Archives 2021

Effective. Efficient. EVO.

Stephen and I started this Focus Cubed Habitats journey in 2019 with the idea of bringing reptiles into the front room. After all, if the aquarium hobby could be so popular with beautiful aquascaped environments, why not work to do the same for our equally impressive and cherished reptiles and amphibians?

The breadth of habitats – from dry desert to chilly montane, to moist tropical – that reptiles inhabit inspires many keepers to create truly epic slices of nature within an enclosure. Our founding goal is to provide personalizable, design-savvy enclosures that equally represent and match the care and pride people put into keeping their animals.

Over the last year of working and discussing ideas with some of the greatest people in the reptile community from large-scale breeders to boutique keepers of obscure species, we’ve taken notes to create another revolutionary, or rather, evolutionary enclosure system – the EVO Series.

The tagline “Effective. Efficient. EVO.” succinctly sums up the EVO theory. Whereas our Custom Shop enclosure models give you the opportunity to customize PVC colors, hardware styles, add windows, and select from a variety of heating and lighting options for a wide variety of species, the EVO Series provides a simplified, purpose-built enclosure that offers what you need and nothing you don’t at an affordable price.

You asked and we listened – the EVO TwentyFour debuted March 6th of 2021 (and later in 2021 our EVO Thirty) as an answer to many arboreal snake keepers’ wishes and requests. The EVO TwentyFour model is built with 1/2 inch PVC, a shorter dual-plane substrate dam for easy perch removal, 1/8 CNC slotted vents for humidity retention, CNC machined perch mount holes for quick install, cord and probe slots as a standard, and a four-latch 1/4 polycarbonate door for superior temperature insulation. It can be purchased as a bare enclosure ready for your accessories, or with a variety of perches, a dimmable LED light, and/or radiant heat panel!

We’re super excited to share this project with y’all after weeks of R&D with temperature testing, humidity retention, gradients, and usability for both keeper and the animal!!

As you might be able to tell from our posts – we’re huge monitor fans here! When we had the opportunity to work on an enclosure for J. Kobylka Reptiles and his new hatchling black dragon water monitor, we were determined to create an industry-leading enclosure that surpasses the standard expectations for performance and features.

If you are curious what the next-level in keeping looks like, check out Justin’s video!

And the enclosure here: https://focuscubedhabitats.com/product/pursuit/

If you haven’t visited and liked the Rattlesnake Conservancy and the important things they’re doing, go on over to their website to check it out: https://www.savethebuzztails.org/

We had a wonderful time helping support the cause for their Get Buzzed For Buzztails 2021 event in May with this one-of-a-kind Ratio 4x2x2!

We’re slowly getting our house back to normal after the shop move. The croc enclosure was fun to get in place, but we managed and are quite pleased with the results!

As a little kid this was a dream 😍

We’ve been updating the website, and if you have not had a chance to check out the new menus – you might be missing out on the new Enclosure Talk videos where models and options are featured in a quick ‘n easy video format. Visit our YouTube channel and subscribe for updates!

HERPS Bryan-College Station Exotic Reptile and Pet Show was poppin on Saturday and had an awesome time talking shop with everyone!

Nothing like blending two awesome hobb…er…addictions of reptiles and motorsports with the debut of the new GT 6x2x3 exotic-inspired model! The YXZ gets to have a piece of the limelight next to Stephen’s kickin’ enclosure designs!

Snapped a some pic of the man himself trying to get out of the second photo and me rocking my J. Kobylka Reptiles shirt during setup Friday night!

Every great endeavor has to start somewhere right?? Our first steps toward what we’ve become today started in 2019 with Greg, the gregarious red-eyed croc skink, Box 1(GB1). It was two small CNC paths that laid down the foundation for far more complex designs and enclosures. It fit terribly and was….well, just watch the video haha. Fortunately for you – we recorded every step of the way!

So many quotable moments in this episode, please enjoy our first wobbly steps into the world of CNC reptile enclosure making in late 2019 with episode 2 – SHAPES BRO! Fortunately for you – we recorded every step of the way!

The photoshoot that started it all! We had no idea less than a year later we would enter a pandemic, leave our careers, and build some epic enclosures for equally awesome animals. Glad you are along for the ride!

In October 2020 we packed our trailer full of enclosures, our female Doberman and rescue male Doberman, energy drinks, and went across the country from Texas to deliver enclosures in Louisiana, Arkansas, Georgia, North Carolina, and Virginia, then visit my mom in Delaware! In typical intense Ashley and Stephen fashion – we ended up driving straight, with a few cat naps on the road, for 50 hours. We were WHOOPED by the end of the third day of driving but totally stoked to meet so many amazing people. We respected peoples’ privacy and did not video the deliveries, rather this video follows along with our crazy adventure on the road driving 50 hours to get to Delaware, some antics visiting my mom, then the 28 straight hour drive home to Texas.

Check out this quick-and-easy unedited video footage of frozen-thawed (F/T) feeding a juvenile crocodile monitor with human interaction for the first time. The key is to allow the animal to come to you via the food. Human interaction + food can equal a positive association.

Amidst all of the chaos of the Texas energy and winter weather debacle, we got our croc monitor, Varanus salvadorii, a few months early due to the abnormally cold weather – meet the epitome of reptile keeping – Dart!!!

The 24hr emergency design, CNC, and assembled enclosure is not quite finished, so stay tuned for lots more video! UVB and Deep Heat by Arcadia Reptile, misting system by MistKing, Vivarium Electronics 120-watt radiant heat panel for nighttime ambient temps, monitor enclosure by Focus Cubed Habitats.

I was misting the crested geckos as their Arcadia UVB light came on this morning, and I look down to see Method heading over to guard her egg box.

Lo and behold she laid two beautiful eggs last night and was protecting them. What a good momma!!

Very excited to get this season rolling, these eggs are from Noir x Method and will produce axanthic crested geckos and 66% het axanthic 🖤