# Exo-Terra 45x45x60 Modification



## Big McCann (Sep 19, 2012)

*Heat lamp inside an Exo-Terra 45x45x60 Guide*

Hi everyone, so i developed this rough guide for people who wish to have a heat lamp inside of their exo-terra enclosure but have no idea how. There are plenty of other ways to go about this method, but i found this worked for me and that when i get a custom stack made in the future i will not have to worry about changing equipment or tanks etc.

Now i understand that people may have their doubts upon my methods and such, but i have my heat source in another tank with my leachianus gecko and he is 100% healthy, burn free and happy. So i can safely say it might work for you also :2thumb:

I DO NOT TAKE ANY RESPONSIBILTY FOR DAMAGES TO YOUR ENCLOSURE OR ANIMAL. K? :2thumb:

Stage 1: i first cut two short stripes of wood, around 6 or 7 inchs. These are the pieces which will allow attachment for the lamp cage to the tank.









Stage 2: I then painted the wood black with some ordinary black acrylic so that it looked stylish and fitted the look of the tank.









Stage 3: I then took the top of the tank off of the exo terra. (You can reattach and attach the top of exo terra's as many times as you like FYI) then got a drill with a small bit, and made fours holes VERY slowly so that it did not damage the mesh. 

I then put the piece's of wood underneath the mesh, and then made pilot holes through each of the holes in the mesh so that the screws would not split the wood on the way in. After that simply line the cage up to the holes, and screw them all in and BAM! It is attached. 

You also want to finally make a hole in the center so that the wire for the lamp can be threaded through. (If that makes sense) 









Stage 4: I then Finally just re attached the top to the Exo-terra and then made sure the temperatures were running okay.

















Reason why i choose a large looking cage for the lamp, was so that there was room for the lamp to "breathe" and that if the reptile did climb onto the cage (which my leachie does every night) then there is very little chance of the reptile getting burnt due to the space between the lamp and the cage. 

This is my opinion, and it has worked for me and can work for any other reptile IMO. 
I hope this is explained clearly enough for people to understand.

So i hope this can guide people roughly in the direction they want to go, any questions post them up here or ask me directly. 

Thanks again folks and all the best.

Ryan

:welcome:


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## RhacodactyBoy (Jun 19, 2011)

looks good  nice mod


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## Big McCann (Sep 19, 2012)

mroberts531 said:


> looks good  nice mod


Cheers mate!


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## reptiles-ink (Nov 4, 2006)

I would have had both ends of the wood resting on the plastic as the mesh can fall out when supporting any weight.


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## mrhoyo (Mar 29, 2007)

reptiles-ink said:


> I would have had both ends of the wood resting on the plastic as the mesh can fall out when supporting any weight.


I was thinking the same.

Sent from my Nexus 7 using Tapatalk HD


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## Big McCann (Sep 19, 2012)

Good thought guys, should not be hard to change. Dopey me :bash:

Watch this space, i shall upload the changes to this thread when i get it all set up.


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## Big McCann (Sep 19, 2012)

Big McCann said:


> Hi everyone, so i developed this rough guide for people who wish to have a heat lamp inside of their exo-terra enclosure but have no idea how. There are plenty of other ways to go about this method, but i found this worked for me and that when i get a custom stack made in the future i will not have to worry about changing equipment or tanks etc.
> 
> Now i understand that people may have their doubts upon my methods and such, but i have my heat source in another tank with my leachianus gecko and he is 100% healthy, burn free and happy. So i can safely say it might work for you also :2thumb:
> 
> ...


Important Notice

This is now the edit to the guide which i did, due to the great suggestions and insight into the modification. Thanks again you guys for pointing out this flaw and saving any real damages to the project.

Anyways, the original guide at the top stated to attach the wood to the mesh, but i was wrong as the mesh may fail to support the weight over time and thus fall or split. So here is what i re-done.

I simply measured two more small pieces of wood, and in my case they had to measure 8 and half inch's to fit the top properly.

Basically, by re-positioning them long ways and then making them rest on the plastic parts of the tank instead, this took the weight off the mesh. I had to use slightly longer screws, but at the end of the day it was not too hard to re-do. 

Hope this all makes sense folks and thanks again.


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