Reptile & Amphibian Forums

okay, here are my questions:

1. I am going to go with the sliding glass door tracks from doitbest.com...they're just the normal plastic ones I heard about on here. Anyways, the the height of the actual opening of the cage is going to be 18", so how big do I have the glass cut to? How much room do I need to leave to be able to get the glass in and out and everything? Also, I heard that the glass doors will hurt the plastic tracks...will this happen and how do I prevent it?

2. I'd like to build the cages out of while melamine. Is this something that i can just pick up at loews or home depot in 8'x4' sheets? If so, what would price be? I figured around $30 per sheet or so?

3. The design I am going to be working with is a simple box design. It will just be fastened together with screws. Basically there will be screws going into the top and bottom of the cage to hold the sides in, and probably also some screws through the sides in the back for some extra strength on the back wall. I want to do a stack of two cages, and a matching base. I know the top cage would be plenty strong enough with that design, but what about the middle cage? Should I put supports in and where? I was thinking maybe 2x2's in the corners would be necessary, as well as up in front right in the middle and in the back right in the middle to prevent and cage flexing. Oh, by the way, the cages will be 4'x2'x2'. The top cage will house my bearded dragon, so depending on what I end up using as substrate, it could have up to 60-75 pounds of sand in it. The next cage down is the mali uromastyx cage, so that's pretty much guaranteed to have about 100 pounds of dirt in it, so I know the base is going to have to be reinforced with 2x4's and stuff.

Thank you to anyone that can help me with these questions. I'd like to get going on this project next week, so the sooner I can get help the better.

You could buy the tracks from home depot...sometimes...they are usually hidden in the plexiglass and glass area. As far as the size of the glass you'll need, put the cages together first (with the tracks!) then you will have to get the measurement. That is the surest way to get it right. If you get the glass cut before you get the cage together you run the risk of having the glass end up to large or even worse to small! If you have the glass cutter seam the glass (smooth the edges) it won't hurt the plastic tracks. I can't really answer your other questions definitively, so I will leave that to someone else.

thanks. I'll have to go to home depot and lowes and see what I can find first. I found some stuff priced really good on the web (the tracks, locks, lights, etc.), so i'll see if I can get about the same at lowes and home depot. On the website I'm talking about, the plastic tracks for the glass would run $6.29 for top and bottom, which I thought was good because the only other place I saw plastic sliding door track was on the custom cages website, and it was like $10 per foot! That's about $34 more per cage! I also found 18" undercabinet flourescent lights on this site for only about $6 a piece, opposed to about $25 for a 24" one on the custom cages site. That's good because I'm going to need at least two for each cage (one over the basking spot with a reptisun bulb in it, and one on the cool side just for extra light). The showcase locks on this site are also only around $4, and I think custom cages site wanted around $10 for them.

All and all, it seems like most things on the custom cages site are quite expensive. I am going to be getting my incandescent fixtures there though because they're fairly low profile, and easy to install. I might also get vents from there as well, and those little thingys that cords for the lights can go through, but I'm not sure how to put those in.

Thanks for the help though.

::I am going to go with the sliding glass door tracks from doitbest.com...they're just the normal plastic ones I heard about on here.

If you have a DoItBest affiliate in your area I believe they *have* to order you anying on their website without charging you shipping if they don't have it in their store. Worth checking out.

::Anyways, the the height of the actual opening of the cage is going to be 18", so how big do I have the glass cut to?

This is listed on the instructions that come with the track. It varies among different brands so you might wait until you actually get the product. I'd hate to tell you and have the company ship you a slightly different product.

But if you really want I can figure out the exact measurement for the Knap & Vogt product carried by DoItBest.

Oh yeah, I should warn you that the K&P "tan" product is actually orange. Don't know if that matters to you.

::Also, I heard that the glass doors will hurt the plastic tracks...will this happen and how do I prevent it?

When you order the glass have the edges beveled and polished/buffed. Also, spray a silicone spray lubricant into the track and let it dry. If your local auto parts store carries Blaster products see if they have their silicone spray as it has the highest % of silicone of any such spray.

::I'd like to build the cages out of while melamine. Is this something that i can just pick up at loews or home depot in 8'x4' sheets? If so, what would price be? I figured around $30 per sheet or so?

I have purchased white melamine from both Home Depot and Lowes. I believe $28 is the most I have paid. FYI, melamine is actually 49"x97", or 1" oversized.

This is very helpful for building some sized cages, especially if you ever wanted to put 48" lights in the cages.

::The design I am going to be working with is a simple box design.

I do think it's important for the back panel to fit inside of the side and top panels for added strength and rigidity. Inside of the bottom piece as well if you're using one. Some people, myself included, build my cages without a solid floor and insteand staple a piece of thin plasic onto the bottom.

::I know the top cage would be plenty strong enough with that design, but what about the middle cage? Should I put supports in and where?

A piece of melamine behind the upper and lower lips the glass-track sets on might be a good idea. See TTReptiles recent posts for more of an idea.

You won't need any additional supports. However, I do recommend an actual melane floor vs. the plastic stapled on the bottom as mentioned above.

On the bottom most cage you could simply add 5 heavy duty casters. One near each corner and one in the middle. It would easily support 100 lbs of dirt.

with a butt joint screws will hold in melamine butt not for a long time you might get a solid year out of that cage!then again i keep larger boids not bearded dragons