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My t.stirmi exo terra split tank

Johnnyp1987

Well-Known Member
3 Year Member
Messages
543
Location
Bolton, UK
Well ive finally finished my little project to divide my 60x45x30 exo terra to house both my t.stirmis. Heres the step by step and finished product [emoji2]
First i rehoused zeus, my juvenile, who up until i bought bruce, my adult male, was living in it all alone [emoji20] once zeus was in a temp enclosure i cleaned out everything from the tank.
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Next i flipped over the backdrop and measured it, then cut it down the middle with a blade.
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This gave me 2 seperate backdrops that would still match on the pattern but would allow me to fit a perspex dividing wall down the centre.
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Then i measured the perspex for the lid. I hadnt got round to replacing the original mesh on the lid so i thought id do it whilst the tank was empty.
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I then measured and marked out a grid on 1 piece of perspex and drilled 5mm holes at the points where the lines crossed. Im abit OCD when it comes to things like that, i cant just drill willy nilly, it has to be equal and perfect haha.
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I only did this on 1 piece of perspex to help keep humidity in the tank. I then turned the lid upside down, dotted hot glue in the corners and fitted the perspex. Once the hot glue had set i used clear sanitary sealant to fully fix them in place.
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Now this was the hard bit, partly my fault because my original cut for the dividing perspex was done using the external measurments of the tank [emoji5] i had to trim it twice till it fit snug lol. The arkward bit was the front near the lock as it steps out so i had to trim around that a little bit at a time till i got it to fit around nicely. Once it was in position directly in the centre and was level, i again dotted hot glue to hold it then used the same sealant to fix it securely.
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Once everything had dried properly over 48 hours and there was no smell from the sealant, i put both pieces of backdrop in, put down a layer of vermiculite then covered that with eco earth. I gave them both a plant pot hide and some fake plants for decoration, a new water dish each and topped it off with spagnam moss.
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Now was the fun part, getting them both into their new homes [emoji50] zeus wasnt a problem at all, out of the temp enclosure, straight in the catch cup then straight out and into the new hide
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Bruce had other ideas though [emoji51]
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Apart from the hair kicking, biting the straw i used to get him in the catch cup and constant stridulating it went pretty well as far as stirmi rehouses go haha.
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After sitting in one spot at his hides entrance he decided to go off exploring.
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But now they are both in, ive fed them and they ate, which i suppose isnt suprising but at least its a positive. Im pretty chuffed with the tank now, save me some money not having to buy a new one, and it looks quite cool [emoji1]
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kormath

Well-Known Member
1,000+ Post Club
3 Year Member
Messages
3,565
Location
Idaho
very nice! i really like the layout.

I've always thought you'd need a non-clear divider. Won't they get territorial and go postal like if they notice each other?
 

syzygy

Active Member
3 Year Member
Messages
121
Location
Texas
Maybe it's obvious and I'm not seeing it, but do you have a way to open the enclosures individually?
Hate to think that you'd need to do some clean-up and end up scaring one over the wall to the other side.
 

Kymura

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1,000+ Post Club
3 Year Member
Messages
3,315
Location
Alabama
very nice! i really like the layout.

I've always thought you'd need a non-clear divider. Won't they get territorial and go postal like if they notice each other?
Maybe it's obvious and I'm not seeing it, but do you have a way to open the enclosures individually?
Hate to think that you'd need to do some clean-up and end up scaring one over the wall to the other side.
Curious about both of these questions. Have a 29 gallon doing nothing...can't afford a snake right now. So looking for options.
 

Johnnyp1987

Well-Known Member
3 Year Member
Messages
543
Location
Bolton, UK
They dont seem bothered that the divide is clear, i suppose that its almost the same as having 2 clear enclosures next to each other. Yes both doors can be opened seperatly, the lock on the front will lock both at the same time but if i unlock it i can open each door individally to get to each side, if i lock it with one door open it will lock the door thats closed so theres no chance of the door being pushed open and an escape happening lol.
 
Last edited:

Will

Well-Known Member
3 Year Member
Messages
204
Location
Manchester, UK
Now your stirmis have been in here a couple of months how's it going? I mean how's the mould situation with the increased moisture they need? Is it still fairly clean in there?
 

Johnnyp1987

Well-Known Member
3 Year Member
Messages
543
Location
Bolton, UK
No sign of mould at all. I put springtails in so they have taken care of it really well. And no signs of them trying to get into the other side of the tank so its working really well.
 

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