Few questions..

I own a desert hairy,a emperor and am getting a tri color borrower. Which i do not have yet.I am thinking of building a three decker shelf unit,with storage on the bottom,to keep all my scorpions together in one spot! Could a mini/wide exo terra terrarium serve for all three species? The measurements of the terrariums are 12'x12'12'. (length,depth,height).
I under stand they require substrate and borrow.I'm not afraid that there most likely going to crawl out when i open the doors.

All three species are obligate burrowers so need a deep substrate. People have used exo terras for these species and banked the substrate towards the back to give it enough depth, because of the low lip at the front.

However, I've only ever seen people use the larger exo terra tanks to do this, and I'm not sure if there'd be enough space in the mini exo's to create a 4''+ deep substrate.

Even if you could, you'd probably find that because of the small area in the tank all the substrate they excavate ends up piled against the door, creating a mini avalanche every time you open it

I keep my Haddy in 12"x12"x12" Exo-terra, but it's far from ideal. It's the smallest size enclosure I would use for an adult. However, if I could do it over again, I would use a standard 10 gallon aquarium rather than the Exo-terra. They're much cheaper and better suited for deep substrate.

As Callum mentioned, the problem with the mini Exo-terra, besides having a small footprint to begin with, is the low front lip. When setting up the substrate, you need to leave sufficient room along the front of the tank to hold the excavated sand, otherwise, it will leak out the vents and/or pile up against the doors. This leaves you with an effective footprint of around 12"x10" (or less). The larger Exo-terra tanks are not as limited but you pay for the extra space with your pocketbook.

I also found the doors on the Exo-terra to be an escape avenue: forget to latch them just once after closing them and your scorpion will escape. Mine did, but I found her a few days later.

If you choose to go the the mini Exo-terra, here's a few pictures of what you can expect. I really wish I had added another 3 or 4 inches of substrate to the rear 2/3rds of the tank. There are tunnels along the back and left side as well.

12"x12"x12" Haddy Enclosure:

Hi,

It's possible. But indeed the biggest thing to remember is to leave room for excess sand in the front, or the next time you open the tank you'll need the vacuumer


Here's how I made mine:






Here you can see how I made it.

How about a 18"W x 18"D x 12"T. You think the size would be better for them? I really want matching enclosures,and do not want to use fish tanks. Amy one know of anything similar? Please post a photo/link something! Throw me bone!

The bigger the better for this species, and to reduce substrate spilling out.

Similar looking but not front opening http://www.netpetshop.co.uk/reptilesupplies/terrariums/komodo-terrariums/komodo-reptile-habitats-top-opening-glass-terrarium.html
I don't know whether this brand is available in the US, though.

The 18"x18" enclosures would be a much better size for the species you're keeping than the 12"x12" enclosures. You'll need to seal off most of the top and the front vents on the Emperor enclosure to hold in humidity, but that's easily accomplished with a piece of glass or Plexiglass for the top and packing tape over the vents. Alternatively, you could just cover the screen top with strips of packing tape. You might also want to consider some type of false bottom for the Emperor enclosure.

A stack of three Exo-terra's would look pretty cool, but once filled with substrate these enclosures are going to be quite heavy, especially the Haddy enclosure. Something to keep in mind when designing/building your shelf unit.