Turning A Dubia Style Enclosure Into A Closed Chamber

[wutang]

Dubia.com offers a very reasonably priced 6x2x2 which I have modified to be a closed chamber for my leopard hatchling. I taped up the seams with hvac tape, and fixed a 6 x 2 acrylic sheet that I ordered from Home Depot to completely cover the screen top. It’s leaking a little water from the bottom seam where the two panels meat so gonna try to fix that with some plastic wrap. There are definitely better quality enclosure options out there, but for less than $600 shipped (including the acrylic top) this is a great way to give your tortoise a bunch of space for a reasonable price, and I think this is going to be effective at holding the temp and humidity I need which is my main concern, just need to get my heating / lighting dialed in. Will keep this updated as I progress.

 

[Tom]

Animal Plastics sells one the same size for about $100 more, but it has a solid top, and they do not leak at all. Sockets, and a 5 or 6 inch litter dam to hold in the substrate are included. You can get black or white, and sliding glass doors, or swinging plastic doors.

Or you can get one of Mark's smart enclosures. They cost more upfront, but that is because all of the heating, lighting, UV, thermostats, and everything else is already installed and ready to work. They are actually cheaper when you add all that up separately.

 

[wutang]

Animal Plastics sells one the same size for about $100 more, but it has a solid top, and they do not leak at all. Sockets, and a 5 or 6 inch litter dam to hold in the substrate are included. You can get black or white, and sliding glass doors, or swinging plastic doors.

Or you can get one of Mark's smart enclosures. They cost more upfront, but that is because all of the heating, lighting, UV, thermostats, and everything else is already installed and ready to work. They are actually cheaper when you add all that up separately.

I looked at animal plastics and it was going to cost $200+ for shipping, that’s when I started looking for alternatives, but if I could do it again I’d probably go the AP route. This is definitely going to hold the humidity and temp I need but the leaking is annoying, also annoyed at myself for not just using substrate dams in the first place

 

[wutang]

Update now that I’ve had it going all day - as I mentioned to Tom, the leaking is annoying and I need to get some sort of liner and/or substrate dams down. This enclosure will definitely hold the heat and humidity that I need but between the extra cost/effort of lining the bottom and getting something to cover the top, kind of washes out the price difference vs something like Animal Plastics, though still significantly cheaper than something like Kages brand

 

[Tom]

Update now that I’ve had it going all day - as I mentioned to Tom, the leaking is annoying and I need to get some sort of liner and/or substrate dams down. This enclosure will definitely hold the heat and humidity that I need but between the extra cost/effort of lining the bottom and getting something to cover the top, kind of washes out the price difference vs something like Animal Plastics, though still significantly cheaper than something like Kages brand

You can use aquarium sealant to seal the seams. GE silicone 1 is the same stuff at the hardware store. Takes a couple of days to fully cure.

 

[Littleredfootbigredheart]

Thanks for sharing this and giving updates! Did you manage to get it sealed? How’s it holding up?

 

[wutang]

Sorry for the delayed update - ended up using a pond liner on the bottom and that’s stopped the leaking (I tried silicone but just made a mess out of it). Really happy with how well it’s holding humidity - at least 80% throughout near 100% in some spots. I have a fluorescent bulb for the basking spot which gets around 95-97°, and one CHE on each side with thermostats set to keep ambient at least 80°. I’ve got an LED strip for ambient lighting and keeping the far end of the enclosure a little darker so he has somewhere darker to retreat to if he wants

 

[Littleredfootbigredheart]

Sorry for the delayed update - ended up using a pond liner on the bottom and that’s stopped the leaking (I tried silicone but just made a mess out of it). Really happy with how well it’s holding humidity - at least 80% throughout near 100% in some spots. I have a fluorescent bulb for the basking spot which gets around 95-97°, and one CHE on each side with thermostats set to keep ambient at least 80°. I’ve got an LED strip for ambient lighting and keeping the far end of the enclosure a little darker so he has somewhere darker to retreat to if he wants

Yay that’s great! One lucky baby tortoise

 

[Kapidolo Farms]

I'm using several kinds of premade enclosures, Animal Plastics, Smart Enclosures, Precision Plastics ,and Vision cages. Any seam at or below the substrate level will leak, or weep. When you have the humidity dialed in the night time temps will be a little lower than dew point and the entire interior surface will get condensation that will find any seem in the plastic. Even the Smart Enclosures which are double walled (great feature).

I used Gorilla Glue duck tape on all seem and that alone has stopped the enclosure from weeping water. I have several Smart Enclosure and the bottom panel seem to side panels is about and inch up the side wall of the bottom panel. I keep substrate about an inch below the maximum allowed by the substrate dam/front panel with doors. I'd get weeping/leakage all around the base. The Gorilla Glue duck tape works well. It will make taking the enclosure apart for moving a nightmare, the tape sticks well.

