Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Hey, guys

I'm planning on building a new cage for my veiled, who's finally starting to grow. I had him since January and finally shed a few weeks ago, now he seems to be growing insanely fast.

I have two designs that I'm planning. One's going to be the standard "box" shape cage which will be 2 1/2x2x5. And the other I'm thinking of is a triangular corner unit kinda thing that will be 5 feet high, and a little wider.

Anyway, the problem I'm having is deciding what to use. I'm thinking 1/2" x 1" PVC vinyl coated wire mesh, which will be much much easier to make the designs I'm going with now. Or using the standard screening seen on most screen cages that resembles window screening, if going that way I'll have to by wood and such things.

My concerns with the PVC mesh is that it my harm my cham's foot pads when he climbs the sides. And with the aluminum screening he might have a toe nail ripped out, which I've seen on one of my vet's panthers he's got, so I'm paranoid about that.

What do you guy's think? Triangular corner unit or "Box" cage. And with PVC vinyl coated mesh or aluminum screening?

Either design sounds fine. The triangular one sound skind of interesting, but it may be a little awkward.

In my opinion, you should definitely go with the PVC coated wire. Foot injuries are pretty much nill with this material. The coating is soft and completely non-abrasive.

Screen (like window screen) does indeed lead to pulled out toenails, and they don't grow back. My Jax lost five of his, and one led to an infection in his foot that nearly killed him.

I have a 24"x30"x48" cage made of 1/2"x1" PVC coated wire and I love it.

I started out by cup-feeding, but recently I added outdoor green carpet-covered panels on three sides so now I can free-range feed him. I cut 1.5" plexi glass slats as long as each side for the top and front (where corners meet) to keep the crickets in, and it works GREAT.

Good luck.

The free range feeding was another thing I was worried about, which is why I thought of this sort of corner, triangular design that would have the entire front face be the door. Two of the sides would be against a wall and the front is the only way the feeders could get out, and if I have a piece of plexi in the front that could help prevent that.

I also might make it a little taller and wider if I were to do the "corner cage". Like around 5 1/2 to 6 feet. and the back sides would be about 3 feet each, making the face really big. But I think I will go with the pvc coat as you suggested.

thanks.