mertens water monitor enclosure

[beney_boy]

i went to melbourne zoo today and fell in love with the mertens water monitor enclosure they have set up. it looks amazing and almost accomplishable to replicate in my own enclosure. im just wondering what price everyone thinks it would cost to set up an enclosure of this calibur. im guessing ,apart from the tank itself, the most expensive thing would be the fake rock wall and platform. i really like the look of this enclosure and what to try get something fairly similar done in my own tank.
any ideas and advice would be greatly appreciated.

cheers, ben.

 

[xavarx7]

hey mate by looking at the enclosure, it doesn't look that expensive to make your self , just the tank and light would be to most expensive part, the fake rocks are quite easy to make and the wood can be brought cheap or found and the plants couldn't be to expensive

 

[Cypher]

Depending on the size of the enclosure, it shouldn'e be too expensive but generally you'll find fake rocks to be more costly than driftwood.
I'm guessing there's under $300 worth of fake rock & driftwood in that enclosure if you were to buy/order from a pet shop.

 

[beney_boy]

Depending on the size of the enclosure, it shouldn'e be too expensive but generally you'll find fake rocks to be more costly than driftwood.
I'm guessing there's under $300 worth of fake rock & driftwood in that enclosure if you were to buy/order from a pet shop.

oh ok i was expecting a fair bit more. also, would i be better off using the fishtank i have which is 6ft L x 1.5ft D x 2ft H that the monitor would inevitably grow out of our build one out of melamine, making sure its completely water tight and then getting a tank build that can be inserted into the wooden enclosure. if i were to do this it would be much cheaper and i could ultimately build the desired size enclosure that quite possible could house the monitor for its life.

 

[Jdsixtyone]

I would get a custom made glass tank which has metal vents on the side. That tank to me looks around 8-10ft long x maybe 2 feet wide.

 

[sweetangel]

it would be quite expensive, u will need a pretty heavy duty filter to keep the water clean, that'll cost u like 150 bucks, then the tank itself would be a few hundred, up to even 500 or 600 new cos it would need to be pretty damn big, like 8x2x2ft or bigger. then the fake rocks are very expensive if u buy them ready made, like a couple of hundred each, plant also add up when u get quite a few, then lights and fittings..... ur looking at quite a bit of money and time to get it all ready.....

 

[sweetangel]

this is my 6x2x2 water dragon tank which was going to be a mertens cage, but they wont fit in it for their whole lives so i probably wont get them any more

 

[richardsc]

sweet angel a pr of mertens could livein a 6x2x2 enclosure if
u build a 6x2x2ish sized extention to sit on top of your aquarium and ust the aquriumas your water area,people do quite well with them like that,id class it as a bare minimum size though

 

[Andie]

That looks so cool. I love natural looking setups.

I dont know anything about the snake in question, but I hollowed out a sandstone block for my turtle tank to keep the weight down a bit.

You could get some sandstone "crazy" steppers from a landscape shop and then to cut down the weight, drill out the back so it is about 1 inch thick all around.