Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Hey,
I just got Big Boi (my Black x Borneo)a new cage in January, but he's a beefcake and has outgrown it already! I've been looking around for used ones but cant seem to find one big enough anywhere. So since im in college and poor I decided that im gonna build one. I was just wondering if anyone had plans on how to do it, tips or links to a website or anything. I tried searching the forums and came up with nothing. Im planning on using plexiglass with a removable top. My main concern is the top and being able to lock it so he cant get out cause my roomates dog would probably LOVE to play with him which would be a verryyy bad thing. I plan on making it about 5 feet long so hopefully this will be the last cage he needs. Also hes about a year and a half and already 4.5 feet the guy that sold him to me said he was the biggest one in his litter so should I make it bigger? He just keeps growing and growing! Any help is greatly appreciated.
PS. Pic is from Jan hes alot bigger now!

Underbed storage boxes work great for adult bloods i think theyre 65''longx 36''wide and 12 inches tall. I got mine at lowes.
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How do you have yours rigged for lighting, humidity, heat, ventelation, security (so they cant get out) etc... Do they have nice clear plastic onces so you can see the snake or are they the muggy white type?

Hey,
Looks like you and I are in the same boat. I'm a poor college student too who has an affinity for larger boids. When a buddy and I started breeding large reptiles like our red tails we went into the self made cage market. Plexiglass is nice but it is expensive and many times sliding tempered glass doors work well enough. The glass is strong, shatter resistant, cheaper, and you can put a simple jewlery sliding lock to keep your herp in and that dog out.
You can buy the actual slides to place the glass sheets in from any major hardware store. Then you buy two sheets of glass that are just over half the length of your cage.
Laminated particle board works best for walls. It keeps messes off the wood and makes for quick and easy clean up. I use 1/4" thickness so that I can still use undertank heaters. I drill a few holes across the top part of the walls to allow ventilation but keep in humidity. Word to the wise, use a silicone caulking all around the floor edges so nothing slips out. I learned that the hard way when I forgot a section of wall and found urates on my tile the next morning.
I use a 4X2X2 cage for my adult blood, and she seems fine with the space. Basically let your inner "toolman" come out and brainstorm a cage. Everyone has their own slants on how they wnat their cage, and with a little effort they can look really nice and professional. These are just some suggestions/tips from what I've done in the past.
Aaron
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"Bones heal, chicks dig scars. Pain is temporary, glory is forever."
-Evil Knevel

Hey,

Thanks for the responce. Im gonna try to go check out the rubbermaid container that the other person posted out tommorow, but I kinda want something to display in somewhat that doesnt look incredibly cheap. I was thinking plexiglass cause I wanted something with all clear sides, but every way I can think of putting it together just seems like a pain. You way seems pretty easy and really cheap tho and probably a decent looking cage. You dont have any pics do you? Also how did you connect the sides, just with cauking (sp?) or did you use screws or anything, cause it seems like it would be kind of difficult to screw 1/4 in boards together. Do your heat sources still work good through the bottom, it seems like they would work better if you drilled a few small holes to let the heat rise up better?

thanks,
Jordan

Hey,
Unfortunatly I don't have any pics because I don't own a digital camera. I'm trying to remedy that and I'll see if I can hunt down a pic on my computer I had of another guy's cage who I took idea off of. He made great looking cages from scratch.
I nailed the 1/4" board together with very thin nails about half the width of the board, so around an 1/8-1/16". I made a pilot hole with a drillbit slightly smaller than the nails so they wouldn't crack the board. Then the caulking is added around the inside of the cage.
At 1/4", the board will freely let heat up from the cage floor. People have drilled holes to allow the heat to come up more freely but I don't like this in case the boid should happen to be too lazy to move from his heat source when he/she needs to deficate. Then you would have urates and feces directly on the heat source and in the holes.
Your all plexiglass idea sounds great if you could pull it off. I thought about that too but the money, a good way to secretly seal sides, and give strength to the structure was beyond me. My cages look a little plain I'll admit because the laminant on the board is white, but all the can be mixed up with a little paint if you care to. Plus I just spend more time on the inside making it look nicer so people pay more attention to the snake, not the cage. I'll see if I can hunt that pic down today adn post it for you.
Aaron
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"Bones heal, chicks dig scars. Pain is temporary, glory is forever."
-Evil Knevel

Cool it looks like thats the direction ill be heading in cause i went to home depot and lowes today and they didnt have anything big enough for big boi. They had some plastic sheets that looked like they would be real easy to cut and glue together but they were like $20 a sheet for the size i would need!@! Im gonna try and see if i can find this giant rubbermaid container online but its not lookin good!

Hey,
Send me an email and I could send you a plan for putting a cage together and maybe I'll even have some photos to show you of my cages. Take care! Angel
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One man's fear is another man's fantasy!!