Reptile & Amphibian Forums

This is for my little anaconda.

this is her checking out her new cage.

Materials, sealant, total cost, etc.

The cage is made from walnut with a couple of oak trim pieces. measurements are 48 x 24 x 24. Venting is 4" drainage vents. The stain is minwax and it has 6 coats of minwax polyurethain over the entire cage after it completly dried 2-3weeks it was coated with ALOT of envirotex epoxy. A ball park range for price is $150 but alot of man hours sanding and sealing. When I build my next cage I wont use walnut, it is hairy. Oak is only a little more and would save time. Anyway, heat is provided by 3 11 x 17" heat pads w/ranco control and ambiant temp is controled with a second ranco and a 100w red heat lamp. I mounted a floresent light strip (18" for light, controled with a timer. I maintain 85 degrees ambiant temp and 75-85% humidity.---Eric---

Glad to see you built the cage with a bit of height. I think too many people build cages short to save space but then lose viewing area. It's also nice to have some height when dealing with ornery large constrictors, but I'm sure you are already quite aware of that.

Oak will be better than walnut, but birch will even be that much better. It is so smooth and the grain/texture of the wood does not "stand up" when polyurethane is applied.

But oak sure does look good.

Also, a water based poly will cut down on your work load and curing time as well. I'm not sure if the minwax product you used is water or oil based.

Look forward to hearing how you like the Envirotex. I think an Anaconda will test it quite nicely.

Speaking of which, I'm going to see an 18 footer tomorrow.

Where did you purchase the plastic drainage vents?

Thanks!

Terry
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Terry Brashear
1.0.0 High Yellow
0.1.0 Lavender
0.1.0 Hypo Carrot-tail
6 eggs incubating
http://www.naturepixels.com/gecko

Every thing was bought at Home Depot, vents were in the plumbing section.