• Posted 12/19/2024.
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    I am still waiting on my developer to finish up on the Classifieds Control Panel so I can use it to encourage members into becoming paying members. Google Adsense has become a real burden on the viewing of this site, but honestly it is the ONLY source of income now that keeps it afloat. I tried offering disabling the ads being viewed by paying members, but apparently that is not enough incentive. Quite frankly, Google Adsense has dropped down to where it barely brings in enough daily to match even a single paid member per day. But it still gets the bills paid. But at what cost?

    So even without the classifieds control panel being complete, I believe I am going to have to disable those Google ads completely and likely disable some options here that have been free since going to the new platform. Like classified ad bumping, member name changes, and anything else I can use to encourage this site to be supported by the members instead of the Google Adsense ads.

    But there is risk involved. I will not pay out of pocket for very long during this last ditch experimental effort. If I find that the membership does not want to support this site with memberships, then I cannot support your being able to post your classified ads here for free. No, I am not intending to start charging for your posting ads here. I will just shut the site down and that will be it. I will be done with FaunaClassifieds. I certainly don't need this, and can live the rest of my life just fine without it. If I see that no one else really wants it to survive neither, then so be it. It goes away and you all can just go elsewhere to advertise your animals and merchandise.

    Not sure when this will take place, and I don't intend to give any further warning concerning the disabling of the Google Adsense. Just as there probably won't be any warning if I decide to close down this site. You will just come here and there will be some sort of message that the site is gone, and you have a nice day.

    I have been trying to make a go of this site for a very long time. And quite frankly, I am just tired of trying. I had hoped that enough people would be willing to help me help you all have a free outlet to offer your stuff for sale. But every year I see less and less people coming to this site, much less supporting it financially. That is fine. I tried. I retired the SerpenCo business about 14 years ago, so retiring out of this business completely is not that big if a step for me, nor will it be especially painful to do. When I was in Thailand, I did not check in here for three weeks. I didn't miss it even a little bit. So if you all want it to remain, it will be in your hands. I really don't care either way.

    =====================
    Some people have indicated that finding the method to contribute is rather difficult. And I have to admit, that it is not all that obvious. So to help, here is a thread to help as a quide. How to become a contributing member of FaunaClassifieds.

    And for the record, I will be shutting down the Google Adsense ads on January 1, 2025.
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Building Reptile Cages

CeaserGirl938

CeaserGirl938

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I know that most of you will say, its better to just buy them already made from somewhere else. I'm one of those people though who have the means, opportunity, and enjoys the satisfaction of a job well done, to do it cheaper and probably faster.

So if your still here after that, here's my plan. This picture is a rough idea of what I want my finished reptile room to look like.

reptileroom2.jpg

Here are the line sizes;

A - 5'
B - 1'
C - 6'
D - 12'
E - 8"
F - 3'

Like I said, this is just a rough estimate. Everything will probably end up being a bit bigger. Each individual cage in this photo I plan to make separately and make them stack able. The two small 4 cage stacks are separate, at 3' wide each, with the 4" lip at the bottom. This makes up the difference between 32" and 36", and I think will help the stank be more stable on the ground. The lip section will on be attached to the bottom cage for each stack.

Now that I have the idea, what I need to work on next is;

- Blueprint type plans (for individual cages)
- Method of building (and what specifics I'm using such as the front of the cage, hinges, latching, etc.)
- Material List (Once I decide on how I'm doing it, I need to make a material list of everything I need, otherwise my ADD will consume me and I will forget something as I usually always do.)

I'm not expecting this to go quickly, but the plans I would like to have done and ready before I start. My boyfriend and I are saving and my dad has many contacts with friends who have lose materials or can get them very cheap. If anyone has the time to help, give suggestions, or ask questions that I need to answer to help build on the idea, please don't hesitate. Constructive criticism is also appreciated. Thanks to everyone who reads this.
 
In my opinion, what you meant by " have the means " will directly relate the the speed and cost of DIY caging. If you have a full set of workshop tools and the space to do the project that may be a realistic goal.

Most of my projects run way overboard on time and usually do save me money, but the satisfaction of a job well done and done myself is the main ingredient.

I am curious about the stack of 36" wide units that are 8 inches high. Is this a rack system or cages?
 
Those are individual cages. I plan on making them all one at a time, as I need them, but making them so they interlock, so when I make the others in the future they will stack easily.

My dad is a huge handy man and has said he would love to help. His entire garage is a work shop. He helped me build my first snake cage ever before I even got started in the hobby. Here's some pics:

cage1.jpg


cage2.jpg


cage3.jpg


cage4.jpg


This was after I had painted it and before I had sealed everything. Its equivalent in size to a 40g Breeder tank and right now homes my 10 year old male ball python. It was a ton of fun to make and cost about 5$ really, which was spent on the hinges and latch. Thats all we didn't have.
 
I was comparing it to heights that I've seen other people use in rack systems. I would be using a rack if I didn't like the appealing look of separate cages better, and I don't ever plan on having a huge collection.
 
