customizing to your personality is what it is all about. some of my first cages were like this (airbrushed interiors and cutout viewing windows). i have since moved towards more furnature like cages because my tastes haev chaged somewhat.



as far as the pan, it seems like a good idea and you should not really have much to worry about aside from two things i can think of:

one..the pan will be really large, and depending on how you go about building the frame it may be difficult to make it work.

two..make sure the pan is fairly deep. since you will not be sealing the pan in you dont want a nice pile of you know what to get in the crack between the pan and the cage itself.



i do not really like to add too much ventilation. in my 2'x4' cages i only have the ventilation from the cracks in the two sets of sliding doors (glass front and light access doors). i would say maybe just one regular house vent that you can close off to contol humidity. when i use vents i like to keep them on the sides and they usually end up in the middle of the sides.



heat tape could be used, but i think it may require some extra work. i think you may have to seal it under glass for it to be used in the enclosure. i do not have much expereince yet with heat tape in wooden enclosures so maybe someone else will respond with more help.



good luck. sounds like a good plan. remember to post pictures.





>>Ok.. Some of you may remember I posted about building a burm enclosure.. well I finally got off my arse and went to my bud who works as a graphics artist/sign maker for a sign shop. He also builds wooden things as a hobby.. so he is going to help me build my cage.. He brought up alot of interesting concepts to me that never crossed my mind. (Guess thats why he's the artist hehe) Anyways... Going with what we have available locally we decided that 2 8 foot sheets of birch ply-wood is going to be the choice.. with a 2x4 frame. Fold down doors with henges and chains on side to hold it. And lexan on the front windows. Now..

>>One of the interesting things he brought up to me is "Why are these cages so boring, they are just boxes with a window?" I said that's just how people built them.. well he wants to get creative with it and decorate the outside and customize the front window.. like something that would fit my personality (havent decided yet on what) but example of one that was brought up.. in the door use a jigsaw to cut out the shape of a hatchet(sp?).. with blade, and handle. This is essentially the "viewing window" in the cut out space goes the acrylic and on the bottom of the blade part.. get a bit of red acrylic to make it look as if it has blood on it.. lol I thought that was a neat idea.. to personalize the cage.. so we are going to attempt it. he thinks we can do it for about $190 which is nice too. Now.. me being someome who knows nothing about carpentering anything.. Why are most of the cages so boring? and box-like.. I mean if I had the skill to build I would probably make it more personal myself.

>>

>>OK.. now couple of real questions.

>>My friend thought of putting a 2 inch deep "pan" as the bottom (slide out) of some pvc he works with at his sign shop.. it would be where I put the substrate and what the python lays on.. when I take the python out I can just slide the tray out to wash it off. Now this seems like a good idea, but is it really? would i need to worry about losing heat or humidity?

>>

>>Next.. Vents.. How many and what size would be good?Where's the best spot for vents?(8Lx2Dx2H)

>>

>>Would heat tape be good to heat such a cage? (until I save up some $$ for a pro-products RHP)

>>

>>Thanks for reading.. sorry so long. ; )

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