I'm yoshinowa, an animal lover from Belgium. In my free time I enjoy my collection of plants and caring for my reptiles by building them custom enclosures.
Enjoy your time on my channel and feel free to contact me if you have any questions! ^^
Sorry, I'm not great at uploading on a regular 🙈 Springtails, several species of isopods, millipedes, worms, snails that were hitchhiking on some plant I didn't clean well enough prior to putting it in, some beetles, ladybugs, ... xD a whole lot that helps with keeping the plants healthy and dealing with all decaying matter and waste!
@giorfi-n7v my false water cobra, Tanuki has been living in here for the past 2 years. Anything besides the many insects and some small shrimp and fish in the aquarium part, nothing else will live in there. As Tanuki would happily eat anything that moves and is big enough to her liking. :p
The basics to build something similar: 1. Make a sturdy frame out of steel angle bar (this step is only necessary if the enclosure is too big for the panels to support all the weight, my smaller enclosures don't have this for example) 2. fill the frame with wood panels 3. waterproof the WHOLE inside of the enclosure, we used pond foil for this 4. create any ledges and stuctues, waterproof them and cover with a fine metal mesh and coat them with a few layers of cement, sand them to remove any sharp point or edges 5. add drainage layer, mesh screen, activated charcoal and on top your bioactive soil mix (whichever you pefer to use) 6. add wood, branches, plants etc 7. install all the lamps, in case you mount them inside of the enclosure you'll either need wire cages around the lamps or domes specifically made to be mounted inside (and thus they don't get hot on the outside of the dome) 8. the top of the enclosure is window mesh, I used frames for mounting them to a window with pofiles on the sides and back of the enclosure to hold it down, if I need to remove them I can slide them out from the front For this enclosure a pond is also included, it's made with a welded steel angle bar frame and plexiglass, there is a heavy duty pump and still requires waterchanges when she releases waste in the water. For tools you'll need a drill, a saw that can cut wood and one that can cut metal, drillbits for wood and metal, silicone gun, expansion and glue foam and mostly a lot of time and patience. :D If you have any other questions, feel free to ask. ^^
Around 4min there is a short clip where it is shown 😊 although I'll be posting a video of the maintenance on the water compartment, in that one it will show the connection better too 😁
It's a nice build, though for 6,000 idk if I personally would find it worth the cost as I could make one a little smaller for alot less. Definitely don't mean any offense though, it's an awesome enclosure that the snake will love.
Thank you! And no offense taken! 😊 it is pretty expensive, that is a fact. I just went with the size of the room for the size of the enclosure and didn't consider the costs when I started it, that's also why it took me so long to finish it. XD It was also a good way to keep my big tropical plants :D
Tanuki loves the pond! How do you maintain the water quality, and how frequently does the water need to be changed? I see that you have aquatic plants, is there an aquatic clean up crew in there too? So nice to see an enclosure that truly suits the instinctual/enrichment/choice based habits of the animal.
Thank you! She indeed loves the pond and tends to spend quite some time in there. :D There is a heavy duty filter for small ponds, it can cycle the whole volume in about 30min. As long as she doesn't release waste in it it doesn't need any additional maintenance, we check the parameters daily to keep track of the water quality ofcourse! The plants help maintain that water quality combined with that filter. :D When she does release waste in there we do a 50% waterchange, mostly focusing on sucking out her waste and dirt. The plants do take a lot of the nitrates out, so that helps too ofcourse. Besides the plants there are japonica shrimp, a few bamboo shrimp, a whole lot of other shrimp, a female bristlenose pleco and 3 Siamese algae eaters. They're all very used to her, Tanuki isn't interested in them, they will clean her when she stays in the water for a long time. :D
Those heat lamps are very dangerous the way they are placed .. the snake can burn its self.. and doesnt look good either...who puts 5 heatin spots in different places... there shud only be one heating spot on one side of the enclosure...you have a huge enclosure badly setup...if anyone tells u different then they have no experience...with that huge enclosure you can set it up nicely
The heat lamps are no risk at all, they are specifically made to be used in large enclosures and to be mounted inside, not outside. The outside of the dome doesn't heat up in any way, the bulb itself is closed off so the animal can most certainly not burn themself, nor is it a fire hazard. There is no efficient way to heat up half of an enclosure this size the way you heat a classic sized setup, just like in nature there are spots out in the open that will get warm and spots that will be colder. This principle is the same for zoo enclosures, you will create multiple basking spots because a heat lamp won't reach 7ft down and nicely heat up 1 side to a steady temp. The fact that this enclosure is shown in a book written by a zoologist as an example of how to ideally house false water cobra, I'll believe them that my setup isn't half as bad as you think. ;) By the sounds of it, you don't have experience building zoo-sized enclosures. Otherwise the temperature/heat lamp thing would be pretty obvious. These are VERY different than a rack setup or even regular sized enclosures.