Vision cages will weep leak along the front seem where the door panel is fused to the four sides (bottom, top, and two ends). Precision plastic also has a fused/welded front to the body of the enclosure as well as an upper and lower body fused seem, it weeps.

I bought all the Animal Plastic enclosure second hand, but they too weep at seems. The enclosures I bought where all black, so I got white shower stall liner and glued it to the interior surface - this also closed off the over abundance of air exchange slots.

In all my simple solution is using Gorilla Glue duct tape. It comes in several widths too.

I've made my own enclosures using 2 x 3 foot using MacCourt (https://maccourtproducts.com/products/59748/Super-Mixing-Tub-) where I put one, inverted on top of another. I sealed that seem with the Gorilla Glue duct tape.

What's the hot sauce lady's tag line ? "I use that $hit on everything."

 

[wutang]

I'm using several kinds of premade enclosures, Animal Plastics, Smart Enclosures, Precision Plastics ,and Vision cages. Any seam at or below the substrate level will leak, or weep. When you have the humidity dialed in the night time temps will be a little lower than dew point and the entire interior surface will get condensation that will find any seem in the plastic. Even the Smart Enclosures which are double walled (great feature).

I used Gorilla Glue duck tape on all seem and that alone has stopped the enclosure from weeping water. I have several Smart Enclosure and the bottom panel seem to side panels is about and inch up the side wall of the bottom panel. I keep substrate about an inch below the maximum allowed by the substrate dam/front panel with doors. I'd get weeping/leakage all around the base. The Gorilla Glue duck tape works well. It will make taking the enclosure apart for moving a nightmare, the tape sticks well.

Vision cages will weep leak along the front seem where the door panel is fused to the four sides (bottom, top, and two ends). Precision plastic also has a fused/welded front to the body of the enclosure as well as an upper and lower body fused seem, it weeps.

I bought all the Animal Plastic enclosure second hand, but they too weep at seems. The enclosures I bought where all black, so I got white shower stall liner and glued it to the interior surface - this also closed off the over abundance of air exchange slots.

In all my simple solution is using Gorilla Glue duct tape. It comes in several widths too.

I've made my own enclosures using 2 x 3 foot using MacCourt (https://maccourtproducts.com/products/59748/Super-Mixing-Tub-) where I put one, inverted on top of another. I sealed that seem with the Gorilla Glue duct tape.

What's the hot sauce lady's tag line ? "I use that $hit on everything."

I'm using several kinds of premade enclosures, Animal Plastics, Smart Enclosures, Precision Plastics ,and Vision cages. Any seam at or below the substrate level will leak, or weep. When you have the humidity dialed in the night time temps will be a little lower than dew point and the entire interior surface will get condensation that will find any seem in the plastic. Even the Smart Enclosures which are double walled (great feature).

I used Gorilla Glue duck tape on all seem and that alone has stopped the enclosure from weeping water. I have several Smart Enclosure and the bottom panel seem to side panels is about and inch up the side wall of the bottom panel. I keep substrate about an inch below the maximum allowed by the substrate dam/front panel with doors. I'd get weeping/leakage all around the base. The Gorilla Glue duck tape works well. It will make taking the enclosure apart for moving a nightmare, the tape sticks well.

Vision cages will weep leak along the front seem where the door panel is fused to the four sides (bottom, top, and two ends). Precision plastic also has a fused/welded front to the body of the enclosure as well as an upper and lower body fused seem, it weeps.

I bought all the Animal Plastic enclosure second hand, but they too weep at seems. The enclosures I bought where all black, so I got white shower stall liner and glued it to the interior surface - this also closed off the over abundance of air exchange slots.

In all my simple solution is using Gorilla Glue duct tape. It comes in several widths too.

I've made my own enclosures using 2 x 3 foot using MacCourt (https://maccourtproducts.com/products/59748/Super-Mixing-Tub-) where I put one, inverted on top of another. I sealed that seem with the Gorilla Glue duct tape.

What's the hot sauce lady's tag line ? "I use that $hit on everything."

Wow good to know about the gorilla glue duck tape - my pond liner is working but ugly/concerned one day he’s gonna find his way between the liner and enclosure. I think I’ll grab some GG duck tape to better secure the liner to the panels for now but I may take another swing at sealing it with the when I’m mentally ready for that process, lol. also interesting that the weeping isn’t unique to to this more budget brand option - given that, I would say this becomes a much more attractive enclosure compared to pricier alternatives where you’d still need to do the extra work to seal the enclosure.

