couple of questions for my reptile room

[Perefalcon]

alright, I'm going to be going on to the second phase of the reptile room rebuild as soon as tax money is in so I need some assistance as I've never build cages on my own and that's how I plan on doing this to keep costs down.

I have 3 large shelves in the cupboards, now, I plan on taking the doors off the hinges and putting flexwatt at the back of each row and having at least 8-10 enclosures per shelf that are just big enough to house 2 hatchlings or 1 juvi for the gargoyles and rhacs. My other set of cupboards will be for leos. I have 4 shelves there, and I plan on having 2-3 enclosures per shelf on those.

I'm going to be using plexiglass to surround everything and make hinged doors that either swing up or down for the fronts. My main questions are:

1. can Flexwatt be enclosed by plexi without starting a fire? It'll be against plaster, no wood.

2. should I put in the vertical dividers first and cut up the floor plexi, or use 1 piece of plexi for the floor and glue the vertical dividers

3. Should I use an upper plexi, or just leave that bare wood? It's painted with a latex based paint.

4. Should I have the hinged doors open up or down. If they open at the top of the enclosure I'll prolly have hooks holding it shut, If it opens at the bottom I'll prolly just use magnets.

5. What size should the enclosures be across...the vertical height is pretty much set. Remember I'm doing this for gargs, cresties and leos.

6. Do I really need lights for any of the enclosures? Or will the heat from the flex watt be enough?

I can't wait to get this phase done, it's the biggest part!!

Then on to the Breeder side of the room!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

[BalloonzForU]

How about pics of the areas you are working with, to help viewers get an idea, so they can answer your questions better?

 

[o0 Ryan 0o]

I think my biggest concern is ease of cleaning. I'f youre building plexi around an existing shelf I'm assuming they're not going to be removable. The young geckos are pooping machines, and they can be pretty acrobatic with their poops. It's typically along the corners and sometimes stuck on the side. If your plexi is not removable and squared I'm assuming, it's probably going to be a pain in the butt to clean the edges. The nice thing with plastic tubs is they're removable and they can be cleaned at a sink. Also, the bottom corners/edges are rounded and easier to clean out.

I think if you really want to save yourself some hassle, I'd build individual cubes that can be removable. You could leave out the top if you wanted with the leos, but you may loose some overall sturdiness. Also, If you would use shared dividers, it might be more of a pain to setup hinging doors on every tub. Also, I would take into consideration the possible cost per custom plexi tub, and compare that to various plastic tubs you can buy for a few bucks.

 

[Perefalcon]

well, as for the cleaning part, I was planning on using the same kind of stuff that you put in aquariums, whatever that epoxy/caulking stuff is called. And I guess I could always make them removable....it prolyl would work better that way. But I was mostly thinking that it would be easier to have them non removable that way I could screw the hinges for the doors into the wood from the shelves above or below.

Here are pics. I tried to make them line up as best I could to show the general idea of everything

the larger area would be where I would be putting the rhacs

the smaller one with 4 shelves is for the leos, now remember, none of these would have doors on them anymore...and they wouldn't be cluttered LOL

 

[o0 Ryan 0o]

I follow a little better now. Looks like a cool idea if you don't mind the cleaning aspect. I guess I'm just used to my tubs.

Here's a few thoughts on your questions now.

1. I don't think it should be a problem, just make sure you have a nice thermostat to control the heat. Let it run for a few days and keep an eye on it.
2. It's your call, it's more about the ease of assembly really.
3. To play it safe, I would plexi the top as well. Depending on how you keep you tanks sprayed there could be some water damage to the paint/wood over time. I'd say definitely plexi with the rhacs and depending on how you spray the leos, do them as well.
4. I think hinging down is probably easier since gravity will keep it down. If you hinge at the top, I'm not sure if it can be propped up or not.
5. Do you have dimensions?
6. The lights are your call. I think they would be cool for viewing, feeding, and cleaning personally. You can put them in as you build, versus them being an afterthought.

 

[Perefalcon]

Here is a sketch of the Dimensions for both set of shelves

 

[o0 Ryan 0o]

I'd probably split the Rhac shelves 4 times per row.

The leo shelf is for babies correct? If they're for babies, I'd split them 4 as well.

 

[Perefalcon]

well, the leo rack is for babies and juvis, so I was thinking 2-3 per shelf and on the rhac shelves I was thinking more like 7-8 times, there'd only be 1 per enclosure anyway