That's just personal preference. ^^ I prefer it looking messy, I hope that all the plants will grow out and end up covering all of the branches, ledges and background eventually. :D
Yeah she had one in her previous setup, but falsies are great at destroying things, that waterfall included. XD Was considering it for a while but decided to keep water and land separate for humidity and easier on maintenance, thus adding a waterfall would have been way harder. :)
real dirt inside I think you are going to run into problems in your house after a bit real plants etc going to get a lot of moisture and will be bitch to clean turf is what I use. is that terrarium completely sealed off gonna get mold if not. tell yah the reptiles are def going to love it in there
The whole top is screen and it has a built in ventilation in the room (so mechanical movement of air, sucking excess moisture out and keeping airflow in the room). It's the white circle you see above it in the back of the room on the final pictures. :D it's now been running for about a year and a half without issues. It's fully bioactive and I have to keep a close eye on when and how much to water ofcourse. Currently working on a rain system for the setup, making the system itself isn't hard, getting the amount and frequency it will spray everything is by far the hardest part. But my house was forseen for very high humidity and the removal of said humidity, as I also have aquariums and waaaaaay too many plants in my house. 🤣 without the ventilation that it has now, my walls would have long molded indeed.
@@yoshinowa1 nice I was not putting you or the terrarium down at all. My Iguana died recently he would have loved something like that. I was just pointing a few things out to you. I was thinking right after sending reply I hope he doesn't think I'm putting it or him down have to work on that lol
@ericluscombe3272 oh no worries! They are valid concerns that I didn't really cover in the build video! It are things that don't affect the quality of life of the animal, but can have detrimental effects on the room itself! 😊 I had a company come over that adjusted the mechanical ventilation to manage the humidity, but it for sure was something that was needed, the enclosure would kick the humidity in the room to 85+% without it! And sorry to hear about your iguana, I'm sure you gave it a loving home! 🫂
If you reno or build another instead of using the towel in concrete get some chunks of foam then you can carve the foam to look real then brush wet concrete on looks awesome that way
I actually was first planning on making them that way, but with the wood covered in pondfoil as a base it didn't have anything to hold on to on the bottom/vertical sides, so the foam would just fall down, even with the metal mesh around it, it just was too heavy to hold itself while curing. XD on smaller ledges it works, but on this size it was too much to get on there without the weight of the foam pulling itself down without anything to support it or hold on to. 😅
Sounds like an awesome project too! There is a more in depth podcast with @AnimalsatHomePodcast where I went more into detail on some things (such as which materials and why, making sure everything is safe for animals etc). 😊 I'll soon be posting an update when the rain-system is fully operational with how it's set up and how it was made!
AMAZING enclosure. I wanted a FEC myself but my county bylaw does not allow any venomous pet, including rear-fanged mildly venomous snake like a FWC. Just out of curiosity, how long can Tanuki stay under water?
