Reptile & Amphibian Forums

I will be needing two burm cages soon. My baby is outgrowing her 40 gallon and I'll (hopefully) be adopting another in the next few weeks.

The dimensions need to be somewhere around 6-7 feet long, 2-3 feet wide, and 2 feet high. I've looked around a bit, and cages around this size seem to cost between 375 and 425 each. Would it be cheaper to build my own basic cages, and if so, does anyone have any pictures/plans/tips for building they could share?

I went through the same quandry when I decided to get some 6 footers for my adult Olive pythons. I ended up making my own and I couldn't be more pleased with the results. You can design and make them to your spec and add things you don't normally see on prefab cages. It all depends on if you have wood working skills or not. You don't need much, lol. You do get a real sense of satisfaction when they are done and your snakes are diggin them

TT

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Reptile-Pit.com

1.1 Woma Pythons
2.1 Olive Pythons
1.1 Granite Burmese Pythons
1.0 Indian Python
1.1 Eastern Indigos (waiting for hatchlings)
0.1 Ball Python (donation / rehab snake)
0.1 Amazon Tree Boa
0.1 Mexican Black Kingsnake

Those are awesome cages. I don't have much wood working skills, I suppose in part because I'm a 16 year old girl LOL. My father does, however, and he's currently building a cage for my iguana. I could get some help from him, but not much because he's against my snakes, particularly the burm (soon to be 2). I tried to take a shop class in school, however they tried to talk me out of it because of the fact that I'm a girl, and they ended up not giving it to me anyway.

I agree building them is the best route to go. If you cannot find any plans for an enclosure to what your specs and requirements are shoot me an email and I can draw you up a basic easy to build one. Also them not allowing you in shop is a crappy deal.. Not surprising for this region of the country though unfortunately.. (in KS)
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Randall L Turner Jr.
www.aircapitalconstrictors.com

if your dad doesn't want to build you a cage you could always get the plan from the previous poster and have a cabinet shop or carpenter make it ,it would still be less expensive than buying one and you can have it exactly the way you want it.good luck and have fun!

Great idea! I'll definitely keep that in mind. Thanks for the help.

Building a large cage is really not too difficult. It is sort of like building a large box with "options". You could always DIY with your dad as supervisor. I can't believe they wouldn't let you take a shop class! You should have mentioned you wanted to take the class so you could build cages for your "large pythons". Girls aren't supposed to like snakes either...ROFL.

Oh believe me, I mentioned it. They questioned why I wanted to take the class and I told them it was to build basic skills so I could build cages for my snakes. They gave me a funny look and quickly changed the subject. =D

Wow those are nice. How do you heat wooden cages? I see lots on this board but curiuos how they are heated.
Thanks.
Lia

There are several option for heating, the easiest and one of the most effective is to use radient heat panels. Another technique is placing a thin sheet of plastic over the bottom, and having a hole cut in the wood to allow air transfer for using heat panel (Chris Harper has extensive experience with this route) You can also use ceramic heat emitters installed in a light shroud (you will need a wire cage around the light fixture to prevent burns and potential electrocution).

The ways I have heated enclosures like this is to use a light fixture to help with ambient heating, and also flexwatt layed underneath linoleum, and also just attached to the bottom of the enclosure so it would heat through the wood. (a bit less effective going that route, but still works) I am sure many others will have suggestions and ideas they have implemented into their enclosures.

Later
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Randall L Turner Jr.
www.aircapitalconstrictors.com

okay great. I can see more ways to heat them than I thought.
Lia

Randy pretty much covered it. A lot of this is species specific not to mention determined by the conditions in the room where the cage is housed. Regardless, radiant heat panels are very versatile and effective.

Regarding my use of UTH's and plastic flooring, I only use this to provide a bit of supplemental heat when a cage is in an already heated room.

If your species require a lot of ventilation or you simply feel more comfortable providing it then I have a false ceiling design that I really like. The false celing allows a lot of ventilation and allows heating fixtures to be hidden and kept away from the animals.

I'll post pictures if you think you'll need a lot of ventilation in your cages.

If your dad ends up helping you and has any questions, please feel free to give me a call at home (shoot me an e-mail or PM and I will send ya my info). I will try to be as helpful as I can. I love helping out fellow herper or herpets in this case

TT

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Reptile-Pit.com

1.1 Woma Pythons
2.1 Olive Pythons
1.1 Granite Burmese Pythons
1.0 Indian Python
1.1 Eastern Indigos (waiting for hatchlings)
0.1 Ball Python (donation / rehab snake)
0.1 Amazon Tree Boa
0.1 Mexican Black Kingsnake

Thanks so much. I have a feeling he won't help me on this since he's very against my snakes. I think I'll go through a few woodworking books (my dad has tons in the basement) and using tips from other herpers, I'll come up with some ideas and sketch some things out. If I have any questions about anything, I'll drop you an email or if you have AOL/AIM, my screen name is mshxcfashionshow. I appreciate how helpful you've been.

Go hang out around shop class and find a guy that'll help.
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Astronomy Picture of the Day

Check out Albinoburmese.com
The owner, Craig, breeds albino labs and albino het labs and has excellent cage plans, care tips, and forums where you can post questions regarding anything burmese related.

where did you get the cage to go around the heat lamp? I'm building cages for my bearded dragon, mali uro, and a spare one, possibly for a ball python in the future, and I want to start getting all of the lighting supplies (including those for the cage that won't have anything in it right away, just so I'm ready). Where did you get the fixture too? I found one like it from custom cages but they're $10 a piece and I would think a hardware store would have one for cheaper.

Thanks.

I can't tell you how much I wish I had started building my own cages when I was 16. 19 years later my cages are still nothing but glorified "boxes with accessories" as a previous poster said and I wish I had started developing my ideas earlier.

The fact that you've taken the initiative to approach your schools shop program tells me you want to learn from all this so I say tackle it yourself. You'll learn a ton.

Put together a cut list and post it here for all of us to offer advice on. Since this is your first project I personally recommend 3/4" plywood, either A/B, A/C, or birch laminate. 1/2" would probably work but for a cage approaching 8' I think 3/4" is a better choice. Especially for a beginner.

Here is the basic build up for your burm enclosure. I tried to keep it simple, since I am in the dark regarding your tool availability.

You can have most of the cuts made for you at Home Depot or where ever you pick up your lumber.. But make sure they know how to cut an accurate line and measurement..

If anyone has any suggestions or tips to make this design better or easier please speak up..

Later
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Randall L Turner Jr.
www.aircapitalconstrictors.com

Man! All the skills in the world are useless without the right tools. I've never bought a cage in my life but I was fortunate to have a father-in-law who was a tool guy and thought I should be also. My cages have plumbing, are wired to specs, automatic this, temp guage that. You gotta have the tools. When I only had a few tools it was very frustrating and difficult to make what I wanted. Seriously consider this if you build. It may be cheaper to buy if you don't make wood projects often. Don't forget to think from start to finish when you consider cost. What to cut with, measure with, make straight edges with, miter cuts, sanding, drilling, small holes, big holes, clean-up, work space, wiring, hardware, escape proof, hinges, handles, child proof, water resistant, ease of cage cleaning.

If this hasn't scared you from building, go for it. Got questions, just ask.

DZ

I agree. Lack of tools is what made me decide to buy plastic cages. I made a small rack first just to try my hand, and the uts made at the hardware wtore were aweful. I s[ent a little more money, but I couldn't justify spending the money on good wuality tools just to make a few cages.