Future 3ft gilleni enclosure

[SLACkra]

well i finished it completely. its a 3x2x2 with 2 x 60watt spotlights for daytime heating and a 60watt red party globe for nightime to keep the ambient temp up. going to just run those on a timer. hopefully getting 2 gilleni from Sdaji this season! i can't wait!
pics:

the lip at the front is 7cm tall, probably going to use breeders choice as the substrate. going to build a goanna stack, tiles spaced by bits of wood to provide various basking temps. feeding will be various, gambusia, small yabbies(cherax destructor), varous insects i find around the joint and i may get woodies or breed crickets.

cheers

Andrew

 

[hugsta]

Looks great Andrew. I am sure your gilleni will be happy in there. Make sure those 60w bulbs create enough heat for them. They may do if you use reflector bulbs. How come you are using BC? Sand would be better IMO, I hate breeders choice....LOL.

 

[pugsly]

There is an excellent article written by Sdaji on them in the latest Reptiles Australia mag worth a read!

 

[jordo]

Sounds good Andrew, I got two gilleni of John ealier in the year and couldn't be happier with them, one of them smashed a massive whitetail spider today they are the best arachnid removal system around :lol: I will be checking the local dams for gambusia during the week but if they still aren't around I'll get some danios from Pails shop before I go back to uni.
Huggy, I love BC each to their own

 

[hugsta]

LOL, that's it jordo. Your animals, your risk.

 

[SLACkra]

well the breeder Sdaji has them on BC. i may use sand i got a bit of this fine silica sand not sure if it will be thick enough. we'll see. i had more of it but ended up having to use some in the pond when i replanted some plants in there.

the 60watt bulbs are reflector globes, they produce a bit of heat. haven't started putting decor in it as i might end up getting the cellar area as my fish/reptile area and i don't want to have to remove all teh decor then put it all back in.

also with the BC i wouldn't really have to worry about feeding the baby yabbies to them with sand getting stuck to em etc. atm my main problem is that some of the yabbies have gotten quite large and i wreckon even a full grown gileni would have issues with em! hopefully this summer the yabbies will breed again and i'll have a few hundred 10-20mm yabbies for the gilleni to eat. also going to probably build one of em moth catching things out of pvc. just another fun project lol

cheers

Andrew

 

[Sdaji]

Looking good I love the double basking lamp fitting! A little more ventilation wouldn't hurt, but other than that all you need to do is add the contents As hugsta says, reflector globes will definately be best in the basking fitting, but I presume that was already your plan.

The first clutches of eggs are incubating nicely and I have gravid females due to oviposit before too much longer, so things all seem to be going to plan

pugsly: I'm glad you liked the article

hugsta: recycled newspaper is yummy, your lizards don't know what they're missing! Seriously though, Breeder's Choice has its critics and fans with both camps seeming quite prone to passionately stating their views. It was recommended to me, I used it at first, I've had stellar results and no problems at all, so I'm going to keep using it for them. Having said that, I don't go out of my way to recommend it. I've also used sand and it's equally good, but it's (generally) more expensive and difficult to work with. I prefer sand for the babies as I feed them smaller insects which can quickly disappear into pellets.

jordo: I love your avatar!

 

[SLACkra]

ah ok sdaji i might put down the silica sand that i have left in teh beggining see hwo i like it. their are reflector globes ni teh double basking lamp fitting! both 60watt! with the ventilation i'll canabalize my old computer a bit more(i got a new one ) and rip out a comp fan and install it into the vents to provide more air movement. also still need to cut and glue a piece of fly screen to the inside of teh vents to make it insect and small lizard proof.

I love the double basking lamp fitting!

i told you it was good and it didn't cost me a cent either, was an old fitting in the living room which was replaced by halogen downlights. stil works well and i can aim the light really easily!

thats good, still think i'm going to go for a unrelated pair, i know brother and sister can be bred with no issues but you know, try not to ick out my parents lol!

andrew

 

[Sdaji]

I would be cautious about using a fan. I haven't used one in an herp enclosure, but to me it seems like a bad idea and I've heard a few first hand accounts of them causing problems with snakes. You can try it if you like, but keep an eye on things and get rid of it if you have problems. I'd suggest using more vents.

 

[SLACkra]

nah just a tini little computer fan completely behind metal vents on both sides and with flywire as well. i wreckon it'll be perfect. probably have it on the same timer as the daytime spotlights.

andrew

 

[SLACkra]

ok i couldn't help myself, i kept saying don't put any decor in until its in its final location but i couldn't help it, pics:

got the spotlights going to see how hot it gets too.

andrew

 

[jordo]

It looks great maybe throw a few brances in there because they love to climb, I just posted some gilleni feeding pics in the "spring pics" thread so check it out

 

[SLACkra]

Ya what i was thinking was getting maybe a 10cm cube bit of wood then cut a branch to suit so i get a sortof tree type bit. then move teh sand and rocks out of the way and secure it down with the rocks and the sand ontop.

also fun thing all thsoe bits of wood holding up the tiles i just cut today, cross sections of eucalypt took a look at some bits of wood i had around and i though i might as well play it on the safe side!

andrew

 

[Kirby]

do they not need UVB??

 

[SLACkra]

nope, sdaji has bred many generations and raised many a gilleni with no uva/uvb and they have developed fine. probably going to give my two vitamin d3/calcium supplements once a week.

andrew

 

[SLACkra]

Just a little update on how this is going. Tested the basking spot temps with only the 2 levels on the goanna stack, wasnt' nearly hot enough so i cut a few more bits of timber and made one level taller. The basking spot ended up getting to 53'C! also going to fix a problem that there are small gaps between the glass and either end of the cage. not sure if it is the fact the cage isn't perfect(4 x 90' angles) or possibly the glass isn't. anyways going to use the stuff that you stick on doors to increase the insulation(foam type stuff) to make sure its lizard and insect excape proof.

Andrew

 

[JandC_Reptiles]

I have seen a few home made enclosures with the gap you are talking about.
Stems from not squaring up the enclosure with a spirit level before attaching the rear.
You can add more glass tracking to the sides to fix the problem & it would look better than the foam imo. You won't even notice the enclosure is slightly tilted.

 

[SLACkra]

You won't even notice the enclosure is slightly tilted.

it actually dosen't look tilted the glass looks off but its probably just the eyes playing tricks on themselves!

Thats a good idea to add the sliding tracks i'll have to get some and install it.

Thanks for the tip,

Andrew

 

[SLACkra]

Hey guys thought i'd update with this thread! I now am the proud owner of a 1.1 pair of Varanus gilleni breed by Sdaji! Sdaji's a pleasure to deal with and I can't recomend him highly enough. Don't have any pics yet but they are just settling in. They've already had a small feed couple of roaches each and a few random insects that I gathered yesturday.

will get pics uploaded asap,

Andrew

 

[hogey5]

awsome i cant wait till mine come next week(hopefully)