# Vivexotic Viva Plus..



## LFBP-NEIL (Apr 23, 2005)

just done a new blog post review of the new viva plus vivariums, which are in my opinion the best flat pack vivarium i have seen in a long long time, so thought i would share it on here for you all to tear apart

I had the pleasure of building the latest version of the Viva Plus Vivarium from Vivexotic this weekend and yes you read that correctly… pleasure!

We haven’t got them on the website yet as I like to test things out before putting them live but needless to say they will be listed asap as soon as time permits.

So Basically I ordered up a viva plus small terrestrial vivarium in beech and set about exploring if any improvements over the previous model had been made..

First up the packaging, either end of the viv inside the cardboard outer are two chunks of chipboard – packing pieces to prevent any damage from accidental drops or crushes in transit. Good quality cardboard outer, everything tightly strapped inside so it couldn’t move around meant everything arrived in one piece with no chips, cracks or chunks missing – bonus!

Putting together was fairly intuitive, I could see where each piece was supposed to go simply by laying it out on the floor, admittedly I have built one or two vivariums in the past so was off to a good start but i didn’t need to refer to the instructions once to assemble the vivarium.

First improvement.. the plastic dowels? that are pushed into the top and bottom pieces for the aluminium rails to screw into fitted firmly and easily with just a little gentle pushing, on the old model these were a pain and would only go in with a wallop from a nearby sturdy object .

So construction is as simple as this, find the top, find the bottom, push the dowels in, push the endcaps on the rails, screw the rails to the top and the bottom, find the back and sides, fit them together with the cam and dowels, lay the bottom panel on the bottom, fix it on with 6 easy to use screws, sit the top on and fix it in place with cam and dowels – et voila new viv built five minutes later.

The rails have been improved, they now feel smooth to the touch instead of the roughed up – make the hairs on the back of your neck stand up, teeth on edge, fingers down a blackboard feel that they had previously. The bottom rail is Deeper to hold more substrate and most importantly – not only have the cheese grater vents that are cut into the aluminium finished to a better degree the viv comes with plastic inserts to go into them which instantly takes away any associated risks of trapped digits and rubbed nostrils from the inhabitants.

The glass fits into the rails perfectly without too much wobble or play, there is a new “slide stopper” the second incarnation of that irritating bung that fits in the hole in the glass to prevent the door from accidentally opening. Only this second incarnation actually works.. you can take it in and out with ease just by pinching it in the middle.

Also worthy of mention is that this glass is the smoothest glass I have ever seen in a vivarium, we are talking edges here that are pebble smooth, there is not a ridge or furrow in sight. The level of finish on the edges of the glass is simply outstanding.

Another new feature is the cable access points in the rear ventilation. Rear ventilation has been reintroduced, the small vivarium I built had three rear ventilation points so alongside the front flow ventilation in the metal runners there should be more than enough air flow for most keepers animal requirements.

Vivexotic have called this feature easy vent, This provides more ventilation at the top and bottom of the viv, it also allows cables to be run into the vivarium without having to remove the plug. All youneed to do is remove the vent by pushing it inwards and pass the plug through the hole. The vent then goes back in with the cables running through the cable access points. Snap out lugs make sure that any unused cable access points are sealed off so insects cant find their way out of them.

The vivariums have also been made 6cm taller to give extra height for fitting lamp holders etc in which is a welcome improvement.


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