Hello. I will be making my first attempt at building my own cages soon, but I have a few concerns that have arisen. My bull snake is about to outgrow the 2 square feet of floor space she has and I want to build a 4'x2'x18" cage that will last her the rest of her life. I plan to use melamine or high grade plywood for 5 sides and have a drop down or sliding plexi-glass door on the front. I would like this to be stackable as I'm interested in getting a carpet python soon. The carpet's cage would be same dimensions except and extra foot or so of height. Also I would like to put a few smaller cages for my leo and horned frog on top of these (all the cages together would be 4'x2'x1'. I'm just wondering if the bottom cage would support this? I thought about putting the smaller cages on the bottom and stacking the bigger ones on top. Would they support all this weight, or should I put some supports in the cage going on the bottom?
Secondly, where should I place the heat pad? I've thought about putting it outside the tank (probably on the side so I don't have to make legs for each stand. Another idea is putting it on the inside bottom, then laying tile over it and putting substrate on top of the tile. My third option would be to put it on the inside side of the cage with a rheostat/thermostat so it wouldn't burn the animal. Any help is appreciated. If the first one goes well, I plan to build the next 4 myself as well. I'm mainly worried about the collapsing issue. If anyone has any experience in making stackable melamine cages I would appreciate tips.
Lastly. I thought about making them all as one unit. Having 4'x2'5' dimensions and adding boards in the middle to make separate cages. Essentially a display rack. This would just be a pain to move (probably 350 lbs). Still an option if someone thinks this would work, but I prefer individual-stackable cages.
Thanks in advance.
