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new enclosures

S

SIRS

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was bored AGAIN so figured i would go and build some cages tried something new built four in one worked out good what you all think?
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finished product
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heres a picture of belvedere he saw the camera and wanted his pic taken
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Those cages are HOT! Nice job...I have zero carpentry skills.
 
NICE, how much did it cost for the whole thing, what are the dimnsions for each cage? what is it made out of?just heated by light bulbs?
 
thanks guys ..but by no means am i a carpenter its all trail and error but i think i got it down now ...the size of each cage is 3 foot by 2 foot by roughly 17-18 inches high its made of tile board (shower surround) and 1x2's the whole thing including tile board ,wood, misc hardware ,the lights and UTH in each enclosure came out to roughly 200 dollars, i think actually alittle less so basically about 50 a cage
 
so did you just make a fram out of 1x2s and then you covered it call ith a shell of tilebored?
 
yes thats pretty much all i did its alot easier then you think to make and i figure another 10 or 15 more of them they will be perfect and look good this was the first one i made
 
Very nice. I've had the idea of framing and covering it in shower surround, but I have been hesitant to take that route, but now you've shown me the proof that it can work.

Again, that's a very, very nice setup.
 
well, i am also thinking of doing it, do you have any tips for me? and what did you do for the doors? i still dont get how to make those.
 
tips measure twice cut once is my big one ..i still dont use that tip ..but first thing you should do is figure out the size you want if its 3 foot long you have to take in consideration for the wood i have 3 seperate ones that are all 3 footers but me not measureing twice came up with 3 diffrent sizes
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look at the diffrence of the 3 white ones
 
for the doors i used prefinished hardwood flooring works great it has a groove already in it for the plexi..all you do is attach 3 sides measure cut the plexi slide it in and attach the final end i predrilled the last piece before i put the plexi in so i can just add some glue and screw it in works great ...this is like my 8 or so cage i built so from the first one which was all melamine you can see it its the white one on the bottom wont use mela. any more to heavy
but there is so much i learned from building them it is easier to just offer my time if you need help or i would take up pages explaining my screw ups and how i do it now ...just go for it have a idea and picture i actually draw out the cage on paper with measurments and all i never go by it but it is a good source to look at when all you start seeing is a pile of wood ...good luck
 
For some snakes can you just use unfinish wood? like if they do not need high humidity? and i am still sorta confused about the doors, you just got wood floring with groves to snap it together and then put glass in the groves? i know it is prolly simple but i know very little about maing things, i am only 14.
 
Chris you will need finished wood or melamine no matter what snakes you have unless you plan on using something like linoleum or other waterproof material to cover at least the floor. If the floor isn't waterproof, you will get bacteria build up.
 
yeah what Ron said ...actually i made a temp enclosure for a burm once that is still in good condition its just plywood wit ha plexi front but for the floor i used ceramic tiles and some cove base around it sealed all that in and bam ..it works ....as long as water can't get into the pours of the wood it will work but like i said it was a temp enclosure ..now for the doors again no i use the real hardwood the 3/4 thick stuff its tongue and grooved to be connected its not the pergo type stuff ...it doesn't just snap together i miter the ends drill them counter sink the holes then use wood glue to help hold along with screws i just found the hardwood looks good and works for me specially since i have 100's of square feet of it but there are other ways to make doors,you can just use 1x4's and route out for the glass or you can just attach the plexi to the back of the door with screws ..many choices to chose from ..all depend on the look you are going for and the kind of cage if you have any more questions feel free to ask if i cant help I'm sure there are many other here with much more experience then i ...
 
cornsnakekid92 said:
For some snakes can you just use unfinish wood? like if they do not need high humidity? and i am still sorta confused about the doors, you just got wood floring with groves to snap it together and then put glass in the groves? i know it is prolly simple but i know very little about maing things, i am only 14.
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Any wood material should be finished or prefinished. What you use depends a lot on 1) finances 2) desired look & weight and 3) the species being kept in the cage. When you get closer to that point we can help you more.

But don't use unfinished plywood or solid wood, even for a desert dwelling species. It's just too hard to keep clean. It's okay for cage decoration because they can be removed and cleaned more thoroughly.

Regarding doors, I have found sliding bypass doors to be the easiest to build provided the opening for the cage front is relatively square. But it is important to build the type of door you want. I prefer sliding doors but if hinged doors are what you want then they are not that hard to do.
 
Well, really i am lookign to build cages for some BRBS, IJCP, RTB, And some Ackies. all of that on a reasonable low income( it is goign to take me a while to save up for what i make on mowing lawns!). I really do not plan on moving then around too much, but it would be nice if they were not too big.
 
cornsnakekid92 said:
Well, really i am lookign to build cages for some BRBS, IJCP, RTB, And some Ackies. all of that on a reasonable low income( it is goign to take me a while to save up for what i make on mowing lawns!). I really do not plan on moving then around too much, but it would be nice if they were not too big.
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I think I know all of the acronyms and abbreviations you listed. You'll probably want something fairly durable. Moisture resistance for the snakes, scratch resistance for the V. acanthurus.

Now it's just an issue of money, weight, and appearance. Melamine is very cheap and water resistance can be improved a variety of ways. But it is heavy.
 
Ok Jim,

So where's the blueprints for these beautiful cages. They are awesome and i would like to build a few for juvie boa's or adult BP's or something! Those cages are reeeeeeeeal nice looking.

If you dont want, thats cool, but a cut list and materials list would be awesome!
 
Chris_Harper2 said:
I think I know all of the acronyms and abbreviations you listed. You'll probably want something fairly durable. Moisture resistance for the snakes, scratch resistance for the V. acanthurus.

Now it's just an issue of money, weight, and appearance. Melamine is very cheap and water resistance can be improved a variety of ways. But it is heavy.
Click to expand...
I have been looking for melamine everywhere, they do not have it as my LOWES and at homedepot the biggest pices is onlt 18''x48x1'', and i would like to get it in full sheets, just wondering, what do you guys pay for a 48''x96''x.5-1'' sheet of melamine?
 
i can make some kind of blue print for you this is the only time i didn't take pictures as i went but i can draw up something that will show exactly what i did it is alot easier then you think in fact I'm about to make another one just like it this weekend but going to change acouple of things so when i write it down and after i finish it which should be sunday only takes a day or so to do ill post the pictures and what i wrote down
 
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