Converting a bookcase into a vivarium

Babycakes · Post by **Babycakes** » 28 Mar 2009, 14:53

Well, the title kinda says it all

I have been advised to seperate Mo and DeeDee as being with a male (and male geckos are very much of a muchness with every other male when it comes to being in an enclosed space with a gorgeous girl) may be stressing DeeDee out. To buy another vivarium would cost around £120 complete with heaters, lights etc. so I'm gonna have a bash at converting 2 shelves of a bookcase.
I plan to first seal the space between the shelves and the casing of the bookcase with silicon aquarium sealent, then give what will be the interior of the vivariums a couple of coats of yacht varnish so they'll be wipe clean. Then I'll drill holes to put the vents and cables in. Under floor heating from a heat mat like in the current viv and a UV strip light screwed to the underside of the shelf above. Then the whole lot will be taken to the glaziers who are going to cut and custom fit the sliding glass doors for a mere £20!!!!! :-D

I might put a sort of lip thing along the "roof" shelf to cut glare from the light, but thats more cosmetic than essential so may leave it til later. Last thing to go in will be flooring - tiles like in the current viv for preference, but possibly lino - depends how many tiles I can find in the parental agarage hehehe
Obviously things like heat mats and thermostats have to be bought and in good working order, but I'm keeping costs down by making the interior decorations myself for free from rocks etc. off the beach (that I'll scrub, sterilise and heat treat before using) and things I already have in the house. Anything I dont have easy acess to for free I will try to get on freecycle or at boot sales etc.
Those of you who are handy, who build chicken coops, or have anything to say please tell me what you think! All advice welcome, and if you can see any glaringly obvious flaws please question me throughly - I want to make sure I'm getting this right!!
Hope this thread is in the right section - I thought it'd be better suited here than pets as it is more of a hobby project.
Thankyou for reading my ramble, I will post pics of the various stages as they are done.

Babycakes · Post by **Babycakes** » 29 Mar 2009, 17:31

Oh go on, somebody must have an opinion of some sort!!

blackie_fen · Post by **blackie_fen** » 06 Apr 2009, 18:19

We converted a bookcase to use for DWA scorpions once (they have to be kept in 'double skinned' tanks, so that if they escape the inner tank, they're still contained by the outer tank).

We worked in a very similar way to what you're planning - sealed the shelves with aquarium sealant, and used glass in runners (again stuck in place with aquarium sealant) for the fronts.

Obviously, we didn't have to do the interior, but we have recovered the interior of our bearded dragons' vivariums (we have two, stacked and with a hatch cut between the two so they have two storeys to play in) - we used stick-on plastic linoleum type stuff from Wilkinsons, cut to size

Bollybarb · Post by **Bollybarb** » 06 Apr 2009, 19:20

Babycake we ae waiting for some piccies then we can say OOohh how clever!!

I'm sure it will be a place and i am looking forward to seeing it!!

Babycakes · Post by **Babycakes** » 07 Apr 2009, 21:59

Have hit a stumbling block - the shelves are not as secure as I thought. I will have to empty the whole bookcase, tack the back to the shelves with panel pins and then put a couple of wee brackets under the shelves to secure them. I have to make sure the shelves are solid as I'm going to make hides and stuff for them from stone so I need to be sure they can support the weight