# Enclosure build



## OldestMagician (Jun 10, 2013)

Hi guys, pretty new around here and with reptiles in general. Got my reptile license a couple of months ago and bought myself a little Spotted yearling:




He's currently in a 2 foot fish tank with 3 sides painted but it feels a bit small and I can't fit too much in there for him to explore so I've decided to build a slightly bigger enclosure for him. The idea is to have 3 MDF sides and glass sliding doors. 

I'm a bit of a DIY enthusiast and have built a few things, like bedside tables and fish tank stands but I do have a tendency to get overexcited and rush things, so I'm taking my time with this one and making sure everything fits nice and squarely. I'm also learning how to use a circular saw properly.

Here's where I am so far:




As you can see, I've got the main shape sorted (being inspected by the daughter of the mother+daughter cats I have) and siliconed the joins. I've just gone and bought some glass door tracks from Bunnings after reading about them on this site. Now I need to make up an box for the length of the ceiling so the glass I've sourced will fit properly. 

My other question is, what can I use to seal the inside from water? I had a look around Bunnings in the paint section but couldn't find anything that looked appropriate, although I didn't look in the pond section or anything.

I'll update as I go along, cheers.


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## wildthings (Jun 10, 2013)

Pondtite made by bondall and I think bunnings doesn't stock that one, but all say it's the best and what I intend to use to seal the enclosure that I'm building


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## Rogue5861 (Jun 10, 2013)

Cabots cfp floor works great to seal wood, i stained my mdf enclosure before i sealed it.

Just be aware you wont want to stack too much on top of the enclosure as your top board is inside on the two sides (would of been better if stacked on top of them), it is likely to sag if to much weight is put on top.


Rick


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## OldestMagician (Jun 10, 2013)

Yeah, that's okay, there won't be anything stacked on top. Did you use the oil-based one or the water-based one?


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## Rogue5861 (Jun 10, 2013)

Water based sealer, i would be staying right away from an oil based one.


Rick


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## Bananapeel (Jun 10, 2013)

OldestMagician said:


> Yeah, that's okay, there won't be anything stacked on top.



Hehehe just you wait! :twisted: 

Loos good though. Bet the little fella will love it!


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## OldestMagician (Jun 10, 2013)

This is where I got to tonight, got the glass sliding doors in and the frame itself is essentially done. Tomorrow is my RDO and my missus is working so I'll probably get some sealant and give it a coat or 2.

Then I'm planning to wrap it in something, possibly laminate flooring type thing before I sort out the inside with heatlamp position and stuff.


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## Virides (Jun 10, 2013)

So you can open the sliding glass without smudging and thus having to clean it, you can save time by using our finger grips - Shop | Virides


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## Jacknife (Jun 10, 2013)

Also a small modification you may want to make is to raise the bottom tracking by at least 50mm. This will stop substrate a/ from falling out and b/ from jamming up your tracks.


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## OldestMagician (Jun 10, 2013)

Damn, didn't even think of that. I might just build a barrier inside the tracks and see how that looks before tearing the doors out. 

Sent from my GT-I9100 using Tapatalk 4 Beta


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## Shaggz (Jun 11, 2013)

you could always just change the tracks from top to bottom and turn the tank upside down, That will solve the substrate problem without major modifications ;0


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## Gruni (Jun 11, 2013)

Or use astro turf as substrate... I did the same as you but my Mac lived in her tank until about 2 years old I then converted a TV cabinet and she has lots of fun climbing and lounging in all part of the build.


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## ronhalling (Jun 12, 2013)

Gruni said:


> Or use astro turf as substrate... I did the same as you but my Mac lived in her tank until about 2 years old I then converted a TV cabinet and she has lots of fun climbing and lounging in all part of the build.
> 
> View attachment 291097
> View attachment 291098
> ...



I love the setup you have for your Spotty Gruni, it is truly inspirational, i was going to convert the build i did for our big carpet girl ( http://www.aussiepythons.com/forum/diy-zone-5392/new-habitat-girl-197902/ ) and make it into 2 enclosures for my 2 spotties but after seeing this 1 you did for your 1 i am thinking 2 more builds in the pipeline, just 1 question though, seeing as how Macs are terrestrial does your 1 do much climbing to the basking shelves you have incorperated or does it still spend alot of time at ground level. Sorry to the OP for the hijack but saves doing another thread, and besides they are all Macs. and to OldestMagician that is a beautiful Spotty you have  ...................................Ron


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## Gruni (Jun 13, 2013)

Terrestrial does not mean land bound Ron... :lol: Macs hang from cave mouths to grab bats they are compitent climbers and Skittles uses every crevice and ledge in the back walll to make her way to anywhere she wants. She spends a lot of time on the heat tile ledge but probably even more time on the driftwood log. She was sometimes shakey on the narrow branch in her tank but she powers around the new enclosure.


