# Went to Bunnings....



## Smittiferous (Dec 5, 2015)

Went to Bunnings, bought some stuff:







Gonna make something. 

Stay tuned, will include progress photos. Like this one:







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## pinefamily (Dec 5, 2015)

I feel a new monitor enclosure coming on.......


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## Smittiferous (Dec 5, 2015)

Bingo. 1800x900x600, with a removable partition in the centre. It's going to house my young feller and another rather young flavi I purchased but haven't collected yet. They'll each have 900x900 to run amok in. That'll do them for the next six months, when I'll be building another of the same size, removing the partition and they can each have about 1.6 square metres to frolic about in for the next couple of years. 

Snagged about 5 metres of flexible aggie drain today at work, for burying to make an epic tunnel network. Sincerely hope these guys love it!


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## Smittiferous (Dec 5, 2015)

More progress...














Beardy Hilton that is awaiting glass... Two levels, each level 1500x600x600 plus cupboard space down below





Detail of waling plates for roof support, for those interested in building their own box soon...






Set down 18mm from top of side panes, so the roof panels sit flush. Roof will be made up of two 1800x450 FJ pine panels.

I use FJ pine panel for all exterior faces, looks so much nicer than melamine, ply or interlocking pine lining panel/mouldings (which I will be using for the rear wall)

Also, pro tip... Phillips head screws can go rust in hell. Square drive next time, for sure. 


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## Smittiferous (Dec 5, 2015)

Test fit of roof: 






Advertised 18mm FJ panel is actually 19mm, woe is me for not checking thickness more thoroughly before fixing the offset waling plates they sit on. Bleh...






Still deciding how great my tolerance is for that inherent comfortable level of "wrong" with home projects....

Few more beers and it'll be flush fit 


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## pinefamily (Dec 6, 2015)

My wife always tells me if my DIY was perfect, it wouldn't have that DIY feel, lol.


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## Smittiferous (Dec 6, 2015)

Today wasn't so productive, spent most of the day flitting between Bunnings, Masters, local aquarium and Amazing Amazon collecting materials and supplies. 


Removable partition fitted:









150mm deep shelf/platform at the front, will have some tiles atop it, to keep sand buildup from the front air vents





Bought a box of these tiles, 300x300, some cut in half for the shelf and the rest to be used for stacks.





All that remains in terms of woodwork is the back wall and cutouts for vents. Tossing up whether or not to use mouldings to hide the discrepancies with the pine panels. Would look much nicer but I'm still having nightmares from all the mitre joins on the mouldings with the beardy Hilton....

Regarding stack tier sizing, would all levels the same size be acceptable? I'm thinking having the bottom level full size and progressively trimming 50mm from one edge for each tier up, making the top tier 300x150. Any thoughts from those who know better? These guys are currently only about 150 (flavi) and 175mm (gouldii) SVL, give or take, should be adequate for the next six months?


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## pinefamily (Dec 7, 2015)

We have only put tile stacks in with our ackies, but we kept the tiles the same for all the levels.


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## Smittiferous (Dec 7, 2015)

Ok cheers! Another concern has arisen, as to suitable adhesive for bonding the tiles to the stand-offs that keep the levels of the stacks spaced. My worries are how things like liquid nails hold up to heat, and whether or not they give off noxious stuff when continuously exposed to heat. Seen it written that it's fine, I looked up the MSDS but that only contained info on while it was wet, not once it had cured.


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## pinefamily (Dec 8, 2015)

I used liquid nails and small blocks of wood as spacers.

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## Smittiferous (Dec 9, 2015)

Glass in, electrician wired up the lighting, stacks assembled. With added cat. 


















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## pinefamily (Dec 10, 2015)

3 for heat, 1 for UV?


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## Smittiferous (Dec 10, 2015)

Two spot heat, one UV and one for ceramic emitter for background heat when necessary. I may change that up though, once I see how well/poorly the enclosure maintains heat. 


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## pinefamily (Dec 10, 2015)

As long you're getting the required temps at the basking spot it should be fine 

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## Smittiferous (Dec 10, 2015)

Final fit and finish I guess. Glass is out for the photos. Back wall in place, all vents fitted. Kinda done. 

















Not impressed with the paint used for the back wall, it marks so easily. No matter though, I'll be making a feature to hang over it at a later date. 

Will also be adding mouldings and a stain of some kind in the coming months, next clean-out day I'd imagine, once it's warm enough for them to spend a day in the outdoor mesh setup catching some real UV.

