Fake Rock Enclosure (Image Heavy) **Update 10/01/2009**

[reptiles_galore]

any updates?

[Reptilover]

Thats one amazing viv!!!

[HadesDragons]

I've not got much to add just yet, but I've got the lighting sequences worked out now.

Early Morning / Evening:


Mid-late Morning / Mid-late Afternoon:


Midday / Early Afternoon:

[littlespark]

absolutely amazing! can't wait to see it when its finished, you have 1 lucky spyro

[fantapants]

how are you contrilling the lights? is each one on an individual timer or have you figured out a way to do it all through one system? this is really intriguing because all of my animals could do with a system like this but the only way icould think to do it is with lots of timers all set individually.

[HadesDragons]

Originally Posted by tinkerbruce

how are you contrilling the lights? is each one on an individual timer or have you figured out a way to do it all through one system? this is really intriguing because all of my animals could do with a system like this but the only way icould think to do it is with lots of timers all set individually.

I was thinking of using a control panel for it, but as I had loads of digital timers lying around I've just used a surge-protected extension lead with a bank of synchronised, individually-programmed mini timers on it. The control panel would be neater and probably cheaper if you are planning on doing it on a large scale, but as I had the timers lying around anyway it seemed pointless not to use them.

[Esarosa]

That is amazing!

[Heim]

Excuse me for a lil thread hi-jacking (you can have it back when im done lol), but it looks like you've done a good amount of research on lighting levels for your beardies.

My quick question: have you ever tried using a low watage soft 'blue' light in the evenings to mimic the moonlight? I have not heard of people using a blue light (seen plenty with red). I would be really curious as to know the effects this could have on reps, especially nocturnal ones.

[fantapants]

Originally Posted by HadesDragons

I was thinking of using a control panel for it, but as I had loads of digital timers lying around I've just used a surge-protected extension lead with a bank of synchronised, individually-programmed mini timers on it. The control panel would be neater and probably cheaper if you are planning on doing it on a large scale, but as I had the timers lying around anyway it seemed pointless not to use them.

i have just ordered a few control panels for my lighting systems. I get what you mean about using individual timers, this is how i have done it up to now.But , if you have got atleast 3 timers on the go for the various lights, will the viv still be stat controlled? and if you still use a stat, where will it be plugged in and what will it control? i have figured out that even though control paels and stats are a good thing, once you strat trying to modify the controls to suit an individual design, it can get rather confusing!

[HadesDragons]

Originally Posted by Heim

Excuse me for a lil thread hi-jacking (you can have it back when im done lol), but it looks like you've done a good amount of research on lighting levels for your beardies.

My quick question: have you ever tried using a low watage soft 'blue' light in the evenings to mimic the moonlight? I have not heard of people using a blue light (seen plenty with red). I would be really curious as to know the effects this could have on reps, especially nocturnal ones.

I've never tried using the soft lights, but most beardies go to sleep as soon as it starts to get a bit dimmer and cooler in their cage - I don't think they'd be awake long enough to appreciate it to be honest!! I know from the time I've spent in desert areas that the local diurnal reptiles are taking themselves away to bed long before it gets dark.

I have seen cages where people have used a couple of LEDs in leopard gecko cages (a crepescular species) to create a really gentle glow at night; I don't know if it made a difference to their behaviour at all, but it apparently made it easier to see the geckos in the evening, which is when they tend to be most active.

At a guess I'd say it might be useful for crepescular species for a couple of hours after lights out / a couple of hours before lights on if they're kept in a darkened room. I don't know how well fully nocturnal species would use it, as they often have other mechanisms in place to deal with cloudy nights / new moons etc. You'd probably want to speak to long-term gecko keepers about that though - they might be able to give you more insight.

Originally Posted by tinkerbruce

i have just ordered a few control panels for my lighting systems. I get what you mean about using individual timers, this is how i have done it up to now.But , if you have got atleast 3 timers on the go for the various lights, will the viv still be stat controlled? and if you still use a stat, where will it be plugged in and what will it control? i have figured out that even though control paels and stats are a good thing, once you strat trying to modify the controls to suit an individual design, it can get rather confusing!

The "stat" in my cage is the ventilation system - the lights themselves are unregulated, but there is an extraction system that will simply suck all the hot air out of the cage if it starts getting too warm. Once I get the glass fitted I'm going to play around with wattages to try and get it so the fan should never have to be used as a stat (it's there as backup for really hot days). Using a stat as a safety backup rather than as a control mechanism means that the cage temperature won't be constant and will fluctuate with room temperature / outside temperature / the weather etc.

If I was going to conventionally stat it, there would be two ways you could do it. First would be to use an on / off stat on the MVB, again with it only being intended as a safety cutout, rather than to actually control the temperature. The MVB is the only bulb with any real heating power (the other two bulbs are 40W and 11W; in a cage that size they simply wouldn't have the power to overheat it). The system is designed so that the MVB provides the main heating, with the other bulbs being used to "tweak" temperatures during the day. The second way would be to again use an on / off stat (you don't have a choice with MVBs), then have a power feed from the stat to 2-3 separate timers, which control the lights. If the cage gets too hot, it turns out the power to all lights. I'd prefer the first method, otherwise the cage will end up at its darkest when it's also at its hottest - very confusing for whatever reptile you keep inside the cage!

The same principle would apply to a control panel - in the first case, the stat would control the power on one of the power feeds from the panel; in the second case the stat would have to be controlling the power to the actual panel, not the power from the panel - when it got too hot the stat would cut power to the panel, which would obviously also cut all power to all bulbs.