Terrarium Stand

[niels]

This is my first welding project. I wanted an easy and achievable project to start out with.

My wife has 3 tortoises that needed a place to stay indoors this winter. I ended up buying a second hand aquarium, stripped it, cleaned it and built a stand for it.

Because we also have young children, spare time is limited and I ended up spending a couple of nights over the span of 3 weeks to build it. I did use some reclaimed wood for the shelf and the decoration.

This is a picture my wife did send me this morning after moving the tortoises from their temporary indoor housing to their new winter home.

Remarks:

1. The hollow log will be removed when I've finished a larger "shelter" as the one I've made is too small for the three of them to dig in during the night.
2. The plexiglass covering is too thin (2 mm) and it sags a bit. I did cut some frames from 3 mm multiplex to glue on top of it to make it stronger, but I need to glue the pieces together. I'll replace the 2 mm plexi with 4 mm plexi later on.

Overall I'm proud of the result, but there are a few mistakes (that a novice won't notice).

I'll post a few more detailed pictures when I'm at home during the day.

- Niels

 

[Sarto]

Hi Niels.
Nice project.

Is the wood on the lower shelf painted?

Have a nice day.

 

[winchman]

Nice work especially for a first project, its great to make this sort of thing

 

[slim_boy_fat]

Because we also have young children

Nice job!!

Just a thought, how old are your children? Are they beyond the stage of trying to get higher to see the pets by stepping on the shelf and pulling themselves up? Even if told/warned not to, kids will be kids....

Any way you can secure the unit to a wall or the floor to prevent this?

 

[niels]

Hi Niels.
Nice project.

Is the wood on the lower shelf painted?

Have a nice day.

I did put a few coats of varnish on it to protect it from spilled water. It's reclaimed wood that I quickly ran over the planet, so it's not a perfect job.

Nice work especially for a first project, its great to make this sort of thing

Yes, very satisfying! I wanted to be able to weld for years, but I've always put other things ahead. Now that I did bought a welder I'll be churning out a few more of these little projects in the future.

Nice job!!

... Even if told/warned not to, kids will be kids....

Any way you can secure the unit to a wall or the floor to prevent this?

I had thought about safety (especially after viewing a documentary about IKEA furniture killing kids).

The youngest one is almost 2 years and he's part of the reason that I wanted to put the terrarium at a height. The other one stood on the floor and so it happened that a tortoise was stroked a little too enthusiastically and ended upside down.

The stand will be moved to a better spot that is childproof.

- Niels