Hi everyone. I am new to the forum but I wanted to talk about T enclosures. Frankly I hate all of them for one reason or another they're not practical. I decided to design my own. Right now I have one kritter keeper and two hobby lobby enclosures. The Kritter keeper lid is hard to remove and the hobby lobby lids are easy to drop and can harm your T if they're on the lid. I'm starting with a sling enclosure design before I buy the materials needed to make it. Have a look, I plan to make this one out of scratch resistant plexiglass.This design can be used for terrestrial or arboreal slings it just depends on the amount of substrate you use. Any feed back is good feed back, If there's anything you don't like about the enclosure let me know and I will adjust it until an ideal enclosure is designed before I go into production. Juvenile and Adult enclosures will follow for burrowers, terrestrial and arboreal species.
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DIY - Enclosures of your own design
- Thread starter Lady J
- Start date
- Messages
- 10,909
- Location
- Malton, UK
I use 4" cube glass containers for my larger slings made by spidershop.pl. They have a strip if metal mesh across one side, holes too big for small feet to get caught in but too small for a sling to squeeze through. The lids fit snugly and because they are double thickness glass heavy enough to prevent being pushed off. The upper layer of glass sits over the sides while the bottom layer fits snugly inside the container preventing the lid sliding open.
I would just worry about ts trying to chew threw the mesh and injuring themselves or escaping
- Messages
- 10,909
- Location
- Malton, UK
The mesh is too thick for them to chew through, even my adult Ts that have the same mesh in their containers have never attempted it.
- Messages
- 10,909
- Location
- Malton, UK
They have been tried and tested by some of the top breeders and collectors in Europe.
Here is a price breakdown for a 10 gallon tank
- 3 sheets of acrylic AR 2 1/8" thick 12" x 20"
- 1 sheet of cast acrylic 1/8" thick 12" x 20"
- 2 sheets of cast acrylic 1/8" thick 12" x 12"
$160
- acrylic hinges $1.40
- PVC moulding $3
- knob: .80c-$1
- magnets $1.50
- furniture protectors ill just throw in for free
total: $166.90 and that's just material cost. I will keep pricing around to get the lowest price possible. If I were to sell this as a DIY kit It will be the material cost shown there plus shipping. If I were to sell it built, $185 plus shipping. That's with the current material cost I have If I can find lower price for the acrylic (mind you this is high quality acrylic that's lighter then glass, but stronger, resistant to chemicals and scratches) I will lower the prices.
Alternative to AR acrylic
Plaskolite - 20x stronger then glass, UV resistant, weather resistant 18" x 24" 6 sheets
$71.88
DIY kit with Plaskolite: - $78.81 plus shipping
built by me: - $90 plus shipping
* if theres enough acrylic left over I can use it to make a sling enclosure or juvenile enclosure which will be added as a bonus, free of charge
- 3 sheets of acrylic AR 2 1/8" thick 12" x 20"
- 1 sheet of cast acrylic 1/8" thick 12" x 20"
- 2 sheets of cast acrylic 1/8" thick 12" x 12"
$160
- acrylic hinges $1.40
- PVC moulding $3
- knob: .80c-$1
- magnets $1.50
- furniture protectors ill just throw in for free
total: $166.90 and that's just material cost. I will keep pricing around to get the lowest price possible. If I were to sell this as a DIY kit It will be the material cost shown there plus shipping. If I were to sell it built, $185 plus shipping. That's with the current material cost I have If I can find lower price for the acrylic (mind you this is high quality acrylic that's lighter then glass, but stronger, resistant to chemicals and scratches) I will lower the prices.
Alternative to AR acrylic
Plaskolite - 20x stronger then glass, UV resistant, weather resistant 18" x 24" 6 sheets
$71.88
DIY kit with Plaskolite: - $78.81 plus shipping
built by me: - $90 plus shipping
* if theres enough acrylic left over I can use it to make a sling enclosure or juvenile enclosure which will be added as a bonus, free of charge
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Agreed. I'm going to make one for myself first to ensure it works! Then, if others in the hobby are interested I will make these for them too. I don't have an arboreal T so for the arboreal enclosure I might make a contest, whoever wins will get the enclosure free and give me feedback on how well it works or any changes I can make to make it better.
By the way, I have the maintenance hatches as pull downs since it seems more economical, but what do you guy prefer? A hatch that goes down or a hatch that opens sideways like a regular door?
By the way, I have the maintenance hatches as pull downs since it seems more economical, but what do you guy prefer? A hatch that goes down or a hatch that opens sideways like a regular door?
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