Enclosure/Terrarium Pictures

GS wrote:Great post mate. Thanks for sharing!

+1

Shows nicely the concept of a false-bottom setup.

Rainforest set up for Pandinus Cavimanus
30x30x30 cm

Material:
Cocopeat, wood, dried moss, catappa leaf.



When she has dug a little more, I will cover the top layer with exo terra forest ground, if I do it now it will get mixed up with the peat deposits in the front of the terrarium

Joey

Desert set up for Hadrurus Arizonenis
30x30x30 cm Exo Terra mini wide

Material: red sand with clay, fossilized wood, moorkienwood, dried Tilantsia moss.

Great setups Joey.
Thanks for sharing.

I absolutely love those water dishes, been searching a source for those for ages.

DolbyR wrote:Great setups Joey.
Thanks for sharing.

I absolutely love those water dishes, been searching a source for those for ages.

Thank you:) very kind.

I have send you a perhaps you can contact this company and they can help you. They are located in the UK. But might ship to the States.

DolbyR wrote:Great setups Joey.
Thanks for sharing. I absolutely love those water dishes, been searching a source for those for ages.

+1

How much does it cost you (in total) and how much time has been given to set this up? I believe a number of us would be interested to know how much budget/time to set aside in order to get a nicely done up desert enclosure like this

Enclosure for Hadogenes Paucidens
30x30x30
Material:
Slate stone, gravel, sand, forest ground, catappa leaves, custom background made by an aquarium store.

Updated enclosure for H. Arizonensis

Added some forest ground, catappa leaf, soaked the background and sticked some sand on it.

GS wrote:

DolbyR wrote:Great setups Joey.
Thanks for sharing. I absolutely love those water dishes, been searching a source for those for ages.

+1

How much does it cost you (in total) and how much time has been given to set this up? I believe a number of us would be interested to know how much budget/time to set aside in order to get a nicely done up desert enclosure like this

Thank you, you are very kind!

Here is a list of some costs:

Well...
Terrarium: €49
Compact top and light: €20 + €7
Sand: both regular red sand and sand with clay additive mixed about € 12
Mini bottle cap water dish: €1
Accessories (wood, moss, stones, leaves etc.): The wood is sterilized moorkienwood 2 pieces €12, stones about € 5 , leaves came in a pack of 12 which I used for all terrariums €7, moss €4
The actual scorpion: €50 ($64!!) ( Very expensive due to international export laws, shipping, profit margin etc.)

subtotal cost of everything including scorp: €167 / $214
Excluding the scorp: €117 / +- $150


However, prices here are very different from those in the USA, this is Europe.
For example, I saw the terrariums that I use, all of them Exo Terra Mini Wide models, at a petco webshop for $53.54, that is €41 euro's thus being cheaper in the USA. However, I did not have to pay shipping so you might match me at some point.

I made some choices that could have been made cheaper, I now understand, like purchasing sand.
The ridiculousness of buying "terrarium sand" instead of regular playsand or aquarium sand is an unnecessary cost.
You could save money buying aquarium sand (WITHOUT fertilizer of course, really check that before you buy.)
It saved me a lot of money with my other enclosure!

My tip for people wanting to make a natural enclosure is this, save money buy sensible, don't spend a lot on brands because sometimes that's all they are... brands... I don't care if my sand comes from zoo med/exo terra/ or a nameless house brand if it works it works.

I believe the most money goes in to equipment. I choose to only use exo terra terrariums because they work for me.
In this case I stick to this brand because I find it very high quality and it's very easy to come by parts/accessories etc.

I believe you could make a decent enclosure with this terrarium for =- $120/130.

I use only natural materials, and you could save money, looking around the garden for dead twigs/stones/ etc.
I would advise sterilizing them of course, boiling wood and making it dry.
Don't spend money on ridiculously expensive stones sold by terrarium specialist shops, go to your local gardening center and take your pick for a fraction of the money!

And of course if you choose a cheaper form of housing you could save a lot of money. However, this was the part I didn't want to save money in because I want safe quality made enclosures, the biggest perk I think with these terrariums if their really cool finish, they have excellent ventilation and are very secure. But that is of course a matter of taste and choice.

The time:
Took about a week for the sand to sufficiently dry, for decoration, I took about half a day.
Trying, tweaking, testing, looking, and changing again, until I was satisfied with all the placed objects.
The entire set up is a blue print in my mind, and I could take it all a part and put it back together in the same way.
It is not hard, just take your time in choosing colors, what contrast nicely with your background?? Your substrate?? Your scorpion??
Make it a puzzle and when it's all done it's the big picture out of your thoughts and it is in harmony with each other.
I try to accomplish this, by looking at Nature, the habitats of the scorps, looking at the different colors, contrasts, materials present, even the consistency of the ground is important, it can make something look natural, or very sterile and artificial.

Most of all, I really love what I do, I loved putting it all together, I loved working on it, tweaking it, and I was very happy with the end result, it is something from me to my scorp and I take great pride in that. Don't forget to enjoy yourself, it's a lot of fun!


If there are any more questions feel free to ask them and I will try to clarify.



Take care,


Joey

I'm impressed.

Thanks for taking the time to pen this down.

Add more pictures to it and it'll be a complete [HOW TO] guide for new hobbyist!

GS wrote:I'm impressed.

Thanks for taking the time to pen this down.

Add more pictures to it and it'll be a complete [HOW TO] guide for new hobbyist!

Your welcome, and I did that:) I love to help.

http://www.allscorpionarchives.com/t204-how-to-make-a-natural-looking-desert-enclosure

Great work

Hello,

this is my enclosure for my female 6i Emperor. I constantly tweak it because I dont have enough materials, like rocks, dead leaves, etc., so I'm stuck with moss, coco peat, and some driftwood.
IIRC the tank's dimensions is 16 x 8 x 10. 


Here she is hidden in her 2nd cave  

And here she is again in the 1st one

Natural looking

Where did you hide your water dish?

GS wrote:
Natural looking 

Where did you hide your water dish? 

Whoa, good eye! :O I thought no one would notice, guess somebody did 
I bought one though it was too big . I'll try to look for a smaller one today

Looking good. What's the material for the hide if i may ask?

Mr. Invert wrote:
Looking good. What's the material for the hide if i may ask? 

For the first hide, I used a flat rock and some triangular rock to make the hide, I put them together, took me a while to make them stable enough so it wont collapse , I sprinkled less than inch of cocopeat then to top it off some moss dangling on the edge.
For the 2nd hide, I just bought driftwood, it was cylindrical, so i thought it would make a perfect hide. Just like the first one, a bit of coco peat and moss, then tada! 
She seems to like both though. 

Nicely done. Thanks for sharing.

Simple, yet functional and nice looking.
Well done!

Cool desert setups, I especially like Shakudo's H. Arizonensis setup.
I have a question though, some people have rocks below their substrate, I'm not sure why. Do you guys know?

It could be to force the scorpion to construct their burrows along the glass so you can see the scorpion.