Reptile & Amphibian Forums

I was just emailing someone that has been helping me design my new reptile cages (hopefully I can start building soon!), and I was thinking about many things, but mostly I was thinking about ways to make the cages as strong, sturdy, and nice looking as possible, mainly so I could be able to use them for 20 years, maybe much longer. Then I started thinking, what will the future of reptiles hold? Here's two things I've been thinking about:

-What kind of new innovations in reptile husbandry will there be? The only thing i can think of right now are more advances in lighting/heating. What else do you think there might be in the future?

-Will there be a future for reptiles? It seems like bans keep popping up in all states. If something doesn't happen soon to make them change their minds, they are going to ban any snake that grows over 14', all venomous snakes, all crocodilians, and many monitor species in new york (old subject, I know). I don't personally see myself owning any of those animals in the future anyways, except maybe a black throat monitor, but it seems like there are constantly other aspects threatening the future of reptiles. For instance, what about the affects of inbreeding? We know there are affects, yet people end up doing it. I know we don't have to worry about that as long as there are so many good keepers/breeders like the people on this board. But there's a lot of things to think about in regards to the future of reptiles. Do you think there will be big problems to overcome in the future, and if so, what?

It seems like the future for reptiles is either going to be great, or it's going to be terrible. I think we (meaning people that DO take good care of their reptiles and enjoy every aspect of them) just need to stick together through whatever happens. True, reptiles are becoming more popular, meaning people are obviously starting to understand that they're not evil creatures. The problem is that a lot of people that get reptilian pets don't understand their needs well enough. On the other hand, the future might hold a golden age for reptiles, when people actually start to understand how much care they require, and the people that get them are (for the most part) very good at taking care of them. How can we affect whether the future for reptiles is good or bad? I think we really need to act now to insure a good future...I'm just not sure what to do.

Have you ever considered designing and building a car? I would love to have a car that lasts that long. Mine is at 200,000 miles, 9 years and still going, until that one fine day that it doesn't.

Seriously though, I have birds and rarely do the cages last the entire lifespan of the bird. Please keep in mind that most birds that I raise will easily outlive me. Rust seems to be the major culprit. The point is, taking into consideration the lifespan of bearded dragons; does one really need cages that will last 20 years for a bearded dragon?

Not that it isn’t a wonderful idea, as I can truly appreciate a design for anything that last longer than 5 to 10 years. America has turned into a throw away society over the last few generations (this includes animals). During the “Great Depression” you simply couldn’t afford to throw anything out. As I well know by the large circle of friends that I have that grew up in that generation. That generation (majority - not all) to this day thinks that a toaster oven is designed to last 30 years or more and if it dies in any time less than that they get very upset.

I have been trying to convince one person in particular to throw away their air conditioner that sucks down loads of electricity and no longer cools, with a new one that uses 1/3 the energy and actually lowers the room temperature. He insists that it works as it sucks the humidity out of the room. So now he has a room at 100 degrees and no humidity, completely defeats the purpose. It would be cheaper to run a dehumidifier; please keep in mind that this air conditioner is over 20 years old and probably one of the first to ever enter the market.

The other thing to think about is that people want a quality product but are usually unwilling to pay. In the end I see many people purchase an inferior product because it is cheaper. I myself am the opposite, I refuse to buy…………….. - can’t use that word………………… - “Junk” - I can use that one. I will shell out the extra couple of dollars for a better product.

One thing that I hate about………… - can’t say the company name………… - a certain custom cage maker, is that the bulbs are inside the enclosure with nothing to protect the animal from the actual bulb. It is difficult for me to believe that I am the only person with this concern. Yet……… - can’t use their name either………… - the other company that makes enclosures with sheaths for the heat element increases the risk of fire and meltdown. My preference therefore is glass – I can use this name – www.glasscages.com – who make enclosures of just about any desired size with sliding doors with stacking options where meltdown isn’t possible and there isn’t any way for an animal to injure itself on the heating element. They are almost indestructible (unless you drop them) and should last a very long time.

Lost my train of thought so am ending this post. But that’s my two cents worth until I can remember the rest of what I was thinking at the time that I started writing this very long and boring post. There truly was a point, I just forgot what it was.

