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 #1435224


Sidbarvin
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 Mid Size Water Monitor Cage

The cage is 8’x4’x6’ (LWH). Its plywood covered with sheet linoleum and sealed in all corners with rubber silicone. The doors are actually residential windows.








This is the ventilation system. The cage is virtually airtight other than the ends of these pipes. The heat rises and dissipates through the top slowly. The hot air is replaced by cooler air that sinks down the pipes. In this way I can ventilate the cage without losing humidity.




The tall cage on the right houses a Timor monitor


Here are the critters. The first pic is the water, the second, the timor.



Any questions or comments are welcome. Thanks for looking.



09/07/07  06:17pm

 #1435269


Go Speedracers
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   Message To: Sidbarvin   In reference to Message Id: 1435224


 Mid Size Water Monitor Cage

Thats the biggest cage i’ve ever seen, lol. Great job! Im building a cage my self, for 2 leos, yours is probably 100000000000x better than what mine will turn out to look like!
09/07/07  06:53pm

 #1435270


__Junior
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   Message To: Sidbarvin   In reference to Message Id: 1435224


 Mid Size Water Monitor Cage

Thats insane. I bet your pets really like it, there living like royalty!
How long did it take you to build it? It looks like your in the construction trade. Not sure but I do see a lot of handy tools for the job.
Cool pics and great work.
09/07/07  06:53pm

 #1435292


Sidbarvin
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   Message To: __Junior   In reference to Message Id: 1435270


 Mid Size Water Monitor Cage

Thanks for your kind remarks. Yes, I am a carpenter. Tha cage took about 10 hours to build. Actually, the V.salvator (water monitor) will out grow that cage within a year. He will likely be seven feet long and 50 + pounds. I have already begun building it’s eventual long term home which will measure 10 feet wide 15 feet long and seven feet high.

Again thanks for your compliments.
Here is a picture of another of my babies. This is one of my yearling nile monitors. He still has lots of growing to do. He’s 4’9".



09/07/07  07:11pm

 #1435356


Yavie
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   Message To: Sidbarvin   In reference to Message Id: 1435224


 Mid Size Water Monitor Cage

Wow! Very impressive! I love how you did the little built-in’s in the middle for the candles and knickknacks (: What’s the tall viv to the left?



09/07/07  08:14pm

 #1435360


Sidbarvin
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   Message To: Yavie   In reference to Message Id: 1435356


 Mid Size Water Monitor Cage

Thank you. The cage on the left houses the timor in the second pic on the original post.
09/07/07  08:21pm

 #1436734


SBD11
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   Message To: Sidbarvin   In reference to Message Id: 1435360


 Mid Size Water Monitor Cage

Wow! Nice craftsmanship! Beautiful monitors too. I like the Timor. Does it hide a lot?

Your ventilation system is new to me. In theory, it should be super efficient in keeping the humidity up. Have you used it before? The only problem that I could see is when you move your water to a larger enclosure, your gonna have to find another high humidity loving animal. I think its gonna be hard to have anything but really high humidity. Especially using dirt. How much did it cost? I’m so jealous!


Tim
09/08/07  10:23pm

 #1436761


Go Speedracers
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   Message To: SBD11   In reference to Message Id: 1436734


 Mid Size Water Monitor Cage

I think a water dragon would love one of the cages if you move one of your animals out of it.
09/08/07  10:49pm

 #1436831


Sidbarvin
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   Message To: SBD11   In reference to Message Id: 1436734


 Mid Size Water Monitor Cage

Tim, The timor is a bit shier than some other species but the way I set up the cage, with the walls of the cage completely covered with large bark slabs, lots of hollow logs and 2 feet of leaflitter/dirt mix, gives him many hides and security in easy escape. I tong feed and he comes to me for feeding.

The ventilation works very well. The idea came from someone on another forum that came up with a way to keep humidity levels up in fishtanks. I’m not a big fan of fishtanks for reptiles but I figured I would test the idea out on a small scale first, and it worked superbly. I kept the small water in the tank for the first few weeks no problems. I adapted the idea for use with large enclosures.

