# Reptile dedicated rooms/sheds do's and dont's.



## Grunter023 (Jan 3, 2014)

Hi all,
I am planning on very soon having built a dedicated reptile room outside which will contain nearly 100% of my reptiles. It will be a insulated shed with internal lined walls and possibly tiled floor etc. It will also have power,plumbing,reverse cycle air con (guessing refrigerated would work best?),security etc. It will also contain incubators and also rodents/woodies for breeding in the same shed/room. Purpose for this setup is ease of feeding/cleaning everything in the same place and mainly for a temperature controlled room - as I am sick of worrying about reptiles and breeding rodents and woodies in the heat. 
A friend who is a builder is hopefully building it for me most likely outside of his work on weekends etc as I do not have a handy bone in my body and know nothing!

What I want to know is what are peoples suggestions on possible do's and do not's for such a setup. Has anyone undertook a similar project and are able to offer any advise or things they would have done differently. I want to do this right from the start and not half do it, and save having problems and regrets down the track.
Any advise would be appreciated.


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## ronhalling (Jan 3, 2014)

I am sure you will get heaps of tips on how and where to build, what materials and whether to have the room or the enclosures set up on a thermostat, BUT if you only take 1 thing away from all the info you are going to get make sure you have a power failure indicator ( audible and visible) attached to the room, i found this out the hard way with a breeding stock of Selenocosmia crassipes when the power to my spider room cut out in the middle of winter my heaters went with it and i did not know for more than 24hrs, i lost over $1000 worth of Bird Eaters not to mention all their progeny. Remember Power Failure Indicator.  .................................Ron


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## Senator358 (Jan 3, 2014)

I will add a couple of things to the list you already have. A couple of extractor fans in the roof and whirly birds on the roof will help a lot to circulate air. If you are breeding I would also recommend having enough windows to get a crossflow of air for cooling the snakes in winter. 

I hope you aren't planning to put mice/rats in the same room as the reps though as I can imagine the smell would drive the snakes crazy.


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## Grunter023 (Jan 3, 2014)

Thanks for the tips so far - I will be avidly storing all the information so I do this right. Yes I had planned on placing breeding rats and snakes in the same room (mainly due to the rats being able to stay alive from the extreme heat). Can anyone else with experience with housing them in the same room comment on their experiences?


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## longqi (Jan 3, 2014)

look in the auction pages for a cool room coming up for sale 
75mm to 100mm walls are best
they are ideal for reptiles
bigger rooms often sell dirt cheap if refridge gear is not working
power saw screws and silicone and job is done

possible problem with housing rats and snakes close together would be feeding response may be more noticeable
if you like handling your snakes better learn about tap training


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## Jimie (Jan 3, 2014)

i did have my rats in the same room but i had to take them out. All 10 of my pythons temperaments changed and i couldn't even walk next to the vivs as they would just strike like crazy even my most placid who has never struck at anyone started I've had her 5 years and this was a first in that time


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## Grunter023 (Jan 3, 2014)

Are these cools rooms big enough longi? I don't want anything too small.


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## Djbowker (Jan 3, 2014)

Don't leave the door open for your three year old son to go in and play with the mice.
Especially when his kitten follows him everywhere.


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## Rogue5861 (Jan 3, 2014)

A security system, high and low vents you can open for ventilation, LED room lights (possibly on timers), efficient enclosure heating (right wattage for size), and sink with hot and cold water and of course some good looking enclosures.


Rick


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## longqi (Jan 3, 2014)

Grunter023 said:


> Are these cools rooms big enough longi? I don't want anything too small.





Grunter023 said:


> Are these cools rooms big enough longi? I don't want anything too small.



They come in all sizes
We bought a 10m x 5m x2.5m for $500 in Sydney
Best to look at wholesalers etc closing down
Restaurants and wine shops have them too but mostly smaller
Some farms have HUGE ones

Because they are properly designed as cool rooms to get down to low temps
they are easy/cheap to cool and retain their temps really well


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## Grunter023 (Jan 9, 2014)

Any other tips guys? I have ruled out housing my breeding rats in the same room. So now the rats will go into a separate insulated temp controlled room.


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## junglepython2 (Jan 9, 2014)

Be careful not to over insulate as you will struggle to get night time lows. Obviously that depends on your location and what you are trying to breed.


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## Grunter023 (Jan 9, 2014)

junglepython2 said:


> Be careful not to over insulate as you will struggle to get night time lows. Obviously that depends on your location and what you are trying to breed.


 Never thought of that one.


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## Rogue5861 (Jan 9, 2014)

junglepython2 said:


> Be careful not to over insulate as you will struggle to get night time lows. Obviously that depends on your location and what you are trying to breed.



High and low vents or doors and windows will allow for night time lows. Insulation is to keep out the extremes and stabilize the temps, heating and cooling systems will determine ambient temps.


Rick


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## Perko (Jan 9, 2014)

Keep calling it a shed, people that say facility drive me nuts! rant over....


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## Grunter023 (Jan 9, 2014)

I should also maybe explain what I wish to keep in there and how I want the room and enclosures/racks to function. Room will be unheated as a whole. Animals kept will be most pythons. Geckos at this stage - rough knobtails and later Salebrosus leaf tail gecko (cooler species). Lizards such as beardies,central netteds and cooler species such us Boyds and Angle Heads. And Monitors such as Spencers and Ackies. So yes looking to cool with a air con (reverse cycle) in the hottest days and individually heat enclosures.


