Something new!

[gregmonsta]

Thought I would start a new thread for the new enclosures I ordered today :D

I ordered 5 of these - PC05 (http://www.pro-cages.com/index.php/en/cages-and-prices/pc05#8-320045_2348823515091_1085164577_2803684_1004174134 _n_1_)

I also ordered 5 of these overhead radiators - Comfort warmteplaat 40x40 cm met traploze temperatuursregeling, 45 Watt/220 Volt details (http://www.broedmij.nl/product/details/73)

I already have full sets of polystyrene backgrounds, light fittings, black aquarium silicone, plastic plants and various other bits and pieces.

Excitement mounting :D this will be more fun than re-vamping the old enclosures is going to be me thinks.

[guidofatherof5]

Those pro-cages look awesome.

[gregmonsta]

They have nothing but positive write-ups too. The best plastics I've seen on the market, as well as being surprisingly cheap in comparison to your traditional herpteks, etc.

[Natrix]

Love the enclosures Greg, Not to sure about the 'electric hens' or brooders as the poultry men call them. Would you not have to be careful of the snakes ' burning' themselves by basking on top of them? Should look real good when you get them set up. ;)

[Stefan-A]

This is relevant to my interests.

Very neat.

[gregmonsta]

Love the enclosures Greg, Not to sure about the 'electric hens' or brooders as the poultry men call them. Would you not have to be careful of the snakes ' burning' themselves by basking on top of them? Should look real good when you get them set up. ;)

The 'brooders' will be mounted to the ceiling and I have aluminium mesh - which I plan to use as a barrier around the sides of each device ;).
At any rate they came recommended by pro-cages and they release almost all of their heat downward (unlike the 75 watt reptile radiator which has a pretty checkered reputation). I will be mounting them on radiator reflector foil too to further reduce any heat transferance to the viv above.

[Thamnophis]

Do you know how hot the surface of such a "warmteplaat" will get?

[gregmonsta]

According to feedback from someone that has tried them in the UK the surface does not get too hot to touch if set up correctly. I will be testing the configuration I'm planning to use for at least 48hours before I'll consider adding the snakes.
They will be thermostatted and I paid extra to have what is essentially a dimmer switch for each so I can easily set a maximum temp for each unit ;)

[EasternGirl]

Very nice Greg...I wonder if they have anything like that available over here...not that I would know how to install a heating device into one of the enclosures. :rolleyes:

[BUSHSNAKE]

yes they do Marnie:)

[EasternGirl]

Well Joe...are you going to tell me where to get them smarty pants? I'm getting a peachy...ha ha.

[katach]

Those are awesome! I want!

[EasternGirl]

Joe and I have an ongoing joke where I tell him I am coming to Illinois to steal all of his peachies...lol. He's not parting with them. Greedy bugger! :D

[gregmonsta]

All the gubbins is supposed to arrive today :D ... but I'm at work :rolleyes: .... happily Andy and Karolina are on the lookout.
Collected a bunch of river stones yesterday and gave them a good bleach and scrub. Found some nice flat pieces to put under the heat-panels to add to the pieces of slate I got from my mother's house.

[gregmonsta]

Well, I have been putting the first one together as a 'prototype', so to speak. Things are looking good so far and I hope to post some pics by the weekend of the first finished article, so to speak.
I can give an opinion from the preliminary heatpanel testing - excellent. I built a small test-rig and got good temperature output - testing for 5 hours with a target floor temp of 30C at a distance of 30cm (distance will be 36cm in the vivs). I'm also not worried about surface contact. I could comfortably simulate a garter 'nosing' the bottom of the unit with no discomfort. Prolongued contact could be an issue but is not possible considering the way the vivs will be set up. Heatloss through the top of the unit is also minimal.
I'll be able to comment on heat transfer between vivs at the weekend. I don't expect to have any problems with this but am prepared to create and air gap between the units if required ;)

[chris-uk]

Looking forward to seeing the photos. It's sounding like a great setup when it's all assembled.

[EasternGirl]

Sounds awesome, Greg. I think I'm going to need pics of you simulating a garter nosing the heat panel though. Lol....

[Natrix]

Sounds awesome, Greg. I think I'm going to need pics of you simulating a garter nosing the heat panel though. Lol....
Now that should be novel! Can't wait......:D sound good though Greg, I have to say I am just a wee bit.......... envious! Should look proper professional when they're done. Can't wait to see the finished result. ;)

[gregmonsta]

478147824780

Here's a taster ... The nosing technique is not for discussion :P

[Stefan-A]

Looks promising.

[guidofatherof5]

Looking very nice Greg.

[EasternGirl]

Very nice.

[Natrix]

478147824780

Here's a taster ... The nosing technique is not for discussion :P
I just knew I shouldn't have looked........:o:D Envy!!! Very nice Greg and it ain't even finished yet.

[Natrix]

The nosing technique is not for discussion :P
That's ok mate, A video will do nicely .........:D

[gregmonsta]

The nosing technique is not for discussion :P
That's ok mate, A video will do nicely .........:D

:rolleyes: stranger things have happened, be careful what you wish for :p.

Temps after 12 hours on full power are sitting steady at 30C hot end and 22C cold end at an ambient room temp of 16C (tested at the bottom of my hallway). This temp was reached after approx 5hours (after 4 hours it had reached 28C). These were both floor temps.