I'm using several kinds of premade enclosures, Animal Plastics, Smart Enclosures, Precision Plastics ,and Vision cages. Any seam at or below the substrate level will leak, or weep. When you have the humidity dialed in the night time temps will be a little lower than dew point and the entire interior surface will get condensation that will find any seem in the plastic. Even the Smart Enclosures which are double walled (great feature).

I used Gorilla Glue duck tape on all seem and that alone has stopped the enclosure from weeping water. I have several Smart Enclosure and the bottom panel seem to side panels is about and inch up the side wall of the bottom panel. I keep substrate about an inch below the maximum allowed by the substrate dam/front panel with doors. I'd get weeping/leakage all around the base. The Gorilla Glue duck tape works well. It will make taking the enclosure apart for moving a nightmare, the tape sticks well.

Vision cages will weep leak along the front seem where the door panel is fused to the four sides (bottom, top, and two ends). Precision plastic also has a fused/welded front to the body of the enclosure as well as an upper and lower body fused seem, it weeps.

I bought all the Animal Plastic enclosure second hand, but they too weep at seems. The enclosures I bought where all black, so I got white shower stall liner and glued it to the interior surface - this also closed off the over abundance of air exchange slots.

In all my simple solution is using Gorilla Glue duct tape. It comes in several widths too.

I've made my own enclosures using 2 x 3 foot using MacCourt (https://maccourtproducts.com/products/59748/Super-Mixing-Tub-) where I put one, inverted on top of another. I sealed that seem with the Gorilla Glue duct tape.

What's the hot sauce lady's tag line ? "I use that $hit on everything."

Wow good to know about the gorilla glue duck tape - thanks for sharing your secret sauce! My pond liner is working but it does go up the sides a bit, concerned one day he’s gonna find his way between the liner and panels (pictured below). I’ll grab some GG duck tape to better secure the liner to the panels for now but I may take another swing at sealing all the seams with the tape if the pond liner gives me any problems long term. Also interesting that the weeping isn’t unique to to this more budget brand option - given that, I would say this becomes a much more attractive enclosure compared to pricier alternatives where you’d still need to do the extra work to seal the enclosure.

 

[wutang]

Well this is embarrassing I thought I had lost my original response and tried to redo it from memory and then they both came through

 

[GardiendeKoopa]

Could you please share photos of what the setup looks like with all the lights set up? I’m hoping to do something similar with a different PVC enclosure but don’t know what makes sense for lighting.

 

[wutang]

Could you please share photos of what the setup looks like with all the lights set up? I’m hoping to do something similar with a different PVC enclosure but don’t know what makes sense for lighting.

Pardon my mess - here is the full enclosure (I think I’ve made the right side too dark, going to tweak the LED lighting to make that end at least a little brighter as he currently doesn’t seem to have any interest in going over there).

This particular enclosure screen top has a rod running from the rear panel to the front door on each side - I would’ve preferred if they had run the full length of the enclosure rather than front to back, but I could find a way to do that if I really needed to.

As far as how I have the lighting rigged up inside the enclosure, I’m using dome lamps that come equipped with a hanger and use climbing carabiners to hang the lamps from the rod, everything feeds through the cable protectors which seals up pretty tight.


I have an outdoor area where he gets sun most days so don’t need to provide any supplemental UVB yet but come winter I’ll hang another fixture around the basking spot to provide a few hours of UVB light a day.

A couple side points:

As mentioned, I have a basking light on one side and thermostat controlled CHE’s on either side, the basking side CHE pops on every now and then because the thermostat probe is located at the coolest point of the enclosure, the CHE opposite the basking spot pretty much runs all day since that is the only heat element on that side. I’m able to monitor him all day as I work from home and he’s in my office - if he starts using that lone CHE as a basking area I may add another incandescent bulb on that side for safer basking, increasing daytime ambient temp, and then both CHE’s would primarily function for nighttime heating (I would make sure to have a cooler hide in the middle to escape the heat).

Also, the sheet of acrylic that I taped to the screen top with HVAC taps is l starting to warp a little, probably from the pressure of the rising hot air. Going to redo the tape job with the recommended gorilla glue duck tape, and if that doesn’t hold I’ll just find something heavy enough that I can put on top to keep it pressed down.

 

[GardiendeKoopa]

Pardon my mess - here is the full enclosure (I think I’ve made the right side too dark, going to tweak the LED lighting to make that end at least a little brighter as he currently doesn’t seem to have any interest in going over there).
View attachment 399931
This particular enclosure screen top has a rod running from the rear panel to the front door on each side - I would’ve preferred if they had run the full length of the enclosure rather than front to back, but I could find a way to do that if I really needed to.
View attachment 399938
As far as how I have the lighting rigged up inside the enclosure, I’m using dome lamps that come equipped with a hanger and use climbing carabiners to hang the lamps from the rod, everything feeds through the cable protectors which seals up pretty tight.
View attachment 399932View attachment 399935View attachment 399934

I have an outdoor area where he gets sun most days so don’t need to provide any supplemental UVB yet but come winter I’ll hang another fixture around the basking spot to provide a few hours of UVB light a day.

