Custom vivarium design - thoughts?

[BioBuilt]

Hello,

I've been working to design a new vivarium enclosure, one that's much easier for keepers to work with and conducive to meeting and maintaining an animal's humidity requirements.

The screenshot below shows a render of the design. It will be made predominantly of polycarbonate, with a small section of acrylic and mesh as well at the top. I intend to use a specific type of acrylic which will transmit UVB. The visible holes will fit ventilation fans (spaced 1 in. From the inside wall for safety).

Whatever thoughts or concerns you may have, please share them below. Also, are there any pet peeves you have with a vivarium you own, a solution to which you would like to see here?

 

[acpart]

Interesting! What size(s) are you planning? Will there be a way to seal the ventilation holes in case one doesn't want to use the fans? Two other things to consider: some of the smaller vivs are used for micro geckos. I've had to to an incredible amount of sealing of small areas (like the space between the door and then perpendicular wall) to keep the geckos in. I actually lost a number of them because I didn't realize the extent to which I needed to seal. Also, some of the smaller geckos (like day geckos) can get themselves up on the ledges in the higher corners of the enclosures, so think about that when planning.

Aliza

 

[BioBuilt]

Wow, thank you for the in depth comment. Though it isn't shown in the screenshot, I plan to cover the vents with metal mesh.

Regarding sizing, that's pretty up in the air. The render I attached was scaled to be 24"x24"x48", though that might prove too large for me to realistically create myself. Considering this, I have started to gravitate towards sizing my first design as 18"x18"x36" with smaller ones developed as well. This is subject to change, however. I will definitely make sure to keep the seal in mind too.

I will likely let comments roll in over the course of next week and develop a version 2 around then. Thanks again for the feedback!

 

[acpart]

That sounds like a good size. I think the first Exo-terra that became available was 12x12x18 and it actually doesn't really suit most geckos. It's too small for a crested gecko, marginal for a gargoyle gecko and those are the most common inhabitants of these arboreal cages. I'd go with the 18x18x36 because it has a smaller footprint. At some point you could even turn it around and make a 36x18x18 for terrestrial geckos. The teeny geckos that I keep are housed in 12x12x12 or 8x8x12.

Aliza