My Intricate collection cabinets build

[Ceymann]

So, before anyone chimes in saying this is all unessasary -
I am obligated to keep my collection in a sort of secure cabinet due to having an inquisitive "semi aboreal" Bengal cat, I also keep my place at 68°f year round - which is likely fine for nearly any T- however I want to provide the most naturalistic environment for the animals in my care, I also may start a few breeding projects in the near future and temperature modulation can help with certain species.

I got these two 41" x 36" x16" metal storage cabinets with wire mesh doors to start modifying into my ideal T collection display cabinets. I chose metal because I sometimes worry about the different chemical treatments used in new cheaper composite "assemble yourself" stuff sold these days, I also worried about longevity with possible moisture/ humidity exposure.
Ventilation:
The mesh doors will help with ventilation but I'm going to go further than that by drilling holes in the back and installing variable speed 120mm computer fans that will be able to run intermittently/ as needed on a spare aquarium controller/ computer I have.

Heat:
This I know is something that can end in disaster if not done safely, so Im going to have multiple redundancies in place.
I'm putting a few panels of flexwatt heat tape on the outside of the back panels, I not sure where would be best - lower or higher? Middle? I know the cabinet being metal it should conduct heat fairly well so I'm going to be conservative- (I'd love input from someone who has experience using flex watt/ heat tape in reptile applications on their recommendations on placement)
I'm going to be controlling the heat tape
via an inkbird thermostat that's also plugged into my aquarium computer to offer two levels of safety- as well as being able to program in if/ then statements- it's wifi capable and can alert me and be controlled remotely.

The controller- I manage a large marine aquaculture facility/ coral farm that utilizes these computer controllers for a lot of our equipment, it's called a Neptune Apex, while it's made for aquariums I can easily adapt it to run these cabinets,
I can program in seasonal changes in lighting and temperature if I want, have it run fans intermittently or at certain temperatures etc etc
I can monitor and view parameters in real time remotely on the app (screenshot pictured) and setup safeties/ redundancies as needed

I know it's completely unessasary and extreme but I have one sitting in a box in storage, thousand dollar piece of equipment doing nothing, might as well utilize it right?

Again, I would love some input from people who have done their own collection cabinets, or someone experienced with using heat tape for reptiles/ snake racks for some tips on placement.

Overall please give me your input, critiques and ideas!

Where I am at so far:

http://imgur.com/a/3Sa0qLx

 

[Wolfram1]

@l4nsky this seems like a project right up your alley, any ideas?

 

[Ultum4Spiderz]

Very nice although I use larger racks for adult Ts .

 

[kingshockey]

depending on how your cat is dont forget about using flex tubing or some other cord protection for the wires anything new must and will be checked out

 

[l4nsky]

My recommendation is to get the heat installed and test from there before making any other modifications (unfortunately, I don't have any experience installing heat tape as of yet).

With the cool ambient air of 68°F, solid shelves, and entire wall of ventilation, I don't think you'll need any fans or any additional ventilation. I think you might struggle to consistently achieve mid to upper 70's ambient without modifying the doors.

 

[TheraMygale]

Coral aquaculture facility manager

i doubt your doubts are rational at this point.

you read what is to read.

Youre overthinking the cat.

i like how you are making sure cat is not an issue.

id hate not seeing my tarantalas.

im sure you could eventualy have a better set up.

You can easily set up ultraflerm, or heat cables, if you need too.

it depends on your goals. How many you want to breed. If youve bred none yet, it would be realistic to breed one species, with success before investing 1k.

if you have a dedicated room, you cant do better then space heater.

otherwise,

 

[Ceymann]

Coral aquaculture facility manager

i doubt your doubts are rational at this point.

you read what is to read.

Youre overthinking the cat.

i like how you are making sure cat is not an issue.

id hate not seeing my tarantalas.

im sure you could eventualy have a better set up.

You can easily set up ultraflerm, or heat cables, if you need too.

it depends on your goals. How many you want to breed. If youve bred none yet, it would be realistic to breed one species, with success before investing 1k.

if you have a dedicated room, you cant do better then space heater.

otherwise,

Not sure I'm understanding the first bit....

I can see the tarantulas just fine, they are in the cabinet behind some wire mesh is all.

