Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Just thought Id post a pic of my cages. I built them out
of 1/2" PVC. I bent the bottom, back, top, and front out
of one piece and routered out 1/8th inch deep slots for the
sides and glued them in. The top three cages door are different
from any other cage Ive seen. To open them you lift the door striaght up and pull it out toward you and down. Kinda hard to explain. What do you guys think?

Very nice work. I understand exactly what you mean with the doors. Different, but I like.
Where do you get your PVC? Is it solid or expanded?
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1.1.0 Hondurans Het Amel
1.1.0 Hondurans Anery, Het Hypo
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"Very nice work. I understand exactly what you mean with the doors. Different, but I like.
Where do you get your PVC? Is it solid or expanded?"

I got the PVC from Total Plastics in Tampa FL.
Its expanded and the name brand is Sintra I think

VERY NICE!!!

What do you guys think?

Very, very nice.

I assume you used expanded PVC. Do you know what brand you used exactly?

Do you have any sort of idea about how much money you saved compared to comparable cages available on the market?

I like the lift out doors. I know a lot of people who build their own cages use this design and I'm always surprised more people don't try it. Not suitable for the species I keep but I can see the advantage for many applications.
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Currently keeping a small collection of various Gonyosoma. Both G. janseni and G. oxycephala.

Its Sintra. Not sure how much I saved but three of the cages are 4'x18"x10" with a divider in the middle. For materials the cost was about $60-$70 a piece. I dont know how much they would of been if I bought them.

Very nice cages!
I would like you to do a whole post on the building of your cages and any tips you could share working with (bending/routing/gluing) the pvc! Thanks.

Here’s a couple of pictures of two cages I built using the lift out door. These are big cages, 4 x 2 x 2. The plexi is pretty wobbly when handling it at this size. I don’t think I would make this type this big again. I used them for spilote and cribo, which were both a little flighty. The spilote would strike right at my face so the door became a shield too! I think it would be a better idea in a smaller cage just as you have it. You might want to drill a hole right above the door to stick something like a golf tee in to keep the snake from pressing upward and lifting the door. I don’t think they could actually figure it out, but a strong snake- even a ball python, might be able to accidentally do it.

Thanks I might do a step by step with pictures on the next cage I build. I thought about putting some kinda lock on them but figured I would wait and see if they could get out. They would have to lift the door up over 1/2" and they've been in the cages for over six months and havent got out yet so Iam pretty confident they cant.

wow those look really nice!

a have a few questions for you if you dont mind

first off where did you get your plastic?

you said you bent the top,back,bottom, and front how did you bend that? did you use a sheet metal break or did you have to heat it up?

i like the idea of a lift out door, that mean you dont have to worry about hinges and latches, or tracks... my only question is what do you do with the door when you take it out? do you have to just set it on the floor or something
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-Stephen-

0.1 soon to be wifey (hopefully)
1.0 rotwiler/chow (Boomer-wifey's pooch)
1.0 norm corn (Jake aka grumpy old terdhead)
0.1 col redtail boa (Dixie-my baby girl)
0.1 ball python (Bella- wifey's baby girl)

hopeful for not to distant future:
--brazillian rainbow boas 1 female for sure
2 or 3? maybe a breeding pair?
-- bearded dragon for the wifey my list got to big...

I got the pvc from Total Plastics.
Bending:I used a v-shaped router bit and routered out with a guide where I wanted to bend them about a 1/4" deep. Then heated it with a strip water heater thats 1"wide by 54" long that I controlled with a plugin dimmer switch.
When I take the door out I just set it up against the other cages. I would have to say I like that door style the most. Its nice and easy.

Nice job on the cages! Congratulations!

If you get a chance & don't mind, could you post a few closeups of the inside & outside of one of 'em?

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

www.natures-signature.com

Those are great, exactly what I'd like.
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1.2 Ghost Corns, Beetlejuice, Casper and Spooky
1.1 Charcoal het pewter, Smokey and Flame
1.1 Hypo het lavender, Rosy and Rocko
1.0 Anery, Goku
0.1 Amel, Sunny
2.0 Tabby Cats, Daddycat and his son Brat
0.1 Australian Shepherd, Angel

Gypsy