I guess I should start with an intro, name's Aaron, I live near Toronto ON. After a long unfortunate hiatus I am finally able to get back into the reptile world. Arboreals are my thing, hence my joining this forum, lol. I should note that aside from a 3 year gap I've been around/ kept reptiles all my life.

Anyway, I'm planning on starting out with an Emerald, a GTP, and one of the larger Carpets. I am going to build a large custom PVC type display unit for them. The two greens on top, and the Carpet below in the double size enclosure.

The top enclosures each measure L30"xW24"xH32" and the lower unit is 60x24x32. Good size-wise right? I've added the super basic sketch for reference.

My QUESTION is regarding ventilation. I plan to keep the tops pretty tight if not sealed so that leaves the far sides and rear wall for ventilation. Should I just drill small holes in a nice tight grouping or install a proper vent, and I'm wondering what size they should be to maintain humidity well given each enclosure's size?

Your input is much appreciated!

I'm really excited about this, unfortunately the frame sketch is not to scale and does it no justice, but I don't want to post the precise sketches...rather show off the finished product in a month or so. There's a nice hidden 4" gap between the top floor and the bottom roof, and it''ll have a slick black exterior contrasted by clean white interiors. I've been looking at visions and similar setups but they're just way too costly when with shipping the price nearly doubles. So I got thinking, and found a local plastics shop that is more than happy to build to plan.

Well I'm off to browse the forum now, thanks again.



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Drilling the tight grouped holes will work great. 1\4 holes spaced 1\8 apart spanning about 8" wide and about 5" in height. One on each end and one on the back of each or two in the case of the carpets enclosure should be plenty. You can make them as big as you see fit compared to cage size, but as long as there close to the top of the cage or near the main perching area the size I listed above should be plenty. Can't wait to see it and welcome to the forum!

Many thanks for the welcome and the advice! I agree, a simple set of holes will also look much cleaner. I will make sure to put them near the perches as well. I'll have to design a stencil to keep the look professional.

Your Bothriechis schlegelii (?) looks incredible, in the very distant future I hope to keep a selection of Atheris ssp. and possibly a Wagler's if I should be so lucky.

Again thanks for the input. It's greatly appreciated and a huge resource for me.


Anyone have suggestions for brands of RHP? I'm new to this type of heat source, I'd prefer to spare no expense in this area. Also size/ wattage's for the size of enclosures in question would be a huge help and save a lot of experimentation. Also, I'm assuming I should mount them on the roofs, but that is a subject open to discussion. And while we're on the topic, distance between the device and perches?

On a side note, I'd like to light the setup with 3 or 4 small LED lights. I thought about natural type fluorescents, but I'm thinking the size ect. will outweigh the benefits... Again, this aspect is totally up for discussion.

In the bottom I plan to use lipped, soft, plastic place-mat thingys to aide in maintenance. Not set on a substrate yet. I think some research and experimentation is needed here.

As for flora and perches and decor, I'm torn between natural and unnatural, keeping in mind the many years of maintenance I have ahead of me.

I'd also prefer raised hides rather than ground hides. It'd be cool to incorporate it right into the enclosure itself, however, the mount would have to allow for the ability to interchange the hides based on the size of the animal. I'll have to think on this, feel free to throw in your two cents.

In the future I'd like to use this type of design to fill a room, so it's very important to me to get it right the first time so everything looks clean cut, professional, and most importantly I want all my units to look pretty much the same (minus individual sizes).

Keeping this in mind, would you guys say a L20"xW24"xH32" size would be on the small side size-wise for adult GTPs/Emeralds/Amazons? I was thinking the next unit could have six individual enclosures and I'd use the upper two of this one for breeding pairs? The only fix could be to extend the size of both the entire units to six feet, allowing for six 24x24x32 units. I would prefer the five foot length for aesthetics (I despise cubes..I'd probably have to extend the height by a foot too just to avoid the cube shape lol), as well as for wall space reasons.

Anyway, that's a lot. I was only planning a thank you and here I am writing a novel.

Again, advice and comments are greatly appreciated!!

As far as ventilation goes, I prefer vents. The necessary amount of ventilation often varies by environment so it's nice to have an option. Fans in a room, open windows, outside humidity and more can all factor into air exchange. Just my .02 but it's nice to be able to open/close as I need to.

Also - welcome to the forums!

I say welcome as well! I will provide my .02 when it comes to radiant heat panels and say that Pro-Products has the best around. I am not sure if he ships to Canada or not but it is worth a shot to give him a call. He can also tell you what size panel you need for each enclosure after you describe the materials used, location of the enclosure, ambient temperatures, etc.

http://www.pro-products.com/

Thanks for all the input guys, I do plan to give Pro-Products a call for RHPs, I've been reading A LOT of positive things about both the product and gentleman who sells them.