The advantage to using deep substrate in a cage is that you can let it dry out as desired for the humidity level you seek. Burrowing reptiles will find the humidity level they seek in the ground. All monitor species do well with 50% plus humidity. I’ll likeky put a group of timors in when the water moves out.

The cage costed me nothing since I used matereals left over form jobs. It would have cost five ir six hundred dollars otherwise.

Thank you for your compliments.

Roger



09/08/07  11:58pm

 #1438435


Clouddancer22
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   Message To: Sidbarvin   In reference to Message Id: 1436831


 Mid Size Water Monitor Cage

Awesome! I wish I had just an ounce of your talent!!
09/10/07  12:13pm

 #1438453


Morquinn
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   Message To: Clouddancer22   In reference to Message Id: 1438435


 Mid Size Water Monitor Cage

Cripes that is beautiful! About how much did you spend on the wood in building just the base of it?
09/10/07  12:24pm

 #1441361


Dinox64
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   Message To: Morquinn   In reference to Message Id: 1438453


 Mid Size Water Monitor Cage

I hope you own that house or your land lord is going to be livid.You have to disassemble that thing to get it out.When you’re done with it you can put it in a tree for the kids or ad a bathroom and rent it out.Or save it when the ol’ lady puts you in the dog house,just ad cable to it.
09/12/07  06:39pm

 #1441508


Sidbarvin
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   Message To: Dinox64   In reference to Message Id: 1441361


 Mid Size Water Monitor Cage

Well, yes I own the house, however the cage is built to disassemble if need be. I preferr to raise my animals in the presence of high human activity, ie the living room, ha ha. You don’t want a strong powerfull monitor that is completely freaked out by people as handling is necessary at times. I have much larger enclosures in my basement.
09/12/07  08:30pm

 #1441550


Yavie
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   Message To: Dinox64   In reference to Message Id: 1441361


 Mid Size Water Monitor Cage

LOL Dino!

Sidbarvin, I’m the same way with my guys. I have them all in my living room or the foyer and library behind me, so they always see me wandering around (or, ok... sitting at my laptop on the coffee table hehe.)



09/12/07  08:55pm

 #1441557


Robchops
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   Message To: Sidbarvin   In reference to Message Id: 1441508


 Mid Size Water Monitor Cage

Hey quick question, I have been looking into monitors and have found that Timors tend to be the most docile, and also do not grow very large (over 3’), Just wondering if yours is a juvie or adult... basically just wanted to get a rough idea of how big they get before i commit to one, size really isn’t a huge issue with me, i was just curious. Also I currently setup a small 40 gal tank with a nice size water bowl, and hide, as well as a bathing rock. Just wondering if i need somewhere for it to climb or not... like maybe a fake plant or something. Thank you for the advice.

Rob
09/12/07  09:01pm

 #1441730


Sidbarvin
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   Message To: Robchops   In reference to Message Id: 1441557


 Mid Size Water Monitor Cage

Timors are are semi-arboreal, so they will use as much height as you give them and do well with a deep(2 feet) leaflitter substrate. The tall cage pictured above is four feet long, three feet wide, and eight feet tall. The bottom 2 feet is leaflitter, so the little critter has about six feet of climbing area. The walls of the cage are completely covered with large slabs of thick tree bark and there are many thick tree limbs and hollow logs for hiding. I am not a fan of fish tanks for any monitor species as they lack the room for proper substrate depth and only open from the top, thus allowing precious humidity to escape when opened. You could get by with a cage 4 feet wide, 2 feet deep, and five ir six feet tall. That would leave them room to climb and dig. Minitors are highly active if kept properly and need room to explore, and excercise.

Mine is a young adult. As for size it all varies. I,ve heard of timors growing up to three feet. Mine is twenty inches and growing. There a multitude of species/subspecies that fall under the name of timor and the not much is really known about their habits in the wild.