Not sure if it counts, but in highschool ~2002 I worked at an exotic pet store and I took home 3 x WC Avicularia Avicularia to keep cohabbed in my 37gal terrarium/ vivarium and a few months down the road one dropped a sac on me, I let the mom keep the sac and kind of let it all happen on its own, I tore up the terrarium and pulled them when they started wondering off the sac/ web as I was paranoid of them finding a way out, 3rd instar if I remember correctly. I believe I had 50 or 60 slings that I gave back to the store I worked at, they were practically giving them away as back then nobody wanted baby tarantulas, in the US at least.

1000$?, maybe you misunderstood, I already have the $1000 controller sitting in storage/ doing nothing, it's from my old reef aquarium so the controller is free essentially.

I'm interested in possibly starting out giving it a go with H. pulchripes or maybe C. Versicolor, either that or balfouri, I'd make sure I have someone/ vendor lined up to take the slings off my hands for a percentage of current wholesale price, I'm absolutely not trying to make a financial gain doing this, but look at it as more of a challenge/ achievement.

 

[TheraMygale]

Not sure I'm understanding the first bit....

I can see the tarantulas just fine, they are in the cabinet behind some wire mesh is all.

Not sure if it counts, but in highschool ~2002 I worked at an exotic pet store and I took home 3 x WC Avicularia Avicularia to keep cohabbed in my 37gal terrarium/ vivarium and a few months down the road one dropped a sac on me, I let the mom keep the sac and kind of let it all happen on its own, I tore up the terrarium and pulled them when they started wondering off the sac/ web as I was paranoid of them finding a way out, 3rd instar if I remember correctly. I believe I had 50 or 60 slings that I gave back to the store I worked at, they were practically giving them away as back then nobody wanted baby tarantulas, in the US at least.

1000$?, maybe you misunderstood, I already have the $1000 controller sitting in storage/ doing nothing, it's from my old reef aquarium so the controller is free essentially.

I'm interested in possibly starting out giving it a go with H. pulchripes or maybe C. Versicolor, either that or balfouri, I'd make sure I have someone/ vendor lined up to take the slings off my hands for a percentage of current wholesale price, I'm absolutely not trying to make a financial gain doing this, but look at it as more of a challenge/ achievement.

With those species you will not make profit. But, with the right dealer you could make ends meet.

i withdraw from adding more information at this point.

 

[Ceymann]

My recommendation is to get the heat installed and test from there before making any other modifications (unfortunately, I don't have any experience installing heat tape as of yet).

With the cool ambient air of 68°F, solid shelves, and entire wall of ventilation, I don't think you'll need any fans or any additional ventilation. I think you might struggle to consistently achieve mid to upper 70's ambient without modifying the doors.

That's the plan as you can see I have two cabinets, Im going to rig everything up on the empty one first to beta test everything. I temporarily have a oscillating floor fan on the opposite side of the room that runs for 10min every hour as the only ventilation for the cabinet as currently it's only ventilation is just the mesh doors and I feel air movement maybe a little stagnant without
as I definitely like my aboreals, I'd feel a little better if I had the option to intermittently get some air movement in the cabinets without needing a floor fan in my living room.

Yeah I have considered that, I could definitely block some of the mesh with acrylic panes, or remove the mesh and replace with glass of need be.
Biggest thing I'm trying to figure out is where to mount the heat tape panels on the back, I'm thinking low ? Heat rises? But then the whole thing is made of metal ? Would it matter? I'm just not sure yet so I'm going to play around with the empty one first.
Thanks for your input!

 

[Ceymann]

With those species you will not make profit. But, with the right dealer you could make ends meet.

i withdraw from adding more information at this point.

Well, like I said at the end of my reply, I not looking to make any financial gain, totally not the point of trying, heck I'd be happy to get enough back just to cover some crickets/ feeders lol

Thank you for your contributions.
Cheers

 

[Brewser]

Keeping Everyone safe and secure is top priority for sure.
Glass Cabinets are both secure and visually pleasing.

 

[Ceymann]

Whelp, I was considering that using an elaborate computer/ controller was maybe a bit too much and overkill...........
But I already went and dug it out of storage so that train has left the station.
Let's do this!

http://imgur.com/a/W1hxABz

 

[Ceymann]

Got the vent holes for fans drilled and heat tape panel installed on the test cabinet and current, not going to plug in the heat tape that's on the occupied cabinet until the controller is fully setup and dialed in

http://imgur.com/a/F2sDaCX

 

[l4nsky]

That's the plan as you can see I have two cabinets, Im going to rig everything up on the empty one first to beta test everything. I temporarily have a oscillating floor fan on the opposite side of the room that runs for 10min every hour as the only ventilation for the cabinet as currently it's only ventilation is just the mesh doors and I feel air movement maybe a little stagnant without
as I definitely like my aboreals, I'd feel a little better if I had the option to intermittently get some air movement in the cabinets without needing a floor fan in my living room.

