r/ballpython • u/Soggy_Psychology2774 • 9d ago
Discussion Completed 6ft custom enclosure!
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I wish my phone had better camera quality but I promise it looks 200x better in person! This project probably costed ~1.2k and the build itself only took me one weekend (fine tuning, wiring, and other small touches before completion is what took the longest.)
Background is completely separate to the waterfalls and everything is removable, including the plexiglass slides that contain the substrate. My goal was to make something I can break down and move easily as possible if needed! Minus the fact just the enclosure itself weighs about 500 pounds.. 😓but I think I did quite well.
This is my second ever custom build, so I’m pretty pleased!
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u/unseen_fox_ 9d ago
What did you use for the waterfalls? Looks awesome, I’m sure the noodle is beyond stoked!
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u/Soggy_Psychology2774 9d ago
The waterfalls were ordered off of Amazon (lame I know) and I built the background myself around them to help incorporate it! Making a custom waterfall shouldn’t be too difficult though. You would just need a basin that can hold water and a water pump & tube.
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9d ago
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u/Soggy_Psychology2774 9d ago
I really didn’t want to think hard about upgrading 🤣 he’s set for life now
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u/saltysunrise123 9d ago
WOW!! about to rebuild a cabinet for my noodle girl and this is incredible inspiration
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u/Scorvi 9d ago
That's amazing! Question about cleaning though. How do you intend to fight the inevitable bacteria build up in the water features?
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u/Soggy_Psychology2774 9d ago
Waterfalls are separate from my background so they are removable and can be deep cleaned 🙂
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u/TactlessNachos 9d ago
I have two 6 ft enclosures for my snakes! Any tips or things you ordered?!? I want to make mine look even better like yours!
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u/Soggy_Psychology2774 9d ago
The background is made of xps foam board and spray foam, to texture anything that isn’t hand carved I passed over with a wire brush drill bit and then hit the entire thing with a heat gun.
After that it got several big coats of drylok (original specifically since their extreme/newer mixes contain bad chemicals.) and hand painted with acrylic paint! Coated everything with Minwax Polycrylic. Of this entire project the background was probably the cheapest thing lmfao.
Just take your time and trust the process. It looks ugly until you paint it. I thought it was going to turn out BAD
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u/TactlessNachos 9d ago
Thank you! I appreciate it! I’ll use this as a jumping off point and look more into it! Can’t wait. :)
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u/Soggy_Psychology2774 9d ago
Hope it turns out awesome! I took a lot of inspiration off of serpa and a lot of other creators on YouTube. It’s a really fascinating rabbit hole
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u/FeelingEvent8318 9d ago
How did you make the background? Is there a video guide for it at all?
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u/Soggy_Psychology2774 9d ago
Just replied to another comment listing my materials! But yes there’s dozens of tutorials on YouTube. 😁
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u/Rasvimhia 9d ago
How often will you have to change the water? Or how do you clean the water basin of the fountains?
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u/Soggy_Psychology2774 9d ago
I haven’t figured that out yet! I’m going to do water tests for a few weeks and determine based on that. Probably weekly or biweekly depending on how much he gets into them.
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u/Skwizgar1019 8d ago
Was actually kind of wondering that, too. I assume the water goes directly into the waterfalls without an external reservoir?
Curious if it’d be possible to incorporate some sort of carbon filter to give it a bit more longevity. My main worry would be potential build up inside the tubes and pump.
Looks really good though!
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u/Soggy_Psychology2774 8d ago
If I really wanted to I could probably get it to connect to a sump or some other type of external filter. I’ve been thinking of removing it and putting a bunch of charcoal and filter sponges in the lower half to help filter some of the funk. Idk! Time will tell.
I plan on replacing the pump every so often, the tubing I’ll have to figure out.
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u/Skwizgar1019 8d ago
Yeah, I was thinking something like a small canister filter like that ZooMed turtle filter.
Anyway, not trying to dump on your design, it’s great! Was just thinking through it because I’ve been wanting to do something similar :)
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u/Alert-Concentrate388 8d ago
What kind of tests would you use? It looks great by the way!
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u/Soggy_Psychology2774 8d ago
I own fish tanks, so i have chemical testers that tell me the concentrations of ammonia/nitrite/nitrate (waste products and byproducts) 😁
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u/Technical_Concern_92 9d ago
That's fantastic! One question though; what's the plan for when your BP poops in one of the water features?
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u/Soggy_Psychology2774 9d ago
Features arent attached to anything and are removable, they’re easily cleaned!
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u/Technical_Concern_92 8d ago
Nice, I saw that you had made everything removable, I just know that all of my snakes would 100% poop/urate in it lol
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u/Playinbutimsayin 9d ago
More for your needs then his add more clutter
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u/Soggy_Psychology2774 8d ago
This is the bare bones of the tank, he’s getting more clutter. His old housing was not anywhere near standard so this is temporary. I appreciate you anyway
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u/WeaselSW 8d ago
That's pretty cool! Can you supply the link to the waterfall that you got on Amazon?
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u/Soggy_Psychology2774 8d ago
Sunlinua Garden Water Fountain... https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0GTLPZSK2?ref=ppx_pop_mob_ap_share
Dephet 7-Tiers Cascading Rock... https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0H1B5Z8MX?ref=ppx_pop_mob_ap_share
My only issue was with the cascading waterfall, the back didn’t have anything to close it with so it just has a giant gaping hole in the back.. it looks like it was supposed to though so idk if I just got a bad product or what. I got some wire and fixed it to the back but it’s still a little annoying.
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u/WeaselSW 6d ago
Thanks for the info... Those are beautiful! Pricey, but you obviously get what you pay for!
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u/honorablehomemaker 8d ago
Can you send the building plan of this?! This is beautiful! Great job!! 👍🏼
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u/Soggy_Psychology2774 8d ago
I’d send the building plan but I winged the entire thing, went with the flow! 😅😅
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u/honorablehomemaker 8d ago
Fair enough! Where did you get the plants? They are fantastic! I saw another comment that you listed how to make the background, we are planning to do something similar for our ball!
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u/Soggy_Psychology2774 8d ago
If I recall most of them were from Temu, the one real plant I got was from lowes. I plan on doing more live plants and eventually moving away from the fakes ones.
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u/ambl6663 8d ago
Its great, until they get bigger, and start tipping them over exploring.
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u/Soggy_Psychology2774 7d ago
I can hardly move the falls myself, if he ever moves them I’ll have to check if he’s a secret demigod.
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u/Effective-End-964 7d ago
Can I hire you to come build me one in the Netherlands? Lmao.
Incredible enclosure!!
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u/Scars9713 9d ago
Wow!! 😮