As far as docile, I’ve yet to find a healthy monitor to be docile and timors in particular are generally shy and reclusive captives. I’ve had mine for a bit under a year and have only handled it a total of three times. The first two times I handled it, it bit me and did not let go for over twenty minutes both times. That beats even my niles records, ha ha ha. They as any other monitor do not do well with force handling. Many speak of the "empty cage syndrome" with timors. I, along with a couple other people I know, do not have this problem with them. The common thread amongst us is that we do not handle them and, we provide many many hides and escape routes, adding to the monitors sense of security.
Mine knows what time it is when I break out the tongs, and has no problem taking food directly from me.
Monitors can be trained by association. Handle them often and they learn you are a threat and hide whenever you come. Leave them alone and make contact only when feeding and doing cage maintenance, and they learn you are the food giver, heh heh.
09/12/07  10:46pm

 #1446559


Clouddancer22
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   Message To: Sidbarvin   In reference to Message Id: 1441730


 Mid Size Water Monitor Cage

bumping this for it’s awesomeness - lol, is that even a word?? :)
09/16/07  11:09pm

 #1449193


Billbert
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   Message To: Sidbarvin   In reference to Message Id: 1435224


 Mid Size Water Monitor Cage

ok why not keep a spoiled pet Godzilla in there



09/19/07  01:42pm

 #1449616


Sidbarvin
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   Message To: Billbert   In reference to Message Id: 1449193


 Mid Size Water Monitor Cage

How about a much larger version of one of these, ha ha ha,




09/19/07  07:03pm

 #1454435


Towyou
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   Message To: Sidbarvin   In reference to Message Id: 1449616


 Mid Size Water Monitor Cage

How did you seal the bottom of the enclosure to protect the wood from moisture...? That enclosure is amazing !!!
09/23/07  06:21pm

 #1454709


Sidbarvin
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   Message To: Towyou   In reference to Message Id: 1454435


 Mid Size Water Monitor Cage

I lined the inside of the cage, sides and bottom with sheet linoleum and sealed the corners with silicone caulk. Thanks for your compliments.

Roger
09/23/07  09:37pm

 #1454796


Geckojr
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   Message To: Sidbarvin   In reference to Message Id: 1454709


 Mid Size Water Monitor Cage

is that a baby DUCK its eating? lol. thats great
09/23/07  10:46pm

 #1454888


Sidbarvin
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   Message To: Geckojr   In reference to Message Id: 1454796


 Mid Size Water Monitor Cage

Close, it’s a baby chicken, ha ha ha. You know, a fuzzy little chick like the easter bunny brings fir little children on Easter.
09/23/07  11:54pm

 #1681694


Cappy8
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   Message To: Sidbarvin   In reference to Message Id: 1454888


 Mid Size Water Monitor Cage

WOWWOWOWOWOWOW.
BEAUTIFUL is all i can say.
03/30/08  01:57am

 #1724067


TBShot
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   Message To: Cappy8   In reference to Message Id: 1681694


 Mid Size Water Monitor Cage

dude bout how much that cost?!?!?!?!?!? nice by the way
05/03/08  01:10pm

 #1725462


Sidbarvin
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   Message To: TBShot   In reference to Message Id: 1724067


 Mid Size Water Monitor Cage

It costed about fifty bucks. It’s built from left over materials from work. Being a contractor is a great advantage when one keeps monitors.
05/04/08  11:46pm

 #1743816


Fire4life
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   Message To: Sidbarvin   In reference to Message Id: 1725462


 Mid Size Water Monitor Cage

absolutely gorgeous enclosures. have you thought about building them and selling them????



05/23/08  12:44am

 #1744678


Sidbarvin
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   Message To: Fire4life   In reference to Message Id: 1743816


 Mid Size Water Monitor Cage

Thank you! No. I am a carpenter by trade. I already do this stuff for a living. The market for human habitats is much more lucritive than it is for reptile habitats.
05/24/08  12:49am

 #1746692


Ren-and-stumpy
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   Message To: Sidbarvin   In reference to Message Id: 1744678


 Mid Size Water Monitor Cage

wow thats one amazing viv....ruffly how much did it cost you to make...its beautifull and im kinda wanting one like it :D
05/26/08  06:35am

 #1746739


Hedgehoge
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   Message To: Sidbarvin   In reference to Message Id: 1441508


 Mid Size Water Monitor Cage

WOW ur cages are amazing,

Quote:

I have much larger enclosures in my basement.

can u show us all of ur different cages
05/26/08  08:31am
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