- Zoo Med sent us all
of these enclosures for the new caledonia room
including a bunch of lighting and everything else.
And so today starts the day
for the build for the new caledonia room.
I couldn't be more excited
because it's gonna be absolutely epic.
So this room right here
that basically is just a blank room,
is going to start to get racks today,
but before we get that going,
we have to head to Home Depot
to buy a whole bunch of two by fours.
(mellow jazz music)
All right, so let's get to building here.
Each wall, I just put a piece of a
kind of a schematic of what it is.
So each of these are gonna have 18x18x18.
So there's going to be 18 of these guys on this wall,
and then this wall's gonna have a nicer, bigger display,
and some taller skyscrapers, regardless.
This wall that I'm going to start on right here
is actually these ones right here.
These are actually the 18x18x18s.
These are what they call the NT3s from Zoo Med
and you can see they're actually really cool cages.
They obviously open up.
We're actually gonna put some different backdrops
in these guys, and then fix your mount and stuff that
so basically we're going to build a rack
that's just 2x4's to put these in
not going to look really impressive, to be honest with you
but once it's done all fixtured out
it's going to look just like the rep terrarium.
So these are the cages we're going to use for this wall.
There's going to be 18 of them
so let's go ahead and get cranking away.
I've been working on building various things
from my house to caging, to racking systems
to whatever you can imagine over the last 25 or 30 years.
It's not that I have any actual background in it.
To be honest, half the time,
I don't even know what I'm doing.
But I really do enjoy kind of the creativity behind it.
And I often say that when you're building something
it's not so much about what you know
as much as about the fact that you are willing to try it.
So I always have a good time.
I hope this room is going to turn out excellent.
I always tell people
whether it's The Reptarium or whatever project I do
I've always built it in my head a hundred times.
And I have this vision of how it actually is going to look.
But until I actually do it
you never know how it's actually going to turn out.
So we're making some progress on this first wall.
But to be honest with you
we still have a long way to go to build just the racks
and making sure everything actually fits in the room.
And then after that,
we have the fun part making it look awesome.
Definitely a little trial and error, a couple
of missed measurements on my part when I was actually making
up the schematics on it.
So I had to just change the dimensions around
but we're going to go ahead and see if they all fit.
Let's hope they do.
And obviously the lighting will go in between here.
So first ones in, okay, that's success.
That's enough for the lighting.
Then there'll be a rock panel right here.
Right?
So let's get number two and hope number two fits.
So far so good.
Number two is in.
And finally, this is the real test right here.
This is where the kind of mismeasurements came in
so let's hope this one fits.
All right. There we go.
Good stuff.
All right.
So I know what you guys are saying,
Brian, that looks terrible.
I realize it, it just looks
like 2x4's with some cages in it.
But I promise you when I'm done,
this is going to look like The Reptarium.
It's going to look all rocked out, backs are done,
I mean, they're going to look absolutely beautiful.
Not gonna see any wood at all.
So don't worry about that.
So now first one's done, prototypes done, half of this,
ow it's just cutting boards and putting them together.
So I tell you that was a little scary, but of course
now we got to make sure all the other measurements work out.
So I still got a long way to go
but I try to work on this first wall first.
(lively music begins)
I've been working with Zoo Med since 2009, and I really
appreciate them as a company.
Not just because their products are really one
of the most popular products in the whole entire reptile
hobby. But the fact is they're actually involved
in the reptile hobby.
They're not just putting products out there.
They actually show up to reptile shows.
They show up to auctions.
They donate a tremendous amount of money to U.S.
Art each year and the reptile hobby in a whole.
So they're super supportive of the reptile hobby
because the owner was actually a reptile hobbyist himself
not just someone that wanted to make a product for money
but actually someone that collected reptiles
and were involved from the very beginning.
And I tell you what Zoo Med had,
has always supported us in all
of our vision.
So it's really great to be working with them
on this gecko room project.
(lively music begins)
Then as far as lighting on this wall.
When we finally get down
we have the Rep the Sun TH, which is the LF60's
that actually go right in here and they'll just
go right here.
Now we don't need heat bulbs in here because these are all
going to be geckos that need to be cooler like
in the mid seventies, even lower seventies.
So these lights will fit right in here.
And then there'll be a rock panel that goes right here.
And we can just peel that rock panel off to get to the bulb.
If we ever need to replace it, cause they'll have UVB bulbs
in there, so that way we have,
you know, UVB on the animals.
We have beautiful lighting,
we can plant some plants for bioactive, for them to grow
and stuff like that
but it'll be super simple for us to service it.
That'll be great.
Now the first wall is actually done.
We've got to move on to the second wall.
Each wall is actually got a different configuration
of cages.
So this is the only one that has the exact
same size enclosures.
So this one actually has 24 inch and 36 inch ones.
And then some bigger ones
in the center, the problem is just
like with everything is that you have to kind
of be willing to revise your plans a little bit right?
So I did the measurement to the ceiling
but it didn't take into account these pipes right here.
There's nothing I can do.
I can't move the pipes.
So now I'm going to have to reconfigure how to
fit those enclosures in
and still be able to slide the racks in.
So gotta do a little bit of thinking here
but we'll figure it out.
We'll figure it out.
So obviously it was important that this fits underneath here
like that, which just basically meant I have to
shrink all my other dimensions
so that everything would actually fit
in here and still have it.
I think it's right.
I'm not a hundred percent sure till I build the first one.
Cause they have to change the plan a little bit.
