My Viv Stack...Progress Pics (lots of them)

[Ailurus]

Me and my dad decided to take the plunge and build a viv stack tonhouse all my reptiles when they grow out of there tubs. So i took some pics as we went along, and thought i would share, might give some people some ideas.

Before anyone says anything about heat transfer, i do know about this and thought i would say, the vivs are very well ventilated, also the animals will be arranged so that those requiring hotter temps will be in the warmer vivs, and most them will be heated by heater pads mounted on the back.

we got all the wood from homebase, they cut it for us for free. all the wood is beech affect melamine faced chipboard, we had some white as well so we used that up. everything was screwed together, by drilling first and then screwing, most pieces of wood are attached to another by at least 6 screws, its very stable lol.

right here we go.
the ingredients


the piece on the floor is a side, we screwed this side to the bottom, and then the other side to the bottom, and then scrwed on a plinth, to hold the substrate in and put the glass runners on, this also made it alot more secure


Next we put in the top of this viv, which is the bottom of the viv above, my dad found some 90 degree clamps buried deep in the shed lol, so we used those, they are the most useful things in the world, every single right angle joint in this build was clamped with one




when that was done we attached anothe plinth and put the next floor in and attached another plinth


the white one looks a bit stupid, but we are going to cover it up at some point lol.

next floor in


and then the roof was screwed on


each viv measures 3 foot long x 18 inches wide x 15 inches high.
next post i shall do the backing and ventilation

[AndyMcStab1]

nice we project you got going there should look good when done

[Ailurus]

Cheers mate

ok next part backing and ventilation. for the back we used one side white melamine faced hardboard, the thin flexible stuff. the ventilation is 6mm mesh.

we lay the vivs down on their front
just noticed hadnt got many pics of this bit, so i shall try to explain


ok basically we tacked the hard board to the back all the way around the sides at about 1 inch intervals. then a piece of plastic moulding stuff which we got from wickes was placed over the hardboard.

the plastic stuff is like really deep glass runners, but in cross section instead of being a E it is a H... kind of like 2 single glass runners stuck back to back. The hard board was put into one groove and the mesh slipped into the other, we then use tacks to attach the mesh on, by hammering each tack in half way and then bending it over a piece of mesh, if we had a staple gun, we would have used that lol.

Ok then the next piece of hardboard overlaps the top of the previous mesh and holds it on better and hides all the bent tacks. then the plastic stuff again, and we just repeated this




and with all the back on (the nearer end is the top)


and the whole thing standing up (all wood completed, and sealed, just got glass to do next).

I sealed it using aquarium sealant, which i got from work at a discount (i work in an aquatics shop). All joints were sealed, and i also put it inside the plastic moulding stuff, which means that the mesh cannot be pushed out, and it is sealed to the hardboard on the inside, so there is no gap were animals could get stuck or crickets hide in.



i ordered glass runners and they arrived begginning of this week, but i havent put them on yet, and i havent ordered glass, as i am now poor.

Total cost up to this point was £120, including glass runners
Wood - £80
Mesh - £5
Sealant - £7
Plastic Stuff - £8
Runners and Handles - £20

[AndyMcStab1]

looks real good whats going in them

[Ailurus]

cheers. rankins dragon, male corn, 2 female hoggies and a spotted python

[Triangulum]

Very Nice. Thanks for sharing, Im sure this will give others inspiration and ideas!

[Ailurus]

sorry forgot about this topic. all the vivs now have glass and runners. this pic shows the top 2 with glass in and the top one has my rankins in





check me out on youtube where i have it in a vid with all the glass and stuff in

[Triangulum]

Turned out fantastic mate. Nice job. What was the final price of the lot?

[Amyboo]

looks really good!
well done!

[Ailurus]

thanks all.

Meltos, her is the cost break down
Total cost
Wood - £80
Mesh - £5
Sealant - £7
Plastic Stuff - £8
Runners and Handles - £20
Glass - £56

Total cost £176, but thats for 4 vivs, so about £45 each. not sure how much buying 4 vivs of that size costs, but sounds like a good deal to me