Building a terarium

[HiJinx]

After going thru some of the DIY projects I am debating on building a terrarium (bad spelling).
Has anyone taking on this task?
If so any suggestions? tips? Ideas? Helpful pointers?
Am looking at size being 3 ft long by 2.5 wide by 2.5 high (this way I dont need to climb a chair and stand on a table to get access)

stand would be a heavy duty table
base will be wooden then not sure if glass is better or 1/4 in plexi-glass is better..

thanks for help in advance

[HiJinx]

The table itself is 4 ft long by 2 ft 9 in wide ... dang!
so the new hermie home will measure 4ft long x 2 ft 4 wide...
talk about an early winter project.. Looking to start accumulating things between now and october and get started when I return from Ohio.
I will make sure to take pics as I go. Should be interesting.

[wodesorel]

That sounds like a really fun build! You should probably add doors for access so you can give them some height while still being able to clean it easily. You could even do them at either end rather than in the front. I've got a three-foot tall tank, and I wish I could give them more vertical climbing space as they love going up, but I couldn't imagine having to get in there from the top on a daily basis!

[HiJinx]

I was thinking about that last night... I was going thru some of the archives and looking at what was done with an old glass shelving unit where they had made caves and what not on the back and this terrium was the focal point of their living room and the cats were loving it. ..
then last night thinking.. how am I gonna get into this... since it would be almost same size as the table it will be sitting on...
I do like the idea of extra doors. I am also wandering about on the front not sure this is explainable .. the glass come up maybe the 1st foot, then doors like on a cupboard to open/close that would also make it nice?? thoughts... I am still in planning stages...
in the stages of planning you can come up with millions of scenarios but the final product,,, you want it to be ... ya' know...
I am giving the 2 ft height ..... now ya got me thinking....dang I just went and measured... current 55 gal is only 21 tall so 24 in is nothing... hmmmpf. I say 3 ft...
these little guys are not gonna know what to do... this is gonna be fun LOL
any idea how I would even tabulate how big this setup would be in gallon? frame would be guesstimate 4x3x3.

[CrabbyIrene]

Wow! 4'x3'x3' is 269 gallons! Please post pics & such from start to finish of your build, that is awesome that you can do this! Good luck & definitely keep us posted.

[HiJinx]

holy canoli that would definately hold 13 dont ya think?
currently 2 are molting they are mediums figures the one I think who needs to mold... mr hercules who is missing pieces from his pinchers doesnt go down... grrr... and the one with the cracked shell (he is the reason and a story in itself, do not give a crab to a 2 yr old) my other 2 are also med.. I think all of mine are mediums in comparison to many pics I have seen.. When I get to Ohio in about a month I have 8 more waiting on me, my daughter has told mev one of the little ones has gone down to molt... she has 2 xl, 2 large, 3 med and 1 small, I think that was the break down... I have seen pics and do know there are a couple that will fit in the palm of your hand... so the ultimate goal would be to house all 13 and 2 tree frogs in this enclosure, set up the 55 as an actual aquarium and keep my 20 as iso.

[HiJinx]

ok if this works... I think I got the picture thing down, if not I have a link...
ok I atleast got setup on image shack with all hermie pics and pics of the table that I will be using

http://imageshack.us/photo/my-images/84 ... small.jpg/
http://imageshack.us/photo/my-images/88 ... small.jpg/