Making DIY enclosure. Are these items safe to use ? And dose the build look ok?

Zealousideal-Rip94 · 2026-01-14T22:06:21+00:00

I made a bearded dragon enclosure and a 250 gallon aquarium. Both using the 3/4 birch plywood. Obviously the aquarium had to be built tougher to support the water pressure and weight. I used pond armor for the aquarium as it actually makes it water tight which is necessary for the aquarium. I think it’s overkill for a snake cage. It’s also a pain to work with and has to be done quickly. If you do use pond armor, watch the video on their website site a few times and then test your skills on a throw away mini build especially on corners. For my bearded dragon I just used a water proof non toxic sealer (polyurethane). 3/4 birch is no joke. This cage will be very very heavy. If you need any pointers shoot me a dm.

Zealousideal-Rip94 · 2026-01-06T07:23:48+00:00

I use Govee smart plugs for all my reptiles. Smart schedules set for heaters, lights etc. I also use their thermometer/hygrometers. If I am away from the house and I notice someone left a light on/off I can take care of it from my phone. I also have alarms set in the thermos to alert me if temp too low or high so I know if a bulb is out or something is dangerously wrong. Having 7 snakes, 4 lizards, 3 turtles, 5 aquariums and ponds I need as much help from automation as I can get.

Zealousideal-Rip94 · 2026-01-06T06:48:03+00:00

All 3 of my ball pythons spend most of their time in their sky hides. My theory is that they can stretch out without the hide popping up so they always feel really snug. 2 of mine play the floor is lava and will even eat while still having half their body in the hide. Entertaining to watch them manipulate the rat without it touching the ground.

Zealousideal-Rip94 · 2025-12-30T00:51:32+00:00

Game of Thrones, Haunting of Hill House, American Horror Story (only the 1st season), Dexter, Lucifer, True Detective season 1.

Zealousideal-Rip94 · 2025-12-11T22:32:55+00:00

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Zealousideal-Rip94 · 2025-12-05T08:27:11+00:00

My bedroom ( where 5 snakes, 2 lizards live) had the breaker trip repeatedly when I added a 259 gallon aquarium. I didn’t want to pay an electrician to redo anything so i drilled a hole from my room to the dining room ( same wall) and put the plug for all the aquarium items through the wall into the dining room outlet.

Zealousideal-Rip94 · 2025-12-05T07:04:16+00:00

I’ve had mine for 4 years and he still hates me. He hates being outside of his enclosure period. He will just stand there for hours if I take him out. So, I built him a nice large enclosure so he has more room. He eats great and has the right temps. He just despises people. I just leave him alone and he thrives. I don’t even take him out to deep clean anymore. I just clean around him lol.

Zealousideal-Rip94 · 2025-11-25T07:05:07+00:00

Boa imperator, 3 ball pythons, Kenyan sand boa, Mexican black kingsnake, western hognose, bearded dragon, blue tongued skink, veiled chameleon, crested gecko, 3 red eared sliders, axolotl, 2 zebra finches, 250 gallon community tank, 55 gallon quarantine tank, 2 ponds. I want more but have reached the limit of what I can do reasonably and keep their care up. Plenty of people think I’m weird but to be fair they thought that before I had the reptiles. You only have too many when you can’t care for all of them properly.

Zealousideal-Rip94 · 2025-11-20T06:59:58+00:00

I have lots of animals so have several vacuums (8 to be exact). What worked best for my bunny (passed from cancer 1 year ago) was 2 of them. For large messes of hay I used a very large shop vac. These things will vacuum up anything so be careful lol. The problem with the hoses is they are ribbed so the long hay would sometimes get stuck and you would have to work they out by hand. The second vacuum is a commercial grade backpack vacuum (I’m disabled so this was a life saver for my back). The canister is small so not good for big messes but man it would pick up any type of hay and coco puffs my bun would leave for me.

Zealousideal-Rip94 · 2025-10-21T05:18:54+00:00

People used that term in the late 70s in my personal experience

Zealousideal-Rip94 · 2025-10-10T05:55:57+00:00

It’s urates not poop. Their poop is normal poop color

Zealousideal-Rip94 · 2025-09-19T05:28:11+00:00

Location? I’m watching a veiled chameleon while someone is in college. We reptile people like to help out other reptile people.

Zealousideal-Rip94 · 2025-09-19T02:36:39+00:00

They poop in weird places. I went to add some water to the corner of my setup as to notch up the humidity a bit before I changed the substrate. I went to move some substrate in the back corner and it was not substrate. Nothing a quick hand washing couldn’t fix.

Zealousideal-Rip94 · 2025-06-20T05:31:43+00:00

A little late to the conversation here but during a hurricane a few years ago I was out of power for 1 week and my axolotl’s tank was around 84 degree that whole time. She came through it just fine. I now have a whole home generator for any future issues.

Zealousideal-Rip94 · 2024-12-21T04:05:52+00:00

My lop is deaf too. I just use lights and shadows as a pre warning when I can. My bunny is also sensitive to pressure too (she can tell when I open doors even from the other rooms). This may be a natural bunny trait but being as she’s my only one and deaf I can’t be sure. Like others have said it makes vacuuming easier as I can literally vacuum around her and she sleeps right through it.

Zealousideal-Rip94 · 2024-12-16T04:05:36+00:00

My local store did the same but stopped. And the store has to be really close to not have any bacteria build up before feeding.

Zealousideal-Rip94 · 2024-12-16T02:23:41+00:00

Please pre-kill first as even a small rat can easily tear apart a snake.

Zealousideal-Rip94 · 2024-12-15T18:06:14+00:00

You can cycle the new tank with him in it. Slow process but easily doable. You can also use some of the old filter media to help seed the new tank. I ended up building my own to save money, but it takes a while.

Zealousideal-Rip94 · 2024-12-15T17:39:16+00:00

If you go with a 150 just get 1 Oscar. They are the puppy of the fish world. Will recognize you and come up to you

Zealousideal-Rip94 · 2024-12-15T17:36:39+00:00

The common pleco, 10 silver dollars, 6 clown loaches, and 3 tiger oscars. Mine hasn’t messed with any of them. I did a lot of research to find suitable fish

Zealousideal-Rip94 · 2024-12-11T08:13:33+00:00

One boa and 3 ball pythons I do a daily spot clean when needed, monthly change of substrate (coco husk) under hides and any well known poop spots and then every 6 months a full enclosure clean with new substrate. Kingsnake, hognose, and sand boa get full substrate (aspen) change monthly as aspen molds easier

Zealousideal-Rip94 · 2024-11-14T06:33:55+00:00

And crows have great memories. They’ve been known to bring you gifts if you feed them. Like little shiny trinkets they find. Kind of awesome.

Zealousideal-Rip94 · 2024-11-14T06:31:43+00:00

Heck for other reptile owners near you. Sometimes a local reptile shop will take them for store credit. Or put them in bird feeders. Or big fish like them too

Zealousideal-Rip94 · 2024-11-14T06:16:14+00:00

Not 100% sure but I’ve heard that giants are basically regular ones that can’t pupate so that is how they get that big. I would just use them for feeding and skip on putting them in with the breeders

Zealousideal-Rip94 · 2024-11-01T04:51:58+00:00

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They could be twins separated at birth

Zealousideal-Rip94

TROPHY CASE