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## cement (Jan 9, 2014)

Its not a problem with winter lows. The big plus is that you can acheive proper temps at the proper time with minimal power output. Everything I keep in my shed breeds if I want it to.
I built my shed from cool room panels. I put lockable vents in, two sky lites with insulated hatch's to completely close off when needed, portable air con, alarm system, laundry tub (cold water only, a jug to boil water, and MOST importantly a sub main with circuit breakers for all of the power points, and a garbage bin. Flouro's for lighting.
The walls make great white boards. 

I highly reccomend the cool room shed.


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## DazTopEndPythons (Jan 9, 2014)

I have a cool room for sale at the moment 6 ft x 6 ft x 7ft with refrigerator motor that you can set to temp to keep cool $2000


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## Octane (Jan 9, 2014)

You should be looking at adequately ventilating your rodent room to minimise of the smell/ammonia.

Octane


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## wokka (Jan 9, 2014)

Like everything it depends wether you have money or time. New 50mm panel is only about $25m2 which is cheap considering it is self supporting so you dont need a frame. 75mm is aboout $35 per m2. It comes 1.2 wide and as long as you want. 75mm panel will span 6 or 7 meters insupported. For rats you want height (at least 3.6 meters) If you are clever you can harvest cool air at say 2am then lock up the shed through the heat of the day and so save on air-conditioning. If you rely on airconditioning you can have problems if power blacks out. My snake rooms are only 50mm and never overheat . On the odd 40c day outside my rooms might hit 30C but i turn all the heat off before any heat wave so i am starting with cool air.


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## Grunter023 (Jan 9, 2014)

Sorry Wokka. Silly question - what is the panel you are talking about? cool room panel? Thanks


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## -Peter (Jan 9, 2014)

If you're going to have reverse cycle aircon then you program your temp fluctuations yourself. Insulate to your hearts content.


junglepython2 said:


> Be careful not to over insulate as you will struggle to get night time lows. Obviously that depends on your location and what you are trying to breed.


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## Marzzy (Jan 10, 2014)

-Peter said:


> If you're going to have reverse cycle aircon then you program your temp fluctuations yourself. Insulate to your hearts content.



+1


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## wokka (Jan 10, 2014)

Grunter023 said:


> Sorry Wokka. Silly question - what is the panel you are talking about? cool room panel? Thanks



Yeah, genericly called coolroom panel. 0.8mm metal either side with styrene in the midddle. If you search insulated panelling suppliers will come up. Mine are actually old egg rooms from a local ckicken hatchery.


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## Grunter023 (Jan 21, 2014)

Thanks for all your advise. Everything has been taken on board and I had my first consult the other day with my mate (Builder) who will be completing this project for me. Anything else anybody can think of feel free to post. Cheers.


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## Grunter023 (Aug 31, 2014)

Can anyone suggest what type of paint I should paint the shed floor with? It's 11 metres by 8 metres and is concrete right now, and I want to paint it to seal it and so it looks better. I could use that shed floor paint you can buy or I have also heard that "paving paint" is good to use. I am also worried about how slippery the shed paint could be if it was to get a bit of water on it. I am also worried about how shiny the shed paint is. My brother did his garage and it must have been a gloss paint as it was pretty shiny when looking at it with lights shining down on it. So any suggestions?


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## kitten_pheonix (Aug 31, 2014)

If you mix sand in with any type of pain it will have a grippy texture, alot of commercial tiles have this due to cafes etc needing a non slip surface in the kitchen.


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## jacorin (Aug 31, 2014)

how about looking at a site shed??? compared to building...just an idea


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## Grunter023 (Aug 31, 2014)

Shed has been built. Now just wondering on what to paint the cement floor with.


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## Wing_Nut (Aug 31, 2014)

Ultralast Ultra NuPave A/S


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## Grunter023 (Nov 13, 2014)

Just about to paint the floor with heavy duty paving paint that is oil based (not water based). I was just wondering how long after I finish painting do people think I should move in with my reptiles?


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## Grunter023 (Dec 10, 2014)

Paint on the floor is all good. Reptiles have moved in. I have two 7.1kw split system reverse cycle air cons installed to the room. I was wondering what is a safe temp to set the room temperature at for the aircons to kick in? I want to only use them when completely necessary to save money on electricity, but at the same time don't want the reptiles to stress or die. All enclosures are individually heated. Aircon is just to stop the reptiles from over heating etc.


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## Senator358 (Dec 11, 2014)

I have my air con temp set to 29 and find it works well.


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## Grunter023 (Jul 5, 2015)

I was also wondering what people's thoughts on what is the perfect temp to set the split system's on for this time of year (winter) when they are heating the room? I have individual heating in enclosures but ambient temps in the room in general are getting pretty low as overnight temps are in the minus here


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## dragonlover1 (Jul 5, 2015)

I think you have to look at what types you keep and what their min & max temps are,and adjust your AC to suit.For instance I keep central & pygmy beardies + of course the boyds I bought from you so my temps range from max 45C during the day to 12C at night,any lower & I put on a heater to keep them warm


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