Simba's new enclosure!

[KatCham]

Hi all,

Merry Xmas and All the best for 2013!!

Just wanted to share a couple of pics of my Xmas pressie from my hubby.

As you know, we're moving Simba downstairs to turn the spare room into a nursery in the next few weeks.
So hubby bought him a gorgeous, huge cabinet type enclosure, so it's more inkeeping with the living room.

He'll have so much more room in there but it needs MODIFICATION!!!!

Need to sort:

Lights - UV needs moving from back wall onto the 'ceiling' so Simba can't get at it and burn himself. I also need to make sure the heat lamp is safe too for the same reason.

Decor - Need to take everything out!!! Deffo the bark at the bottom, but most of the branches in here are more like logs so I'll be taking these out along with the vines as they are the ones that the bits of bark fall off (eye issue in the past so not ideal!)

Water - as the cabinet is wood I'll have to waterproof the whole of the inside and I'll need to work out DRAINAGE!

Doesn't have the ventilation of a mesh enclosure obviously, but I'm suprised how much it does have. Ventilation caps all along the top and bottom at the back

Any tips on the modification would be much appreciated from anyone who has this type of enclosure. Namely the waterproofing/drainage side of things.

Thanks in advance x

 

[Decadancin]

As you know, we're moving Simba downstairs to turn the spare room into a nursery in the next few weeks.

You're breeding chameleons . That's great! (Ha Ha Ha)

 

[Stefan9881]

That enclosure looks very nice and huge haha. Your cham must love it
I would suggest getting him more ventilation perhaps, might cause problems afterwards?!
Everything else as you said, UV light need better placement and as for the drainage,
google "homemade terrarium drainage systems"
I found some really clever and useful ideas while browsing websites that google gave me.

 

[KatCham]

Hahaha!! Love it!!

Wish I was! I'd be less terrified lol!

Only 8 weeks to go!!

Best get a move on with the enclosure!!

 

[KatCham]

That enclosure looks very nice and huge haha. Your cham must love it
I would suggest getting him more ventilation perhaps?

Yeah I was thinking about putting some more of the ventilation caps in the sides
Maybe?

Will c what I can do once I get it stripped down

 

[Miss Lily]

When I got Tommy he had a wooden enclosure. I just sealed lino into the bottom with aquarium sealant and mopped up after misting sessions. I also folded up a load of kitchen roll and placed it at the bottom of the back wall where most run off occured. He also had his lights inside which terrified me so we borrowed brother in law and a jigsaw and cut a section out of the ceiling. I then used a strong electric stapler/nail gun type thing to staple wire netting over the gap and sat the lights on top of that out of harms way.

Only 8 weeks to go?! That is really exciting!

 

[KatCham]

Thanks very much for the advice!!

Here's my progress so far:

Hubby brought it up home from the garage so i could set about taking everything out and see what I got with it.

This is what I'm keeping decor wise (with the exception of the bark chippings)
Will obviously be giving everything a good thorough clean before it goes back in! You can also see where it'll be located...Where the tv is in the background (which will be mounted on another wall before Simba's move) the alcove bit behind there....fits perfectly in there

Looks rather boring without the decor!! Now to get the equipment out!! LOL

Got everything I need with it!!

Heat lamp
Dimming thermostat
UV starter unit and tube but I'll be replacing with a Reptisun 5.0 obviously
Digital thermometer with 2 sensors
Digital thermometer/hygrometer

Over the moon

Took your advice on the lamps Tiff Marked out the top to cut out and replace with mesh. Means I can have the heat lamp and the UV light outside his enclosure to prevent any injury AND it means he'll have tons more ventilation too

My darling hubby then decided he fancied a bit of DIY tonight so cut the top out for me

So it's all ready for the mesh to go on. Hopefully I'll get that tomorrow.

I'm planning on lining the back and the sides with aquarium graphic paper so that'll keep those bits water proof, then the bottom I'm going to use pond liner. Will seal any exposed bits with aquarium sealant.

I'm off to have a look at some drainage ideas now. Need to work out how to get the water from his MistKing to drain out of a hole I'll put in the back right at the bottom, which in turn will go via a tube down to a drainage water butt which I'm going to put in the cabinet his enclosure is on at the minute.

The new enclosure will sit on top of the cabinet which will house drainage butt, water butt, Mist King, feeders, supplements etc...

Dimensions once all together will be:

Height = 79" (50" of that is enclosure space)
Width = 36"
Depth = 16"

So a fair bit of space for him to roam about in I think he'll love the fact that he's up high too

Watch this space

 

[drcrossfire]

awesome.

 

[KatCham]

So tonight's progress:

After a trip to Dobbies garden centre and B & Q......

Put 2 thin metal bars on the top to support the mesh (and in turn the UV light) to stop it all bowing in

Then fixed the mesh to the top with heavy duty staple gun

Popped the ventilation caps out and glued mesh on to those

Then put them back in

Going to put some sort of waterproof graphic all round the sides and back so I'll make sure I cut circles out of that in the right places and seal it properly round each of the ventilation caps (Bought aquarium sealer from Dobbies for that job )

That's all for tonight.