Critique welcome 


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## pinefamily (Dec 10, 2015)

Nice job. Have you sealed the wood?


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## ronhalling (Dec 11, 2015)

[MENTION=32194]Smittiferous[/MENTION], no critique needed on that job bud, it is fabulous and i can imagine how good it is going to look with a 3D background, i only have 1 question though: why is the front glass area so small would it have not been better to have a 1 inch bottom section for the glass runner so you could display your animals to their fullest?  .........................Ron


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## pinefamily (Dec 11, 2015)

Ron, I don't know what Smittiferous' reasoning is for doing so, but having a higher lip helps prevent sand getting in the tracks (and on the floor!). Sandy's fling sand everywhere when they dig.


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## Smittiferous (Dec 11, 2015)

[MENTION=38465]pinefamily[/MENTION] Yes, internally, with a non-toxic clear seal.
[MENTION=36030]ronhalling[/MENTION] The front bottom strip is so high to allow a nice thick amount of substrate for them to dig around in, without having it pile up against and inside the glass tracks or air vents. If I had the right tools I'd have ripped it to be slightly shorter, but I don't, so had to go with the stock sizes at Bunnings. 

I sorta went into this project knowing what end result I wanted but kind of designed it in my head while I was buying the materials, not the best way to go. 


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## Smittiferous (Dec 11, 2015)

So it is now furnished and occupied.

Jonesy the space cat, my original critter, giving his new home a thorough inspection:


























Meanwhile George, the new addition (alleged flavi) just sits and chills:







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## BredliFreak (Dec 12, 2015)

very nice build mate, I'm sure your sandie will love living in it (he seems happy already)!


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## pinefamily (Dec 12, 2015)

Very nice job. What type of sand did you use in there?


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## Smittiferous (Dec 12, 2015)

It's clayey sand I pulled from the depths (was core drilling about six metres down)... Packs down and holds shape quite nicely but I've had second thoughts since I put it in there, I think the clay component is a little too high. Which is a shame, because I'm about to pull a thousand cubic metres of it out of the ground....


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## pinefamily (Dec 12, 2015)

Instead of ripping it all out, try adding some more sand and mixing it in. Either sandpit sand, or builder's sand I think is ok too.


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## briansworms (Dec 13, 2015)

I loved looking at the build as you progressed. Looks like my garage lol. Nice job well done. I love the multi level hide and the tunnel.


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## Smittiferous (Dec 13, 2015)

@briansworms Thanks Brian,

Coming from a car forum I love seeing progressive "build" threads that are well documented, as it often sets things whirring inside heads and it's a great place to get ideas/alternative methods from.

Just nobody take advice from me, I have no damn idea what I'm doing!


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## Smittiferous (Dec 26, 2015)

Update:

Did an emergency substrate change after I smashed a light bulb while changing it, glass went everywhere. All I had available was a blend of sand, coco peat and topsoil that was meant to be the basis for a bio-active substrate I was going to trial for the beardies, so that went in. 

One 20kg bag of play sand
Two expanded bricks of coco peat
1/3rd a 20kg bag of topsoil
With a smattering of leaves over the top










Decided to do Gorgeous George's side also, same mix:













Got some left so I am going to throw it in with my Variegata also. 


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## Smittiferous (Dec 27, 2015)

Woke up this morning to find Jonesy foraging through the leaf litter in search of breakfast. Never seen him actively foraging before. Totally awesome to watch. 


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## ronhalling (Dec 27, 2015)

Wow mate that looks so natural that it makes me feel like going "Herping" in it, great job!!!  ....................Ron


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## Pauls_Pythons (Dec 27, 2015)

Great job. 
Nice to see someone put in so much thought & effort into a build.
I'm quite jealous of your building skills too.


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## Smittiferous (Dec 28, 2015)

Hit me up next time you're planning a new build [MENTION=32852]Pauls_Pythons[/MENTION] and I'll see if I can help out!


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## Virides (Dec 29, 2015)

Great job on the build and especially like the progress shots. I personally like using the solid pine panels since they do look so nice and make for a very durable enclosure 

Seeing as you have sliding glass for your enclosure, we develop and sell our own sliding glass finger grips. They mean that you no longer have to smudge up the glass to open them and unlike permament ground in grooves these are actually comfortable to use and can be removed if required.

We sell the directly from website - http://virides.com.au/shop/sliding-glass-finger-grips

You can pay with your credit card securely through Paypal and you do not even need Paypal to use it.


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## Smittiferous (Dec 30, 2015)

Bought a few pairs for present and future enclosures


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