Category Travel

Secrets – they’re hard to keep 😁

We built our first prototype C3 3x2x2 months ago, with the original idea behind it formed years back. Finally, technology and material availability met for an amazing match in these fresh builds for the one and only Bill Stegall of @phoenix.reptiles

To start, the first upgrade that catches your eye is the HDPE wood grain front. These two HDPE pieces are both aesthetic and structural components. While they look great they also provide support for sliding tracks to accommodate 1/4″ tempered polished glass. Similar to musical instrument neck construction, the sliding bases feature multi-component assembly utilizing both wood-look HDPE and a 1/2″ PVC backing plate. Not only do they look phenomenally clean, but they’re also incredibly rigid.

To further accent these pieces we added a recessed, floating, frosted Focus Cubed logo encapsulated by a bolt-on viewing window. While being ridiculously cool, this unique component pays homage to the next generation of enclosure ventilation.

Mounted in the upper rear wall (cool side) of these enclosures is one variable speed fan. This fan allows for airflow on demand by pulling outside ambient air through the bypassing front doors across the cool side/hotside transition. There is a second probe cord cover located next to the fan where a hygrometer/thermometer probe can be mounted to monitor or automate internal conditions.

Along with these wicked upgrades, you can see some of our favorites like the dual ceiling mounted PlantClamps, 15/20/20mm carbon fiber perch combo resting on HDPE mounts, 32″ LED with cord cover, and 80-watt heat panel. This unit even features a thermostat probe guide with an adjacent thermostat probe cover to allow for probe installation/removal without the need to pull apart any walls or roof panels and no drilling of any access holes.

Get a closer look and video walkthrough with this C3’s Enclosure Talk on the Focus Cubed Habitats YouTube channel, link in Stories. Also, keep an eye out for MJ’s vlog of our delivery to Bill’s place & our very own Making Of vlog!

Moving right along with our NARBC weekend model release recap – meet the Yin & Yang C2 Slider 2x2x2 build!

Stephen tossed around several ideas for these two foot Sliders and landed on the concept of Yin and Yang – the matching opposites. The first C2 features a red front and holographic logo with the gray build featuring a chrome red logo.

Each of these matching opposite builds has a variable speed fan like the ones we included in the sister C3 Sliders featured in our post yesterday. This fan allows for airflow on demand by pulling outside ambient air through the bypassing front doors across the cool side/hotside transition. Also included is a second probe cord cover located next to the fan where a hygrometer/thermometer probe can be mounted to monitor or automate internal airflow and humidity.

Continuing with the tradition, each C2 is optioned with dual ceiling mounted PlantClamps, 12/15/20mm carbon fiber perch combo resting on HDPE mounts, 22″ LED, and 40-watt heat panel. Some very cool design ideas Stephen machined into these are the thermostat probe guide with an adjacent thermostat probe cover to allow for probe installation/removal without the need to pull apart any walls or roof panels and no drilling of any access holes.

Get a closer look and video walk through with these C2’s Enclosure Talk on the Focus Cubed Habitats YouTube channel.

What can we say, we’re incredibly excited to share our KINOVA Special Projects reptile room Focus Cubed Habitats enclosure build and two-day journey with you! Few people know it, but my first snakes were pied ball pythons and the little girl inside had a dream come true working with and visiting KINOVA.

Follow along with us as we unload the materials, machine, build, pack, and travel cross-country to deliver to one of the premier reptile breeding facilities in the Nation. Stephen and I drove straight through the night from Texas to Georgia, met with the amazing Summer, Justin, and crew, unloaded enclosures, and then headed BACK to Texas for another overnight drive to pick up our pups from boarding. Intense – that’s how we do it here at Focus Cubed Habitats!

Also do us a favor and go check out KINOVA’s Hetflix Episode 176 of their Special Projects room update, subscribe to their channel, and show your support to the KINOVA team!

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.

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.