One man's trash...kijiji find

kruler

kruler

New member
Next time you're looking for a large enclosure for a good deal, try searching "display case" on kijiji.

I was browsing the free section of kijiji as I often do when feeling particularly frugal and I stumbled across this beauty:

IMG_0276.jpg


It's 6ft high and 3ft wide, all thick acrylic with aluminum frame and a storage cabinet underneath. One of the 6 sides of the hexagon is a door with magnetic catches and a nice handle. Really well built. I know the colours are ugly but I'm going to at least paint the green imitation marble panels at the bottom, and possibly the entire frame depending on how lazy I am. Hey, it was free.

I'm going to use this for Phelsuma Grandis and need to figure out a few things to do so. The top is acrylic and is cemented in place. I need to either cut out the center leaving only a border and glue on some screen, or remove the top all together somehow and make a screen top with a frame. How would I go about cutting out the center of the top neatly?

Since the bottom is melamine, I need to make it at least water resistant. I was thinking maybe that I could remove the top and since its the same shape, just silicone it into the bottom. Then I would have to make a frame for the screen top which won't be as easy as if it were square or rectangular.

The final obstacle is lighting the thing. I like to provide my Phelsuma with both UV and high intensity, high CRI lighting. Usually I use a combination of 48" reptisun bulbs, 48" Philips T8, and T5 CF aquarium lights from AHsupply. With this enclosure I have limited space on the top, and a lot of depth to light. I was thinking about a metal halide but have no experience with them. I know they have UV producing metal halides in Europe, but not sure about here. Would love to hear some recommendations.
 
Riverside Reptiles

Riverside Reptiles

Administrator (HMFIC)
Nice find!!! I have a few suggestions for you. For the top, since it's acrylic, why not just drill small holes in it for air flow as opposed to cutting it out and replacing it with screen? Much faster and easier. For the bottom, to make it waterproof, try going to the local car parts place or probably even Walmart and pick up a can of spray in truck bed liner. That'll coat it with a nice rubberized plastic coating that's cheap, waterproof, and easy to clean. I've used metal halides with herps long term with great success. But they get HOT, they weigh alot if they have the ballast enclosed in the hood, and they're fairly expensive. They work great for something like a large monitor or tegu enclosure if you're trying to provide lot's of heat and uv. Probably not so great for geckos though. I'd suggest just using regular UV lighting and attaching it to the top of the cage. It might not penetrate all the way down, but it doesn't really need to. The geckos will position themselves in as close of proximity to the light as they feel they need to.

Hope these ideas help
 
kruler

kruler

New member
Riverside Reptiles said:
Nice find!!! I have a few suggestions for you. For the top, since it's acrylic, why not just drill small holes in it for air flow as opposed to cutting it out and replacing it with screen? Much faster and easier. For the bottom, to make it waterproof, try going to the local car parts place or probably even Walmart and pick up a can of spray in truck bed liner. That'll coat it with a nice rubberized plastic coating that's cheap, waterproof, and easy to clean. I've used metal halides with herps long term with great success. But they get HOT, they weigh alot if they have the ballast enclosed in the hood, and they're fairly expensive. They work great for something like a large monitor or tegu enclosure if you're trying to provide lot's of heat and uv. Probably not so great for geckos though. I'd suggest just using regular UV lighting and attaching it to the top of the cage. It might not penetrate all the way down, but it doesn't really need to. The geckos will position themselves in as close of proximity to the light as they feel they need to.

Hope these ideas help
Click to expand...


Amazing ideas, thanks! I wonder how many holes I could drill and how closely spaced without it cracking or something. I'd like to let as much light pass through as possible.
 
OffshoreMetal

OffshoreMetal

New member
If you make alot of holes probably a inch between them i think it would be perfect. You could buy a small piece of acrylic and try it before doing it to your new tank.
Btw awesome find , I didnt even knew that there was a free section on Kijiji, Im gonna go look right now :p
 
kruler

kruler

New member
OffshoreMetal said:
If you make alot of holes probably a inch between them i think it would be perfect. You could buy a small piece of acrylic and try it before doing it to your new tank.
Btw awesome find , I didnt even knew that there was a free section on Kijiji, Im gonna go look right now :p
Click to expand...

You gave me another good idea. The display case came with a rotating display with round acrylic shelves in the center but I removed it before taking the pic. I can practice any cutting or drilling with these shelves, although they are quite a bit thicker than the acrylic on the top and sides.

Maybe I shouldn't have posted about that free section, now I'm going to have competition ;)
 
kruler

kruler

New member
Another couple of questions:

There are a couple stickers on the sides that you can see in the pic. If this was glass I would just scrape them with a razor but if I don't want to scratch the acrylic. They won't pick off with my finger nails. Any clever suggestions to get these off neatly?

Also, Home Depot sells a product specifically for cleaning acrylic that is supposed to restore clarity and brightness. All it says is "may be an eye irritant", which doesn't sound to scary. Would this be safe to use if say I wiped with a wet cloth after. Any alternatives or suggestions?

Thanks!
 
Riverside Reptiles

Riverside Reptiles

Administrator (HMFIC)
When drilling the holes, try putting masking tape on the areas that you're going to drill into. That'll help reduce any cracking. I'd be cautious about using that cleaning stuff on the inside of the enclosure. It may only say "eye irritant" on the package, but that's not tested on the sensitivity of a gecko. It's probably fine to use on the outside though. There's a product called "goo gone" that is an adhesive remover available at Home Depot, Walmart, etc. Try that on the stickers.
 
OffshoreMetal

OffshoreMetal

New member
When i readed your last post kruler i instantly tought about Goo-Gone but Riverside already said it. Really good product , I use it myself for alot of stuff. Just make sure you rinse well after because it Smells orange really strong and is kinda hard to completely remove ( Makes like wd40 , Repeal water ) But with some soap and water , You should remove it completely.
 
kruler

kruler

New member
Thanks guys. I have some goo gone, but I didn't think it would penetrate through the stickers, just remove the adhesive residue after the stickers were gone. I'll give it a try though.

I just calculated the volume of it; 175 Gallons :D
 
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Riverside Reptiles

Riverside Reptiles

Administrator (HMFIC)
Peel the stickers off the best that you can. Then take a paper towel, wet it with goo gone, and soak whatever sticker is remaining. It might take a bit of time and effort, but it'll come up. Just keep working it.
 
P

pgaks2

New member
awesome find, i love seeing things like this turned into viv's man that would make a awesome dart frog enclosure, big fake tree up the back 1/4 of it, so many possibilities..

hopefully you do a build thread for this viv i wanna see it completed.

sheb
 
kruler

kruler

New member
kylehca said:
woops, here this link should work:


Roxy Display
Click to expand...

Kyle, what's your idea? I don't think buying a new one would be cost effective. You could have a pretty amazing custom enclosure made for much less. These showcases aren't ideal, but when they're free or dirt cheap it makes up for that.

I had to take it apart today to get it into the basement and I discovered that only the top and door are acrylic, and the sides are all 4mm tempered glass! Don't ask me how I didn't notice this before but I am really lucky I didn't break any of the glass during pickup since I assumed it was all acrylic and was pretty rough with it. I was wondering why it was so friggin heavy:D
 
kylehca

kylehca

Member
custom display case

I think that a display case could make for a very interesting enclosure but you are right, a custom made display case would be quite expensive. Cost effective no but cool yes.
Just a thought that i will keep in the back of my mind for now.
 
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