DIY 48"X24"X78" dual viv

So I haven't been on here to much lately, but I finally have a minute to post an update! After scouring the forum trying to learn as much as possible and incorporate it into Pogos life, I decided to build him a new viv. He currently lives in a standard 55g aquarium with a screen top. It suits him very well right now as hes just barely as long as the tank is deep so it hasn't impeeded his movements at all really. The other drawbacks besides only being 12" deep is the fact that its a lid top which is a complete pain, is the fact that we have a cat who loves knocking things off of shelves/counters/etc, so we don't want his viv out in the house where my cat will screw with it. Pogo's tank currently resides in our bedroom with the door closed while we are at work. I have the spring clips/tie downs whatever you want to call them, but my cat is very VERY determined so we don't want to risk it. My wife likes to go to sleep early, and from 7-8 till when his lights turn out around 9:30ish we lay in our bed in what feels like broad daylight :roll: :lol: Due to this, my wife has fast tracked the project she originally deemed as "unnecesary for now" :lol: :lol:
I started out by buying Pogo a few cfl uvb bulbs and after a bit of research quickly replaced those with a t5 10.0 uvb bulb and fixture as per many members recommendations, but I failed in my research there as well, because I bought a uvb the length of his tank so he has nowhere to go without uvb. Now, as i lost the receipts and i bought a very overpriced 4ft fixture/reflector and bulb to go with it, i decided there was only one viable option left :laughhard: A truly massive viv for my not so massive baby dragon lol. I went with 3/4" Poplar which will have several coats of a stain/poly on the exterior and some sort of water tight paint for the interior. ( :help: Anyone have any recommendations of what I should use for a paint inside his actual living quarters? I'd like something available in white or a light grey for light reflection making sure i don't loose light to a dark enclosure.
Heres a pic of the first days work(I currently have both bays of my garage occupied with ongoing projects so I've been using my screened in porch as my wood shop :lol: My lovely assistants there for a size scale, shes about 5'6''. I don't have a fancy jib like some others on here :roll: :wink: so i'm just counter sinking and using wood filler with my screws, I didn't have a good saw to do this so I bought that as well as some 90 degree clamps and a framing square, etc etc so I had to settle :lol: Also in some of the pictures you might noticed the edge of the wood looks like I burnt my way through the wood rather cutting it, thats because I did lol, turns out the blade of bought had a narrower kerf than the center width of the blade? so in putting a maximum plundge depth to get a clean cut (circular saw) it would bind up once I got a few inches in. I bought a new blade the next morning.
Living in Maine, the last few weeks have been kind of cold and damp so progress got held up for a few days due to weather (my porch has a few small leaks and I didn't want to risk any water damage whatsoever.) But between work, school, and the weather we got this done after about 4 more days. That cat there is the whole reason behind all of this and he thinks it's his... Was hoping to finish it out on the porch before we brought it in, but more rain.
I plan on trying t finish as much as I can tommorow, but i have a few questions from someone who has experience with wooden vivs before I go shopping in the am. I was thinking about mounting my uvb inside from one far end till about 3/4 or so of the way and making the side without uvb my cool side, I also plan on putting it near the center back, around 6'' from the rear wall, bringing the opposite edge to about 10'' from the same wall. Any thoughts on this? I know he should have an area where he can go without uvb, but I feel like the hot end should have plenty of uvb. I also have some cencern as to how many ceramic light fixtures i should install. I was thinking about four. and make the first bulb(going from cool side to hot) a standard bulb for visual light, 2nd a low wattage heat bulb, 3rd another basic bulb for lighting, and the 4th a higher wattage heat bulb 1' back and 1' in cenetering it on the last quarter of the tank with uvb. Anyone have any input on this idea of a layout? Pogo never really leaves his hot side besides to eat and play "You cant get me" with the cat so I wonder if he should have a hot spot away from the uvb? Heres a crudely drawn sketch of my lighting idea. Besides that my only other concern is ventilation. I think I'm going to try and put a vent on each end and maybe try putting a vent 2' in of so from either direction on the back totaling 4. I do not know what size though as I havent gone in town to check out what I can find but i'm hoping to find something adjustable similar to a heat vent one might find in their house. Comments?

I'll post in more detail once I get home, but I suggest you check out my double stacked 4x2x2 biv build thread here. They are very similar.

I am using a 22" t5 and 1 ceramic socket for 1 heat bulb. So I'd imagine you could get away with the 34 inch t5 and still 1 socket if youd like. The only reason I'd put 2 in is to have one dedicated as a CHE socket for night times.

If you've never used a wooden enclosure, you'll be shocked at how well they hold heat. I use 1 40w bulb in mine and it still gets the cool side too hot. I'm going to be adding more ventilation.

Anyways, I love build threads.

-Brandon

claudiusx":fmlxibun said:

I'll post in more detail once I get home, but I suggest you check out my double stacked 4x2x2 biv build thread here. They are very similar.

-Brandon

Click to expand...

Your build may or not have been a major contributor to my build :notworthy: i'm thinking i'll do a few at least for lighting and maybe go with some low wattage leds. being 78" long i worry about dark spots. I also feel like I heard the light from the uvb bulb without regular light can be harmful for their eye?

Claudiusx,
I may have also referenced to your fancy smancy toenail jib you use :lol:

Ok now I'm home!

