+++FINISHED+++ Stackable VIV's I am Building!! with pics

RangoTheBeardie · Sep 27, 2011

Hello Everyone! These are the 4x2x2 viv's I am building. This is my first carpentry-ish project ever really

so far I am doing well. The boxes came out stable and not wobbly.. something I've been known to do wrong with my popsicle houses when I was in grade school. If anyone has some suggestions or concerns I would love your input!

I thought I would introduce the little squirts that these are for so without further ado:
This is Rango, my little man (I think)

And this is Bailey, my mom's little girl (We think)

This is the viv's after they were all screwed together and stacked

The materials for one viv. Using 1/2" finished plywood.
*2 pieces of plywood at 48"Lx24"W (Top and Bottom)
*2 pieces at 30"Lx24"W (Sides)
*1 piece at 48"Lx31"W (Back)
*1 piece at 48"Lx9"W (Front top header)
*1 piece at 48"Lx3"W ( Front bottom footer)
(The actual dimensions for this project is 48"Lx24"Wx30"H (The other 6" is to hide all of the electrical junk and light fixtures 8) )

The viv is starting to look like a viv! Have the top, bottom, and sides all screwed together. *NOTE: make sure every side is square when doing this or the back will not fit correctly!*

Really coming together. That's me screwing the top header that will eventually shield all the inside components from view.

I have painted it black but I didn't take any pictures while we were doing it because the paint was really fast drying and I totally forgot once we finished them but in my next update I will definitely have those pictures for you all.

Now for a few questions.. Does any one have suggestions for flooring? I want to put down that cool new glass looking tile from Lowes or Home Depot.. do you think thats a good idea? or should i just stick to some peel and stick stuff or slate tile? If I do do the glass tile stuff there will be stone tile pieces incorporated into the design for their nail purposes, bc I don't want to have to clip beardie toe nails (sounds too difficult :?

I'm leaning towards this stuff..

I also want to do the walls as well, I'm not sure yet though with what though?

RangoTheBeardie · Sep 27, 2011

So I've done a bit of searching now for what I really want on my floors and walls and I am still really liking the floor from the first post and I'm thinking to put this on the walls

and I want to make him a digging box and since sand is NO GOOD for beardies I'm going to used alfalfa pellets. So this is my idea for the digging box

with this for the walls

is this a good idea?

My only concern with the glass/stone floors is are they going to get really hot? I know that slate tile will hold heat in but I'm concerned that the glass will get super hot.. you know like if you touch your windshield on your car at like 2pm on a summer day and it burns the mess out of you?

But that is my plan for now. And on to lighting. Should I go with a 36" or a 48" fixture for the UVB bulb? With my enclosure being 30" high and having a reptiSUN 10.0 bulb my beardies have to be within 8-10" from the bulb right? so it will need to be mounted as low as possible.. Would mounting it to the front face piece be acceptable? That would put it about 21-22" from the floor.. WOW! that's far they should make reptiSUN 15.0 or 20.0's lol. His basking spot brings him up about 9-10" but that still leaves him 10-11" from the bulb.. any suggestions? The basking light will be mounted to the top of the viv and both will be wired to the same timer. I will also be mounting an extra fixture to the top of the viv wired to a on/off switch for a CHE, my dad said something about using it with a photocell so that it only comes on when a certain temperature is reached.

Okay that's a lot to think about again.. I'm also trying to find a way to wire my thermometers through the walls and have the displays mounted to the outsides.. ideas, ideas.

midmichicer · Sep 27, 2011

Have you thought about cleaning the poo from the stones? I would stick with something you can remove to clean. I know Jess on here uses those pellets for a dig box too.

Looking good though!

bambichik39 · Sep 27, 2011

I'd suggest using Slate tile for substrate, as it holds heat well like you stated, but doesn't get too hot. It also has a good roughness to it, so they wont slip. Again, the glass would probably be too slippery. Slate would also be the easiest when it came to cleaning. Since you have babies, they will probably poop wherever in there. If you have slate, you just pick up that tile and give it a good scrub in the sink/tub and thats it! I would suggest putting down a piece of non adhesive shelf liner underneath the tile, as when they get older and are well hydrated, they can have a bit of urine with their stool, and it might soak into that wood- im not sure as I have a glass tank. hope this helps

saleen89559 · Sep 27, 2011

So you know, a photcell detects light not temperatures. They are designed to make a light come on when it gets dark and turn it off when it is light out.

