BLUE TONGUE SKINKS

The enclosures themselves are 98% done. Only a little trim and minor touch ups to finish at a later time. We can't decide what we want to use. The wife really wants to use metal now thanks to Buddy for putting me to shame with his new build.

Anyways, here they are! Chewy is in the top enclosure and Malla moved in downstairs. I am so happy to see her moving all around the new space now that she is out of her old cramped 40g. She seems very happy with her new home. Chewy was less certain about the move and has been hiding more. He was out basking today, but when I entered the room he raced over to his hide. He will settle in soon.

Nice enclosures and absolutely stunning Northern! Your tattoos look great too!

Nice job,looks great

Looks great! I love the green inside

Thankyou so much for the pics of the lighting! Looks awsome! Is it two separate boxes stacked on top of one another?

donkeybuff wrote:Enclosure Build Update: They have moved in! (DUW)
by donkeybuff » Wed Apr 02, 2014 10:41 pm
Nice enclosures and absolutely stunning Northern! Your tattoos look great too!

Thanks on all accounts! My tattoo artist and I have plans to due a neo-traditional bluey on the inside of my arm in early summer.

Roarschak11 wrote: by Roarschak11 » Thu Apr 03, 2014 10:35 am
Thankyou so much for the pics of the lighting! Looks awsome! Is it two separate boxes stacked on top of one another?

No problem. If you have more questions just let me know. They are two separate enclosures stacked, but I think when I build more units for more skinks in the future I may try to build it as one piece.

Thanks to everyone else for the kind words. Does anyone have any recommendations for trimming it out? I originally planned to use stained wood trim to that matched the enclosure, but my wife and I really liked Buddy's recent build with its metal trim. We would be using it on the outer edges, but I can't come up with a reasonably affordable way to trim it in metal that will look good. I may just go with wood for the sake of its ease and cost.

A venire for the trim would look good and be a lot easier then using metal. Like an oak of plywood vainer then paint it with the black color you have or a similar color?

I have enough stain left to do the wood trim for sure. I was thinking about doing something either very plain and modern or maybe ironically old fashion in style if I go the wood route.

With the green the modern look would awesome I think! It looks great as is, but it is nice to make it ascetically pleasing when you, yourself look at it. If your anything like myself I always see the flaws in my work haha what were you thinking about doing for a modern look?

You did such an awesome job! I am going to show this thread to my husband as an example of great looking stacked enclosures.

I will confess; your tats were the first thing that caught my eye, and they are rocking. Just got a new (skink-themed) piece myself a few weeks ago! Swore it would be my last but I am already thinking of getting something else. They're addictive.

Roarschak11 wrote:With the green the modern look would awesome I think! It looks great as is, but it is nice to make it ascetically pleasing when you, yourself look at it. If your anything like myself I always see the flaws in my work haha what were you thinking about doing for a modern look?

I was thinking of doing flat square trim to keep it modern and minimalistic. My main reason for wanting trim is to conceal some of the screws and cover the tracks for the sliding glass. I don't like the brown as it is, but I also smeared a little stain on them on accident when I was touching up some minor flaws.

Teacup wrote:You did such an awesome job! I am going to show this thread to my husband as an example of great looking stacked enclosures.

I will confess; your tats were the first thing that caught my eye, and they are rocking. Just got a new (skink-themed) piece myself a few weeks ago! Swore it would be my last but I am already thinking of getting something else. They're addictive.

Thanks for the compliments. You should share your bluey tattoo. I have been having a hard time finding comparable pieces to show my artist. John has done a great job for me so far, so I am pretty confident that I can just take him a bunch of images of Northerns and tell him what I want and he will draw up something amazing.

saisaac wrote:Thanks for the compliments. You should share your bluey tattoo. I have been having a hard time finding comparable pieces to show my artist. John has done a great job for me so far, so I am pretty confident that I can just take him a bunch of images of Northerns and tell him what I want and he will draw up something amazing.

I need to get a decent picture. I asked Nae if she would be okay with me using her tribal skink design for it and she said yes! Found a good local artist who did a very nice job (he did need to make some changes as I was covering up an old tattoo). If you trust your guy, I'm sure he'll come up with something great for you! I love the whole process but I swear the pain gets worse each time.

These turned out so great, I'm very impressed!

I'm going to be building a couple of enclosures soon, may I ask what you used to seal them? I'm stuck between Varathane and Minwax Polycrylic. I've heard good things about both, but need a little help on the final choice!

Thanks. I am waiting on some sandblasted sage trees and some manzanita to make the interior a little more natural.

I used multiple coats of a poly/stain by Minwax on the exterior. The interior is painted with two coats a high gloss low voc paint with primer (seals and wicks moisture) and then the seams are all sealed with clear silicone. I have never used Varathane before, so I cannot comment on how well it works, but the Minwax worked well. In the future I think I will actually use MDF and paint both the outside and the inside, because the oak was a big investment and you really can't even see the wood grain due to how dark I stained it and the fact that when you are looking straight at the enclosures you really do not see the wood that much.

WOW i think they look so good . you have done a fabulous effort for your BTS .

Thanks! A kind member sent me a message letting me know they have pure cypress right outside my work so now I added a nice bed of cyrpess and I have some nice wood coming to add some more cover. They have been out and about exploring and basking a lot lately.