We're done with the new viv finally!!!

[MacGyver]

Got the last little bit done today for our BCI's new cage. Here's a few pics of the finished product. She seems to like it but hasn't done much exploring yet. And she ate her first F/T rat today on her first try. We had been feeding her live till now

L8r

Will, Heather, and Ayasha

	Boa Constrictor Imperator Boa Constrictor (Boa constrictor imperator). Most common is the Colombian Boa.

[DogVsRaptor]

NICE.
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[ilovepythons]

Looks good!
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[Joltman]

nice looking viv there you should share you plans with us
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[NYCSpeedcore]

It looks great, just remember not to feed him on that substrate. You probly already know not to do it, but just in case you want to make sure to cut out any chance of infection caused by impaction. Again, great job on the setup [img]modules/Forum/images/smiles/icon_biggrin.gif[/img] !
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[XzyluM]

Nice setup and cage. Take speedcore's word if you feed inside the cage. Very easy for him to take him loose substrate...especially Aspen.

[Ed_r]

I'm with Speedcore on that one .Was the first thought that went through my head. Second was that its a really nice setup. [img]modules/Forum/images/smiles/icon_biggrin.gif[/img]
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[Barrin]

Hey, thats sharp!
Hook me up with the measurements so I can build one..
and also what kind of Heat set up are ya usin???
Thanx. [img]modules/Forum/images/smiles/icon_cool.gif[/img]
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[MacGyver]

>>It looks great, just remember not to feed him on that substrate. You probly already know not to do it, but just in case you want to make sure to cut out any chance of infection caused by impaction. Again, great job on the setup [img]modules/Forum/images/smiles/icon_biggrin.gif[/img] !


Yeah, we have a tub we feed her in to avoid ingesting the bedding. Don't want to take any chances with our little girl...

The vivarium is 4'x2'x2' with the shelf mounted 12" down from the top. We'll see about posting plans for construction sometime soon. If you look back at our previous posts in the Caging forum, you can find several pics of the viv throughout its construction as well.


The setup uses a 1'x2' radiant heat panel which is mounted in the top left. That thing puts out enough heat by itself to give a nice heat gradient. Its hooked up to a reostat and she has a gradient from about 79* in the bottom under the shelf on one end, to around 90* up on the shelf under the panel. The ambient temp is around 84*. With the bedding, we don't have to do anything special to keep the humidity around 70% (of course we live in Orlando, so Mother Nature's helping a lot with that). We have it set up to allow use of a humidifier, but right now, thats just pumping fresh air through, not humidifying. There are 2 water bowls, 1 large kitty litter pan on the right under the shelf, and a smaller ceramic bowl on the left, under the heat panel which probably helps some with humidity also.

We're using 2 indoor-outdoor thermometers (you can see them on the right side) to monitor the temps, along with some analog therms. underneath the shelf. The digital ones are very cool. They have a lead which can be run to another location, so you have the temps in 2 places. One of them also has a hygrometer built in. So, we have temp readings for pretty much everywhere in the cage, and can adjust things with the reostat if the gradient gets off too much.

There's also a flourescent light mounted in the top center, mostly for display purposes, and its hooked up to a timer so it comes on and goes off at appropriate times each day.

Thanks for all the comments along the way.
Will, Heather and Ayasha

[shaolinzero]

so is the heat panel attached under that shelf? and is it the only thing being used to heat the viv? also how much were supplies: the cage by itself? the heat panel and rheostat? im needing to build a viv in the next couple of months and i think im going to use yours as my model.
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[nomadbean]

NIce cage!!!

I just built one I was really proud of, but yours is way cooler. Two stories, she must be spoiled rotten [img]modules/Forum/images/smiles/icon_biggrin.gif[/img]

I am jealous..off too build an even better one now for my new little boy. Lol (don't mind if I steal some ideas do you? [img]modules/Forum/images/smiles/icon_biggrin.gif[/img] [img]modules/Forum/images/smiles/icon_biggrin.gif[/img]
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[Stormyva]

Looks Great!!!
Now you got me thinking!!

[addsig]

An excellent, well thought out and furnished enclosure. Bravo!
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[MacGyver]

Shaolin,

The heat panel is mounted on the top left side of the cage. It is the only source of heat for the cage and provides plenty of heat. The heat panel is a 100watt model. Here's a rundown of the cost of materials. I'm not 100% sure of the cost of all the materials but i'll try to approximate.

Melamine wood and red oak wood, screws, silicone, hinges was around 80 dollars

Plexiglass piece for the window was about 20 dollars

Radiant heat panel was 100$ from mor electric It's an enerjoy model

Thermometers were around 30 dollars for both....one is a dual zone thermometer...and the other one is a thermometer/hygrometer

The flourescent light was about 15 dollars.

Timer for the light was 10 dollars

For heat control right now we are just using a dimmer switch. We're going to be making our own proportional thermostat in the near future using a microcontroller so we can program it with our computer (yes we're geeks)

Total cost with everything inlucing the substrate and hides etc...was probably under 300 dollars Which isn't bad considering we had nothing to start. We're working on drawing up some plans for it I'll post them when we're through. If you have any more questions email me or private message me.

As far as being spoiled yes she is [img]modules/Forum/images/smiles/icon_smile.gif[/img] Right now we're coming up with plans for two more cages for our other babies on the way. We're getting a Rainbow boa and an Amazon emerald tree boa in the next month. Pics of them can be seen Here Our new babies


Well here are a couple more pics of the cage







Will, Heather, and Ayasha
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[shaolinzero]

thanks a lot for the help. hopefully ill be able to have something as nice in the next few months.
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