Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Hi,
i am building a new enclousure for boas and i was wonder is melamine good??Have you had any problums with it?
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Anthony

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I would not use melamine for Boa constrictors, especially the less expensive stuff found at home improvment stores. It will bubble and swell from the moisture that will exist in any Boa cage.

I would much rather use stained and sealed laminated plywood along with a plastic/linoleum/vinyl etc. floor covering. Plywood is lighter than melamine as well.

Question...

When attaching the vinyl to the inside of the cage, how do u attach it? I'm just wondering because in my experience moisture would be trapped under it if not sealed totally and cause rotting and nasty things to grow... You are talking about the extruded pvc style sheeting, right? OR the wallpaper sticky stuff?
One other thing... Sliding front, or drop down front? I like drop down fronts, and saw some nice supports for them at Rockler, but have not used it in cage building yet....
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Coastal Carpet Python 0.1
Albino Burm 0.1
Columbian RedTail 0.1
Kenyan Sand Boa 1.0
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Really, any durable vinyl/plastic type flooring or expanded PVC (although not a flooring product) would work.

I like the expanded PVC simply because it conducts heat. In other words, the transition from warm end to cool end will be a more gradual. I'm sure you know what I meant but someone else has asked me so I thought I should include it.

There are numerous adhesives that would work to hold down the various materials. Regardless of what one uses, it is important that the edges are siliconed completely to insure that moisture does not get underneath.

Another option is to not have a floor at all, at least not a wooden one. I've made a handful of 4'x2'x2' cages that were stacked on top of each other - none of them had floors.

Then I simply attached flimsy 1/8" plastic wallboard to the bottom, making for a more water resistant and cheap floor. This saved a lot of weight and the floor was easy to change if it sustained too much damage.

This is not practical for larger cages where the floor adds structural integrity.

I then made a rolling platform for the bottom cage to sit on and that supported the floor of the bottom cage, making it rigid. The top of the bottom cage then acted as a suport for the next cage and so on.

Regarding sliding vs. flip down doors, that's totally a matter of personal preference. I work with a lot of fast and aggressive species so it is not realistic for me to keep my snakes in cages with flip down doors. I'd never see some of them again.

I like sliding doors because I can open the door just far enough to remove a water bowl, introduce a prey item on forceps, etc.

But for some slower moving species flip down doors give access to the entire cage for cleaning or getting the coils or a large constrictor pulled out the front, etc.

Either way there is a tradeoff. That fact that you said you like flip down doors is all I need to hear - you should use them.
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When attaching the vinyl to the inside of the cage, how do u attach it? I'm just wondering because in my experience moisture would be trapped under it if not sealed totally and cause rotting and nasty things to grow... You are talking about the extruded pvc style sheeting, right? OR the wallpaper sticky stuff?
One other thing... Sliding front, or drop down front? I like drop down fronts, and saw some nice supports for them at Rockler, but have not used it in cage building yet....

Thanks, Chris. I managed to get my hands on some scrap x-pvc from a construction site near my school. Just big enough to use for my new cages. They said they might have more next week. And they have some scrap wood too.
Considering my burm knocked the top of her cage off for the first time last nite, I'm trying to hurry up and get her new cage started. She just got to 7 ft and all of a sudden decides her 120 glass isnt good enough. Either that or she misses me, I took her out and she calmed down.
Hmm, the idea of only a pvc floor is interesting. Not sure I would want that for my burm, but it would make the cages alot lighter.
What would we do without ya, Chris?
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Coastal Carpet Python 0.1
Albino Burm 0.1
Columbian RedTail 0.1
Kenyan Sand Boa 1.0
Common Snapping Turtle 1.1
RES 1.0

What thickness PVCX? If you got 1/2" you're set. It's so much easier to work with because it holds rivets or screws so much better.

If your cage top, sides and back is made from 3/4" plywood, an all PVC floor will be secure enough. But it sounds like it's at that size where you need to go ahead and build her something fairly large, so a solid floor will add structural integrity to the cage.

For one, you probably would not have to read such long responses to your questions

The PVCX is about 3/8" or so. I did a quick measurement. I worked a support structure for the bottom into my design. Since one cage will stack on top of the other, and be removable, I am gonna arrange the hotspots on one side of the cage so the bulb from one will heat the other slightly. I've also thought of using rope light, like some others. I have a bunch of it at home from the holidays and could spare about 30 feet of the stuff right now.

I'll post some pics of the design as soon as I map them out on my 'puter.
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Coastal Carpet Python 0.1
Albino Burm 0.1
Columbian RedTail 0.1
Kenyan Sand Boa 1.0
Common Snapping Turtle 1.1
RES 1.0