Pimp my Vivarium - Pic Heavy

[spatte88]

Originally Posted by elkextc

Wow i think thats brilliant! Really inventive idea.
So what will you do with it now? You going to paint over it?
How do you get the lines so neat? Its really amazing =) Well done.

Thought i had best write a few replies seen as people have been kind enough to respond!!! the lines were kept nice and neat by using 2 pieces of wood with the poly sandwiched in between!

[spatte88]

Originally Posted by Ron Magpie

It's completely mad- but I love it!


I do have one question though- do you not find that the lizards scratch the poly to bits?

nope not at all! the varnish seems to be fairly resistant to their claws which is good!!

[spatte88]

Originally Posted by jsharpie

we think its amazing my son asks is this a scene from alien verses preditor we are eager to see the finished result love it we have a beardie called freddie who is 16inch long by 4 inch wide who would love it !!! lol keep up the gud work really want to see the finished product go go go , reptiles bring it on lno pepples no barny and no dino bu tlots of charecter! tee hee

yes it is a scene from alien Vs. Predator! try page 17 for the finished product pics!

[spatte88]

Originally Posted by Saedcantas

Part 2


I'm really glad to hear though that you've received your Solarmeter and that it's come up with the goods for you! Just having this little bit of kit in your hands and being able to really see the truth about your setup, no guesswork, i just incredible! Everyone ought to have one or you really are flying blind...

I hope you don't mind me asking but I would love to see a quick UVB exposure level "map" of the viv as it is now, I really do think it could help send the message home to those who just won't believe how shoddy and lacking their setups can be. I would be very interested to know what the highest reading you were able to get from a point the beardie can reach was.
My biggest issue is that even if people (not you Spatte, you've seen the light! ) don't have a Solarmeter, the UV Guide website at the very least gives you a "guess guide". There are detailed UVB level charts for various tubes at various distances on that website, it should be enough even without a Solarmeter to make anyone sure that 12+ just isn't enough

Viv sizes; I would certainly agree with the conclusion you've reached, that the average person using only a T8 tube to provide their beardie with UVB should be recommended an 18" high viv and no more. a 2' tall viv is sat right in the grey area, too complex for the average newbie to know how to adequately supply UVB using a T8 tube and too short for anyone inexperienced to try using an MVB.
To clear up the argument about MVBs and could they be used in a viv like this??? A 60-100W externally ballasted Megaray could indeed be used in a viv like this. Experience and a Solarmeter are however key to that, which is why you won't see me saying that to newbies in the Lizard section

Hey!

Thanks for the reply! I felt like a bit of a nag asking you to reply lol. Sorry to hear you were ill hopefully you feel a bit better now!!! As for being busy - i think that makes two of us- feel like i have been run off my feet constantly lol!

Glad to hear the eye problems have been cleared up by some advances in technology! We are going with the arcadia 12% tubes and reflectors so no problems for us hopefully!!!

The readings now we have the tubes in position inside the viv are dramatically different! i will add a pic of a drawing i have done to show the considerable differences in UV levels we are getting! sorry they are only hand drawings so you will have to forgive the fact that its not perfect! (Disclaimer; these are just our own readings so any companies wishing to sue.... erm- please dont! lol)

The first picture shows the readings taken from two 10% Ferplast tubes with a reflector when attached to the top of the viv. The readings were taken through the roof which was mesh.

This second picture shows the readings we are getting now with two 12% arcadia tubes mounted inside the viv on the roof with reflectors. red lines give approximate distances from the tubes to give an idea of penetration levels!


These readings aren't great as both sets of tubes are slightly different due to the amount of burn time and the Arcadias haven't as yet had the 100 hours to burn in though as you can see there is a huge difference in the readings we got!! i think the new readings are much more suitable thanks to information and references provided by saedcantas! hopefully in our new vivs that we are planning to build will be even better in light of all the new information we have been receiving! we are hoping to get everything perfect in the new build and so will apologize to people now if we ask lots of questions! i personally think that this is such an important subject and am glad we bought the solarmeter -it has been worth every penny and i would highly recommend to anyone to get one! very useful bit of kit! The health and well-being of our beardie is paramount to us and we dread to think what would have happened to her had we not been informed at such an early stage!!

Have checked out HadesDragons thread as you suggested and as you said definitely food for thought! Very interesting stuff!! day-length/seasonality ect is something i think should definitely be a consideration! however because i want to get my beardie into the new viv asap i think im going to stick with the arcadias for now but who knows in the future i may (most probably will) end up researching into MVB's ect. i will post pics ect of the new vivs when i eventually start - a bit like i did with this one though hopefully there will be no major flaws this time!!

Had to laugh when you said

Originally Posted by Saedcantas

My biggest issue is that even if people (not you Spatte, you've seen the light! ) don't have a Solarmeter, the UV Guide website at the very least gives you a "guess guide".

hee hee seen the light! UV. Light. Geddit? oh dear i think i need to seriously get a life!!!

[oxxxdanniexxxo]

awsome build n 1 very lucky beardie

[Becky Wheeler]

Hiya mate,

First off let me just thank you mate for adding a link to my vivarium background thread

And also mate that viv background is EPIC! You deserve a huge pat on the back and I would like to buy you a pint!

I love AVP! and you've pulled it off mate! but one thing that I think would finish off this great work of yours would be a couple of Aliens and predators! ok ok.....I will stop being silly now

FANTASTIC WORK MATE! you are the master of creativity!

[martynjones]

it looks really good. is the polystyrene you use easy to come by, and is it expensive. i might try and make something in my bearded dragon's viv

[Becky Wheeler]

Hiya mate,

you can buy the poly from ebay or if you have a fish mongers near you then there have a good supply of poly boxes. I get large thick sheets off ebay and it's pretty cheap too.

[Meko]

B&Q do 8x4 sheets for a fiver.

[spatte88]

Also wickes sell it in large sheets at a few different thicknesses which was where we got it from!