As for the enclosure, I've finally found a local plastic company that I'm working with now on the design, as long as I keep it moderately simple I'll save a bundle compared to shipping a Vision, Boaphile, etc. up to the great white north. Finding a plastic shop was tough though, out of the ten or so places I tried in the GTA only one offered really reasonable prices. Additionally, I've decided to go with individual pieces rather than one massive unit.

I'll make sure to post some pics after they've been fabricated.

I've called a few local shops to do something custom but they all kind of blew me off because I didn't have plans to mass produce. Did you have to work out a specific amount of units to purchase before they'd go ahead with your plans?

A few did. I'm in the Toronto area, so I just drew up plans that were moderately precise on graph paper and scanned them to a .jpeg, did a quick google search, saved links to every plastics place I could find within an hour or so drive from me, wrote out an email with a nice long specific description, and sent one out to ten or so different companies. Big and small.

I've gotten varying responses. I should note, the plans I sent were for 3 small starter enclosures. 2 @ 12x12x20 and 1 @ 18x12x20. I figured try this first and if they are nice go for the large unit when the animals are large enough. I received blow offs, estimates as high as $1070 for a single 12x12x20, ~$300 per unit, and 2 reasonable offers @ <$100 per unit. What I have found is that the cost is in the fabrication not the material. The company I'm pretty sure I will be working with explained that a much larger unit won't cost a whole lot more. It's setting up the CNC machine etc. that is pricey.

Go with emails, that way your business proposition is very black and white. And send out a lot, copy and pasted.


Here is the email I sent...I'll post the jpeg underneath...feel free you use them

Hi there,

I'm interested in a quote for three small enclosures that will be used to house reptiles. I would like them to be made of white acrylic with a clear acrylic door.

Basic Description

Dimensions: 2@ L12"xW12"xH20" and 1@ L18"xW12"xH20". Material: 3/16" White acrylic and 3/16" Clear acrylic. Several additional cuts are needed, detailed information below, sketch attached to email.


Detailed Description

Dimensions: 2@ L12"xW12"xH20" and 1@ L18"xW12"xH20". I have attached a basic sketch.

I would prefer 3/16" material, however, 1/4" material is acceptable. Overall preference given to a lower cost material should both be available.

The floor of the enclosures needs to be lifted 2" up from the base to allow access for a heating pad. Also, I would like the base to appear to have feet like a chair, please see sketch for details.

For the door, I would like a 1" border left around the main front wall and a 1" overlap (please see the sketch for better details). I am able to attach the door with hinges and locks, as well as a nob handle myself.

The four walls may be constructed from four pieces of material, or a single piece with rounded off corners, whichever is more cost effective, although if the price is close the rounded single piece is preferred.

If it works out that the rounded single piece construction is used, 3 small rectangles of white acrylic need to be fastened where the door will attach to allow the hinges to be flush with the door when installed (again please see the sketch if my description is unclear).

Each side will require ventilation holes to be drilled out. 3/16" holes spaced 3/16" apart spanning about 5" wide and about 3" in height. In the larger enclosure an additional grouping of ventilation holes are required at the rear with an area spanning 7" wide by 3" in height, centered. Upper row of vent holes should be 2 1/2" below the unit's roof. *If there will be much additional cost here I am able to drill them out myself, however, I would prefer them done by you as I.m sure it would look much more professional.

The roof of all three enclosures require a circular hole with a diameter of 2" in the rear right corner space 1/2" out from the rear and side wall. The hole needs to be covered by clear acrylic. Fitting the window flush into the hole is preferred, on top is acceptable as well.

If any more information is needed please don't hesitate to ask.

______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

In your quote please include a price for all three enclosures, as well as a price for a single unit of each size individually. I am also curious if there would be much of a cost difference if I were to complete the assembly myself from cut to size pieces of material? If so, a quote on the pieces cut without assembly would be great as well.

If the price is right I will be interested in many more similar products, most being quite a bit larger in size (these are geared to hold juvenile animals and are a test run of sorts for the design).

Many thanks for your time and thought put into this project, I hope we can do business together.



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--please disregard my phone number etc. forgot to edit that out... thanks.

The best price I found was $75 for the 12x12x18, with my uni-body idea, $80 for the larger size. Price included hinges and knob for the door, not bad I think.

That looks great! If you end up following through with this, I'm very anxious to see how the cages turn out. Not bad prices, either.



If you edit your name, number, and email out of another pic, you can replace the current one. But, I think we'll all try out best to restrain ourselves from calling in the middle of the night for cage updates.