I think the best part of all is that you are doing this with your dad.

As far as the design, I agree with Matthew that the.cages are too low. The ones in the right hand stack anyway. I would not want a cage less than 12 inches high for ease of cleaning/maintenance.

With proper hides or whatever that particular species needs they will feel nice and secure.
 
Alright, I really appreciate the input guys. I'm going to start remaking plans for the shorter ones. I'll make them 1' high, and maybe make the boa ones a bit higher.

Your comment about cleaning gave me an idea. I think, on the smaller ones anyway, that I might add a top that can be opened like the one I originally built with my dad. Most likely won't have the latch, but I'll think of something, were handy like that. But I thought it might be a workable thing to make cleaning a lot easier.

I was looking at materials for building the stuff with and I see that some people use melamine but that would make them ungodly heavy, and I was able to do some searching and find out that boaphile uses HDPE, or something similar for their cages, and welds the edges together. We have a welder and my dad is always using it (he restores old cars) so we would only need the right size HDPE sheets.

Thanks again everyone!
 
I don't see why its that bad. Seems to work great so far. But I don't plan on using the wire again. Going to use all acrylic in the front and I think make part of the top panels removable for cleaning.
 
Screen is bad because it makes keeping the humidity at a decent level a constant losing battle. Personally the shallowest I would make any would be around 16-18 inches. What depth are you considering? I didn't see that measurement, and if you don't put a top access then it will be hard to reach the back to thoroughly clean. The problem is if you are using HDPE is you can't cut the top panels out for easier access, and may have issues with that long of a span. My personal suggestion is to make it by building and placing trays on rollers. Will give you the same asthetics but be far more functional. I wouldn't trust HDPE in 6 foot spans, at any width over 12" esp when you plan to stack that many on top of each other. Best of luck no matter what you decide to do.
 
Alright thanks. I read a lot about the humidity and stuff before I decided to go with that. Generally where I live, the humidity here on average is over 70%. I'm in South Florida, on the edge of the everglades.

I'll look up the trays on rollers. And if I were going to make out of something other than HDPE, what would you suggest I use? I guess I could go back to melamine, I would just need help every time I wanted to move them, though that would only be if I was moving out of this house.

I'll fix the boxes and make them taller even. I didn't realize when I first made the diagram that I'm almost 6ft tall, 4 and 5 feet aren't that hard to reach. >.<
 
I think you are on he right track height wise now.

The flip top sounds nice in theory, but would make it impossible to stack the cages. If you keep the cages at 12 inches or higher you will have plenty of room to access for cleaning from the front in my experience. I have found that a 12 inch high cage with a door opening of about 8 inches works nice, if you can go bigger than that is good too.

The "welding" you read about on the Boaphile site probably refers to a chemical bond that is commonly referred to as chemical welding. His cages last I checked are made from expanded pvc.

Expanded PVC is available in several thicknesses. I have found that the 1/2 inch is perfect for accepting screws on edge if it is predrilled. You could go with 3/8 as well if you are very careful. It does take a bond well in certain cases, but generally I do this as a seal/bond using specialized joinery. Most DIY applications can be simply butt joined at the corners and screwed together.

HDPE can be welded, but as far as I know would require specialized welding equipment for plastics. It is a great material for plastics, but because it does not bond well it is going to require screws. It is also expensive, even the lighter versions.

My choice has typically been the expanded pvc. If used properly it is very safe and easy to work with for the home builder.
 
I don't blame you a bit for doing this yourself. Especially if you have the tools and time to do so.
My opinion ( and I am certain I share this opinion with many others ) is that the commercially available Racks and cages are pretty overpriced. All it takes is one company or group to makes these more "affordable" and the you would probably see prices start dropping on cages and especially racks.
I am by no means 'downing" any of the manufacturers out there but I have and have had a few cages that were expensive and cheaply made and find it hard to believe the cost to make each one was even a quarter of what the cost was.... of course, with oil prices as high as they are and have been that to increases the costs...
Just my opinion....
 
Alright, I've been wanting to get around to actually drawing up the suggestions and writing stuff down, and doing more research, but I'm currently in an excited frenzy for next week when I'll be getting my new baby boas. My first morphs, yay! But, I will be looking into what yall have been saying, and possibly after I get my boas in the next week or so, I'll be getting started on my first cage for my current female boa, who has just hit 6ft, and is only in a 4ft long 75g tank atm. She looks fine in it, but I like to spoil. I'll make sure to keep you guys updated once I do start building and take lots of pics. If everything works out great, then I'll prolly take step by step pictures for people interested in building themselves in the future.
 
I like your idea, as I build something similar quite often. I don't have the fancy program you have to draw up a design, but I have attached my redneck version of what I build. It saves me time, lumber and money when I build it all in one piece. The other benefit to building it this way is you don't have to worry about the weight of the upper cage needing to held up by the lower cages. I will post actual pics of cages after this weekend.
 

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