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## justin91 (Jun 13, 2013)

Yep, definitely agree with Gruni, my mac is hardly ever on the ground. His always up high exploring, hanging off the light to hanging off the rockwall. Only ever goes on the ground to sleep in his cave pretty much.

Back on topic. Your enclosure is coming along nice. You'll be so proud when your all done.


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## OldestMagician (Jun 30, 2013)

Haven't updated this is ages, sorry. Pretty far along now. Hasn't turned out perfectly due to my lack of experience with a circular saw. Just want to make a background, customise the hides and create bases for a couple of fake plants. Been a great learning experience so far, already got lots of ideas for the next time I build an enclosure. Here's where I am at the moment (second hide is covered up with coir-peat, near where the branch starts):





Hated the flimsy plastic powerpoint that came with the thermostat so replaced it with a slimline fitting and bought a metal coverplate for it (looks a bit wonky but is actually level haha):





And I also cut out a hole for the thermostat screen to sit in:




No exposed cables inside, all are within the "box" that was built at the top to attach the glass door tracks to.


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## Shane73 (Jul 1, 2013)

Hi OM looks good mate, I like what you've done with the thermostat great idea, I'll be stealing that one 
I learnt a lot building my first enclosure, and from checking out the threads here looks like I'm going to have to learn a lot more for when my boy grows and needs a bigger one.
Good luck with the rest, I'm interested to see how it all ends up.


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## OldestMagician (Jul 21, 2013)

Well, I've given it another go. Decided to use the DIY melamine guide on here, just used different sizes and did a couple of little things that I thought would be helpful (that I learnt from the other one).

















I was a lot more careful with the cuts that I had to make this time, and I got Bunnings to do a lot of them. Made it a LOT easier when it came to construction. It was lovely for everything to line up right.

I put the switch in because it sure beats getting down on the floor and reaching around to plug the light in. I've wired everything up (I'm an industrial electrician, have no fear) so that the whole enclosure is just run off of 1 plug. Plug it in and there's power to the thermostat and it's GPO (which is a slimline fitting), plus the light. Only realised after making up the box that hides all the cables and terminations that I'm going to have to move the light, but that's no big deal. Will also grab a bit of conduit from work as a bit of mechanical protection for the exposed TPS.

Much happier with this one. When I make one for the Bredli I'll use one of the faux-timber melamine boards, or I'll get around to finding a nice solid wood cabinet I can play around with.


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## junglebenn (Jul 22, 2013)

I keep seeing these wonderful setups with the 3d backgrounds but have no idea how to make them or where to buy them.. any help? looks like ur doing a good job for ur first attempt at an enclosure. ur spotty should love it


Gruni said:


> Terrestrial does not mean land bound Ron... :lol: Macs hang from cave mouths to grab bats they are compitent climbers and Skittles uses every crevice and ledge in the back walll to make her way to anywhere she wants. She spends a lot of time on the heat tile ledge but probably even more time on the driftwood log. She was sometimes shakey on the narrow branch in her tank but she powers around the new enclosure.


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## Lawra (Jul 22, 2013)

junglebenn said:


> I keep seeing these wonderful setups with the 3d backgrounds but have no idea how to make them or where to buy them.. any help? looks like ur doing a good job for ur first attempt at an enclosure. ur spotty should love it



Foam!!! Lots of foam and a big mess  it's a lot of fun.


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## Gruni (Jul 22, 2013)

My thread about the tv cabinet takes you through step by step how to make them. There are also some links I have shared at other times that have great instructions. One of the better ones is this one: reptile terrarium rock wall background


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## LB_Reptiles (Jul 23, 2013)

Very nice snake man


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## OldestMagician (Jul 26, 2013)

So here's where I am so far. Back wall is done, not perfect but it certainly looks better than just plain melamine. I'm trying to decide whether or not to put the heat lamp in because my Spotted never uses it. Thoughts?

I've also ordered some pulls for the sliding doors, just going to leave it for a few more days to make sure the paint is definitely dry.


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## Lawra (Aug 16, 2013)

O


OldestMagician said:


> View attachment 293822
> 
> 
> So here's where I am so far. Back wall is done, not perfect but it certainly looks better than just plain melamine. I'm trying to decide whether or not to put the heat lamp in because my Spotted never uses it. Thoughts?
> ...



I think it looks great! I'm considering not using a heat light in mine either, and going with a heat cord under a tile instead. 

Any updates? 

Edit: how thick do you have the substrate? I'm trying to decide how much to put in mine.


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