Reptile & Amphibian Forums

first off sorry for constantly posting and being annoying.

I am gonna start building a cage for my water tomorrow and was thinking of something in the 5x3x3?? Is that adequate? Once he outgrows that would he be big/ hearty enough to go into an outdoor cage? I am also planning on using plywood 3/4 in. Will that last a few months? I'm also gonna switch to the soil mix that robyn always mentions. Again, sorry for being annoying. I appreciate any comments.

Thank you,
kevin

haha i was just going to post almost this same question, but how should i build the doors? mine is going to be 5x3x2.5 and it's for 2 small black throats. also, should i use something to seal the wood so it will hold in the humidity better? and if so, than what should i use? will just paint do it?

LOL. Well good timing then. Were you gonna put the doors in the front or on top? And how are you gonna do the top? Ventilation?

Thanks,
kevin

I'm not to sure. i like the idea of having the doors on the side so i don't have to lean over the top to do maintenance, but i would like to access the cage from the top because then i could make the whole front 1 piece of plexi-glass for visual purposes. so i'm kind of in a delema. i think i'm going to put the door on the top though and have it swing up, because a 2.5 foot tall enclosure won't be hard to reach in.

for ventilation i was just going to make 1/3 of the top screen and the other 2/3 plywood or a plexi-glass door. if you have any ideas, that would be awesome, i'm trying to make an enclosure that is good for them and going to last a couple months

yea I think I'm gonna make 3/4 of the top swing open and the other 1/4 permanent where the lights are. I wasnt gonna do the plexiglass front just for his personal security puposes but that's just me. I believe the wood should be fine for 6 months or so without any sealant. Let me know how it goes.

Kevin

that's true, it's only the front though, and i'm gonna give him plenty of hides. if i do see him stressed at all though, i will definatly bored up the front and take off the plexi. thanks for your imput, and when i get it set up i'll be sure to post pictures

thanks,
ian

does anyone else have any suggestions on this??

Thanks,
kevin

I just built this for a friend. He bought the trough, I build the top.

You can build the top for less then $250, all parts other then the trought can be purchased at Home depot or the like. Cheers

thanks,

I actually just got done building it now. Its 5x3x3 outta plywood. Going to go get the substrate now. Its 50% topsoil,25% pkaysand,25% vermiculite, is that correct? And do you just dump it in or is there a special way to mix it?

Thanks
kevin

where did you hear to use vermiculite?

Robyn

Ok, just that I'd never heard of any of the monitor keeper/breeders using it with their substrate. I was told, riverbed dirt/sand, or back yard dirt, certain fill dirts and if none of them are available, plain topsoil (non organic), mixed with washed playsand. What's the benifit of adding vermiculite and are there any drawbacks?

Susan.

I'm not sure as of right now. I just started using it a couple days ago. I didn't use much maybe 10% of the mix was vermiculite because I didn't really see what it was doing. I will let you know how my 50,40,10 mix goes. Does anyone know what the purpose of the vermiculite would be?

Kevin

i'm not really sure, but i used that mixture that robyn suggested and it didn't work for me at all. now i use just top soil and it seems to be working fine, it holds burrows, holds moisture well, and my black throats seem to like it. they are both really active, and right now one is shedding and it's coming off fine

Hey raggid I just finished building the cage. I will post pix as soon as I figure out how to. How is yours coming? How big are your bt's? And how deep is the topsoil?

Kevin

i use just top soil and it seems to be working fine, it holds burrows, holds moisture well, and my black throats seem to like it.

You don't add any sand at all? I would think just topsoil would end up a bit muddy, but if it's working well for you, that's great!

FR,

I have an 8 ft. trough sitting in my garage picking up dust and I'm going to be putting my cage together this summer. I had something very similar to your cage in mind. I was just wondering if you wouldn't mind giving me a little advice on how you built your cage and what exactly you used. However, I'm more interested on how you did the front access doors. Thanks for the help.

-Paul

I'm more interested on how you did the front access doors.

It looks like pre-made aluminum window? Regardless, that's an outstanding looking trough enclosure. Not to mention, functional!
I was also curious about the construction. Did you use self- tapping screws, or rivets, or something else?

Susan.