» Reptile room For my reptiles I have prepared a seperate room measuring 3,5 x 2,5 meters. At the short side is a window that`s facing north. This way a fair amount of daylight enters the room, but never direct sunlight. The rack and terrariums are made by a company specialized in constructing vivariums. The rack is made of anodised aluminium with a formica finishing. The gallery contains some pictures of the construction of the herp-room. Against the left wall a rack holding 10 vivariums, in 2 rows is placed. The terrariums on the top shelf measure 50x55x89 cm(LxWxH), the ones in the lower shelf measure 50x55x70 cm. left hand side of the room On the right hand side a smaller rack in 3 rows is placed. This rack holds 6 terrariums of 40x45x45 cm each. Besides this, smaller terrariums for raising juveniles are placed on shelves. Right hand side of the room, small rack and terrariums for raising juveniles

"helicopterview" Rack detail To prevent the herp-room from becoming damp I installed mechanical ventialation using a pc-fan. This fan runs for 15 minutes every 3 hours and 15 minutes/hour on hot days. The fan expels warm air from inside. The average temperature in the room is 20-24 °C at daytime and 15 to 19 °C at night. On cold winterdays the room is heated using central heating. In the summer the room is additionallly ventilated using a big fan. Only on very hot days the lightning is turned off. This way, the room temperature doesn`t exceed 30 °C.

» Technics lighting Decent lighting is crucial in keeping diurnal animals. My terrariums are well lighted using fluorescent tubes (T8). All lights and are placed outside the terrariums. I mainly use tubes from Osram (lumilux 840 and 865). The 865 produce a bright white light while the 840 produce a 'warmer' kind of light. lightning scheme large rack As shown on the picture above, I use 6 T8 tubes of 36 watts for each row in the big rack. The lighting in the small rack consists of 2 T8 tubes of 18 watts for each row. I use electronic ballasts for most tubes. Electronic ballasts start and operate quieter, with no flickering and increased efficiency in light output with less energy consumption than traditional ballasts. detail ligthing of small rack The ballast for the tubes is fixed to a small board of plywood and is placed on top of the rack, avoiding overheating and the electronics are easy accessible. traditional ballast T8 tubes

heating of the terrariums Above the ventilation slit of each viv a plain lightbulb (E14) is placed for additional heating. Styropor plates are fixed between the aluminium profiles of the rack covering the inside of the lighthood. This material reflects light very well and also serves as insulation. plain lightbulbs serve as sun-spot As additional heating a small fans are placed on top of the ventilationscreen on the terrariums in the lower shelf. The fan blows hot air from the lighthood into the terrarium and only run for a few hours during winter. small fan ventilation lighthood Both end-sides of the lighthood are made of perforated aluminium. This prevents overheating of the terrariums. During hot days the slide panels of the lighthood can be opened. rack-detail, perforated aluminium finishing for ventilation

» Terrariums The terrariums made entirely out of (German) floatglass. The glass panes of the big (50x55x90) terrariums are 6 mm. wereas the smaller terrariums are made out of 4 mm glass panes. ll terrariums are equiped with two divided front doors whose glass panes are running in E-profiles. front-side terrarium ventilation Good ventilation is very important for keeping Anoles and Phelsuma. In damp terrariums, bacteria and fungi thrive, causing all kinds of health problems. All terrariums have a ventilation slit along the entire front and 1/3 of the top is covered with stainless steel gaze (mesh 0,5 mm). terrariums for juveniles For raising juveniles I have several small terrariums. These terrariums are also entirely made out of glas and also have ventilation slits. The smallest terrariums measure 70x20x25 and are divided in 4 or 5 compartments.

small terrarium for raising juveniles lighting and heating the small terrariums The terrariums are both heated and lighted using a 18 watt T8 tube. As lighthood a use a piece of PVC-gutter covered with aluminium-foil (for light reflection). simple 'lighthood' made out of PVC gutter