Reptile & Amphibian Forums

My Sumatran water monitor, now approaching 4ft., has just about outgrown his custom built enclosure and I am now looking to begin construction on something larger. I have decided to again go with a custom built vs. a purchased enclosure for multiple reasons, the main being price. I have access to cheaper materials and tools and possess the carpentry skills required to build such a cage, not to mention the joy and fulfillment that comes with combining creativity with functionality to build a reptile enclosure.

The cage currently housing my monitor has a wooden frame, drywall-textured fiberglass-coated plywood (water proof, easy to clean, and aesthetically pleasing) for the bottom and back, and plexiglass for the front, sides, and half of the top. The other half of the top is wire mess for ventilation and UV light purposes. There are 3 levels, a portion of the bottom level contains a large heated water tub, which is easily removable for cleaning purposes.

I would like the new cage to be large enough to house him for the next couple of years, but not take up an entire room, and also to posses some of the same functional features as the current one – adequate ventilation, large water tub, basking areas, split-levels, etc.

I am interested in receiving appropriate designs and dimensions for such a lizard, from individuals that have made custom cages of their own. What you’ve found works best, what to avoid, and how best to balance an attractive cage with functionality.

Chad

Here one idea for the pondering...

Use the cheapest 8x4 boards you can find for the internal walls. It helps if you build the frame on the OUTSIDE, so the inside has 6 smooth walls and no "skeleton" to get in the way of cage props and internal finishing, such as frp pannels etc. This also makes sealing inner edges simpler! Over the ouside to make it styleish, you can get a better grade of wooden panelling to lay over your external frame. This outside siding can be stained and embellished with decorative, carved edging pieces to add to the asthetic appeal of the finnished product. You can find commercially constructed sliding windows in various demensions to use as the front doors of your enclosure.

I believe that John A has some sketches of this type of cage design over at cybersalvator.com ~Perhaps that will aide you better visually.
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