Finally building a viv

Well, we're finally tired of having a million tanks laying around... so we're going to build something stackable. But we have a few questions...

The setup: This will be one cage made out of wood, meant to fit 2 geckos. The cage will have a divider should we choose to keep the leos individually. The front will be a sheet of acrylic plastic that will have hinges on the bottom or the side... we haven't decided yet. We will probably make 3 or 4 of these separate boxes, and they will be stackable... with some method to lock them in place to keep them from being bumped off.

We plan on using UTHs for heat (each UTH will be located in the back and centered in each divided side, rather than both in the middle as that picture shows) We also might get one very large UTH for each level, because that would probably be cheaper than two.

Some things we're not sure about: What to use as "substrate". We are thinking linoleum or shelf liner. The problem is, the UTHs have that square plastic piece. Also, we're not sure how difficult it would be to remove linoleum should one of the UTHs burn out and need to be replaced. However, is shelf liner thick enough? I imagine that would be too thin of a material between the UTH and the gecko.

Also, what type of wood should we use? I know that some is toxic... and we aren't sold on using melamine because it is so heavy. (Though I'm thinking melamine is probably safest with the heat....)

Anything we're forgetting? We've never done this before... so I'm sure we will run into a few hurdles. Thanks in advance for any advice

Melamine faced contiboard is what I use, its not overly heavy but its not the lightest, if you want to have a panel to slide in an out if you wantedto seperate said geckos, how about getting glass runners and running them down the middle, so you can just slide the glass out if you want a complete viv and a 8 mm high bit of plastic isn't going to bother the gecko, and therefore giving you more room for each individual leo.

Any ideas for the substrate?

Shelf liner cut to fit maybe? Something easily removeable if one of the heatmats fail.. and if your worried, you can allways layer a few layers of paper towels underneath if you feel its too hot.

Shelf liner works really well. You can double layer if it gets too warm, or you can keep the heat pads on a thermostat or dimmer to make sure it doesnt get too hot.

Ok that's good then. I'm thinking that might be cheaper and easier than linoleum.

I use shelf liner and to cut down on the heat from the UTH I put a couple of paper towels in between the shelfliner and the UTH, to me it works perfect and my temps always stay the way I want them to

And that wouldn't be a fire hazard right? Because I was thinking of doing that...but I didn't know if that would be ok. If you're doing and it's working then great! That makes my life easier

Things don't spontaneously combust when you touch them, do they? Your heater shouldn't be any warmer than your body temp. The only way it's a fire hazard is if the temp isn't regulated and/or the heating element shorts out.

Hahaha no of course not. I wasn't concerned so much about the heat as the electricity. Electric currents and paper somehow give me a sick feeling. But we'll just be sure to use electrical tape around the cords. I think that will make me comfortable enough.