New(ish) Enclosure builder Looking for some Advice

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Originally Posted by The Serpent Merchant

That does sound cool, if you want to get into GTP's, I suggest you pick up this book. I have it and it is a great read.

http://lllreptile.com/store/catalog/...plete-chondro/

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Finally a better picture than what I could find of the door tracks , that definitely relieves my worries.

And I am happy to say I picked the book up a few years back and that along with my numerous field guides have seen enough wear from over reading I should probably buy new copies lol!

Yeah, if there is anything you want to see a picture of, let me know I can take some easy...

So, a follow up the I need to figure out and decide on regardless of what route I go is heating methods.

My reasoning behind the want for a heat panel is to maintain a proper ambiant heat. In this case I would still need some heat source to creat a hot side and cool side.

My plan was to centerline mount a heat panel on,the top so it extended into each side of the enclosure( similar to how AP mounts their flexwatt on bottom so that it heats both sides). I am assuming that with a proper controler having flex watt on bottom for a hot side and the heat panel on top for ambiant heat won't be a problem. If anything it will mean these two heat sources won't have to work as much as normal.

From what I have read the flexwatt by itself won't be enough to keep ambiant temps where they are needed, is this true? Or will they do the job at keeping the ambiant temp in line as well as providing a hot side to the enclosure?.

For the purpose of these questions assuming an AP T-8.

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Originally Posted by The Serpent Merchant

Yeah, if there is anything you want to see a picture of, let me know I can take some easy...

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I am curious about the "pegs" AP mentions for helping to stack the enclosures. Have been curious how they do it.

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Originally Posted by aizkora

So, a follow up the I need to figure out and decide on regardless of what route I go is heating methods.

My reasoning behind the want for a heat panel is to maintain a proper ambiant heat. In this case I would still need some heat source to creat a hot side and cool side.

My plan was to centerline mount a heat panel on,the top so it extended into each side of the enclosure( similar to how AP mounts their flexwatt on bottom so that it heats both sides). I am assuming that with a proper controler having flex watt on bottom for a hot side and the heat panel on top for ambiant heat won't be a problem. If anything it will mean these two heat sources won't have to work as much as normal.

From what I have read the flexwatt by itself won't be enough to keep ambiant temps where they are needed, is this true? Or will they do the job at keeping the ambiant temp in line as well as providing a hot side to the enclosure?.

For the purpose of these questions assuming an AP T-8.

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re-reading your thread on how to set up a t-8 answers this question.

Flexwatt (or any UTH) only heats the floor of the cage. It does not change the air temperature in the cage.

AP cages when ordered with flexwatt come with the flexwatt mounted on the right side of the bottom of the cage. I have them add a center mount since I use the divider.

You can see in this picture the outline and thermostat probe slot routed into the bottom of the cage for setting up the flexwatt on the right side of the cage:

http://i1186.photobucket.com/albums/...s/IMG_0439.jpg

So mounting a heat panel in the center, regulated to 80 degrees will maintain the air temperature of the cage, and the flexwatt mounted on the right will create the basking temperature of 90 degrees.

To regulate both of them I would recommend the Herpstat 2 or Herpstat 4.

http://spyderrobotics.com/home/products.html

The Herpstat 2 is 2 completely separate thermostats in 1 box (2 probes, 2 set points, 2 outlets)

The Herpstat 4 is 4 completely separate thermostats in 1 box.

I use the herpstat 4 and love it

In this picture you can see how each of the 4 channels is set differently
http://i1186.photobucket.com/albums/...t/IMG_0342.jpg

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Originally Posted by aizkora

I am curious about the "pegs" AP mentions for helping to stack the enclosures. Have been curious how they do it.

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There are 2 holes for pegs on the top and bottom of the cage. basically all they did was drill a hole through the top and bottom sheets of PVC. But the front sheet (the part with the rounded cut outs that sits right behind the glass) is directly under these holes.

http://i1186.photobucket.com/albums/...t/832c2a25.jpg

http://i1186.photobucket.com/albums/...t/9af48198.jpg

http://i1186.photobucket.com/albums/...s/photo1-1.jpg

Thank you very much for all the feed back, I really appreciate it. Did some more searching and finally found somewhere in Texas that sells PVC sheets at a price that would make it worth it but they are in south central Texas so after gas it just makes it a break even situation so looks like the girlfriend and I are going to pull the trigger tonight or tomorrow on a T8 with the sliding glass doors.

I don't think we plan on it for this one but if / when(more likely when) we buy a second one we were thinking of ordering it to be able to be split into 3 or 4 sections for young balls or other small snakes. What are your thoughts on that ?

I figured going different florescent lights , Found some very reasonable priced 6 and 8 inch ones that I have used before and asking them to cut out areas for 4inch Flexwatt instead of the 11 inch.

Just a thought, figured I would get your input on the capabilities of the T-8 since you have plenty of experience with them.

That would work. Here's how I would set it up:

Either 2 strips of 3" or 4" flexwatt or 1 strip of 11" flexwatt running on the bottom of the cage towards the back going the long way (48")

I would see if they would make the front sheet of PVC be seperated into 4 "windows" (that would be super easy for them... Takes about 5 minutes for someone who knows how to use the CAD software)

Order 3 dividers (if this is perminate have the cage set up so that the dividers have routed slots and screw holes)

For lighting either use smaller fluorescent tubes and have them cut out power cord holes or if you are handy with electronics wire up some LED strips.

I didn't even think about seeing if they would modify the doors, good call.

I was thinking about the 11" flexwatt along the back length but figured the 11" may be too much as it would be under almost 50‰ of each section at that point as compared to the roughly 20-25% the 11" occupies in each section of a normal split set up.

I also hadn't thought of using led strips that would be great for cutting down on power use as well as the life span of the lights themselves.

Will have to discuss this with my better half and see how much extra they would charge for the alterations.