I actually wrote this up for an email to someone, but thought some of you might find it of interest and may have some ideas for you and maybe some of you will have some for me I'm still in the early stages with not all the stuff figured out but I'll tell you what i've done/thought of so far. i'm building the enclused from plywood, glass (front doors) and mesh (top to protect the guys from the lights). the bottom is going to be lined with a plastic drop sheet, and i've got a strong rubber type spray to coat the whole inside of the enclosure, then a ploy to finsih it off. the waterfall/pond is being built with styrofoam, shaped and then attached together with silicone. that will then be shaped some with paint thinner to give it a more rock like texture. then the whole thing will recieve 4 coats or so of tile adhesive for strength and texture, this will then be give a couple of coats of poly for security. I've already got a laguna pond pump/filter system to use for that, so it's not an issue and on the line running the water is a tap to use so the pump will double as a drain for full cleaning. Lighting will be a uvb strip, and 1 or 2 basking spots (haven't figured that out yet). Heating, the lights, the room it's in (it's already 70-75 degrees or so) and a ceramic heater. Substrate, not sure yet, i'd like to have so sort of soil in there as all the plants will be live plants, and i would like an egg laying place, just incase As for humidity, there will be 3 main sources, and any the plants help with. 1. the pond and waterfall along with evaporation. 2. in the waterfall i've built in an ultra-sonic fogger system, triggered off of a timer. in addition to those, we are working on a rain/misting system based off of a resivior, pvc piping, 3 misting nozzles and another laguna pump, also working on a timer. In addition to all of this, there maybe allot of computers involved as well. 2 webcams are going to be in the enclosure so i can watch the guys from work. And i might be able to get my hands on a computer controller switching system, so no more timers, all based off of pc controlled software, that i can override remotely and take manual control if need be. humitidy and temp sensors may also be digital and feed into the computer so I can always be aware of any changes no matter where i am. But this stuff is down the road a bit, and really just for more control and ease of use. I'll post pics as i get some.
i'll have some pics either tonight or tommorow, hopefully showing a fair bit of progress. i've got a question though. I'm going to be using some mini or computer fans to get fresh air into the enclosure, but how should I set them up, blowing fresh air in, pulling old air out?
If you feel the need to cycle the air with fans I would set it up in a push/pull manner. One fan blowing air in and one fan blowing air out. Two things to consider with the fans though.... One: cycling the air through the cage is going to bring dry air into the cage and remove the humid air. Two: Make sure there are some really good guards on the fans as the blades can wreak havoc on a little critter
