Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Iam planning on making a burm cage for me male very soon

8' (L) x 3'(w) x 24" (H)

Does that sound good and what all would i need?

How many sheets of plywood and how many 2x4's would i need?

and i would need caulking and polyurathane?

And plexiglass and glass tracks and a lock

The size of your cage is fine. something to think about, is that you may want to go just a little thinner than 3 feet to clear doors. But if this isnt a problem, I would go 3 feet.

For plywood, you will probably need 2- 8 foot sheets, and I would use waferboard because it will probably cost about half what plywood will.

For the frames, I would use 2x2 instead of 2x4. They are plenty strong, and the cage will be much easier to move around, and lighter as well. for the doors, if you are going to have sliders, just get 2 peices of plexiglass that are both a few inches longer than half your hole. I use swinging doors on mine personnaly. Hope I helped out
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1.0 Albino Green Burm
0.2 Normal Burm
1.1 Java Retic

Using Waferboard wouldnt that cause probs with heat and humidity?

as long as you seal it up well, I dont know why not. I dont have any problems with mine, and thats what I used. Its not a big deal, and if you can and want to spend the extra you might as well go for plywood. Just a little way to save money.
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1.0 Albino Green Burm
0.2 Normal Burm
1.1 Java Retic

Could you explain your design or your swinging doors. How you keep it shut(some sort of lock?).
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Justin

For the doors, I build the frame out of 2x4. I make it so the frame fills up the front of the enclosure. This is a pain and helps if you have someone else to help you. Then I predrill all my holes in the plexiglass and screw it to the frame.

Then I attach my hinges. you can either top or bottom hinge, or on my new ones, im thinkin about doin side opening. For keeping them closed I generally just use a hook and eye setup. Like the kind old screen doors used to have. This is pretty versatile and works pretty well for the most part. And theyre cheap. There also are some latches that go around 90 degree corners and im planning on using these in my new cages as well. Most of them have a locking mechanism to them.
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1.0 Albino Green Burm
0.2 Normal Burm
1.1 Java Retic

I use a simular design as you do red. To lock my doors I use mending plates. These are small metal bars with a hole drilled on each end. You simply secure one end of the mending plate to the wood on the edge of the door. Now you can rotate the plate over the door and it can not be pushed out. If you put a lip that extends a 1/4 of an inch then you have a secure cage. The mending plates keep the doors from opening outward and the lip keeps the door from opening inward. Todd

Ahhh!! ok thank you. I hae not ever realy seen them, I thouht they swung open to the side, if you know what I mean. I don't know why I never thought of that. Now my only preoblem is to find a great heating element. So many I an't choose. But i want the heat tape. i don't know if I'll get it though.
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Justin