Reptile & Amphibian Forums

hello, i had a question about one of your cages you said you built.on monday you replied to somebody building a cage with pvc.one of his concerns was free range feedinand you said you cut out outdoor carpet for panels on three sides.can you expand on that some more.do you keep those panels on all the time? i am very interested.my jackson needs a new home and i would like to start construction.thanks and hope to here from you.matt

You bet, here are the specs for my setup. This design comes after years of trying everything. So far it has worked out great.

I have a 24"x30"x48" PVC coated wire cage, with 1/2" x 1" spacing in the bars.

Cardboard was my choice for the panels because it has some give and can be pushed snugly into place. Wood wouldn't allow for this, and no cage is a perfect box. I cut the cardboard panels to size for the back and sides (cut the back panel a half inch shorter to allow for the side panels to fit against it's sides, and cut the side panels just a hair shorter than the cage sides so the panels don't "bow", and painted one side black. I used water-based latex paint, with a roller, to prevent any fumes from effecting my Cham.

Something to remember: MEASURE TWICE, CUT ONCE.

On the other side of the panel I glued the green outdoor carpet you find at home improvement stores. I got mine at Home Depot. NOTE - do not use the "shaggier" bright green plastic-type carpet, but rather the very short, fine threaded kind. I used the 3M Super 77 adhesive spray to affix the carpet. You have to spray both surfaces to get the maximum bond. NOTE - glue the panel to a section of carpet BIGGER than your panel, than cut to size around the perimeter. This makes for a perfect edge.

After a day or so drying time (to allow the glue fumes to dissipate completely) I installed the panels (carpet side in, of course) in the cage against the back and side walls. The black side faces out, and since my cage is black, looks nice. You have to push on the panels a little to get them into place, since the fit should be snug.

The panels are waterproof on the inside. However, If too much standing water is allowed to remain in the cage, it could creep up into the cardboard from the bottom of the panel and destroy it, so one option is to put a strip of duct tape along the bottom edge to prevent this.

I have a plexiglass bottom on my cage.

Now you have a cage with three walls and bars on the top and front. This still allows for good airflow, but it's not cricket proof yet.

The next step is to create barriers for the crickets at the front and top. Let's start with the top. For this I cut plexiglass slats 1.5" inches wide for the back and sides. You don't need one for the front, as you will see later. The two slats for the sides should be cut to match the cage, but the back slat should be shorter to fit between the side slats.

Knowing the nature of crickets, this is all you need. The cricket will approach the plexi, see it as a barrier and turn away. You only need an inch and a half to do this. A cricket would never jump from the side panel out through the top if the cage. Nor would they do this from the side panel out the front.

After you slats are cut, drill very small holes (1/8" and just attach the slats along each edge to the bars using black nylon ties or string. I use the black plastic ties that "click" when you tighten them.

For the front of the cage, do the same thing. At the bottom of the front, I cut a 3" wide slat (cut it shorter to fit between the side slats). When you start doing this, if you choose this route, you will see how this all fits together and the adjustments will make sense.

Now you have a cage that has three walls, allows for great airflow, that you can free-range feed in, and there is no danger from foot injuries, like there is with window screen.

The crickets run right up the walls and my Cham will pick them off like crazy.
When they reach the plexi slats, they just turn around and go the other way.

One thing that should be said is, this design isn't 100% cricket-proof, but it is about 97%. The only way a cricket could get out is to sit at the front wall and just decide to jump out of the front throught the bars. This is possible, though extremely unlikely knowing the nature of crickets. Even if one or two escapes a month, I can deal with that. It's still a new thing for me, but so far so good.

I know a lot of this may be hard to visualize, so I can email anyone photos if they are interested.

I really hate how my parentheses turn into those damn smiley faces without me knowing.

One thing I'm thinking about is to make the slat of plexiglass that goes along the bottom of the front about a foot high. This won't affetct airflow, and it would ensure that no crickets would leap out of the front bars from the bottom. Since my Cham never really climbs around the bottom, I'm not worried about glass-stress.

I have noticed him doing threat displays in front of the slats of plexi on the front, when he's near them (he's seeing himself) , so I may adhere some type of non-reflective contact paper or something to those slats.