Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Here’s some pictures of my latest cage build, still under construction. It is seven feet long, two deep and two tall. I will be installing a rolling glass by pass door using a track from Outwater Plastics. The brown paint is garage floor epoxy, which is very scrubbable and a good wood sealer if you use about three coats. The white is Kiltz, which I use for everything. The blue is some nice shiney interior stuff. Still a lot of finishing to do…

I’m going to use this enclosed light fixture and a compact fluorescent bulb. There are two shelves along the entire back wall, which gives more usable crawl space within the cage. A unique feature is that the lower shelf is actually a vent for air to enter the cage from a slot in the back of the cage.

This shows the lower shelf with a light from the back of the cage so you can see the ventilation holes.

From the back, the half inch slot is the vent where air will be drawn in.

Up close through the slot you can see the vent holes illuminated from inside.

The air will be drawn in through the slot because the top vent has a bathroom exhaust fan built into it. Hopefully fresh air comes into the cage along the bottom shelf and vents at the top. I like having this huge exchange of air. Seems to keep down smells, fungus and all that. My humidity is always fairly swamp-like where I live, so this works for me in two other cages I’ve built like this. I use aluminum soffet vent material and nail gun it into place with strips of wood all around the edges.

Thanks for looking.

Looks cool, I can see the exhaust fan (in your high humidity location) being a big help. Most of us struggle with keeping humidity up so limit the air exchange.
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Thanks,

Dave Colling

www.rainbows-r-us-reptiles.com

0.1 Wife (WC and still very fiesty)
0.2 kids (CBB, a big part of our selective breeding program)

LOL, to many snakes to list, last count:
26.49 BRB
20.21 BCI
And those are only the breeders

lots.lots.lots feeder mice and rats

Of course the downside of the high air exchange rate will be maintaining temps. The room will have to be kept close to the ambient air temp you want and creating a hot spot will be difficult as the constant air flow will draw any excess heat away.
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Thanks,

Dave Colling

www.rainbows-r-us-reptiles.com

0.1 Wife (WC and still very fiesty)
0.2 kids (CBB, a big part of our selective breeding program)

LOL, to many snakes to list, last count:
26.49 BRB
20.21 BCI
And those are only the breeders

lots.lots.lots feeder mice and rats

My cages are kept in a warehouse with no heat or air conditioning. Total ambient at all times without much ability to thermoregulate within the cage. Temp gun readings will show there is about a five degree difference between inside a hide box and out, which is almost a mystery (?) I guess just air movement can affect ambient temps too. It will get up to about ninety degrees in summer, and regularly in the mid eighties all year. Heck, it’s 75 degrees right now at 10:30 in the morning on January 10, so it really doesn’t get cold here at all, as far as reptile keeping goes. That’s why I experimented with the TEC cooler in one cage- looking to create a “cool” spot instead of a hot spot. I’ve experimented with moving air in cages, including computer fans, etc. It seems so far the more air moving the healthier the snakes are. Stagnant moldy stale air seems to be a bad thing. Also if you experiment with live plants in your cage, with the air movement you have to water daily or they dry out, but with attention, they will actually grow and thrive under the light in this type cage.

I'm impressed with this. I wish I had the climate to be able to design something like this.

I like it. It's good to see people utilizing more ventilation.

I will be installing a rolling glass by pass door using a track from Outwater Plastics.

When you say rolling do you mean one of the actual Outwater tracks using wheels or do you mean just the regular sliding plastic track?

The brown paint is garage floor epoxy, which is very scrubbable and a good wood sealer if you use about three coats.

Is the brown paint on the floor or going to be on the floor? Which product did you use exactly? Was it one of the waterborne epoxies or was it solvent-based?
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Currently keeping:

6.10 Gonyosoma oxycephalum (Javan, mixed colors)

0.0.4 Rhynchophis boulengeri

1.1 Philodryas baroni

1.1 Lampropeltis triangulum multistriata

0.0.1 Rhamphiophis rubropunctatus

0.0.2 Morelia viridis (Aru & Merauke locale types)

1.0 Rhodesian Ridgeback

I am going to use the rolling glass doors with the little wheels because the glass will be about 42” wide on each side. I am not sure now if I will order from Outwater, as the 12’ length is a problem to ship. They might cut it down to eight feet so UPS can ship it, but I am going to call every glass and mirror shop around and see if I can get it locally. The shipping uncut would be over $150.00!
Here’s a link to the track I was planning on using- MT39-SG

Link to Outwater catalog

Behr 1-part Epoxy Acrylic Concrete & Garage Floor Paint.