Yeah I have considered that, I could definitely block some of the mesh with acrylic panes, or remove the mesh and replace with glass of need be.
Biggest thing I'm trying to figure out is where to mount the heat tape panels on the back, I'm thinking low ? Heat rises? But then the whole thing is made of metal ? Would it matter? I'm just not sure yet so I'm going to play around with the empty one first.
Thanks for your input!

Couple of things here just as a quick observation.

• IMHO, the heat panel will need to go inside. They're not the most efficient things already, you're losing half of the heat it is producing to the outside air by mounting it outside, and there's probably not enough wattage there in comparison to the amount of metal for the heating to behave how you think it will.
• The solid shelves are going to impede airflow, which will impede heat distribution. As it is with the solid shelves and side ventilation, they will almost completely isolate each shelf as it's own environment, each requiring it's own heat source if you want to ensure they all get over ambient as the heat isn't going to rise through them, it's going to escape out the front.

I'm not sure what tools you have available, your level of expertise, or your budget, but if this were my project, I would:

• Throw some plexiglass over the wire to contain the heated air and use active ventilation (ie fan to pull the air out positioned at top) as over-temp protection (ie set the controller to turn on at 85 and off at 80 or something like that)
• Turn those shelves into swiss cheese by drilling enough holes to ensure cross level ventilation without losing structural integrity or just swap them out for wire shelves.
• Build a false wall in the back with a 2" - 4" gap to house the heat panel and probes. Essentially, you're building an air plenum where you can more efficiently heat the air coming in from the outside and then use one of your fans to pull the heated air through to the display area from the bottom of the false wall and then let that heat rise up through your shelves.
• Use a pulse proportional thermostat for the heat source instead of an on/off thermostat to avoid temp swings.
• Consider installing a PVC downtube through the shelves with a fan to gently blow the heated air from the top back down to the bottom for better air circulation. I'm not a big fan of the "have every shelf as a different zone" approach (top shelf enclosures dry out faster and require more touches per week than others) and prefer a consistent temp at both the top shelf and bottom shelf, which is only possible with a lot of air turnover.

 

[Ceymann]

You bring up some some excellent points to consider and I very well maybe remounting the heat panels inside, the shelves do have quite a bit of gap on them backside wide ~1", I might eventually apply acrylic and remove the wire as when I purchased these cabinets I didn't want to have to install additional ventilation but it has gone past that now lol,
I'm still curious on how the heat will travel through a metal cabinet, if it was wood, mounting on the outside would be pointless but I figured with it being metal/ much more heat conductive that it might warm the entire cabinet.

I'm not really looking to push the heat too high, I'd be happy if the enclosures inside reach and maintain 75°f while my homes thermostat can stay set at 68-69, so when I have some more free time next weekend I'm going to start running the heat elements on the beta test cabinet.

Thank you very much for your input and expertise!

 

[Ceymann]

Decided to change the unoccupied beta test cabinet to mounting the heat pads inside the cabinet and got the fans and their directional shrouds to assist in cross flow ventilation installed, definitely has a temperature gradient from the back but overall I can run the heat mats much lower and keep ambient temps of the entire cabinet much higher with less wattage.

http://imgur.com/a/lzc3oRc

 

[Ceymann]

My collection cabinets are now fully automated, capable of controlling/ alarms/ monitoring/ data logging remotely via wifi. I can program it gradually change temperatures automatically depending on time of day, or even time of year, also can set to gradually change photoperiod/ tmp throughout the year to simulate seasons. It has numerous temperature emergency cut offs, if temps get too hot, it cuts power to the thermostats and fans will run continuously instead of intermittently, plus it will send me an notification/ alert on my phone. All I need to do is get an expansion module to add a temp probe for the left empty cabinet when it gets new occupants.
Overkill? Nah!

http://imgur.com/a/YJp7J2V

http://imgur.com/a/oXaYzBb

 

[Ceymann]

Finally have both my automated/heated/ lit cabinets 100% completed, have the seasonal tables loaded into the computer controller to gradually modulate temperature and photoperiod throughout the year to simulate seasonal cycles. Hilariously unnecessary, but why not ?

http://imgur.com/a/v6N3HU8