40 gallon breeder tank

[imhumpty]

Okay so I bought some stuff when I have it all setup I'll take pictures


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[Trisnake]

For humidity and ability to repel mold, pure cypress mulch is the best. However, I find it pretty hard to locate anywhere near me at wholesale price (most is mixed with pine and other woods) and the stuff they sell at pet stores and from online pet suppliers is overpriced.

I go with Eco-Earth coconut fiber substrate, it's a bit more effort to prepare but it's pretty dang cheap and holds humidity well. Plus+ it's eco friendly, so that's always nice.

[Trisnake]

Using a UTH (regulated by thermostat, of course) instead of high wattage heat bulbs should help with your humidity issues as well. Lamps tend to really dry out enclosures, especially when they're cranked all the way up. I have a screen top cage with timed day and night lamps, but these lamps (with built in dimmer switches) are only to maintain ambients and are rarely ever operated anywhere near full power. I use 75w bulbs as well btw, and the rest of the screen top besides where the lamps are is covered by heavy duty aluminum foil.

[imhumpty]

I have 75w lights but I just got a che 60w do I still need to keep it 12 on 12 off? Because before I was using a basking 75w for 12 hours then a blue 75w for 12 also.


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[Slither Seeker]

I have set up a 40 breeder that will be the future home of one of our BP's once it outgrows the 20 long. for now, our baby red foot tortoise lives in the 40. what I've done is rather involved and I'm not sure what your goal is but if you'd like I can post some pictures. I added insulation to all the sides, turned the tank on it's side, mounted plexiglass to the front with a sliding door. the tank is covered on all sides, top and bottom with the lid facing forward instead of up. the rim of the tank makes a nice groove for the sliding door if you are willing to go through the trouble to cut out a window in a larger piece that mounts to the front. I mounted it with a small stainless bolt in each corner of the plastic rim. I also used a hole cutter to cut a hole in the plexi for all the wires to go through and I mounted a cover for the hole. I rely entirely on two UTH's mounted on glass with T-stats because I don't like heat lamps, they dry everything out and create a headache if you want to seal the tank up, without catching something on fire, the bulbs burn out and that get$ annoying, especially if you put them on a thermostat.

[imhumpty]

I have set up a 40 breeder that will be the future home of one of our BP's once it outgrows the 20 long. what I've done is rather involved and I'm not sure what your goal is but if you'd like I can post some pictures. I added insulation to all the sides, turned the tank on it's side, mounted plexiglass to the front with a sliding door. the rim of the tank makes a nice groove for the sliding door if you are willing to go through the trouble to cut out a window in a larger piece that mounts to the front. I mounted it with a small stainless bolt in each corner of the plastic rim. I also used a hole cutter to cut a hole in the plexi for all the wires to go through and I mounted a cover for the hole. I rely entirely on two UTH's mounted on glass with T-stats because I don't like heat lamps, they dry everything out and create a headache if you want to seal the tank up, without catching something on fire, the bulbs burn out and that get$ annoying, especially if you put them on a thermostat.

Yes I'd like too see this, this sounds super amazing. I'm not sure what my goal was either but I ended up doing something different


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[imhumpty]

So this is just experimental still I know I need to cover the top back of the tank but I'm getting something else done to that, but I have covered the sides with the insulated tape and the top I'm using lexan which where I had the light sitting on top it warped which I had a feeling it would of done. But it keeps the heat and the humidity in which I wanted and there sides and the back are just pictues of myself and my girlfriend I had blown up about a year ago on mounting boards





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[Slither Seeker]

ok, so I'm not suggesting you have to go to all this trouble, but I can say that if you do you will have a rather nice stable environment for a BP, at least this type of design has worked well for me on several enclosures. you can mix and match ideas to your own liking. I use insulation, mostly seal up the tank and rely on low wattage heat sources and t-stats. Also, I think that because the BP's are surrounded in more of a cave like environment with this approach, being more buffered from vibration and movement around them, it seems they are more willing to come out at night and lounge about. If you really get into it, you can see more photos in my gallery and I'm happy to answer detailed questions on the design. in the long run you save on electricity, bulbs and you have less of a wrestle with the "keep it open enough for heat lamps vs want to close it up to conserve humidity" tug of war. with this approach it is much easier to nail the heat and humidity to the point where you can actually go on a vacation without having to leave a manual behind for your house sitter.

in the first shot you can see the "curb" that I placed to hold back substrate/keep it away from the sliding door (otherwise it fowls up the sliding of the door) and you can see the sliding door that I cut out, just a little bit smaller than the width/heidth of the inner groove of the fish tank rim. the rim becomes the slider once a large peace of plexi is added to the outside. I went with a high curb, because I want to have room for a false bottom for planted/bioactive set up.


In the next photo I show how I drilled holes in the four corners. this photo is of a 20 gallon long, but you get the idea. you'll have to pre drill the hole in the rim, curb and outer piece and get a long enough bolt to go through all the pieces. doing it this way makes for a very secure lid.


in the next photo you can see how I cut out a window in a piece of plexiglass smaller than the sliding door and mounted it to the tank. it takes quite a while, like 4-6 days for the silicone to finish off gassing enough to be safe, at least by my estimates. ideallly you give a day per MM of sealent. sorry, I don't have a lot of photos of the steps leading up to this.


In the next photo you can see more closely how I created the secure port for the wires.

In the last photo I show how I mount a UTH to a piece of glass. this is placed inside the tank, taking advantage of holding in all the heat that a UTH can produce. there is less waste this way, but it needs, like with all heat sources, to be regulated with a thermostat. it's also important to realize that this is not how the manufacturer intended for a UTH to be used, so you are on your own as far as risk/warranty etc. I did consult zoo med over the phone a bit on this, they can't recommend it but I feel that I have addressed the potentials for problems, at least enough to satisfy me. I have been using variations of these for 5 years width no problems. Zoo meds UTH's are pretty well sealed up and durable, in my experience but it's a shame that they don't have a built in thermostat.

in the final photo, I show how I secure the sliding door. I used industrial strength double sided tape and modified some pieces of plastic that will suffice for a door handle. for my 5 year old son, I decided to add two locks to lesson the chance that my son would forget to secure at least one of them.

[imhumpty]

It looks good!!!!

So now In my setup now the humidity is good! But it's getting a little too high now it is at 76%


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[Slither Seeker]

if there is condensation collecting, you can wipe it with a paper towel and if you do that a few times the humidity will drop. then again, I don't think of 76% as bad, it's a bit on the high side but I just wouldn't keep adding more moisture, it's a good time to hold back. if it lingers there longer than you'd like, peel back some of the foil over the top and let more of it out.

It looks good!!!!

So now In my setup now the humidity is good! But it's getting a little too high now it is at 76%


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