# Sliding door gap??



## C.A.Caron (Apr 30, 2004)

Hi all, I have a front sliding doors vivarium in which I am planning to put some Leucomelas.

My concern is that I have a gap of about 1/8'' between the glass doors and I'm wondering if that kind of gap is acceptable. I certainly don't want any frogs to escape. :? 

One thing I could do is to use some clear silicone to lower the gap, by applying a thin layer of silicone exactly where the doors overlap, but I would like to know what you all think first. :?: :?: 

Leucomelas are not thumbnails afterall. (Of course if I get babies thats a different story)

Thanks,

Charles


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## jbeetle (Feb 8, 2004)

You may want to contact Black Jungle and ask them about this. I say this since they have a nice large show tank (the one in the photogallery with the step-by-step process) that had sliding doors and it had a small gap between the doors. When I was there (a long time ago now, or it seems so lol) they still didn't know what they were going to do, but I am sure they have figured it out by now... as it is one really nice tank and all it needed was some frogs to finish it  .


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## Guest (May 10, 2004)

I had the same gap. To fix it i bought some velcro strips and stuck those on each door facing in to each other.


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## Guest (May 10, 2004)

I personally use sliding door tanks with about 1/8 inch gap. I have never had an escaped frog. As long as you remeber to close the sliding doors I cant imaging one getting out. The exception would be juvi vents and imitators and such. However fruit flies do escape which Careful feeding locations will help minimize this. I have also seen someone add adhesive brushes, not sure where they purchased them, but they were like those you find at the base of doors to keep critters out only much smaller.


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## Guest (May 10, 2004)

Jbeetle,

The last time I was at Black Jungle (about 3 weeks ago) they had no darts in that tank. I don't think they ever did. They told me some of the airplants in there need to stay drier that in a dart enclosure.


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## Scott (Feb 17, 2004)

Leif,

That tank has had Red Trivs in it quite often in the past.

What I do... is keep both pains of glass in the same track. But I also use thin glass for the doors so this may or may not work for you.

s


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## Guest (May 10, 2004)

a good rule of thumb that i was given recently is "if the flys can escape that a frog can probably find a way out" makes you a little bit more picky =)


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## Guest (May 10, 2004)

It did seem kind of odd that they had that nice tank with no darts in it. Maybe I caught them during a transition period.

They had a lot if Thillandsia and he told me that it needed to stay drier than a normal dart enclosure. maybe that's why I, hate to say it, assumed there where no dart's in there.

It's still one of many great looking enclosures they have there and well worth a visit for anyone who lives close enough for a day trip.


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## Devin Edmonds (Mar 2, 2004)

Like others have said, I doubt any frogs would be able to escape through that, but fruit flies easily can. I used a black strip of plastic that is used to cover un-even spaces on the floor where doors are (if that makes sense) to plug the gap. I bought it at home depot for $3. The downside to it is that it adds a giant black line through the front of the terrarium, below is a picture:


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## Scott (Feb 17, 2004)

It has been pointed out to me that I had a different tank in mind.

Wrong again. :roll: 

Sorry about that.

s


Leif said:


> It did seem kind of odd that they had that nice tank with no darts in it. Maybe I caught them during a transition period.
> 
> They had a lot if Thillandsia and he told me that it needed to stay drier than a normal dart enclosure. maybe that's why I, hate to say it, assumed there where no dart's in there.
> 
> It's still one of many great looking enclosures they have there and well worth a visit for anyone who lives close enough for a day trip.


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## jbeetle (Feb 8, 2004)

> *Leif wrote:*
> The last time I was at Black Jungle (about 3 weeks ago) they had no darts in that tank. I don't think they ever did. They told me some of the airplants in there need to stay drier that in a dart enclosure.


Well, you have been there a lot more recent then me... so maybe they have decided not to put anything in there. When I was there Richard told me they wanted to add some thumbnail in there, but were still trying to figure out how to solve the gap problem. Maybe they decided just to keep it as is, with no animals. It is still an awesome tank, with or with out frogs.


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## Guest (May 10, 2004)

It is a great display. B.J. is about a 2 hr. ride for me and well worth the trip.


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## jbeetle (Feb 8, 2004)

Its about 5-6 hours for me... so its worth it maybe once a year or so, and if I haev a lot of money to get plants lol. But if anyone is close, I *highly* recommend going as it is really nice.


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## C.A.Caron (Apr 30, 2004)

Thanks for your answers guys,

I remember seeing a transparent adhesive strip at my local glass shop. I'll look more closely next time I go there. If not I think I'll try to lower the gap with silicone, I'm begining to be very good with that stuff. :wink: 

Better safe then sorry.  

Charles


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## Guest (May 11, 2004)

Devin,

Who made that tank in the picture you just posted? It looks good.


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## Devin Edmonds (Mar 2, 2004)

I purchased the tank used from a customer at the pet store I work at. He surrendered a few corn snakes to us along with some extra cages and management let me take this one home. There is a sticker on the front of it that says "Aquatics America, Hemlock Michigan" but unfortunatly there isn't any contact information on it. Sorry that I couldn't help out more Tim,


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## Darryl (Dec 2, 2005)

I was recently asked how i would go about creating a neat silicon seal between the sliding panels that make up the front of most Euro style Vivs.

I know tha some of the bigger European viv manufacturers use a mechanical process of sorts to extrude a neat thin bead og silicon to create a small gasket. This fly proofs the small gap that is found between the sliding vuv doors.

This is the method that I have come up with and it works well more me.

*Creating the thin silicon gasket:*

1.Place the two opposing glass doors into the tracks.
2.Mark the overlap between the two panes of glass
3.Use surgical spirits to degrease and clean the two edges that overlap
4.Place a wide length of masking tape on the front face of the back sheet
of glass.
5.Use a straight edge and a sharp scalpel bale, cut an approximate 5-8mm gap in the masking tape, 5mm from the edge.
6.Use a small amount of Surgical spirits to clean this small exposed strip of glass.
7.Place several wide length of masking tape on the back side of the front sheet of glass.
8.Lightly coat the masking tape on the front glass with a thin layer of petroleum jelly.











9.Place the back sheet of glass back into the track.
10.Use a pencil and mark the masking tape just above the bottom track.
11.Push the glass as high as is needed to be able to lift it out of the bottom track.
12.Use a pencil and mark the masking tape just below the top track.
13.These marks will indicate the end points of the gasket.
14.Run a small bead of clear silicon sealer over the 5-8mm gap in the masking tape, between these two marks.
15.Carefully place the front sheet of glass back in the track.
16.You should now have the wet (uncured) silicon sandwiched between the two sheets of glass.











17.Leave to cure for at least 24 hours.
18.Carefully remove the font sheet of glass from the track.
19.The layer of petroleum jelly should prevent the silicon from sticking to the masking tape.
20.Remove the back sheet of glass and lay it on a flat surface.

21.Use a new, sharp scalpel blade and a straight edge, cut through the cured silicon to the line of the masking tape.











22.Make the above cuts at a slight angle.











23.Remove all masking tape with excess silicon and degrease the sheet of glass and the new silicon gasket.
24.Place both sheets of glass back into the tracks.

The multiple layers of masking tape should have allowed a small gap between the gasket and the front sheet of glass.











This allows the two sheets of glass to be able to slide past each other with out binding up.


I hope the above explanation helps, if there are any question, feel free to ask.


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