Reptile & Amphibian Forums

So there 48" tank is only 18" tall, and the cut out for the dome light is 8", leaving only 10" below that to the floor of the tank. So, can I fit a perch or something under there for basking? Won't my beardie be too close to the heat source?

If you have one of these cages, tell me how you set it up. I like everything else about them, but it seems poorly designed for beardies, unless I'm misunderstanding something.

Thanks!

we just build a cheap beared dragon tank for are 18 inch dragon
4 ft long x 2 ft wide x 18 in high
we used a strong wire mesh ( it resists heat )
( cut a whole in the top lid of the cage and put the mesh down ..

and her dome light sits on top of the mesh ..
ill put a picture of it up soon hopfully if you dont understand what im saying

christina

They told me on the phone it was designed for pet stores which generally don't have cage furniture. I desided against them based on this problem.

I decided to build my own. I've completed one of 4. The one I completed is 5' x 3 1/2' x 2' Tall. I'll post a pic. later tonight.

I would love to see your picture! I have a friend that does carpentry side jobs, so I could hire him to build one for me. But I don't want a wood one. I like Showcase Cages because they are plastic, so I can really scrub them out. I'm kind of a clean freak, lol. Melamine would be easier to clean, but I think they generally end up being pretty ugly. I don't know. It seems like most of the homemade ones I've seen have been very functional, but not all that attractive. Maybe I need to see more pics.

Yes, I agree with you that melamine cages, though easy to clean (I'm a clean freak too) look functional rather than particularly pretty.

Right now this cage is on a temporary table in my family room. I am in the process of building a 2nd identical one to stack on top. Under the ramp, is 4 built in hides. Right now there is a board in front of it since the dragon that is in it tends to hide until he becomes comfortable with new surrondings. The floor space of the cage is 5' wide by 3 1/2' deep. The front slopes in at a 75 degree angle to discourage the dragons from climbing the glass. (This was Rob Dachiu's idea) The front right has a 1' x 30" area that has shelf liner as substrate. This is a "cricket corral" the boards are covered with an aluminum tape that the crickets cannot climb.(also Rob's idea)

The picture is taken with the UVB lights off. But it has (3) 3' light strips going front to back. Right now I am only using 2. It is heated by (2) 50W spot bulbs controlled by a Helix Thermostat. Above the glass, is a 1 1/2" tall opening for ventilation. Additional ventilation is provided with the grid on the cool side on days when my house temp is in the high 70's or 80's.

2 females will join him shortly in this new home.

that cage is awesome looking...anyway to get some plans for it up here??? looks better than the normal melamines ive been building
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Beach Beardies

2.4. bearded dragons
1.0. Turquoise x Sunburst Veiled Chameleon
1.1. Sugar Gliders
0.2. Felines *queen athena and missy*

Plans? Backchannel me.

Steve

the pic of the cage with the slant front, that rob dachiu i guess gave you some ideas on....the one pictured...do you have plans to build them, as in blueprints??? that cage is awesome and id love to try to build something like that. i just started building my own cages last summer and had a blast doing so.
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Beach Beardies

2.4. bearded dragons
1.0. Turquoise x Sunburst Veiled Chameleon
1.1. Sugar Gliders
0.2. Felines *queen athena and missy*

Sorry I don’t have blueprints or plans. It’s really not that hard to make. I’ll tell you how I built mine and then you can customize to fit your space. Mine is 5’ long which creates a lot of scrap from 4 x 8 sheets of melamine. I have a case of 36” Reptisun 10.0 bulbs so I wanted to use 36” fixtures in mine. That meant that it would have to be at least 36” deep to run the fixtures from front to back. If you build a 4’ cage you can just run 4’ fixtures left to right. Just make sure your inside measure is at least 4’ that means the outside measure will be at least 49 ½ wide.

Melamine is available from Home Depot in a variety of sizes including 4 x 8 sheets. To cut melamine I use masking tape to reduce chips and you will need a circular saw blade with the most teeth possible. Home Depot sells like a 140 tooth blade for about $6 it’s marked as a plywood blade.

It’s best to start with the sides. Home Depot sells pieces of melamine that are 48” x 23 5/8. I decided that these would be my sides. I decided to play it safe (for 36” lights) and make mine 37” deep at the top. I then marked a 75 degree angle. It comes out to about 43 ¼ at the bottom. I taped where I was gonna cut and clamped the boards together that way cutting both at the same time would make them exactly the same.

For the bottom, you will need to set the tilt on the saw at 15 degrees and cut the width to 43 ¼ on the long side. Easiest to just hold the sides up to it to mark it. The length of the bottom is 58 ½ to make a 5’. Melamine is ¾” thick. The sides are on the outside of the bottom, back, and top to hide the unfinished edges of the melamine. The back is 58 ½ by 22 1/8 and will sit on top of the bottom.

I bolted these pieces together with 1 5/8 course thread drywall screws every 4”. 5” is fine but I believe in overkill. Lol. You will need to drill a small pilot hole and a larger one slightly to countersink the screw heads. HD sells screw covers. I then cut the top at 58 ½ long by 37” on the short side of the 15 degree bevel. I then mounted the lights. Lot easier to do it before the top is on than working upside down in the cage later. HD sells an outside spotlight kit (white) with 2 swivel/adjustable angle sockets. I bought an extra socket to put a night bulb in too.

The top rests on the back but not the sides so you’ll need to cut some boards to hold up the front of the top while you screw the sides to it.

HD sells PVC Composite boards. On my cage the top is a 3 ½ board, the bottom is a 2 ½ board and the rest are 1 ½ boards. I attached mine using a finish nailer but you could use screws. I beveled both top and bottom boards but you don’t have to. I cut a scrap to 1 ½ and attached it to the center of my top board. This will create the space for ventilation. I then attached the 1 ½ board to this. This will hold the glass track. It’s important to attach the top glass track board to the center first because there will be some bowing of the top depending on how long the cage is. Now square up the glass opening and attached the board to the sides. Cut 1 ½ boards to fill in the remaining spaces. Then I filled the holes and painted the outside of the front boards. Then attach the glass track.

The basking area is made with scrap melamine and finished with the PVC board. It has 4 built in hides. I made mine to fit 12 x 12 slate tiles. I had to cut 2. The ramp is a 16” slate tile cut to 12” wide. The “cricket corral” is 1 ½ boards screwed from the bottom up and covered with aluminum tape.

The summertime extra venting is as described below.

http://www.dachiu.com/care/venting.html

This cage can really be made any size. Just keep in mind the lights you want to use and cut the sides first. Rob Dachiu’s have a floor space of 4’ x 3’ and he has breeding groups of about 3 in each.

Hope this helps.

Steve

Thanks! I printed them.

hey thanks for takin the time to type those out. ill see what i can do to actually try to make this and not screw it up. LOL
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Beach Beardies

2.4. bearded dragons
1.0. Turquoise x Sunburst Veiled Chameleon
1.1. Sugar Gliders
0.2. Felines *queen athena and missy*

Cagesbydesign.com in my opinion has the best looking cages. I think you'd be disappointed if you got a showcase cage. Maybe consider their 5' model, it is 24" tall. I still think that light cutout is really not attractive sinking way into the cage though. If you want plastic. Have you considered Vision Cages? LLLreptile.com sells them. Professsional melamine cages are at Customcages.com. My old setup is terrariums. They were made by glasscages.com. I think it's really pretty and hate that I'm changing it but, they are just to expensive to operate and have other heating disadvantages. I've posted a pic. of my current setup.

Thanks for the photos and advice. I am looking into Vision Cages right now. Cages by Design is way too expensive for me, although their majestic line is gorgeous.