Thinking of adding a second floor to Freya's enclosure. Just trying to think of a good way to do it without destroying any bottom space. Was thinking of using some wood and carving out the middle and setting it up on legs so its over the lower half. (will seal it all up of course. Thats not an issue). Any suggestions? Here's a image of her enclosure. And two new pics of her. Yeah she is spoiled. Sorta shy till I sit her on my lap. She crawls around and climbs about.
I think you said that you have a UTH.... keep in mind that when you add in "levels" to a tank it messes with the temp gradient. For example, when you have a UTH only - the bottom/floor of the tank will be nice and warm... then if you make the upper level out of something that is a bad heat conductor (an insulator) like wood, you will have a very cold upper level unless you add a heat light or heat tape in the shelf itself. With that said - you have a couple different ways you can make different levels to the tank - one that I have used a lot in my tanks would be the Styrofoam covered with grout adhesive way. Basically you get a styrofoam shape and carve, cut, and hot glue it the way that you would like, then cover it in a grout adhesive, very thoroughly, on all sides. Then once it's dry you can secure it in your tank with silicone. You could also just use a small piece of wood, just make sure, like you said, you secure it to the tank and it has legs to hold up the weight of the shelf as well as your leo.
THanks for the response. And I'll definitely do as you advise. I just wasn't sure about how to make the second level but thanks for giving me a heads up on how to properly do that.
i have a UTH heating my reptile carpet as well as a red warmth light on the right side of Viv keeping it at the right temp if i add a level there with slate will that get too hot and burn my leo as it is closer to the light or would it be ok u think?
I use slate on the bottom of my setup and she seems fine. But I double the slate in the warm hide so it reaches the right temp within and along the bottom where she would sit and lay for hours. I use playsand as a base beneath the slate tiles so the heat spreads evenly and doesn't escape. But I did the entire bottom of my viv in slate it could work with half carpet. I did that once also. Just hide the edge of the carpet under the slate so it can't be pried up.
Jakyl - if you create an "upper" layer out of slate be very careful securing it, the worst thing would be if it get knocked in to or a leg or glue gives out and your leo is harmed when it falls. Slate's pretty heavy and would be best propped up and siliconed on top of a couple of rocks, not just glued/siliconed to the wall of the tank. Slate is also a great insulator and will absorb the temp of the light and hold the temp for a while after the light has been turned off (that's why I love slate and tile as a substrate for all my desert reptiles). Hm.. just did a quick google search... this tank is pretty awesome:
That is a really nice setup. Thats close to how I want to set mine up. Except without paper towel lol.
