Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Hi,

I'm about to order (or start building, depending whether I can get over the sticker shock of a commercial unit) a new cage for our beardie. Question is, should I use acrylic or glass for the side panels and front doors? I know that acylic is much lighter but also scratches easier, and glass will cost me more and will be much heavier, but doesn't scratch.

What are you guys using for your beardies, and what would you recommend?

Thx,
Frank

Glass is usually cheaper than acrylic. That last time I priced it in 1/4" even the tempered glass was cheaper than acrylic. To be fair, acrylic varies widely in cost and quality.

I have used some of the cheap acrylic and it is lousy.

I do not recommend acrylic for any part of a bearded cage that the animal will be able to scratch. They will trash it in little time and it will be difficult to polish out. Factor in the dramatic thermal gradiants required by bearded dragon the cage is guaranteed to warp.

My bearded cage is made from 3/4" birch laminated plywood. My GF stained it with a mahogany stain and it the finish looks great in person.

With some intermediate wood-working skills one could easily make a much lighter wooden cage. If you were willing to keep the longest dimension to under 5' the cost would be reasonable as well.

Here's my bearded cage. Lousy picture, great cage... despite the weight.

Chris,

Sorry, I should have mentioned that I was referring to the price of a cage by cagesbydesign (in glass vs. acrylic). With proper venting, I don't think the temps required for a beardie would be an issue, but I'll double-check before I decide.

Another option I have is to build a cage myself (or have it built by a furniture-maker). I bought 3 sheets of mahagony plywood for this purpose last year, but never got around to it. I do like the look of your cage, and maybe it will inspire me to build my own as well.

One thing I have not been able to find is a metal track for the sliding glass doors that's long enough (6ft) and semi-affordable. What are your cage dimensions and what did you use for your track?

Thx,
Frank

Hi Frank,

Okay, that makes sense for the pre-fab cages.

I'd be very careful with acrylic. Even very small thermal gradiants can cause warpage with acrylic.

Besides having a furniture maker build the cage, I'd also consider having them cut the wood for you and assembling the cage yourself.

I have taught several people how to build their own cages. Typically I teach only simple edge joints (no dados, mitres, or rabbets) and try to use as many cross cuts as possible.

In every case the difficult part for people to learn was 1) figuring out the "cut list" and 2) making accurate cuts.

However, give them the pre-cut pieces of wood and they can typically assemble the cage fairly well.

We can help you with the cut list, your local furniture maker can help you with the accurate cuts.

My cage is 49.5" long, 27.5" tall, and 20" deep. It has a false-ceiling design that works very well for Bearded Dragons. I can post pictures of that if you like.

The dimensions are a bit odd because it was left-over wood from a few other projects.

In a perfect world I would have built it a bit taller to both increase the viewing area and allow for more room in the false-ceiling area. I also would have made it a bit deeper to increase the floor area.

But I really like the length. With the two side pieces of the cage being 3/4" thick it gives the total length of 49.5" (48" + 3/4" + 3/4" = 49.5" and allows me to fit a full 48" light fixture into the false ceiling. This length also saves money as you can use all cross-cuts.

I also run a 100 watt CHE and even can squeeze in one of those combo light fixtures if I want during colder months.

However, I do not have enough room to run a MV bulb unless it is horizontal. And as you probably know horizontal orientation is very hard on the ballasts in these types of bulbs and they burn out.

Here is a better picture of another cage I built with the same design as my Bearded cage. It has some inexpensive molding attached to the front. I regret not doing the same to the Bearded cage. But the Bearded cage really does look almost as good in person.

In both cages I used plastic glass track and love it. With properly buffed glass-edges and use of silicone lubricant on the track itself they have held up very well.

The track on the Bearded cage is made by Knap and Vogt and is supposed to be "tan". As you can see in the picture it is really orange. I was not happy about that.

In the oak cage I used the brown product from Rockler.com and it looks great.

I have heard there are disadvantages to aluminum track unless you want to use rollers on the glass pieces. That is probably overkill for your cage unless you go really big.

Another option is using real-wood track. Rockler.com should have all of them for you to consider.

As long as I'm posting again I'll explain my false-ceiling design.

With both the bearded cage and the oak cage the back panel of the cage does not run all the way to the top. With the bearded cage it stops about 6" from the top. The oak cage is about 8".

Then I build a frame from 1"x1" pine and it runs from the top of the back panel to the bottom of the upper lip on the front of the cage(s). The upper lip is where the upper glass track attaches.

The frame is covered with screen and is reinforced with metal brackets.

What this does is leave a 48" x 6" gap all along the back of the bearded cage. Same with the oak cage but the gap is 8".

This allows the high ventilation needed but provides some insulation against heat loss. Accessing lights and heating elements is easy by pivoting the cages out slightly.

Here is a picture of the false ceiling on the oak cage.