James_Scott
Well-Known Member
Hi guys
After posting my last vivarium I had a lot of interest of how I did it. So I thought I would begin to post the progress of my new vivarium construction as a step by step tutorial.
This vivarium will again be for keelbacks and it is important to build the vivarium to suit the requirments of the animal.
Keelbacks are hardy colubrids and their needs are simple. In my previous enclosure I heated the water but as the snakes are getting larger and I am switching food over to trout I have decided to keep the water at room temp and use a heat mat or heat cord under flat rocks such as slate as a heat source. I should also note that my snakes are in a dedicated herp room which is warm anyway.
Lighting is from a 4foot led floodlight.
Filtration is from an external canister filter.
I will go into more details as time progresses.
After building a stand and resealing an old 4 foot tank its time to build the false bottom. The false bottom raises the land area above water level and still allows water to flow through the entire tank. It is made from egg crate diffuser and held together with cable ties. Under the egg crate I have placed small footings which are used for hold steel bars when setting concrete slabs. But stacking them I can set the height. These take the stress off the egg crate when I start placing decorations.
The next stage will be to cover the false bottom with flywire screen to prevent debris from falling into the water.
After posting my last vivarium I had a lot of interest of how I did it. So I thought I would begin to post the progress of my new vivarium construction as a step by step tutorial.
This vivarium will again be for keelbacks and it is important to build the vivarium to suit the requirments of the animal.
Keelbacks are hardy colubrids and their needs are simple. In my previous enclosure I heated the water but as the snakes are getting larger and I am switching food over to trout I have decided to keep the water at room temp and use a heat mat or heat cord under flat rocks such as slate as a heat source. I should also note that my snakes are in a dedicated herp room which is warm anyway.
Lighting is from a 4foot led floodlight.
Filtration is from an external canister filter.
I will go into more details as time progresses.
After building a stand and resealing an old 4 foot tank its time to build the false bottom. The false bottom raises the land area above water level and still allows water to flow through the entire tank. It is made from egg crate diffuser and held together with cable ties. Under the egg crate I have placed small footings which are used for hold steel bars when setting concrete slabs. But stacking them I can set the height. These take the stress off the egg crate when I start placing decorations.
The next stage will be to cover the false bottom with flywire screen to prevent debris from falling into the water.
