Drainage

[Katrinaa]

I think I'm going to buy a mistking. But I don't have a drainage system because my terrarium is just an exo terra until he he's a bit bigger (I have a baby panther to arrive in the next week or so). Until he's bigger and I have a custom terrarium what do you suggest for drainage for until I have my proper forever set up?

 

[jmwhitel]

You could maybe build a "false bottom". Its actually very easy and relatively inexpensive.

Bill of Material:
3'' pvc - cut into rings
zip ties
aluminum screen
Pvc egg crate/lighting diffuser

 

[jmwhitel]

Of course you would have to shrink this down to a smaller format, but that would be easy. This is what I did for my custom terrarium I am building

Hope this helps

 

[Katrinaa]

Thank you so much!! This is so helpful!

 

[jbrough42]

Jmwhitel, I like that set up you are using. What is that white drain grid and where did you get it from? I've been looking for something just like that for a while and couldn't find it.

Katrinaa, have you looked into Drainage sticky at the top of the enclosures page? There are some phenomenal ideas in there. Quite a few that would be useful in the smaller enclosure too.

https://www.chameleonforums.com/drainage-systems-cages-get-creative-102038/

I found the following one particularly useful when building my enclosure. It may not be so great for modifiying your exo terra, but it would be great if you end up doing something for your adult custom enclosure

https://www.chameleonforums.com/drainage-simbas-wood-glass-enclosure-101093/

 

[jbrough42]

You could maybe build a "false bottom". Its actually very easy and relatively inexpensive.

Bill of Material:
3'' pvc - cut into rings
zip ties
aluminum screen
Pvc egg crate/lighting diffuser

Oops, I didn't see this before posting the question in my last response. lol

 

[Katrinaa]

Curious.. What about turning the tank upside down? So the screen is on the bottom so I can put a draining system in that way?

 

[windex]

That won't work.. that would leave the top glass which wont let air circulate, and the UVB from your lights doesn't penetrate glass. You can't put the lights inside because they are too hot and will burn the cham.. you can drill the glass on the bottom with the proper drill bit and set up a draining system like that..

 

[Katrinaa]

Okay that's what I thought! Thank you!!

 

[reptoman]

The first pic is what I did for a 3 cage setup. Pretty inexpensive and not too tedious to put together. PVC shower pan liner on a plywood frame, trimmed out with 3/4" PVC stock. I milled out a saddle that the PVC pipe sits in but you could just as easily screw it to the top. Put a bucket under the drain and place the cage on top of the PVC pipe and you are done. This firs one is 72 inches long and 24" deep to accommodate 3 adult panther cages but the design can be made to any size requirement. The second pic is the same basic idea with a nice cabinet built around it for a 2 cage setup.

 

[Katrinaa]

I definitely have some ideas now for my future enclosure and I'm working on some for my exo terra. For mistkings misting systems should I get the ultimate or the starter?

 

[windex]

Starter is fine, you can run up to 10 nozzles or something with them, so unless you are going to start breeding and have 5+ cages the starter is enough, nice having two nozzles though, so pick up and extra one or two

 

[Katrinaa]

Thank you so much! While on this topic, which misting set from mistkings would you recommend ? The starter or ultimate?

 

[Katrinaa]

Thank you! Sorry for posting that twice.. It didn't show up in my computer for some reason :s thank you everyone for all of this information!! It's beyond helpful! Once I create a drainage system I will post pictures!

 

[jmwhitel]

One problem with a false bottom in the exo terra is water removal. There are several fixes for this that can be found on the dart frog forums

 

[renderit1]

The first pic is what I did for a 3 cage setup. Pretty inexpensive and not too tedious to put together. PVC shower pan liner on a plywood frame, trimmed out with 3/4" PVC stock. I milled out a saddle that the PVC pipe sits in but you could just as easily screw it to the top. Put a bucket under the drain and place the cage on top of the PVC pipe and you are done. This firs one is 72 inches long and 24" deep to accommodate 3 adult panther cages but the design can be made to any size requirement. The second pic is the same basic idea with a nice cabinet built around it for a 2 cage setup.

DIY Video soon? Seen this on another post and its something I would like to do.

 

[theonlyjuan]

I think I'm going to buy a mistking. But I don't have a drainage system because my terrarium is just an exo terra until he he's a bit bigger (I have a baby panther to arrive in the next week or so). Until he's bigger and I have a custom terrarium what do you suggest for drainage for until I have my proper forever set up?

I have a Exo terra myself. And drilled holes in it.

I went to lowes and they have a $10 drill bit "kobalt" brand. Its a glass and tile bit. I did it really slow but no cracks or chips.

Here is a link to a video of my setups.
http://youtu.be/GCKGJuq9XTQ