Hoping to start drainage and waterproofing tomorrow

 

[JohnDoe]

Thats looking AWESOME cant wait to see what it looks like when done

 

[Miss Lily]

That is looking fabulous Kat! I'm sure Simba will be typically ungrateful for everything, lol, just like chams always are!

 

[KatCham]

That is looking fabulous Kat! I'm sure Simba will be typically ungrateful for everything, lol, just like chams always are!

HAHAHA Oh Yes I'm absolutely expecting him to be as black as black can be when I put him in there AND in one hell of a huff for about a week or so!!! LOL

 

[KatCham]

Having a night off from enclosure resto. Ill with cold n feel crappy so early
Night tonight, then can crack on with drainage tomorrow

 

[jannb]

What a great job you and your hubby are doing with Simba's new home. Hope you feel better soon.

 

[talvarez527]

im interested to see what u do for drainage. I pretty much have the same cage as you. its a cage from Cages By design.
http://www.cagesbydesign.com/p-181-hybrid-reptile-cages-60h-x-48l-x-24d-h3.aspx
Ignore the price i got it free!
I am replacing the acrylic walls with 3/8 plywood which will all be watertight sealed and everything.
Basically my plan was to put a shower drain on the floor of cage and run a pipe to a drainage reservoir under the cage.
The only prob i can see myself having is making the water want to go to the center of the cage.
An idea i had to force water a certain way was to put a shim on one side of the floor to raise it up, thus, forcing to one side. Another idea which i think would work best, is to actually tile the floor in there. yes tile it
when you tile it (with real tile) just make the tiles go towards the center like a tiled shower. This would solve drainage problems and can EASILY be cleaned. I beleive i will be going with the tile route and i will post pics when i do so, will prob start a build thread.
but hit me back with ideas

 

[KatCham]

Well the plan for drainage is similar to ur raising of the floor idea:

Drill drainage hole in the floor rear centre and a hole in the cabinet it will sit on.

Put 2 bits of Perspex in the floor raised at both sides so water flows in to the middle. Put third triangular shaped piece in raised up at the front sloping to the rear, creating 2 channels which will direct the water to the drainage hole.

After fixing all in place, line bottom with pond liner and seal where required.

Fix plug hole thingy into drainage hole and run drainage pipe down thru both holes into drainage butt within cabinet.

Line full sides and back of enclosure with waterproof viv decor paper so any run off will end up at the floor

That's the idea anyway. Hope it works! Lol

Will post pics as I do it

Wish me luck!

Off to shop to get new bulbs as simbas basking spot bulb has decided to blow

Need to get new uv bulb too and I'm hoping they do the viv background stuff as well

Later x

 

[KatCham]

Love ur enclosure btw! Deffo post a thread of how u get on!!! X

 

[Spike01]

This is looking fab going to keep an eye on your and may follow your steps with my own! Didn't realise how little ventilation mine must have! The pet shop has given us totally the wrong advise about every single aspect this is just the next thing I have found out about and can't wait to change! Good look with it all and hope your done before the baby

 

[KatCham]

Todays's progress....LOADS basically!!! Well we have been doing nothing but this all day!! LOL

After a trip to reptile shop and the garden centre (and around £100 later!! )

Here goes:

Cut the perspex to make the drainage system:

Had to go with different sections than originally planned because of the size of the piece of perspex I had.

Then put and inch square length of wood in the bottom along the front to raise the panel up and create a slope:

Put a 2" wooden block at the back corners to create the slopes from there too:

Seems to fit as it should!

This is the drainage fitting I chose to use:

Take plastic off perspex and glue down onto wooden blocks and baton and put plastic plug fitting into drainage hole:

Had to put another piece of perspex at the back to allow for the depth of the plug 'lip'

Then line the whole lot with pond liner:

Got some gorgeous foliage decor paper from Dobbies to line the sides and back so all waterproof:

Then popped the plughole onto the fitting (all sealed underneath) to complete the drainage system:

 

[KatCham]

Then I decided to pop the new Ficus in that I got him and a couple of the branches that came with the enclosure (after a thorough cleaning of course!)
Still need to put the pebbles on the soil round the plant tho!:
Doesn't look like I'll need any of the fake foliage!! It's like a little jungle in there! LOL Also popped the UV light on to see what it'll look like:

Rather pleased with it

So that's it for today.

Plan for tomorrow is to put his basking branch, vines and feeder bowl in, then get the enclosure mounted onto the cabinet, and the drainage hole put in that so I can run the water pipe down into a drainage butt in the cabinet underneath. Then I can sort all the lights, thermometers, hygrometer etc... and of course install the MistKing. Need to give the glass panels a good polish and put them back in too.

Then need to make sure it all works!!

Hoping to get him moved in tomorrow afternoon/Tuesday.