Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Here is the cage I built for my flavies. I am finally getting around to getting these pics up. The bottom is a 300 gallon Rubbermaid stocktank. I welded a frame 18 inches around the tank that bolts into the top. The frame is ¾ inch square tubing and the walls are 1/16 inch steel sheeting. The viewing part is ¼ inch polycarbonate.
I filled the bottom with 40 sandbags of this decomposed basalt that forms as little drifts along the Snake River canyon. I also put a huge stump in the bottom so I can hop in and stand without caving in the burrows that the monitors dig. The cage isn’t perfect, but I made it with the scrap metal at my buddies shop. Go ahead and bash away.

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"Relax, Don't Worry, Have a Homebrew!" Charlie Papazian

Thats sick man. A nice trough style tank that can be displayed nicely. Very impressive.

very nice! I'm going to need you to make me one of those!

nice and creative! how does that stuff dig?
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robyn@proexotics.com

Pro Exotics Reptiles

This stuff digs really well, the only problem is that there is alot of actual rocks in it too. I did my best to sift through it, but when your out diggin the stuff up and loading and all that you just want to get it done. Overall I really like it. I tested it out with some skinks before I moved my monitors to it and they responed well, so I tryed it. The stuff I had before was from the Columbia river and was more sandy. It dried out faster and the burrows collapsed easily. This stuff is WAY heavyier and the burrows are solid, but its not really hard to dig in. Thanks to all for the comments.
Jason

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"Relax, Don't Worry, Have a Homebrew!" Charlie Papazian

You did a good job, Dobry!

Congratulations!

What's the dimmensions of that Rubbermaid tub?

Have a good one!
HH
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Due to political correctness run amuck,
this ol' hillbilly is now referred to as an:
Appalachian American

Thanks HH. The trough is 5'10" x 5' x 2'.
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"Relax, Don't Worry, Have a Homebrew!" Charlie Papazian

Hey,
Very cool cage. How did you make it? It looks to be a pond bottom with some sort of top. It looks really good, and looks to be very functional. Can you explain what you did?
Thanks,
Mike

Hi Mike,
I gave a brief description in the first post, but I can elaborate a little. The bottom is a semi-round 5ftish x 2ft rubbermaid trough. I took some square tube steel and rolled two circles to fit the top of the trough and welded tabs to the side of one where there were predrilled holes in the trough. I bolted that part to the rubbermaid and then constructed a frame with the steel 18 inches high and just welded it together. The second circle was for the top. Since the actual trough is not totally circular I just cut those sides off with a torch and welded strait pieces in its place (well acutally the other way around). But anyway then the sides are just thin steel sheeting that I attached with tack welds to the frame. The polycarbonate I had cut at a glass shop and just bolted it to the frame. The top pieces just sit in the frame like panels so are easily removed.
Cheers,
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"Relax, Don't Worry, Have a Homebrew!" Charlie Papazian