Another TV cabinet conversion! New and exciting!

[konp69]

thats looking effing amazing mate, keep up the great work! Going to be stealing your ideas for my snake enclosure, this is my foam "rock" wall and furniture if you want some ideas?

http://www.aussiepythons.com/forum/diy-zone-5392/first-attempt-terrarium-furniture-186546/

Go nuts, man. Just make sure you pay me royalties if you get famous or something

 

[Revell13]

Haha deal! Same goes either way right?

 

[konp69]

I've hit a snag. I'm not sure where to place my 100w heat bulb and cage in the cabinet. I was initially planning to put it in the bottom section so he could have a nice warm hideout, but I'm worried about fire hazards (even though the fitting, cage and bulb don't radiate enough heat to ignite wood afaik) and I'm worried about him getting burnt if I place it badly.

I was originally gonna mount it horizontally in the side of the bottom section, but realised that he might try to crawl on top of the cage and meet his doom. Then I was thinking vertically in the back left-hand corner but that will be awkward and will lead to a spot inside the main cabinet either being dangerous or needing to be blocked off (with a small frame and wire mesh to allow it ventilation without being a burn hazard).

The worst part is I need to plan what I'm doing before I do it because I'll ruin the cabinet if I start drilling trial holes everywhere.

Anyone have any ideas based on my most recent photos?

 

[CaptainRatbag]

Scrap the heatlamp and for heating use a heatmat & thermostat instead imo

Nice job btw

 

[konp69]

Scrap the heatlamp and for heating use a heatmat & thermostat instead imo

Nice job btw

I already bought the ceramic fitting though...

Scrap the heatlamp and for heating use a heatmat & thermostat instead imo

Nice job btw

I'm thinking make a shelf about halfway up the side to give him a basking spot or something.

So here's the background before I paint it in a sand/cement + brown oxide + pva glue + water mix. I used gap-fill plaster to fill in a bunch of holes towards the middle, and my missus used her paper mache skills to even out a few other problem areas. I sculpted it with a box cutter knife originally but that was hard and messy. Moved to a hot coathanger which was ineffective because it cut too slow and cooled down too fast. Then my girlfriend had an idea.

Sturdy butter knife + propane blowtorch = cutting ease.

And she was right. I heated the blade til it was a dull red and then it cut through the foam as if it wasn't even there. Allowed me to sculpt a bunch of different shapes into it, took out a few sharp edges that looked "wrong" and let me blend areas into areas next to them.

Can't wait to see the final product.



-edit-

I have tried to post this as a separate reply so the thread updates 4 times now, and the board software refuses to see it as anything other than an edit to the previous post. Quite bluntly, that sucks and needs to be changed.

test

 

[CaptainRatbag]

Sell the fitting to someone with lizzards or has an arboureal snake..... or use it for a basking lamp (not too strong)

Heatmats and cords with a thermostat will save heaps on your power bill

The reason you cant put multiple updates unless someone posts after your last post.... is so people cant bump thier own threads back to the top 8)

 

[konp69]

Sell the fitting to someone with lizzards or has an arboureal snake..... or use it for a basking lamp (not too strong)

That was the plan, put a shelf maybe halfway up the wall so he can go up there to bask if he wants.

The enclosure is like 99% done!! All I have to do now is make a light cage so he can't touch the halogens and get burned!!

Here's a pic of the background finished and glued to the back. I used a cement australia sand+cement bag, a container of brown oxide, pva glue and water. The brown turned out magnificently as you can see, and it's got a nice rough texture to it.



-edit-

Aaaand it's done!! Light cage is installed, it's just a wooden frame with aluminium mesh flyscreen nailed onto it - it prevents him getting to the light whilst allowing most of the light through. Made a small frame around his tile (it's got a heat cord under it) so he can't wedge his face in there. Opening to the bottom section won't be done until he reaches a bigger size. But for now, it's good to put him in there!! When he's a bit bigger, maybe... The white line down the glass is a piece of foamcore board to clog the gap - if I do put him in there now, I don't want him nosing out through the gap in the glass panes.



We decided to put the other snake's enclosure on top of it seeing as it was basically the exact same footprint size as the top of the cabinet.