I have 2 40G breeders

 

[Reptilelady86]

sorry, not that one, its just on/off
https://www.amazon.co.uk/Digital-Vi...751&sr=8-3&keywords=vivarium+light+controller

I checked it out but unfortunately i do not live in the UK lol do you know a good US brand? I typed in google for search "reptile temperature controller" couple things popped up.

https://www.chewy.com/zilla-terrari...njVWJrIxI_Z9qr654xBoCaBkQAvD_BwE&gclsrc=aw.ds

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B015FKG4C...t=&hvlocphy=9031787&hvtargid=pla-326308171578

I have never worked with these type of units before but they seem pretty cool.

 

[BeardedHippy]

hi, neither of those, they would work with a CHE or a heater, they are just on/off when they reach a set temperature. For the basking lamp you need one that dims. Try adding 'dimming' to your search

 

[Reptilelady86]

Would these ones work? Just trying to find one that isnt too expensive but will do the job.
http://www.joshsfrogs.com/catalog/blog/2013/02/choosing-a-vivarium-electronics-thermostat/

Hmm, i am wondering if my local hardware store will have something like this too. It doesnt have to say reptile but as long as it functions the same. Just need one with a dimmer for the CHE and basking lamp is that correct rather than if it gets hot or warm inside the closure than it will just turn everything off.