In regards to the lighting and it being too dark, it wouldn't hurt to have extra sockets just in case. I figured that it's just as easy for me to add more after-the-fact if I wanted to. I still might just for a CHE like I mentioned.

I used a semi-gloss white paint. It bounces light around really well and keeps the tank well lit. That might be something to consider when deciding how much light you need.

So in my setup with the 2 foot tall build, and the t5 mounted to the top, I still only get an area of about 3 or 4 inches wide in my tank with a UVI level of 0.
So if you mounted your t5 to one side like I did, and you wanted to achieve an area on the cool side with no UVI, you could use the 46 inch if you wanted to. That alone will give plenty of light.

Had a complete brain fart and forgot we had talked about this via PM awhile back.

For what you are planning on doing with your gradients:

I would get rid of the "hot" bulb. Just let the basking bulb provide the temps in the tank. The wood really does insulate well and i'd be worried that a bulb that produces some heat in the middle would mess up your gradient and cause the cool end to be too hot.
With such a large tank it really wouldn't be bad for the cool end to be quite cool, like, temperature of your house cool. Having a place to cool down is an undervalued aspect of husbandry IMO. (says the guy struggling to get his temps cooler lol)

-Brandon

So I took your advise Claud and we t with three lights. Two standard low heat bulbs for visual lighting and one 40w heat bulb with two 3×16 vents. Temps seem perfect! I finished it up yesterday,top side at least. I don't intend to get another beardie till I absolutely know how to take care of Pogo properly and feel like I'd be able to provide a good knowledgeable home for a second one. But enough of my moralities time for some photos! This first one is terrible, the house is a disaster and my wife caught me in a candid but it's really the only good photo I have of the color of it.
This is post painting/staining. I'm working on my electrical at this exact moment. Here's the start of that. Once I ran the lights for a few hours adjusting here and there with a spare hide that was told big for his original viv I found the sweet spot so I left everything alone with the lights on and the glass partly open to help vent fumes all last night and today. After work I came home and gave my wife and I gave it a sniff test. We couldn't smell much of anything and we were well past all paint and adhesive dry times so I robbed Pogo of his uvb fixture and installed that. This was a major pain. I believe I bought a reptisun fixture, I cant tell right now as his lights went out and hes sleeping so I dont want to bother him, but they do NOT want you servicing you fixture if something were to fail.. after many... colorful words and frustrations I got that mounted too. This wasnt as perfectionist as the rest as I forgot to check which end the cord comes out of the light and made my cords come out of the right side to suit our living room better. The cord on the light comes out of the left. Luckily I intended to put the light on stand offs to aid with heat dissipation so i was able to tuck the cord up and over the light and out the back making it look semi ok. And here's a few assorted pics
The cat insisted on chilling with his buddy. He spends hours watching/playing with Pogo. Sooo happy with how it came out! Huge shout out to Claudiusx on some consults and for posting his design that I could build off of and tweak to fit my needs! I used to think he just always had faint Mark's on his neck and belly but today was the first time ever that his underside was 1000% snow white!

Dang! It is massive! Looks great though you did a good job. How's the sag, if any?

Sorry I didnt get back to you on the paint. Looks like you got that part covered lol. I kept meaning to go look and verify before I told you but I'm pretty sure I went with an interior waterbased enamel.

Once again, it's an awesome build and pogo is truly gonna enjoy his many years in it

Now the next challenge is how to decorate such a large tank haha

-Brandon

There was some sag before I put the face on. I built the shell with the shelf and then we had 4 days of rain/night classes so I had to put it off. When i went to install my center board i noticed it had sagged about 1/2 to 3/4 of an inch in the center. But once I out the face together it stiffened everything right up. I still think I'll avoid anything terribly heavey in the center though so as to avoid any cupping over the years. I dont know if I like the paint I chose. The paint seems to soften up as it heats up. And yes I think decorating might be a bit involved haha. I was considering keeping one side relatively simple and put a couple bowls for salads and but and make that his dining area lol

The paint might not be fully cured. Or it might just do that if it's a latex paint. What did you go with?

-Brandon

claudiusx":134khos1 said:

The paint might not be fully cured. Or it might just do that if it's a latex paint. What did you go with?

-Brandon

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I got Behr ultra stain-blocking paint and primer in one. Interior satin enamel. It doesnt say latex anywhere that I can read... got a bit of paint on the outside of the can lol

That's gonna be pretty close to what I got. I'd imagine it just needs to cure longer.

-Brandon

Y'all, I'm absolutely enthralled with this.

I'm getting my second dragon delivered tomorrow and she's a tiny little thing. I'd spent a while looking for yet another sub-par terrarium on sale at a pet store within fifty miles of my house (slim pickins', unless I want to spent a s***ton on a kit). I literally have an abundance of supplies for a baby. Between what I've gone through for my other beardie Elliott and my ever-so-picky python Juju, I bet I could house three little nuggets.

I decided to put her up in the crickets old 10-gallon until I could find something suitable. Upon trying to price-match terrariums, I was reminded (cue lightbulb) of the DIY option.

I usually hit up this site before anything else for advice or whatever, and there's this 8 year long thread on diy terrarium. I've now been on here a good hour or so reading through these and I'm sold.

First the chicken tractor and coop, because of time constraints- but then it's on like donkey Kong.

Yall are awesome for sharing and both of your builds are phenomenal. Can't wait to get started ?