Thank you! And I got really lucky as they introduced a law here that made them illegal right after I got her, so I can keep her legally, just not any more than her. I have timed it once, it was around 30min when I gave up, as far as I could tell she was asleep on the bottom of the pond. :p
@user-pf5nw2dx6h she loves the water for sure! She will sometimes stay in the pond for several days before coming out, long enough for the shrimp and fish cleaning her (trying to eat algae off her I guess 🤣 )
Not shown in this video, as this is the construction of the enclosure. I recently posted a video on my channel that just shows her living her life in here. 😊
I do indeed! Isopods, springtails, superworms, millipedes,... and several species of the isopods, springtails and millipedes. ^^ This size would be impossible to maintain otherwise
Yes! As long as it's fully sealing the wood, it will basically create a giant water bladder. So you have to make sure to get a proper drainage layer that will hold the excess water! :D The tiniest gap and the water would get to the wood though, so working as much in 1 piece as possible is recommended. The less you need to seal, the less risk of anything leaking. ^^
Yeah, it is indeed bigger. I guess he doesn't count it as he says 'built by a single person' and I had help from friends for a lot of steps, just more fun and some part were just not doable alone such as the glass panels. xD I really don't care about who has the biggest, his enclosure looks amazing too. As long as it's set up for the animal(s) living in it so they can thrive, that's what really matters 😊
Some of the plants died, others grew so big I had to move them as they started pushing against the top screen, another one got a massive pest issue and got taken out to be treated. But overall it's doing great! The plants are all growing well, but it will take some more years and me adding more plants to fully cover the backpanel and floorspace. I'm currently working on a rain-system, once that's installed I'm planning on doing an update video, showing the finished build more in detail (the whole pond has been re-done with plexiglass, it has substrate etc) :D
@Gladiatorpig it sure is! Live plants and a big clumsy snake are a work-ensuring combination xD The pond was originally made with double layered safety glass and PE-panels, one of the glass panels cracked and I replaced them all with plexiglass. It added quite the costs to the total count compared to what is at the end of this video, but for sure worth it! There have been 3 Siamese algae eaters, a bristlenose catfish and a whole lot of shrimp in there from the start, they are still happily living in there (they have been picked specifically for their size and speed, so my snake doesn't munch on them) xD
I guess it would depend where you're from. Here in Belgium the biggest size I could get at the time on a pallet was 240x60 (which is 8'x2'), so that's what I used. :p
I'm waiting on the last pieces to make a rain-system, once it's installed I'm planning on making an update video, as the pond has been redone completely (with plexiglass instead of glass), so before the end of this year there will be a video! I might soon just post a short video of her exploring/swimming once 😊
Oh my gosh… so much inspiration 😂 I definitely want to do something like this for my Central American boa when I get a place! What animal was this for?? I’m assuming a big snake as well, but could also be a monitor lizard, or something else??
Yes! As I've changed the glass panels for plexiglass on the pond (so it looks a bit different, as the pond now holds substrate too) and currently installing a rain-system. Once that's installed and working I'll be making a new video on the setup. In October I'll also be joining a podcast on the enclosure with "Animals at Home" here on RU-vid if you want additional info on it. 😊
I thought this was gonna be for a monitor or iguana or something, hehe. Also, any update on this one and how the snake is doing in it? I don't really get how it can go into the pond tbh.
She is doing great tbh! One of the panels of the pond cracked a few months in, replaced all panels with 3cm thick plexiglass and added some supports for the panels on the bottom, back and side next to the enclosure. There is also substrate on the bottom of the pond now. :D It did add another 2.2k to the overall costs of this project. I'll upload a video once where you can see the whole setup a bit better. But at the top right of the pond is a hole she can pass through, she knows the location the entrance/exit very well! :D
Wow .. id love do something similar if i had space! I live in a one room flat in London! Got a couple of decent size vivs but even that is pushing it for me. Great job guys 😊
I used steel angle bar (the beginning of the video it's shown). Hardened steel of 4cmx4cmx4mm (1.6 inch x 1.6 inch and 5/32 inch thick). :) These profiles don't bend, not even over a length of 14ft. :D
@@bradsbioactivebuilds I'm from Belgium so an exact shop won't help you, but you should be able to find them at most home depot stores or store with base construction materials!
That’s a very lucky snake. I thought it would’ve been for a retic or burm…or monitor. I was intrigued by the project and envious of the craftsmanship. 10🌟’s!!
Thank you! And sadly retics and burms are illegal here (big monitor species as well), but if they were allowed I'd give each of those much bigger than what I've built here! :D
The only thing I can think of is reinforcing the PE panels on the pond (the black panels)! I'm not worried at all for the OSB and moisture as the whole inside got covered in pond foil. No moisture can get to those. :D
Very nice build, how much did all the materials cost you if you don't mind me asking? I know prices are still pretty high with construction materials and I'm looking to make one around half the size.
Thank you! And there is a summary of all the individual costs at the end of the video! This was over a 2 year timespan so the prices on there might not match the current prices of some materials. The total was 6K but the individual costs of each part are at the end. :D