For temp control switching, just get the zoo med thermostat

RangoTheBeardie · Sep 27, 2011

midmichicer":2ik9qix5 said:
Have you thought about cleaning the poo from the stones? I would stick with something you can remove to clean. I know Jess on here uses those pellets for a dig box too.

Looking good though!

I thought about that too, but they both tend to only poop on their basking platforms right now.. that may change once they get older though.. I'm not sure. What do you think?

bambichik39":2ik9qix5 said:
I'd suggest using Slate tile for substrate, as it holds heat well like you stated, but doesn't get too hot. It also has a good roughness to it, so they wont slip. Again, the glass would probably be too slippery. Slate would also be the easiest when it came to cleaning. Since you have babies, they will probably poop wherever in there. If you have slate, you just pick up that tile and give it a good scrub in the sink/tub and thats it! I would suggest putting down a piece of non adhesive shelf liner underneath the tile, as when they get older and are well hydrated, they can have a bit of urine with their stool, and it might soak into that wood- im not sure as I have a glass tank. hope this helps

Like I said to midmichicer they tend to only poop on their basking platforms right now, and I don't know if that will change. I had planned to go with slate before but none of it is pretty. lol I had worried about the glass being slippery as well and my dad (who owns a "dirt to done" construction business, meaning they build a complete house from the dirt all the way to move in, said that we could make the glass non-slippery by either putting a really light layer of grout over it for the roughness or mix a sand and mogpog mix and put over the finished tile for that same roughness minus color loss from the grout.. Cleaning on the other hand I had thought about but I don't really think it would be hard to clean off the floor, as it's not now.

Thanks for the ideas! I will definitely consider all of these new factors, mainly cleaning bc we def don't want that to be too difficult.

saleen89559":2ik9qix5 said:
So you know, a photcell detects light not temperatures. They are designed to make a light come on when it gets dark and turn it off when it is light out.

For temp control switching, just get the zoo med thermostat

Hmm.. I didn't know that. I figure my dad knows what he's talking about though.. I could just be getting all the terms mixed up.. lol :?

RangoTheBeardie · Oct 6, 2011

HEY EVERYONE!! It's been a while since I updated this thread but A LOT of progress has been done! The viv's have been painted, tile put down, backgrounds and walls on, light fixtures almost all up, going to order the glass tomorrow! My new ReptiSUN's come in in 4 days then I get get all the temps right then move the little guys in! Bailey is getting so BIG! Here are some pictures:

What it currently looks like.. still have to paint the other bits of molding as you can tell.

Bailey's Viv *Bailey and Rango's viv's are slightly different, tiled differently and will have different wall materials.*

Rango's viv.

*not a great picture* but this is the light set up.

Our DIY rocks.

Our DIY corner castle-ish thingy.

I made each of them a little blankie in case they get cold :wink: I hope they like them. *my puppy Mona is snuggled under them right now lol*

Well that's all for now. :mrgreen: SEE YA!

Loganator · Oct 7, 2011

WOW!! Awesome, very impressive. I wish I could pull off something like that. But I have NO artsy-craftsy, creative ability at all.
What is your total $$ investment so far? Just curious.

RangoTheBeardie · Oct 7, 2011

In total so far I've spent around $483.91, I added all the receipts up. But I did have to buy a few extra things that most DIYers already have around the house. To divy it up into catagories for you a little further: the plywood for 3 sheets was $54.82. The cost of flooring was $63.68. But the tile I got for a steal!! It was originally $17.28 per square foot, but I got it for .99 (cents) per square foot!!! It was a Home Depot special buy.. and it's perfect bc though it's ceramic the brown part is actually tough, like sandpaper-ish.. so my bd's won't slip all over the place. The other portion of the flooring cost was for adhesive and grout, which some people may have lying around. The grout was also used later to make the rocks. The lighting cost a good bit too at $89.53. The 4' T8 Fixtures for the UVB lights were $22.84 each, then the other basking light and cool side light fixtures were $9.97 each and $7.97 each, respectively. The cost of for the basking rocks/platforms was pretty cheap, $10.94 for a piece of foam insulation board and about $20.00 in non-sanded grout, and for the sanded grout we are going to use what was left from the flooring and wa la! We also built a platform for the viv's to go on so I wouldn't have to get on/or as close to the ground to get to my Rango's viv. So that cost a little extra for 2x4's and extra nails, then of course bc it's gonna be in the living room it needed molding to make it more "furniture/professional" looking, so that cost extra.. but none of that is REALLY needed. I was looking to stay around $500-$600 for the whole project so I think I am doing good.. without all the extra glitz and glam added I probally would have stayed closer to the $500 mark, but I look at it like this: A good viv is worth the cost, because if my beardies are happy, then I am happy! :mrgreen:

The only thing I am missing now that is gonna cost a good bit is the glass.. I priced some today and the lady told me around $140. I'm gonna call a few other places and see what they offer tomorrow.. My lights should be here on Monday :mrgreen: I really wanted to have the glass in by then to start getting the temps right but I guess I will have to wait a bit longer :x The rocks should be done with grouting by the end of this weekend and sealed, just drying, so that will be something else to cross off the list. *My hands will be happy too, bc that grout sure does dry your hands out*

I would add some new pictures but though I put more grout on the rocks today you can't really tell the difference..

I guess I could show off our little Bailey.. who is a camera FANATIC!! (Rango not so much)

This is her hanging out on the table outside where we were grouting the rocks.

324712_286360238060102_100000583842677_1084130_2146339922_o.jpg

This is her lounging on my arm. **EDIT** I'm not sure why it's only showing half the picture but I guess you can still see her

**EDIT** FIXED!

And looka here was Rango trying out the new basking rocks while they were still just styrofoam board.

Here is the both of them taking in the sunlight in their little boxes.

Well till next time! Anna

RangoTheBeardie · Oct 8, 2011

UPDATE TIME!!
Worked on the rocks most of the day today!

Enjoy!!

:mrgreen: :lol:

AchiKat · Oct 9, 2011

Wow! That's all really nice!

Love the babies too! ^.~

RangoTheBeardie · Oct 10, 2011

AchiKat":1byggzcq said:
Wow! That's all really nice! Love the babies too! ^.~

Thanks so much!! We've worked really hard on it so far,, just a bit more to go! I really hope they like their new homes!

Loganator · Oct 10, 2011

$483.91 so far. That is not bad at all considering how nice this is! Can't wait to see it all finished. You would pay double or more than that if you tried wanted to purchase something similar. Did you "wing" it? Or have some instructions to follow?

I really want to attempt something like this. I'll keep watching your progress. You're inspiring me!

RangoTheBeardie · Oct 10, 2011

Loganator":2fm2puuv said:
$483.91 so far. That is not bad at all considering how nice this is! Can't wait to see it all finished. You would pay double or more than that if you tried wanted to purchase something similar. Did you "wing" it? Or have some instructions to follow?

I really want to attempt something like this. I'll keep watching your progress. You're inspiring me!

Thanks Deb! So glad in inspiring you!! It was really simple actually if you have the right tools and are willing to try to work out of your comfort zone, if you're not really comfy working with power tools like I was!! I actually didn't wing it.. I looked at other custom vivs and cam across saleen's Viv and loved it. I didn't know the exact specifications bc Saleen didn't give any, just the 4x2x30" measurement so then I just went from there with everything else, I have a few mistakes that you can't really see unless they're pointed out, like my vents are a little low, they were supposed to be under the top part more but it's okay and I measured and cut wrong, by an inch, so there's a big 1" gap at the top in the back of each viv.. I like to call it extra ventaliation.

I'm really proud of it though it has been a journey to make them! Im so glad someone might be getting inspired enough to make their own bc of me!!

Loganator · Oct 11, 2011

With all the inspiration you've given me, I guess I'm going to give it a shot. It's actually a good time to start this as we are having a new patio and deck built and the contractors are leaving us a bunch of left over building materials. I probably won't start for a week or two. I want to do this right, so I'm going to read through the DIY section and your thread to come up with a good plan first.

Keep updating us on your progress! I want to see the finished product. What I like best about yours is that pretty molding you added to make it look like fine furniture. That really makes a big difference in the overall appearance.

+++FINISHED+++ Stackable VIV's I am Building!! with pics

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