Yeah, today it seems that things don't last like they should. I just want something that will outlast my bearded dragon at least two fold, because it will have 2 other units, one housing my mali uromastyx (which is thought to potentially have a 35 year lifetime...mine is about 6-8 and had a rough life with her past owner, but is in good health, so I'm hoping at least another 10-20 years). Then, I'm either going to use the last enclosure for possibly a russian tortoise, or a ball python eventually...both of which have extensive lifespans. Basically, I just want to build the highest quality cage I can now so I can have it for years to come and use it for my longer lived animals, and the next 1-2 beardies I get. Most things built these days won't last long at all, that's why this is going to be built much in the fashion of a nice piece of furniture...like a cabinet. I have pieces of furniture in my house that are about a century old now (going to sell that stuff off though, because we don't have a use for the antique cabinet anymore, but it is still in pretty good shape for its age).

As for the lights, I can understand why you might be concerned about having the lights in with the animals. I personally am not because I have a cage for my bearded dragon with a light directly in the cage, and it has never remotely caused problems. I do think though that I'm going to fashion covers for the lights out of good screen (or buy them if I can find them), simply because as I have said, I might end up keeping a snake in the one cage in the future, so an open heat lamp is definately a bad idea for that. I don't think there would ever be a problem with the beardie or the uromastyx though. What could happen? If something went wrong with the lights, a screen wouldn't help too much. Maybe I'm missing the point.

My adults are rather lazy but the younger Beardies I have can jump and latch on to the screen cover where the basking light is. If it wasn't behind the screen they would smack the light and possibly break it. I would hate for them to run around in glass fragments if this in fact were to happen. Not to mention the possible burns they might sustain by hitting a light that is very hot.I am a safety freak; If there is any way an animal can possibly get injured no matter how remote, I avoid it.

For your purpose a cage that lasts 20 years or more makes perfect sense. I was thinking of the people that buy a bearded dragon get all the stuff and when it dies have no interest in getting another. For a true reptile enthusiast this type of cage would be very desireable. The only question that remains is would they be willing to pay as this type of cage isn't cheap to build.

If and when you finish it I would love to see how it turned out. I remember seeing a website were someone built this type of cage. I will try to find it and post the link later today.

Yeah, i can understand why you might be concerned with the little babies. They can get into everything. Since this was my first beardie I opted to go for a subadult. I thought I was being a smart buyer, but looking back, I was an idiot for buying from the place I did, and that's probably why the poor guy is still battling parasites almost two years since I've got him. I think he's almost done now though. Basically, the store is overcrowded, and they have a tendancy to mix species, and many other things that can cause problems.

As far as the cages though, I'm sure if all goes well and I get them done in the next month or two, there will be tons of pics to be shown. It's going to be a nice looking cage. It's actually going to be three stacking cages, but it will look like all one unit because of the molding and stuff I'm going to put on it. The basic design is the floor, back, walls, ceiling, and then the front is going to be a little fancier than most people do. Instead of doing sliding glass doors with plastic tracks, I figured I could gain some more years from it if I did some nice hinged doors. So there's going to be a nice frame that will screw inside the front of the box, and then nice framed glass doors that will attach to that.

This is the basic idea. I got these plans from a very helpful person on the caging forum and I hope they don't mind my posting it here.

http://www.geocities.com/jachreptiles/cage.html

I'm just going to modify the idea slightly so that they are all seperate cages, and I'm going to use similar molding to hide that. I might also use sheets of birch or something similar instead of the pine boards...at least for the floors/ceilings of the cage. Basically whatever wood is strongest. if it looks nice too, I'll also use it on the outside of the cages, because the pine boards are quite expensive. I think the wood used for the sides and stuff probably will not match up to the wood used for the frames, so I'm going to probably do the frame in a clear coat of polyurethane, and then the rest of the outside in more of a redish colored finish for a two tone affect. Actually, maybe it would look better vice versa with the frame red and the rest natural. Maybe I'll just do the whole thing in a red finish, but I though the two tone sounded cool. I'll throw ideas around with the guy that will be helping me, he's my dad's friend and an avid woodworker. I think the project will be quite fun. I'm still figuring out exactly what I'm going to do for lighting, but I think for the most part, two 18" flourescents (one with a reptisun over the basking spot, another on the other end with just a regular bulb for extra light) and somesort of high quality incandescent light for each cage. I'm still not sure about vents and I have to locate some of those plastic cord grommets.

Like I said, it will be a fun project, and I'd like to make it something that will last a while.