Reptile & Amphibian Forums

The people building and selling screen cages have much more patience than I. I am really good at ruining a good piece of aluminum window screen. I must be doing something wrong, Im tearing more screen than Im building. Is it better to use a plastic spline roller vs the metal one? I bought a 25' roll of screen and I bet I use all of it for a 24/24/48 cage. I can bust out frames in no time with the band saw and it takes me a good hour to spline in one 24/48 screen. Im rolling the screen in the groove with the correct end then following up with the spline after that. The screen is either loose or torn there is no medium. I tend to like to try to do my own stuff and this is making me wish I would of just bought a pre-nuilt cage. Pointers anyone?

Thanks,

wood frame.homedeopt. 1x2x8 for 96 cents. staple gun. nails. screws. drill if u want. done in an hour.
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1.1. Vield Chameleon(Jessy James)
1.1.3 Sugar gliders(Bonnie & Clyde)
2.0 Ferrets(Butch & Sundance)
1.1.3 Parakeets(Prettyboy,Sassy)
1.0 Doberman (Aries)
1.1 Cats(Riley, Zoe)

I tried that before too and kinda had the same problems... Eventually I figured it out, but ended up spending as much per cage as they woulda been if I had just bought them. Unless you can get some of the materials free somehow, I would just buy them. I have 5 that I finished now, and am only using 3 of them. Fiberglass is alot easier to get in there tight, but has the traditional fiberglass drawbacks everyone talks about. If you figure the fiberglass out though, the aluminum can be done, just takes practice. I ended up using a metal roller, since that's what I got in the first place (never tried plastic). Also, I had started using the thinner sized screen, not knowing it would "bow" inwards once you get the screen tight. I rolled the spline into the groove with the screen at the same time, and you kinda just have to pull it tight while you're going. As you can tell, it's hard to explain, and I had about a negative 100 dollar learning curve, and even once I got it right, they cost the same as it woulda been to buy them (if I was counting all the labor as free). And now, they're the 3 ugliest cages in my set.
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Tyler Stewart
Las Vegas NV
www.BLUEBEASTREPTILE.com

I have a friend that works at a hardware store and gets a discount on the stuff. Not that I mind spending the money I just like to build stuff. I found an website that has a bunch of info, I guess its just going to take practice. I have already built two fiberglass cages that came out pretty good. My wife asked where I bought them. You can even get the little grey tabs used to hold the lids shut at home depot. I just figured there had to be trick to it as with anything else and I guess it will take me a little time to figure it out.

Thanks,

Have you considered using shade cloth instead?
I dunno if you could use it in one of those screen frames with the grooves and roller. Don't see why you couldn't. But then again, don't see why you would want to in first place!
Like someone mentioned, you can use this stuff on a frame, just kinda double it under and staple it in place.
Like I said, just a thought.
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Victor Gomez
gomezvi.tripod.com/sdchamkeepers/
gomezvi@yahoo.com

it really helps when you've got a couple people to help you move the cages and build them. We had three people help us with ours...staining, painting, screening.

buy some beers for the guests and they'll be happy.

here's ours.

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Chris Vanderwees
REPTILE SALES AND INFORMATION
E-mail Me
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