Don't know if it's going to work.
But I think in my head, it's going to work out good.
So let's just go ahead and put the first rack together
put the glass in there
and then ultimately we'll find out if it does work.
(lively music begins)
And that's another thing that I've learned
through building all this stuff is
that you have to be willing to kind of adapt
because I'm not the greatest when it comes
to measuring and making sure that I'm a hundred percent
precise, it happens all the time where I just don't take
into account something.
Remember when we built The Reptarium
and we almost didn't fit the cages through the door
because they only had a quarter inch of clearance.
And I thought there was going to be three inches
of clearance.
So sure enough, these pipes are giving me a little grief
but hopefully this first rack works out.
(lively music begins)
- Are these nails, where do I shoot them?
Oh my god. I can't even hold it up.
(nail gun snapping)
Wow!
(laughing)
I don't wanna do it.
(nail gun snapping)
- Settle down.
(laughing)
- Oh my god.
- [Camera Man] Are you proud of your son?
- [Brian] I'm very proud of you son.
Those are getting bigger. The arms are getting bigger.
- Yeah. We're at the jumbo size marshmallows.
You know the square ones you can buy for campfires.
- That's it. Oh my gosh.
Like I've done this before.
- [Son] It's almost like you've built a whole Reptarium.
- And looks at it, it fits just barely under.
That is a yeah, it's a close one.
(lively music begins)
- [Brian] Now that there was success
in the first one actually does fit,
I can continue building the rest of this wall.
There's a couple of bigger enclosures in it, but more
or less now I know the measurements
and things are going to work out.
For a minute there, I was pretty worried.
(lively music begins)
- Having fun and all the pieces are down pretty easy now.
Now it's just a matter of assembling
the actual racks itself.
Then we have one kind of custom with a bigger cage
than the center here.
So, four more of the ones just like this.
And then one kind of big center spot right here.
So this part should be pretty easy.
(lively music begins)
- [Brian] Know what they say?
It takes a village to build a barn.
So I was enlisting Jay and Anthony
to help me out on this next wall.
Trust me it helped a lot.
And we made some really big progress.
I mean, it didn't take long to bang out the second wall
and it's starting to look like a gecko room now.
I couldn't be more excited to see this vision
start to come to reality
(lively music begins)
- Just put these enclosures in.
And these are some of my favorite here.
These are the actually the 24x18x18 or NT4's
from Zoo Med. Love these guys.
And then of course, these are the ones that we use a lot
in The Reptarium that are actually 18x18x36 the NT5's,
absolutely wonderful so just finishing up this wall.
Moving onto the last.
All right, we got two of the walls done now.
We've got the smaller cage over here.
The bigger cages here, one last wall to go.
That's going to have a collage
of a bunch of different enclosures.
So we're making progress again
once the universal rock gets on the inside
as well as you know, facading in the entire outside
this place is going to look just like The Reptarium.
It's going to be amazing
but we're making some pretty good progress today.
I'm telling you, I'm pretty impressed.
One more wall to go.
And these are going to be a bunch of different Zoo Meds.
Again, they're gonna be the 18x18x24, the 36's, the 24's.
So a bunch of variety here, a couple of bigger cages.
So let's go! Last wall in this gecko room is
officially done.
As far as the outskirts go.
Now, of course, we've got to go back and do all the rocking,
universal insides, all that type of stuff.
So, so this is just the construction part, but
we are almost done with the gecko room construction site.
(lively music begins)
- [Brian] Working on this last wall, to be honest with you.
It's great to see my vision starting to come to, you know
to think a couple months ago, this basement was literally
just full of junk.
And now we have a podcast room.
We have a room.
We have a control room for all our camera gear
and now the gecko room.
I mean, this is one step closer to having the entire
basement done.
And this room in particular, Jessica is super excited
about it.
And I'm excited about it as well.
We'll definitely be able to show some people off
and people that want to do Jessica tours can actually come
down and see the gecko room for sure.
So this is going to be amazing.
Almost there.
I can see the finish line.
As far as the construction side, then it's just a matter
of putting all the beautiful facade on to make this place
look just like The Reptarium.
(lively music begins)
- [Brian] And speaking of The Reptarium,
although this is a kind of a cool room
and all this is a good tuneup for me because listen
this is a pretty small room when it comes
to the expansion that I'm about to do.
And it's been a little while
since I've done some build projects.
So this is a great way to get myself back
in the rhythm of it.
And it makes me even more excited to start the expansion
of 3.0 and eventually 4.0.
- All right guys, last wall is done.
So basically we just have a few things to finish
up in and then again, universal rock comes.
We do all the backdrops.
We do all of this will be covered.
All of this will be covered.
Of course, we've got to put all
the lighting in that Zoo Med center, so again
thank you so much
for Zoo Med for helping me out on this one.
I'm going to put a link in the description
to all their social media and their website.
Go show them some love
because they always support us here at The Reptarium.
So it's awesome that they hooked us up with all this stuff.
So regardless it was quite a build day.
Wasn't it?
So it's looking amazing in here.
I'm super excited for the actual fixturing
which will happen here in about two weeks or so.
So, wow.
Tell ya what, Brian, the builder on this one.
If you enjoyed this video here
do me a favor right over here,
this is more of me building The Reptarium.
This place is going to be absolutely incredible.
On this side
please hit that subscription button,
have an absolutely wonderful day reptile army.
Remember be kind to someone
and I promise, I'll see you tomorrow.