Tank building advice

[Craig Mackay]

Hi everyone, I'm hoping to build some custom tanks and I was hoping someone could point me in the direction of some tutorials on the net or give me some advice. Fixing it all together should be straight forward but the thing I need some help/ideas with is the entrance. Ideally I could make something with a hinged front opening entrance for arboreal tanks and a lid for the top of terrestrial tanks. I've sourced acrylic sheets and can get it in various thicknesses. What thickness would be ideal for this kind of project?

Thanks
Craig

[matthew spooner]

well i would say that it should be about 3 - 4mm thick, the only reason i say this is because that is the thickness off the plastic on my tanks. personally, i hate the exo terra type front opening tanks, i dont know why but they bug me, i find for arboreals, the best ones are the tall type with the front anel that slides out. hope this helps mate, let me know when you start building, i would prob make an order

[Craig Mackay]

Cheers Matthew, I was thinking 4 or 5 mm would suffice. Gonna get some acrylic soon and see if I can make one and see how it goes. I was planning to make a few for myself. I hadn't actually though about selling them. We'll see how it goes though and if it's a success and not too time consuming then maybe I'll see what I could do for you. I'm not the most DIY minded so I wouldn't hold your breath, lol!

[Andrew Ferguson]

Hi Craig, if you want some ideas and inspiration, check out this site I found a while back

http://www.reptilekeeper.com/terrestrial.html

http://www.reptilekeeper.com/arboreal.html

If this economic downturn changes and my job becomes relatively safe again, I maybe tempted by one of these myself.

[Alexander Ramsey]

Hi, I have made a couple of custom tanks recently. The thickness isn't really relavent, however, I found if you go for thinner, it's easier to manipulate, ie cut to size, ventilation holes etc. You just have to make sure you have some security on it as the weight gravity factor might not hold the T in. (my minax is particularly keen on trying to push the lid off).

I also found a few small hinges are very good on access. Small hole for feeding, full side for major maintenance. It just looks amateur if you don't take care in planning the positions right.

I did find though, I went to a boat load of effort on a couple of these and the T is non apreciative at all. I then bought a few plastic vivs from Lee and they are as good.

If you have some of the materials and some time on your hands though it's well worth a go, specially for those lively Ts like haplopelmas if you've got any (lol, I know you do).

[Mark Pajak]

I have followed these instructions before pretty much to the word, except I got the glass cut rather than cutting it and the results were great + cheaper than buying new

[matthew spooner]

I have followed these instructions before pretty much to the word, except I got the glass cut rather than cutting it and the results were great + cheaper than buying new

am liking them tanks mark, might av a go at them myself

[Craig Mackay]

Hi Craig, if you want some ideas and inspiration, check out this site I found a while back

http://www.reptilekeeper.com/terrestrial.html

http://www.reptilekeeper.com/arboreal.html

If this economic downturn changes and my job becomes relatively safe again, I maybe tempted by one of these myself.

Cheers, I had came across them before. They're really nice but shipping would be a real pain in the wallet. I'd bet they'd look great all lined up next to each other on a shelf though.

Hi, I have made a couple of custom tanks recently. The thickness isn't really relavent, however, I found if you go for thinner, it's easier to manipulate, ie cut to size, ventilation holes etc. You just have to make sure you have some security on it as the weight gravity factor might not hold the T in. (my minax is particularly keen on trying to push the lid off).

I also found a few small hinges are very good on access. Small hole for feeding, full side for major maintenance. It just looks amateur if you don't take care in planning the positions right.

I did find though, I went to a boat load of effort on a couple of these and the T is non apreciative at all. I then bought a few plastic vivs from Lee and they are as good.

If you have some of the materials and some time on your hands though it's well worth a go, specially for those lively Ts like haplopelmas if you've got any (lol, I know you do).

Cheers for the advice. I think I'm gonna go for 4 or 5mm thickness. I've had a look at the thinner stuff as thats all they had in my local DIY shop and it's a bit flimsy so probably not very sturdy and likely to change shape with the weight of the substrate, bark etc. As for the lid I'll need to figure out how to attach some kind of clip to keep them in or I'll run out of heavy things to put on top of the lids, lol.

I have followed these instructions before pretty much to the word, except I got the glass cut rather than cutting it and the results were great + cheaper than buying new

Thats great Mark, thanks. Is getting glass cut cheaper than buying acrylic. The cheapest I can find acrylic for is around £13 to make one 8 x 8 x 16 inch tank. If glass was cheaper I may be inclined to use that instead.

Thanks guys

[Lisa Baines]

I have followed these instructions before pretty much to the word, except I got the glass cut rather than cutting it and the results were great + cheaper than buying new

lol i'm just about to do those enclosures

[Mark Pajak]

yup they are great - I got the ventilation gause from dartfrog.com for a roll - its a bugger to cut though. Also the lid runners can be quite expensive but the costs come right down as soon as you are plnning on doing more than one tank. Make sure you stock up on masking tape!

[Mark Pajak]

yup they are great - I got the ventilation gause from dartfrog.com for a roll - its a bugger to cut though. Also the lid runners can be quite expensive but the costs come right down as soon as you are planning on doing more than one tank. Make sure you stock up on masking tape!

here is a pic of some I made for pairing up some pokies - the cricket tub fitted nicely between the partially opened lids giving easy male female access.

[Lisa Baines]

aaah thanks for the link.... I was wondering what was a good gauge mesh to use. And yes I will be building quite a few of these. Not only for our Matt's earth tigers but also for my pokies.

But I'm on a promise to do our Matt's tanks first since I have just sorted out my scorpion tanks.