Reptile & Amphibian Forums

ok so ceder and pine bad whats all good to use besides melamine and oak for building racks cages etc?

As for racks, mine are all melamine. It works but is heavy. If you were to keep the lids on your tubs (if you made sure they were secure) you could probably use some lightweight, inexpensive shelving from Lowes or Home Depot.

As for cages, mine are all made out of 5/8" MDF (Medium Density Fiberboard). It's similar to particle board. The insides of the cages are lined with Formica brand laminate which is glued in place with Franklin Tightbond wood glue BEFORE the cages are assembled. The Formica is cut slightly larger than the wood panel it it fixed to and then routed to size. This is similar to melamine except that the outsides of the cages are not lined. There is no need to. You can see in the pictures that the outsides of the cages are not visible. Also, Formica comes in a wide variety of colors and patterns. I am partial to hunter green. Formica is durable and will last a lifetime. A bead of silicone is run down each corner of the cage to prevent mosture from seeping into the cracks. The drawback is that Formica is expensive. I got the plans to build these cages from Greg Maxwell's site:

www.finegtps.com/cageplans.htm

He recommends using Contac Paper to line the insides of the cages. For Green Treen Pythons, this is fine. But for boas, I think we need something that will stand up to a little more wear and tear. Also, the Contac Paper is now made with a cheaper adhesive and it tends to bubble.

Maybe this is more than you're asking for but it's been a while and I felt like bragging a little about my room. Enjoy the pics.

The cages wrap around the room from right to left. The nice thing about building your own cages is that you can customize them to fit the space you have.

In this picture there are two 38" cages, followed by two 48" corner cages. The windows on the corner cages are very small. But, the cages keep going beyond the window.

In this picture, there are four 36" cages.

Here are two 48" cages followed by four 38" cages.

This is a picture of the Formica lining the inside of one of the cages. It is durable and very easy to clean. Even urates come off with a little scrubbing. You can barely make out the bead of silicone running down the corner.

Here is one of the first cages I built. I lined it with Contac Paper rather that Formica. Notice how the paper is bubbling. It's still doing the job and it also lined with silicone.

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Mike Lockwood
www.tooscaley.com

you can never have to much just not enough lol. but i was thinking about making a small rack for like 15quart containers made out of like 2X2 framing and thin something or another for shelfs

That is just awesome!!! Everything looks good!

where can you find the Formica? and how much does it run?

Thanks
Rai

I am just putting plans together for a rack too, and i was going to use that recycled plastic decking material. it looks like wood but its plastic and really strong.
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-Jasmine

1.1 Brazilian Rainbow Boas
(Mercutio and Kajika)