This paint is suppose to be used on porous concrete and goes on very thin. If you use three coats on wood, it makes a nice thick plastic-like coat of paint. It actually is not that great for concrete, in my experience. I use the Kilz stuff first on everything. I actually paint the wood before, during and after I put the parts together, so the floor was painted apart from the walls and back. I will paint the floor with the epoxy and then put stick on tiles for the floor. Even though they are stick on, I use a big fat sqiggly zig zag line of extra glue (regular white Elmers-like wood glue) and then I caulk the edges with the cheap white stuff.

This is the primer I use-

These products seem to dry in about twenty minutes with very little fumes. I generally use what I have left over from house projects without much thought about off gassing, compatibility and all that. This cage will probably sit empty for a couple of months before I put something in it anyway.

I’ll follow up when I have the glass doors installed, if anybody is interested.

I called around looking for plastic track in my town and did not find it. Many places had the aluminum roller track and I was quite impressed with some of the prices I was quoted. Some were ridiculous, of course, but the ones that were good were about the same as what it would cost me to order online, pay shipping, etc. And I think the local prices included accurate cutting and deburring of the edges, etc.

So yes, do update when you pick out a product and have it installed.

Have you used the one-part epoxy before? I have no experience with the stuff and only concern is it's ability to deal with the slight flexing and expansion/contraction that occurs with wood and plywood.

Update us on the long-term performance of that as well.
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Currently keeping:

6.10 Gonyosoma oxycephalum (Javan, mixed colors)

0.0.4 Rhynchophis boulengeri

1.1 Philodryas baroni

1.1 Lampropeltis triangulum multistriata

0.0.1 Rhamphiophis rubropunctatus

0.0.2 Morelia viridis (Aru & Merauke locale types)

1.0 Rhodesian Ridgeback

Just to follow up- I decided to make my own rolling glass track instead of ordering a twelve foot track assembly and cutting it. I actually used two six foot tracks and made the joint right in the center where the two glass doors overlap. I needed four tracks to do upper and lower. They were eleven dollars each for six foot long. I got all upper (the deeper).
I got an idea to make my own rollers looking at a stop sleeve. I figured I could buy a bag of 100 of these copper sleeves for $9.95 and turn them into rollers.

Here’s a sample of how I put these together.

I used a template to make holes in the track exactly the same depth, every two inches (the door is 82 inches) so all the rollers are the same depth. By using the deeper upper track for the bottom, I had room to mount the rollers and still have enough lip for the glass to be in the track.

I did drill the track under each roller to shave off the hump.

Here’s the finished track installed.

Here’s the cage after putting in the stick on tile floor (.39 cents each) the decorative shelf trim, some aquarium backing photo paper, center support, etc. looks sorta complete.

I still have to get the glass cut, but I made a template with quarter inch plexi to get the measurement exact. If this works, and so far it rolls great, it is much cheaper than the track assemblies I have seen, especially when you factor the shipping if I had to order a twelve foot track. Might be a chore to keep clean, but we’ll see…

Hope it inspires others

I’ll follow up when the glass is in!

Enjoy.

Regarding the DIY roller track, at first glance I'm going to have to say that's brilliant. I need to come back later and take a closer look.

Where did you order the track from that allowed you to order all upper (deeper) track.

What was the total cost with shipping? Just for the track.
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Currently keeping:

6.10 Gonyosoma oxycephalum (Javan, mixed colors)

0.0.4 Rhynchophis boulengeri

1.1 Philodryas baroni

1.1 Lampropeltis triangulum multistriata

0.0.1 Rhamphiophis rubropunctatus

0.0.2 Morelia viridis (Aru & Merauke locale types)

1.0 Rhodesian Ridgeback

I found the tracks locally at Specialty Supplies Inc. They have them in three colors and sell them individually- upper or lower. Sweet. The brand of these plastic tracks is Epco- here’s a link. Tracks. Sweet again.

Here’s a picture with the glass installed.

Different view-

Three cages stacked. A three, four and seven foot.

I like it. Glass rolls easily, sounds like an old fashioned roller skate!

Here’s what ended up in this cage, as a follow up.
Here it is enjoying the shelf. It can choose between Aspen and pine bark nuggets.

Looking down to the left

Looking down to the right

Looking out while taking a picture!

The cage is very comfortable for the both of us!
Thanks for looking.