I will be statting the stack with a single pulse thermostat and will be adjusting the individual vivs using the regulators. I should also add that I ended up receiving the 56watt heatpanels instead of the 45watt ones (they were out of stock and I got a free upgrade). I have no worries about these at winter temps and it seems these are perfect for this size of enclosure.

Point of note - these panels seem to have their own cut-off system (to protect baby chicks from exessive surface temp) as it took several hours for it to 'pulse' up to temp. A good safety feature but I'll have to keep an eye on how this will function with a thermostat added to the mix.

Almost no heat-transfer through the top of the viv. I will not be creating an air gap.

[EasternGirl]

Hmmm...what do you think the difference is in how much heat a baby chick can handle in terms of surface temps and how much heat a garter can handle?

[gregmonsta]

480448054806
Hmmm...what do you think the difference is in how much heat a baby chick can handle in terms of surface temps and how much heat a garter can handle?

Don't think the difference will be anything other than marginal. ;) they are for raising chicks, not for cooking them. I'm satisfied that these will do the job as this type of heating is actually quite commonly used for reptiles. It is very popular with boids and pythons as well as lizards. I'm probably not the first to use these with garters but I will continue to document my results for all ;).

Anyway, attached some more tasters :D

[chris-uk]

Looking good Greg. You've got a bunch of lucky garters.

[gregmonsta]

I moved the first enclosure into the living room on Sunday. No pics yet but it looks lovely!!! I decided that having one separated out would be easier to manage than a stack of 5.
The marcianus girls are all moved in and all I can say is - the heatplate is a big hit. The albino, especially, loves to stretch out underneath it. Temps holding steady at 30C warm end, 22C cool end ... without interferance by the thermostat. Both girls have climbed in the direction of the heatpanel but continually pull away an inch or two from the surface.
This viv is also acting as my TV stand :rolleyes:, so if nothing is on the box ... there will be something else in the box, under the box :D.
So ... two more to build and space to organise and I forsee a snakey moving in day this weekend ;) ... with lots of pics, of course.

[guidofatherof5]

Sounds like it's all coming together.

[Stefan-A]

Just placed an order for a couple of those heat panels. If they work well enough, I'll be replacing my heat mats with those. I've been planning to do it for years, but thanks to Greg and his project, I'm finally getting off my ***.

[gregmonsta]

Another taster ... Snakes moved in yesterday, hope to upload better pics tonight :D ... Quick note - controlling these with one thermostat prooved very tricky. Will be ordering separate units for each enclosure. Temps are comfortable across the enclosures, just not uniform despite my efforts.
4937

[Natrix]

That looks Great Greg. Drooooooooool! :D

[guidofatherof5]

That looks Great Greg. Drooooooooool! :D

Ditto.;)

[Invisible Snake]

Wow that looks fantastic! :eek:

[EasternGirl]

That looks so amazing! I am so jealous of that room! Awesome work!

[chris-uk]

Very nice Greg. I'm looking forward to moving somewhere where I have space for something half as impressive.

[gregmonsta]

Promised pics -

These enclosures were very easy to assemble. The basic structure can be assembled in handful of minutes.

http://www.thamnophis.com/thamphotos/data//500/medium/pro1.JPG

The adjustable venting comes with aluminium mesh to make the slits escape proof. This was added when their lizard keeping customers wanted to reduce the amount of escaping livefood.

http://www.thamnophis.com/thamphotos/data//500/medium/pro2.JPG

Most of my time was spent fitting the backgrounds and sealing them in and around the fixtures. I still managed to complete each viv in around 2 hours.

http://www.thamnophis.com/thamphotos/data//500/medium/pro81.JPG

It was very rewarding getting to this stage. I had just wired the lights and was starting to play with the heating.

http://www.thamnophis.com/thamphotos/data//500/medium/pro3.JPG

The little monsters went a little crazy in their new homes ... as only garters can do ...

http://www.thamnophis.com/thamphotos/data//500/medium/pro4.JPG

http://www.thamnophis.com/thamphotos/data//500/medium/pro5.JPG

More to come ...

[gregmonsta]

Cat potentially jealous ... the jury is still out on that one :rolleyes:

http://www.thamnophis.com/thamphotos/data//500/medium/pro6.JPG

Awesome :D

http://www.thamnophis.com/thamphotos/data//500/medium/pro7.JPG

[Invisible Snake]

Hey with a set-up like that is it easy to clean?

[gregmonsta]

Hey with a set-up like that is it easy to clean?

:rolleyes: I'll tell you in a month's time .... I don't think cleaning will be an issue - the plastic will be extremely easy to wipe clean so they should actually be easier to clean that the older, wooden set-up ;)

[Mommy2many]

Awesome set up, Greg! I am so jealous, I may have to book a trip over there to check that out! Also, as a side note, we have 2 "cow cats"!

[gregmonsta]

Awesome set up, Greg! I am so jealous, I may have to book a trip over there to check that out! Also, as a side note, we have 2 "cow cats"!

You're welcome to anytime ;). Cow cats are the best!!!

Update - these enclosures simply rock - easy to adapt and work on (I've been adding extra fittings) and having cleaned a few bowel movements I can happily say they are amazing when it comes to cleaning!

[Selkielass]

Absolutely gorgeous. I am envious as I am getting fed up with my top access. Aquariums

[gregmonsta]

I'll be glad myself when my old enclosures have been serviced. The top opening aquarium style enclosure just don't do the job as well as a properly designed front opening wood or plastic viv. Nevermind the calming effect on the snakes ;)