A couple side points:

As mentioned, I have a basking light on one side and thermostat controlled CHE’s on either side, the basking side CHE pops on every now and then because the thermostat probe is located at the coolest point of the enclosure, the CHE opposite the basking spot pretty much runs all day since that is the only heat element on that side. I’m able to monitor him all day as I work from home and he’s in my office - if he starts using that lone CHE as a basking area I may add another incandescent bulb on that side for safer basking, increasing daytime ambient temp, and then both CHE’s would primarily function for nighttime heating (I would make sure to have a cooler hide in the middle to escape the heat).

Also, the sheet of acrylic that I taped to the screen top with HVAC taps is l starting to warp a little, probably from the pressure of the rising hot air. Going to redo the tape job with the recommended gorilla glue duck tape, and if that doesn’t hold I’ll just find something heavy enough that I can put on top to keep it pressed down.

Thanks for sharing!

I’m curious, how far down do the domes hang down from the lid at their lowest point? Do you find the basking spot underneath gets too hot from being too close to the light, or is there enough distance? How many Watts is the basking light and is it incandescent or halogen? Are both domes basking lights?

 

[wutang]

Domes are 9 inches from the lid at the lowest point, bulbs / che element are 12 inches from the surface, using a 75w incandescent for the primary basking spot, shell-height surface temperatures underneath max out at 97°. After some more thought I’ve gone ahead and added a secondary smaller basking spot on the right side using a 25w incandescent bulb to take some of the load off of that CHE.


Left side: 75 W incandescent + thermostat controlled CHE


Right side: 25 W incandescent + thermostat controlled CHE

 

[GardiendeKoopa]

Domes are 9 inches from the lid at the lowest point, bulbs / che element are 12 inches from the surface, using a 75w incandescent for the primary basking spot, shell-height surface temperatures underneath max out at 97°. After some more thought I’ve gone ahead and added a secondary smaller basking spot on the right side using a 25w incandescent bulb to take some of the load off of that CHE.
View attachment 399941

Left side: 75 W incandescent + thermostat controlled CHE
View attachment 399939

Right side: 25 W incandescent + thermostat controlled CHE
View attachment 399940

Thanks for the info! Are those domes 5.5” or 8.5” diameter?

 

[wutang]

Sure thing! 5.5 inches, and then I have a super tiny one for the 25w think it’s 2.5

 

[COmtnLady]

Just to make sure, you have covered the screen top nice and tightly so that it isn't a screen top, right?

Why are there rocks in the water dish?

That white chunk of concrete or whatever it is, has sharp edges that will gouge up the tortoise's plastron. It either needs removed or sunken down into the substrate far enough that it is basically level with the substrate's surface and the edges can't scrape when your tortoise walks across it.

The temp and humidity are too low. Warm the little one up and get it to be humid inside the enclosure. 84-85F and 85% are the lowest it should get. Since you're concerned about eating and not being active enough, bring it up 5 more points in both cases.

 

[wutang]

Just to make sure, you have covered the screen top nice and tightly so that it isn't a screen top, right?

Why are there rocks in the water dish?

That white chunk of concrete or whatever it is, has sharp edges that will gouge up the tortoise's plastron. It either needs removed or sunken down into the substrate far enough that it is basically level with the substrate's surface and the edges can't scrape when your tortoise walks across it.

The temp and humidity are too low. Warm the little one up and get it to be humid inside the enclosure. 84-85F and 85% are the lowest it should get. Since you're concerned about eating and not being active enough, bring it up 5 more points in both cases.

Yes the top is covered otherwise this would not be a closed chamber. The slate is buried however it’s not a sharp piece. I disagree that temps are too low - what I showed you were nighttime measurements with two CHE’s running at 100%, my nighttime high directly under the CHE’s gets to around 99°, the absolute coolest spot in my enclosure was 84 at night, however, the area that he spends his time at night was around 90 - daytime all of these values are higher and the main focus is making sure the basking spot doesn’t get too hot from the increased ambient temp. The only area in my enclosure that does not reach 85% humidity are the gauges I have set up directly under a heat element, most of the enclosure is sitting well above 90% so I’m not going to chase a number at the expense of sogging down the enclosure, but I have tried to bump it up a little more. Rocks are in the water dish because I saw a video from garden state tortoise recommending this to help in case a tortoise flips over.