# Stacking vivs of different brands



## LizardBrain (Aug 19, 2019)

A couple of weeks ago I bought a 3 foot wooden Monkfield vivarium which I plan to set up on top of one of their cabinets when the next pay check comes in. Today, I inherited a ton of old equipment from my aunt, whose kids briefly flirted with keeping reptiles when they had a stowaway from Greece come back in their suitcase, as well as later deciding to keep a leopard gecko. Among the stuff she gave me was a 60x30x45 Komodo glass vivarium, which was presumably the leo's house.

Thing is, I have a somewhat limited space to fit these vivs into and what I want to know is, can the Monkfield, with cabinet, take the weight of the Komodo viv on top? It's only 10kg but I'm concerned because the Komodo is smaller and therefore all the weight is bearing down on the middle of the wooden viv below, rather than spreading the pressure over the strongest points of the wooden top. Does anyone have any experience with this? The last thing I want is to assume it'll be fine, only to find a few months down the road that the Monkfield is starting to bow under the weight. Not to mention potentially causing the cabinet to collapse, or the glass front to implode.

Thanks!


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## Zincubus (Sep 6, 2010)

LizardBrain said:


> A couple of weeks ago I bought a 3 foot wooden Monkfield vivarium which I plan to set up on top of one of their cabinets when the next pay check comes in. Today, I inherited a ton of old equipment from my aunt, whose kids briefly flirted with keeping reptiles when they had a stowaway from Greece come back in their suitcase, as well as later deciding to keep a leopard gecko. Among the stuff she gave me was a 60x30x45 Komodo glass vivarium, which was presumably the leo's house.
> 
> 
> 
> ...




I’ve stacked vivs for years and years with zero issues at all as regards weight .. if you’re a worrier like me you can always jam a length of wood on the back wall of the lower viv ..in a central position..

The only issues you are likely to get is the heat transfer ... moving up ^

It means having the heat lamps/pads under the same end .

Ideally get one of these for about £8 off eBay 











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## Tortoise Man (Nov 29, 2010)

LizardBrain said:


> A couple of weeks ago I bought a 3 foot wooden Monkfield vivarium which I plan to set up on top of one of their cabinets when the next pay check comes in. Today, I inherited a ton of old equipment from my aunt, whose kids briefly flirted with keeping reptiles when they had a stowaway from Greece come back in their suitcase, as well as later deciding to keep a leopard gecko. Among the stuff she gave me was a 60x30x45 Komodo glass vivarium, which was presumably the leo's house.
> 
> Thing is, I have a somewhat limited space to fit these vivs into and what I want to know is, can the Monkfield, with cabinet, take the weight of the Komodo viv on top? It's only 10kg but I'm concerned because the Komodo is smaller and therefore all the weight is bearing down on the middle of the wooden viv below, rather than spreading the pressure over the strongest points of the wooden top. Does anyone have any experience with this? The last thing I want is to assume it'll be fine, only to find a few months down the road that the Monkfield is starting to bow under the weight. Not to mention potentially causing the cabinet to collapse, or the glass front to implode.
> 
> Thanks!


Just as Zincubus says it is fine to stack. Of course if you are running cables over the top you would have to lift the tank, but ensure you are spreading the load across as much of the tank as possible. If you aren't running cables on the top, you don't have to worry as much. I find on larger scale tanks they can bow over time anyway, and while it blocks the view a bit I place a support on the front side just to make sure the glass can always move.


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## LizardBrain (Aug 19, 2019)

My major concern was with the fact that the Monkfield vivariums are designed to stack on each other _unless_ the bottom one is on top of a cabinet stand. I wasn't sure if the cabinet would bear the extra weight. Originally, I was going to stack from the floor up without a cabinet, but I discovered once the bottom viv was set up that I don't have enough space between my bed and the front of the viv to comfortably get down on the floor and reach inside without contorting myself into weird shapes!

What really drives me nuts is IKEA have some great shelving (namely the IVAR and BROR range) that would be perfect for the job, except that the maximum width of a single shelf unit is 89cm and my wooden viv is 91cm wide :cussing:

Thanks for the answers, guys. Oh, and I already have a laser temperature reader, Zincubus. They're really handy!


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## Zak0407 (Mar 17, 2021)

I’m not sure if you’ll see this, but how did it work out? Did the cabinet bare the weight? I’m thinking of doing something similar myself, and I’d hate for everything to collapse


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## Zincubus (Sep 6, 2010)

Zak0407 said:


> I’m not sure if you’ll see this, but how did it work out? Did the cabinet bare the weight? I’m thinking of doing something similar myself, and I’d hate for everything to collapse


I’ve stacked loads of wooden vivs over the years and had zero issues .. 

I had one particularly long one at the bottom of three stacked and the glass doors were just a tad tight so I jammed in three wooden pieces ( spaced out on the back wall) to give a little extra support - worked a treat .


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## Zak0407 (Mar 17, 2021)

Awesome thank you! I was just concerned that the cabinet I have the vivarium on wouldn’t collapse under the weight!


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## Zincubus (Sep 6, 2010)

Zak0407 said:


> Awesome thank you! I was just concerned that the cabinet I have the vivarium on wouldn’t collapse under the weight!


That depends on the quality of the cabinet , I guess .

You could always experiment ... maybe sitting on it or placing something nearly as heavy as the viv/s on top of the cabinet ..

I’ve got a decent sized fish tank on a fairly cheap wooden set of drawers .. I was very , very wary so I screwed some cross beams on the back of the drawers just to give them extra strength..


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## Zak0407 (Mar 17, 2021)

It’s a monkfield cabinet made for the Viv, so hopefully it’s fairly decent quality! Like you say I’ll have a bit of a play about and see what works, thank you!


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## Ian80 (Apr 13, 2012)

Zak0407 said:


> It’s a monkfield cabinet made for the Viv, so hopefully it’s fairly decent quality! Like you say I’ll have a bit of a play about and see what works, thank you!


Hey, did you end up doing this in the end? I also have the monkfield with the cabinet and I'm thinking about stacking another on top as well, thanks!


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