Category Keeping

Automation, Innovation, Blasphemy… all-in-one enclosure.

Our Heretic, a modified Apex model 3x2x4 enclosure, bucks convention by boasting 10 inches of substrate area, staggered side windows, carbon fiber perches, and computer-controlled misting and humidity management.

This Heretic is built with a wide range of heating and lighting components. Programmable Jungle Hobbies Advanced LED lighting, Arcadia Shadedweller UVB, 50w Acadia Halogen, and 100w ProProducts RHP are all a part of the wide array of UVA and UVB offerings for the reptile, live plants, and isopods living in the enclosure’s ecosystem.

Starting from the bottom, this deep substrate dam is filled with 144qts of BioDude TerraFirma soil which is visible through the clear Heretic logo CNC milled into the front of the enclosure.

Planted within are two Bromeliads, one Mass Cane (dracaena fragrans massangeana), one Auntie Lou Cordyline (cordyline fruticosa Auntie Lou), one Dracaena, and some Golden Pothos for floor cover with leaf litter sprinkled throughout. The back wall is sheeted by a large Universal Rocks background.

Cascading frosted acrylic perch mounts are bolted to both side walls between the staggered windows. Carbon fiber perches of varying outside diameters are fitted to these mounts allowing for climbing opportunities throughout a wide range of temperature and humidity gradients. The 35″ interior width coupled with a variety of perch placements in this enclosure offer basking areas under Halogen heat, Halogen/UVB, UVB/RHP, or just RHP.

Both left and right walls of this enclosure are fitted with 1 hygrometer/thermometer each to control either an automated misting system or a 4-inch inline fresh air intake fan. There is one forced air intake grate located on the right wall in the lower rear portion just above the substrate offset by a small exhaust fan on the left side in the upper front wall corner.

The hygrometer on the right side of the Heretic is used to trigger a 4-inch inline fan with a charcoal air filter to limit maximum humidity. When this system is triggered the inline fan gradually pulls in fresh ambient air from outside the enclosure through the charcoal filter and down an exterior hose where it enters through the lower side grate.

The moist air is expelled through the exhaust fan in the upper left wall until the desired humidity level is reached. This system cycles on and off as needed to limit maximum humidity parameters. The ventilation programming display shows temperature, humidity level, and current fan speed so the user can monitor the internal conditions without the aid of any additional thermometers/hygrometers.

However, two additional mounts were added towards the side centers to help map the temp and humidity gradients via Bluetooth SensorPush units.

The left side of the enclosure features the sensor and controls to add humidity to the environment. A 5th generation MistKing with HT-24 Hygrostat monitors the humidity levels lower down near the substrate and live plants.

When the moisture level falls below the set threshold, the MistKing will pull water from a 5-gallon reserve located in a two-foot-tall stand upon which the Heretic sits. Ceiling-mounted misting nozzles add moisture to the enclosure until the minimum set level is reached. Water accumulates on perches and plants which drips down to the soil.

If too much aerosolized water remains in the air, the humidity management system slowly ramps on to bring the level back in check. The HT-24 Hygrostat displays both temperature and humidity levels for the left portion of the enclosure.

The roof of the Heretic is the primary mounting location for the majority of the electronics. All heating and lighting elements are internally mounted with the exception of the Advanced LED system. The large size and potential heat generated by this particular element require it to be placed on top of the enclosure over a clear window.

This light is biased towards the front leaving room for the air filtration and inline fan to be mounted behind it. All internal ceiling cords as well as all probe cords are covered to keep down the potential for unwanted climbing activities.

This is our first test of a fully automated enclosure. Optimizing the blend of heating, lighting, and overall environmental controls will require diligent monitoring as we refine the Heretic. We look forward to the insights gained and the evolution of our contributions to reptile keeping.

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AND BONUS VLOG EPISODE – Ever wonder what it is like hanging around the Focus Cubed Habitats shop and home? Well… here is a small 24-hour window where we shoot for the USARK channel takeover video, receive our super dwarf retic from Reach Out Teptiles, finish packing 30 enclosures, pick up and unload a pallet of PVC, and head to the airport to welcome my mom for the weekend!

Feature Friday!

Reptile rooms are an experience. A way to bring the beauty of these amazing creatures into our homes. A zen space for some, a place of excitement for others.

Over the last three years we’ve prototyped and tested our models in the pursuit of making not only enclosures that function well, but ones that create an experience.

Where do they go?

Welcome to our reptile room!

Well…one of them at least. Here you can see a progression of models and working prototypes we’ve built over the years. At half completion, Stephen and I are thrilled to continue testing ideas that will benefit keepers like you and the animals you love.

They may not know it, but our reptiles have quite an important career. Some take the day shift, some prefer the night shift – and all of them have great benefit packages

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 Personalize 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 and EVO FortySix) 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!

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.

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 🖤