here we go this is my idea what you think and could anyone help with wood sizes i know the sides and top and bottom sizes but how big do i need the front bits to fit the runners and glass to ?

right done some resaerch and the gap will now not be there and the heat mats onside the vivs.

just need help on the glass and front wood size

best advice on glass would be build it first then measure the glass last, last thing you want is to buy the glass and have it not fit.Glass runners, you can buy ones that are deeper than others, if you buy the deep ones for the top and shallow ones for the bottom you can put the glass into the top runner and then slot it into the bottom runner.

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Assuming you're going to make it out of contiboard - which comes in 8ft lengths where I get it from - you'll need 5 x 8ft lengths of 24" wide, and one 6" wide length to make the plinths.
(That's assuming you're going to have hardboard backs on them - if not then you need 2 lengths of 18" conti.)

You can get six 48"x2" high plinths (the bits the runners fix onto) from an 8ft x 6" length - so just enough to have them top and bottom in each viv.

For heating I'd use ceramics for the bottom 2 vivs and mats for the top two. The heat rising from the two lower vivs would heat the top two to a degree, so mats should be enough just to give them a bit of a boost. They'd be a bit small really for bulbs/ceramics anyway.

What are you planning to keep in them?

EDIT: as markhill said, definitely get everything else built before you measure up for the glass. The measurements will have to be precise otherwise you'll have to mess about replacing/reducing the plinths.

thanks for that it will be house leopard geckos.
and where can i get ceramic heaters ?
what do you mean by plinths ?

Plinths are the lengths of wood at the front of the viv (usually top and bottom) that the runners sit on - stops the substrate getting into the runners and helps keep the viv rigid.
You don't have to have them at the top but it would be best to in a stack - it'll help prevent any sagging.

As it's for geckos I'm not sure about ceramics - never kept them so have limited knowledge.

Basically - if you need to raise the ambient (air) temp in the viv above room temp then you'll need either ceramic bulbs or normal bulbs. Heat mats have very little effect on the air temp.

If they'll be fine with the air at room temp and a warmer area provided by a mat then no problem, don't bother with ceramics.

I only keep snakes so I always think about viv building/heating in snake terms!

new thoughts 24" is to wide for where it needs to go so whats the minimum width i could make the vivs

Looks good, I'm looking to do similar for our Geckos, Beardie and Corns.

Just one point, you don't need ceramic heaters for the geckos only heatmats. Be carefull though off the top viv getting to hot.

If they just need a warm spot then ceramics, or even standard bulbs could easily make the upper vivs too warm.

I'd have though 18" deep, or maybe even 15", would be ok but depends how many you're going to have in one viv and how much space they need.

I have a stack system in use for leos.

Its approx 5' high, 6' long and 16'' deep and contains 4 levels of 3 vivs

Each viv is 18'' wide and will house 2 adults long term.

I have two 5'' light tubes running down the middle at the back for lighting and the heating is by way of 3 70watt heat cables. Each cable is run along the top of each viv, thus providing downward ambient heat and upward floor heating.

I keep this in a specially built shed and most the time it hits the right temps with no probs, only in deep winter do I need to add additional heating to the shed by way of rads.

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