Tub vs Tank - Best of Both Worlds Experiment

[anatess]

My snake family has expanded from 4 snakes to 7, so I've been trying out some alternatives to the tank. It's getting difficult to maintain 7 decked out vivs!

Here is my first experiment. The RUB-Viv... a.k.a Really Useful Box. I like it much better than the Sterilites because it is hard plastic - doesn't bend as easy as Sterilites and it comes with a solid lid that holds it shape, so a snake cannot push it out. It can also be locked using the regular Zilla tank locks. I can't get away from having to make it a display viv, so I carved out a front panel and replaced it with plexiglass. I think it looks okay. We'll see how my spider likes it. He's freaked out about it right now. He has sinced settled into his warm hide (hide opening facing the back of the viv away from the clear plexiglass front for more security).

This is going into a shelf in the office (like a book shelf except deeper).

What do you think?

[bsash]

I love it! That is a great idea making a display out of a tub.

[Courtney281]

VERY cool, I love it

[wax32]

Looks nice!

Are the screws exposed in the inside?

[wax32]

Hmm, I looked them up.

http://www.reallyusefulproducts.co.u...b33_0litre.php

Looks like the one most of us would use. At $18 bucks plus shipping they are kinda spendy if you have a large collection. (vs $10 for the 40qt sterilites I use now) But, I like the fact that they have rigid lids and stack real well.

[anatess]

Looks nice!

Are the screws exposed in the inside?

Yes and no...

The screw is held on by a lug nut. I put washers under the head of the screw so that the tip of the screw is flush to the lug nut. So, there's no screw sticking out... just the lug nut. Did that make sense?

[ballpythonluvr]

That is way cool! I really like it!

[SnakesNStangss22]

That is so awesome!!! If you lived around Ohio, I would pay for 4 of them!!! Depending on how good it works

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[anatess]

That is so awesome!!! If you lived around Ohio, I would pay for 4 of them!!! Depending on how good it works

Sent from my ADR6300 using Tapatalk

I'm in Florida... It's not too expensive nor too difficult really. Well, it's much cheaper than a tank (I spent a LOT of money on their tanks) but of course, it is more expensive than a sterilite.

These are the 64L size. They don't carry them in the Staples or Office Depot in my area, so I had to get them shipped to me from the official Really Useful Box website. I bought 6 of them and they shipped it to me in 6 boxes! Shipping was $20 for all 6. Then each box is $22... so I paid about $150 for all 6.

Then I got a 30x36 piece of plexiglass from Lowe's for around $16 that I divided into 6 10x18 pieces (they cut it at Lowe's for free). Then I got the screws and washers for about $5 for 100 of them.

I used the same hides/uth's/decor, etc. etc. from their tanks, so I didn't buy anything new there.

So, the project cost me around $175 for 6 enclosures. I have 3 of them all decked out with the 3 adult ball pythons I have. I have 3 sitting empty right now waiting for the baby snakes to grow up - will probably move them into the boxes in a year or so if this set-up project is a success.

I'd gladly make one for you - or you can even have the 3 that I have sitting here. But, it is really easy to make, so it's probably more economical for you to make it a d.i.y. project.

To cut out the "window" I just used a dremmel - it's basically a drill kind of tool that you can swap the heads out. It has a cutter and a sander tip. So, I cut it with the cutter (I wasn't too good with keeping the lines straight!) then sanded it down with the sander. I also sanded the edges of the plexiglass. The plexiglass sit on the inside wall of the tub, so the edges of the cut plastic is on the outside.

I was debating whether to just use the plexiglass adhesive to stick it to the tub, but I was thinking it is probably better for me to use the screws so I can take the window out completely in case I get dirt stuck on the edges of the plexi.

[dragonboy4578]

Very cool!!!! It looks great.