My new 5-Bay snake enclosures

[Trouble]

After crusing the DIY section for a while, I really wanted to start building my own snake enclosures for my bigger 'babies'.
While bored one day, I sketched up the 5-bay draft, and then handed it over to dad to see what he would say - amazingly he said yes!
Late Nov 2010 We bought 15mm ply to start the build. We had the frame built, and then I couldn't get the funds together for a month or so. They sat there for a little while in dads' shed...
Just over a month later, the 2011 January floods came, and we tried saving the enclosures by putting them in the gazebo, but the water level came up a 'bit' higher than that :?.


I wasn't going to risk the snakes health by using the ply, as I had no idea what was in that water. Dad has some nice new shelving in his shed now :lol:

I wrote a letter to my local hardwares, and Mitre 10 very kindly donated all the ply wood, liquid nails, screws, etc. which helped out so so much!! A BIG SHOUT OUT TO MITRE 10 MT.OMMANY (QLD) FOR ALL THEIR HELP!!!

April 2011, dad & I started the re-build. Thank you to my dad - if it wasn't for all his help, these enclosures would still be a pile of ply wood in the back of my ute :lol:

After 6 and a half months, we have finally finished them, and now they're moved up into my room!

Measurements are -
Morelia enclosures - 3x 1500 x 600 x 600
spotted enclosures - 2x 900 x 600 x 600

Thank you to - Mitre 10 for all the building materials, Bunnings for the expanda-foam, hides, glass tracks, etc. Ikea & eBay for the lighting, JP Glass booval for the spotteds enclosure glass, Brilliant Prints for the perspex, Virides - Stylish Enclosure Enhancements for the door handles and the glass finger sliders, Ben from Stein Enclosures for the plants. and last, but definitely not least - MY AWESOME-TASTIC DAD!!!

Photos -

First build

Second & final build -

(I needed to finish off one of my spotted's enclosures before we headed to Cairns for two weeks, here's a rush job lol)

The rest of the building-

a couple of the new residents

Thank you for looking

 

[zerocool]

Thats awesome great enclosures.

 

[GeckoRider]

That is just freaken Pure AWESOME!!.. Also That's Very nice of Mitre 10

 

[crail4]

Bloody Brilliant!

 

[shea_and_ruby]

great job. hubbywill need to knock something like this up for our growing collection!

hey can you stand back and take a shot of the whole thing?

 

[nagini-baby]

fantastic! they look awesome!

 

[aussiejosh]

heey mate that look stunning!! what did you use for the back feature is that just like the spray foam?

and what did you coat the outside with?

 

[Trouble]

Thanks for the lovely comments everyone I had a fun time building it, so did dad, but he came up with a few new words by the end of it :lol: as he says, he's not a finisher - he hates the jobs at the end to tidy up everything lol.

shea and ruby - thanks I will try, but as my room isn't that big (these have been measured to fit nicely in there haha) and my bed is a pain, it's a little hard, but I'm definitely trying to get a decent full shot

aussiejosh - thank you. I used styrofoam blocks and expanda foam. the ply has been stained with an outdoor deck stain, and then a spray-on varnish. the rock walls were grouted with 2-3 coats of grout, painted, and then sealed with pondtite.

 

[rednut90]

amazing! nice work guys wish mine looked that good lol

 

[notechistiger]

Damn nice xD Now make me some! haha

 

[thelionking]

Wow! Was that very difficult to make?

 

[Trouble]

:lol: I offered, Ash As long as you help! haha.
thelionking - yes & no; in some parts it was, just probably because we didn't have the right tools, or we cut/glued something wrong, but it all came together in the end. note - when building the structure, make sure you put the backing on straight away as well, so it doesn't twist/warp. that was a pain trying to get it back into line :/ The rock wall was probably the easiest bit, it just takes time.

Here is a shot of the whole bay

 

[RickLeekong]

well im inspired to build now, really great effort

 

[Sel]

Thats amazing trouble.
The full shot pic makes the bottom 3 bays look like one big one..looks great!

 

[notechistiger]

I'll help, only if you pay for it! xD

 

[Trouble]

Thanks guys
Sel- now that you mention it, it does! Haha sweet.

Ash, keep dreamin'! Lol

 

[Elite_Reptiles]

Awesome job Trouble, really well done.

 

[Virides]

Good to see our products on other peoples enclosures

Good work on the install, did the booklets help? looks like it

Overall the enclosures are very well done, the 2nd version with the better ply was definately the better choice. Nothing worse than CD Structural...

 

[user 16324]

that looks great. congratulations. i love the feeling of finishing off a project.

 

[Trouble]

Thanks, Jungleman & hurcorh it was a great feeling when it was completed and to see the snakes roaming around - awesome
Virides - They're great handles & finger sliders!! I definitely recommend them. The books definitely helped - you definitely don't want to touch the glue on the finger sliders - oh my goodness! that stuff is really really strong! Thank you for the lovely comments