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  • Spider House.

    Well after a year of dreaming about it, thinking about it and talking about it, it finally arrived yesterday.............................

    A custom built 8 X 6 wooden shed that will become my pride and joy "Spider House"

    It's been a bit of a project though. Firstly our house is built on a hill and so the garden sloped left to right and needed levelling out. This would not have been a problem apart from our neighbours have some large trees that have roots that spread into our garden. So we had to hire a mini excavator to first level the garden. OK - I admit it, that bit was great fun!!

    Then we had to excavate a trench to feed the power cables, network connection and water. When we had finished laying the cables and pipes the trench then became the foundations for a concrete path way to the bottom of the garden. We were mixing concrete anyway for the shed foundations, so carried on did the whole path ways.

    This we completed on Sunday morning and then the shed arrived yesterday. So now the hard part begins! I now have to add the insulation to the shed, run the internal wiring and then fully line it out. I am having a digital thermostat to control the heating which is being provided by 3 tube heaters. Then is has to be painted inside before we can even think about building all the tanks and spiders.

    For security I am also linking magnetic sensors to our house burglar alarm.

    It's a big project really but something I have dreamed about for a while. As you can imagine I am pretty excited. It may seem a little over the top, but why not eh???

    I will hopefully post some pics at a later date to show progress.
    Everyones an Expert! "Ex" is a has been - "spurt" is a strong gush of water! You decide............................

  • #2
    I do like the idea of you 'building' all your spiders! lol

    Sounds like a great project - I am currently eyeing up my laundry cupboard (obviously originally an airing cupboard before the current combi-boiler was fitted) as a potential 'spider room' not sure how my land lord would take it though.......
    Last edited by Tracy Sherwood-Farnfield; 05-03-08, 10:32 AM. Reason: lousy spelling

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    • #3
      Hi J M, congrats on finally getting your spider house. Hope you have many happy hours in there! The big question is though.... Once it's full, will you get a bigger shed?

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      • #4
        Steve, the funny thing is, is that last night I was looking inside and thinking - This isn't going to be big enough..............................
        Everyones an Expert! "Ex" is a has been - "spurt" is a strong gush of water! You decide............................

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        • #5
          Sounds awesome, I'm jealous! Don't think it's over the top at all, I would love to do something like that. Sounds like fun too.

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          • #6
            Never mind the spiders, how about building me one of those rooms?
            Gloria my little Brachypelma smithi.

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            • #7
              Hi JM, that made me laugh, about the size! I think that if we had a warehouse, most of us would probably fill it with spiders, etc!
              Some time in the next light year I intend to build a large shed at the end of my garden, with the intention of having a small spider room and a large play house/summer house type thingy! I'm leaving the partition wall loose so that I can extend the spider room easily Maybe you should do the same, JM, as we all know you'll fill it quickly with spids, etc. Can't wait to see the pics of your project and I'll pinch a few ideas (if I may ).

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              • #8
                Having had a reptile/spider shed for 6 years there is something, through experience, that you WILL need. An air-con unit is an essential item that will save your collection from frying in even moderate temperatures. If the shed is properly insulated, keeping it warm is extremely easy. The hardest part is to keep the temperatures low. I usually have my air-con unit on 24/7 from approx May through to early October. Even if the temperatures are not particularly high the shed can get hot very quickly and because of the insulation the heat cant escape. I have tried leaving the window open but as the weather in the UK is changes so quickly i found it inpractical as it was getting too cold for tropical species. I have an oil filled radiator fitted with a built in stat that is set to come on if the temps fall below 72F and the A/C is set to kick in if the temps rise above 80F.

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                • #9
                  Great suggestion Peter - thanks for that. I will build one in from the outset to ensure we have this covered.

                  I found this little unit at a pretty good price.

                  Last edited by J M Clegg; 06-03-08, 09:02 AM.
                  Everyones an Expert! "Ex" is a has been - "spurt" is a strong gush of water! You decide............................

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                  • #10
                    Air Conditioning

                    Sounds Great J M, I am starting to kit out part of our spare room as a Spider Room. I have 8 Exo Terra Vivs with my adult Ts in our lounge, and 2 juveniles +4 slings and a 3rd instar Rock Scorpion on my computer station. Ts seem to have a habit of
                    spreading around the house ,LOL thus the need of the Spider room. The lounge vivs are all controled by thermostats the slings are great at 75% on my computer station and can be seen all day, But as i wish to carry on collecting an hopefully breeding I need more room and the bedroom is heated by cental heating and doing nothing much now and so it is the perfect place, but maybe air conditioning should be considered what are the running costs like have you any idea ?
                    My Collection: - Support captive breeding







                    "If it doesnt kill you, it only makes you stronger"

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                    • #11
                      Originally posted by J M Clegg View Post
                      Great suggestion Peter - thanks for that. I will build one in from the outset to ensure we have this covered.

                      I found this little unit at a pretty good price.

                      http://www.aircondirect.co.uk/Prem-i...10/version.asp

                      Sorry mate but air coolers are a total waste of time and money, you might as well put a bowl of ice in front of a fan.
                      I suggest that you get a proper A/C unit and get one that is one size up from the size reccomended for your space.
                      My spider shed is 8.5ft X 8ft and my A/C unit is for a 12ft X 12ft room and it barely keeps the temps below 80F in a heatwave like the one we had last year. Mine cost £240 from B&Q a few years ago but I think they are around £300 now for the size you need (http://www.diy.com/diy/jsp/bq/nav/na...condid=9376864 )
                      I also have a 12in occilating fan on for circulation which has been on 24/7 for the last 6.5 years ....money well spent methinks

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                      • #12
                        well done on the spider house. you have no idea how jealous I am! hope it all goes well for you and I can't wait to see the pictures of all your spiders in-situ. Just think, this time next year you'll be putting your plans for an extension into action!
                        sigpicHate is for people who find thinking a little too complicated!

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                        • #13
                          We ran some of the electrics this weekend. I have run a 50 amp feed to the shed and put it on an RCD for saftey. I placed the burgular alarm in, the distribution board for the power, the light switches for both day and night lighting, and also the network cables.

                          I have a camera that can be viewed over the internet. This features full pan, rotation and zoom which can all be controlled via a web browser. I decided to put this in as well so I can keep my eye on what is going on when I am not at home. I will post the I.P address for the connection later so you can have a look (should you so desire??).

                          Hopefully we should have some pics to place later this week.

                          Jay.
                          Everyones an Expert! "Ex" is a has been - "spurt" is a strong gush of water! You decide............................

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                          • #14
                            Spider cam sounds like a great idea Jay, looking forward to it.

                            Some pictures of your progress so far will be much appreciated.

                            Best of luck with this mate

                            Colin
                            Don't forget to learn what you can, when you can, where you can.



                            Please Support CB Grammostola :- Act Now To Secure The Future

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                            • #15
                              Great idea Jay, will you be running cams to individual tanks as well? We could do with some more spider videos on this site!
                              sigpicHate is for people who find thinking a little too complicated!

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