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I finished these a few weeks ago. They are made of 1/2in birch ply. Each cage measures 32x16x8. Each has a single piece of flexwatt sandwiched between 2 pieces of tile for heat. In the spring these held a 25 degree gradient, but now my place is toooo hot!! The doors are plexi.

These are based from some cages that ZFelicien gave me some advice on. Thanks Zenny!

your cages look better than mine do!

how thick is the plexi? does the middle of your plexi stay closed? i had to "install" these magnet things to keep it closed but i think if i used thicker plexi i wouldn't have that problem... well the next one i build will be better!

Thanx for sharing... glad to know i was an inspiration!

~Z
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Royal Blue ReptileZ
Home of Bklyn's Finest Brooksi

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The plexi glass is 1/4in. The doors ar 31x8 with all of the bolts and hinges simply bolted directly through it. It was a little tricky to do this acurately but it worked. There is a 1/8in gap around the entire door. So far it has been rock solid.

Other info...

I used some scrap vinyl flooring on the bottoms and sealed the edges of this with silicone. This makes it way easier to clean then my wood bottomed cages. Also meant that I didn't have to go quite as crazy with finishing the wood.

If I had to do it over the only thing I would do differently is add more ventilation. Possibly in the form of actaul vents but I was thinking that instead of drilling holes in each, I might router several 3/16in grooves horizontally all the way across the back and sides

Those look really nice.
Might I ask what kind of cuts you did for the joining, if any?

I'm going to be building some display cages this winter (taking a wood working class this fall). I'm looking at going 4'x2'x16" (external dimensions) - I want the 16" height because I want to put flourescent lights in, not for animals - but for me.

I'm thinking about using a single piece of 12" flexwatt in each cage.

For my Pyro Pyro (I have one now - er, soon, it's shipping in July when I can guarantee I'll be home to take delivery) I may go 3'x2'x16" since they don't get quite as large, but I'll do the 4' wide first to see what the temp gradient is like, in case 3' isn't enough.

Did you tile the entire bottom, or just where the flexwatt is?
I'm thinking about tiling the entire bottom. I'm also going to put a substrate dam on the front of each one and probably frame the glass (I want to use real glass, it looks nicer imho) in wood.

I helped my brother build his house - but that was pretty much just framing and roofing, so I want to build some skills with cabinetry before I undertake this.

For these cages I wanted them to be done quick and easy. Each shelf has one screw that goes through the side and into the wood near the front. The rest of the shelf is supported from underneath by small L brackets. Not the most asthetically pleasing but it works. If your looking for a nicer finished look you should look into getting a biscuit joiner. This will give vey strong joints with no screws or anything visible.

In these cages I just took 2 12x12in tiles and placed the flexwatt between them. I wouldn't tile the whole thing, it would be really heavy. See the post above for how I did the bottom.

It sounds like you want to do something like one of my other cages (pictured below) just a single cage not a stack. This cage I spent a lot more effort on. Each measures 5x2ft x14in The doors are glass and they swing out from the middle. If I had to do it again I would frame the glass and use a single door that hinges down. I made a bedding dam from a 2 inch strip of plexi glass routered into a groove in the front of each shelf. In the cages above I just used a thick bead of silicone across the front.

I would go with the 4 ft if you have the room. The bigger it is the happier your snakes will be and the easier it is to get a great temp gradient.

One last piece of advice... If you have a light in the cage make SURE that you wire the balast outside on the back of the cage. Even though flourescent bulbs don't get hot the balast does and it makes the whole cage too warm when the lights are on.

POst some pics on the cage forum when you finish yours.

Great looking cages . I imagine you just shut off the heat/light bulb if it gets to hot ?
I dont use any extra heat at all in summer .

wow! nice looking cage there!
One question tho... you don't light up each cage?
I dont see any light fixture in each cage.

- JAKE
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