New crested grow out enclosure, 20 gallon corner terrarium all diy background with a hide/ viewing hole through the back glass made out of a black plastic gutter end.
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As someone who hopes to build their own enclosures in the future, this thread is getting BOOKMARKED, great idea for a topic!
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Loving this thread!
I’m going to buy a big ISH enclosure later this year and I’m so excited to do it.
Loving the pics so far 
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Has anyone lurking in this thread build the actual enclosure DIY style? I’d love to try that in the future and have some videos saved, but you guys always have great advice.
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I have built one and literally just started building a 4 foot by 4 foot by 18ish inch outdoor warm weather enclosure for Potato today. The first didn’t turn out to great but it works ok. The one I am making now I am just going for something that will last me 3-4 years but is very secure. I think SerpaDesign style enclosures are the best for indoor use as they are simple but very functional.
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I’ll share my enclosures! The first two were old fish tanks that I DIY’ed into vertical vivariums, and all three have backgrounds that I made. They are all bioactive with springtails and isopods.
First, here’s a 20gH that I converted into a vivarium. I 3d printed parts that would allow me to attach a piece of glass on a hinge to use as the door. There are little ventilation holes on top and bottom and a fan to get air moving and prevent the glass from fogging up. Here’s a link to the files for the conversion kit on Thingiverse if anyone is interested. I didn’t design this kit, but I did resize/alter the files so I could do the same thing with a 10g.
This is an older picture from July 2023, taken a couple weeks after I set it up. I didn’t have any recent pics lol. I’m still working on it and trying to get plants and everything thriving/covering the way I want, but it’s a process : )
I also did a similar thing with a 10g tank (I 3d printed the conversion parts to turn it into a vertical vivarium). However instead of a fan (because it was annoying and clunky to solder to a power supply lol) I just included a few centimeters of mesh at the top. I’ve found this works well as far as providing enough ventilation without causing me big humidity issues. This is also a picture from July, so the plants have grown in quite a bit since then and I’ve added more/changed a couple out that weren’t doing well.
And finally here’s my first and oldest vivarium, an 18"x18"x18" put together June 2022. This pic is from a couple weeks after I set it up, and I’m realizing that I need to take some updated pictures of my vivariums! But it’s still going strong today, though of course it looks a bit different as I adapted things to better suit some of the pickier plants.
@cmills While I didn’t DIY any of these enclosures from scratch, I thought the process of converting from a standard tank to a vertical vivarium was close enough to talk about it! And like @logar mentioned, SerpaDesign has a ton of great info–I pretty much just followed what I saw Tanner was doing in his videos in order to make my backgrounds.
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Thank you! And luckily I am already an avid part of the SerpaSquad so its good to know other people think those videos are a great source of info!
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Another thing is don’t go into building an enclosure expecting for it to turn out perfect right off the bat. If you do, then you will be disappointed and become discouraged from doing it in the future. That is what happened with me. I went into it thinking it would be absolutely perfect and it didn’t. From now on, I go into it trying to make something that is going to last for X years. I try to make it as nice as possible but this way, even if it doesn’t turn out great, then I will know that I am going to replace it anyway. If it turns out amazing, that is great. If it doesn’t then just replace it later on. then you can give away any of the enclosures you don’t love for free and be able to make someone’s day. That is at least how I like to think about it anyway.
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Wow this is soooo amazing 
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They love them. Sometimes they don’t use their hides. They hide in the plants. 2 ball pythons, female pastel 1 1/2 old, male regular 6 months. They love to climb. Sometimes hanging out on vines just chilling.
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This is going to probably be the last update for a little while but here is todays total progress
I go the door/top opening done along with the “locks”
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I’m so excited to see this thing done eventually, using you for examples of things I could manage myself!
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Obviously not an enclosure or background but here is a diy snake hook I threw together after realizing that I lost my current hook and am too broke to buy a new one. I am pretty happy with how it turned out. I love it so much more than the metal one I had. The old one was great but I just love how much more “naturey” it looks
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I genuinely cannot wait to see this thing as it progresses, thank you for posting updates!
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