Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Here's another cage I built in hopes of housing Uroplatus henkeli someday.

What you see here is a Sterilite 50 gallon storage tote mounted onto an epoxy-sealed face frame. The face frame is made from clear yellow pine.

The top of the Sterilite tote is routed out and screen is attached with rivets and hot glue.

The tote is attached to the epoxy sealed frame with dozens of 3/4" sheet metal screws and a high-quality polyurethane caulk.

The joint is very strong. I was able to carry the cage by it's face frame while my 40 lb. nephew was standing in the cage. Try doing that with any of the other plastic cages on the market... and use your own nephew...

Sorry for the appearance of the cage in this picture. A friend of mine had a Corucia zebrata born and needed this cage to separate the mother and it's newborn from the rest of its cagemates. They had spent the day exploring their new cage and tracked substrate all over the cage.

This picture shows the pine face frame and the hinged acrylic door. The acrylic is 1/4" and rests inside of another frame made from 1/4" pine. You can see that in this picture.

There are a variety of ways to make this cage free standing or stackable. Since it was just a prototype for me to test out I was not concerned about doing any of that.

The cage also has floor drains made from hose-barb connectors.

just was wondering how are the hinges attached to the plexiglass thanks and where did you get the hinges and plexiglass thanks.
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0.0.4 AZUREUS
0.0.3 KLEMMERI
0.0.1 GRANDIS
0.0.2 STANDINGI

The hinges are acrylic and are solvent welded onto the acrylic window. The other half is screwed into the wood.

The acrylic and the solvent was available at a plastic shop. The hinges I ordered through US Plastics.

That would bother me.

VEIWING the activity of the lizards, you would miss acually seeing them.
And they are so INCREDIBLE awesome to look at !

Its really nice, just I like to see everybody !!!

Eve

You did see the "Front View" post, right?

Complete front viewing with the security of solid sides and a back.

Chris, maybe post pics of that display case of yours that I have and it will be more evident...
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Ben

Here is a cage build from the same principle.

This is a piece of oak-laminated plywood, approximately 2'x3' (Ben, feel free to correct me, I've not seen this cage in a while).

From it I cut three holes. Behind the top two holes are 8 gallon garbage cans. The bottom is a 20 gallon storage tote.

They all have screen tops and floor drains like the cage above.

This face piece is now mounted into free-standing cabinet of sorts and has a solid top and sides.

This shows the two 8 gallon garbage cans sticking off of the face piece. You can see the screen tops and the mistheads.

VERY CLEVER and inexpensive !

SORRY, I was wondering why you had it closed, thought that back was the front,

hardy har har, what a dufus, I was,
Looks good, BOTH VEIWS !

Eve

Very creative enclosure. Approximately, how much did it cost for the materials and how long did it take you to build it. From the side it doesn't look that attractive but from the front it looks awesome. I keep my turtles in plastic tubs because they are cheap and offer a lot of room but I never thought about adding a door and making it a front opening cage. Thanks for the photos and ideas,
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Devin
devin@amphibiancare.com
www.amphibiancare.com
4.1 Dendrobates tinctorius 'Dwarf French Guiana'
1.1 Dendrobates tinctorius 'Powder Blue'
5.1 Mantella aurantiaca
2.1 Mantella crocea
0.0.2 Mantella madagascariensis
1.0 Ceratophrys cranwelli
1.0 Bufo americanus
0.0.1 Salamandra salamandra
1.0 Ambystoma tigrinum
0.1 Chamaeleo calyptratus
0.1 Phelsuma dubia
1.0 Uroplatus ebenaui
0.0.1 Chrysemys picta belli
1.0 Terrapene carolina triunguis

This particular cage took some time to build. The bottom (now the back of the cage) of the box had four very deep caster wells that just looked horrible. I cut them off and used rivets to attach a piece of cut plastic to the back.

The frame took some time because I was making it from lumber and not just cutting a square out of a piece of plywood (like the other cage display I posted).

But I did this over time so I can't really answer how long it took. What I like about the design is that it could be as easy or as complex as you like.

Regarding cost, I used a lot of material I had laying around. I bought the wood and the box and the plexiglass. I'd guess around $50 for all that (keep in mind this is a very large box so it was about $20).

The polyurethane, epoxy, hinges and screws I already had. The little things like that can add up.

Devin, are you breeding your tincs?
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Ben

Hi Ben,

Yes I am. I also breed my golden mantella frogs and recently found a clutch of eggs from my M. crocea which is exciting. Feel free to email me at devin@amphibiancare.com if you have any other questions. Talk to you later,
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Devin
devin@amphibiancare.com
www.amphibiancare.com
4.1 Dendrobates tinctorius 'Dwarf French Guiana'
1.1 Dendrobates tinctorius 'Powder Blue'
5.1 Mantella aurantiaca
2.1 Mantella crocea
0.0.2 Mantella madagascariensis
1.0 Ceratophrys cranwelli
1.0 Bufo americanus
0.0.1 Salamandra salamandra
1.0 Ambystoma tigrinum
0.1 Chamaeleo calyptratus
0.1 Phelsuma dubia
1.0 Uroplatus ebenaui
0.0.1 Chrysemys picta belli
1.0 Terrapene carolina triunguis