Building wood viv--- glass vs screen side door??

[herpfreak]

I'm getting an adult male BD for xmas... I'm building a 4x2x2, 120 gallon, wood viv for it with a sliding side door.

Instead of a glass sliding door and air vents, could I put in a screen sliding door instead? Wouldn't that work just as well?

 

[BubbasDaddy]

Yea I guess that would work as long as the top is wood too, just monitor your temps closely using a probed digital thermometer or a temp gun. Make sure your basking spot is about 110 for juveniles, about 100 for adults, and that the rest of the enclosure is not dropping below about 60 at night, me personally I don't like it lower than 65. I use a CHE with a thermostat during the winter for my cold side so I can have peace of mind ya know. My enclosure has a flip down acrylic front and a flip up 1/4" hardware cloth top (metal mesh), the rest is melamine with a tile floor. Good luck with whatever you decide.

P.S. Make sure you use 3/4" inch wood cause it holds heat better.

 

[herpfreak]

Yea I guess that would work as long as the top is wood too, just monitor your temps closely using a probed digital thermometer or a temp gun. Make sure your basking spot is about 110 for juveniles, about 100 for adults, and that the rest of the enclosure is not dropping below about 60 at night, me personally I don't like it lower than 65. I use a CHE with a thermostat during the winter for my cold side so I can have peace of mind ya know. My enclosure has a flip down acrylic front and a flip up 1/4" hardware cloth top (metal mesh), the rest is melamine with a tile floor. Good luck with whatever you decide.

P.S. Make sure you use 3/4" inch wood cause it holds heat better.

Yes, I already have a AcuRite digital thermometer w/ probe. I also have a 60 watt CHE for at night. I'm lucky cause I have a bunch of extra heat bulbs that didn't work for my snake and the petstore wouldn't take back. The top of it is going to be solid wood, the only door is going to be in the side because I have to stack my BPs 40 gallon glass tank on top of it.... I'm also using tile, I thought that would be easiest to clean.

What exactly is melamine? Is it a kind of wood? I was going to use regular plywood, but does melamine hold heat better or something?

 

[cla6665]

Hi, just a note. I had a screen door to on my viv a while ago. I noticed my beardie was jumping and grabbing on the screen . I was just afraid of him getting stuck with their nails on the screen and get hurt. I don't know but i wasn't very comfortable with screens.

 

[BubbasDaddy]

Okay, instead of just having a small 2' x 2' door on either side I would make a frame for the front and put whatever your going to use in the frame. Put hinges on the bottom so you can flip the whole front down. This will make it some much easier to access and clean. I do agree with cla6665 though about the screen. Tile is super easy to clean, I just set it in there snugly instead of grouting it in that way I can take just the one that's dirty and clean it. I do sanitize the whole viv weekly though. Also you can take all the tiles out if you decide to move your viv so its weighs a lot less. Melamine is a wood, its basically particle board with a white moisture resistant covering on both sides. It comes in 4' x 8' x 3/4" pieces and holds heat very well. Its a little more expensive (about $32 a piece at home depot) but I think its worth it cause if you use regular plywood you need to seal it with a water based polycrylic sealer anyway. If you have any more questions let me know.

 

[cla6665]

I agree bubba's. Tile is the way to go. In the past i used calcisand, playsand, paper and I have to say tiles are the best solution. Very easy to clean, you can even bleach them, sanitize them, and the viv will smell a lot better than any sand you could use. The smell from poo tends to get absorbed by the sand, I think than tiles are a lot more sanitary. I just finished my permanent viv for Lucky and I used natural stone tiles. I did'n grout them, I just set them really tight, that way I can remove them to wash them, etc., very easy to clean, plus if any worm gets out of the feeding dish you'll be able to see it without digging.
hope this can help a bit.