Hello everybody! My name is Kevin, I’m the creator and owner of Engineered4Herps. My goal is to use my foundation as a mechanical engineer to develop products that help make keepers and animals lives better. Right now, my focus is on providing an easy way to mount UVB fixtures to terrarium screens, and my fixture stands are available on Etsy (link below). I’m always happy to work with breeders to equip their collection, and I’m looking to expand my reach through new dealers as well.
I’m searching for input on what challenges other keepers are facing; I’d like to expand my scope and develop more products that focus on improving animal husbandry and simplifying the keeping experience. My collection consists exclusively of New Caledonia geckos, so I’m very interested in working with keepers who specialize in other species.
If you have challenges that you are interested in discussing, or you’re a breeder/retailer interested in learning more about my light holding solutions, please reach out and I’d be happy to have a conversation with you!
Rack system for reptiles that Is user and animal safe and friendly that suits low income budgets and businesses that are just starting out would be a HUGE win.
Also water bowl hides made specifically for larger reptiles and snakes.
Completely constructed reptile enclosures complete with lights and heat. Jeff Runne, The Boaphile breeder, used to make these. I bought 4 enclosures from him and all I had to do was plug them in. I need another one but I don’t want to have to put it together when I get it because I don’t know my way around a screwdriver! Lol!
I second this, preferably stackable and affordable. Some friends and I were joking that we need to start lobbying sterilite to build affordable large snake enclosures
I have some ideas about this, the up front costs may be high but I agree that there’s a massive gap for affordable large enclosures. Even more surprising is that the big brands don’t offer all-in-one lighting/heating solutions, which is definitely something I think a lot of keepers could benefit from.
Something like a sterilite bin in the 50-100 gallon range that’s modular would be amazing. If it could be stackable, adapable for both over head/belly heat, and include ways to easily snap in ledges/perches for more arboreal species, as well as have enough floor spaces for terrestrial species. Lightweight would be a plus as well.
I realize it’s a big ask, but there’s a massive gap in the market for breeders/keepers who want to have species like ball pythons in larger, more enriched enclosures but can’t feasibly buy a $400 PVC for each
I will caution here that as an animal gets larger then the likelihood of them being able to flip the bowl increases by an order of magnitude. Might not be a huge thing to clean up a dog-bowl’s worth of water every couple days, but imagine having to clean five or more gallons of water out of your cage.
Oh… And also, how well sealed are your cages? Because a couple gallons seeping out onto your floor could really ruin your day
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I am going to push back on this a little…
If I had a nickle for every time I have heard someone say they cannot afford the $400 cage but then they go out and drop $400 (or more) on another ball… I would be able to buy enough $400 cages to house every single ball I own AND have a surplus available for future use.
This falls in to my perpetual lecture on the damaging mentality of this hobby pushing hard that the only way to be legitimate is if you breed
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Easy mount casings with guards for fan units to help facilitate air circulation inside the cage
I’d love, in a range of sizes and cleanable material without 3D printing grooves, some round hides that have an open bottom but also a jar lid top so one can visual-check on the snake inside without lifting their entire hide off them and digging them out of their nice warm nap.
I say ‘open bottom’ because with an under tank warm pad, I have current coconut hides open side down on the substrate, with a thermostat probe inside so I can know what temp the animal is experiencing. A close bottom can over insulate and keep the animal from being able to feel the warmth and have a “warm den” as one of their options. That’s just a thing I do, and I’d love the right hides for it.
This is cool! I’m glad there’s some cool niches for specific degrees to get involved in bettering the hobby. I purchased a 3D printed ‘litterbox area’ from Etsy for my leopard gecko and couldn’t be happier with it. I’d love to be able to support more small businesses with novel ideas and get away from box store stuff just bc it is accessible.
I think building on the Python Portal idea from specialty enclosure designs dot com (no spaces) would be good. Even vacuum formed or injection molded grow up cages, ways to convert the top of the Python Portal tubs easily for humid or more arid setups, lights, overhead heat etc.
Cost effective caging is huge. Many of us just want to have animals in something effective, light, and cheap. The animal doesn’t care how it looks, only how it functions (that includes behaviour and enrichment of course.) I feel similar. As long as it’s front opening and meets their needs, I’m good lol. Especially for grow up, temporary enclosures, but still. Glass is expensive to do front opening it seems, especially for larger sizes, but 1/4in PVC even seems a bit overkill. Something could be thinner with supports and cheaper.
I got a EcoFlex 4x2x2 which is great, tho missing a substrate barrier and only comes with a 85% mesh top. Wish I had something better to cover it since it’s for a Colombian Boa. That could prob be solves with a 3D printer on my end tho, I do know they are popular cages (I want the small one for my leopard gecko lol)
Anyway, this is my brain vomiting as I do believe there are holes in the market for this stuff. I don’t mind using 120-200qt tubs for my animals, even for adults, but it’d be nice to have options for converting or transferring at a similar price.
I’m sure I’ll think of more stuff, but lastly - Welcome and Good Luck!!!
Large hides! large hides! large hides! (And water bowls) Holy moly i am SO tired of seeing adult snakes in small, hideless enclosures with nothing but substrate and a dinky little doggy water bowl. An animal’s husbandry should not have to tank to near-rock bottom once it grows up. Boa imperators are in the top 3 most popular snakes in America after balls and corns. But for some reason there is no product for them after like 3-4 years of life.
Not having adequate functional enrichment available has dragged down quality of life for larger snakes overall in my opinion. And tbh there’s no excuse, i made hides for my adult Dumerils and he can fit his whole body in there. He spends most of his time in them now. He’s so much happier and all it cost me was a trip to the store, $20, and about 45 minutes of my life with a pair of scissors.
Oh and speaking of hides, here’s a mark that I’ll bet you didn’t know needs to be hit: hides for blood pythons. Specifically, young blood pythons. (Tho I’m sure some current adult designs aren’t very friendly to older short tails either.) I’ve found that on those black, easy to clean hides, smaller sizes that would otherwise be appropriate have entrances that are too narrow for a heavy bodied snake to use. It’s more akin to a colubrid or a young bp. So, wide mouth blackout hides for heavy bodied snakes at all ages especially younger ones.
All this talk of hides reminded me of another one I would like to see - arboreal hides. Something specifically designed to be easily mounted to the ceiling of a cage but is also easily removable so it can be cleaned when needed. As opposed to just jury-rigging a ground hide
And on the topic of arboreal things, I would also love to see naturalistic looking basking ledges in various sizes. Things like polypores or the crook/fork of a tree or rock ledges. Heck, even something like a Monstera leaf would be cool for some species. Something more than just a bland, boring flat shelf
