Reptile & Amphibian Forums

OK, I have just a few more questions then I am done asking until I start cutting the wood.
So far:
It is going to be a 48"Lx24"Dx18"H space inside. It is really gonna be 26" deep inside so I can put a litter dam and sliding doors, those take up about 2" or so.
I am going to make the tops, side, and back out of 3/4 birch cabinet grade plywood. The bottom I was going to use a plywood BC handy panel or something. I don't care if the bottom looks crappy, it's gonna be covered up anyway, and it saves me buying another 4'x8' sheet of plywood.
I was going to use wood glue and nails to hold it together. I can't make any fancy dovetails, or biscuits, or anything like that, so it is just nails and glue holding it together.
Inside on the bottom, I was gonna use expanded PVC, but it only comes in pipes around here, so I am probably going to use vinyl floor tiles, or a piece of FRP, or acrylic, or something like that.
I am using these sliding doors. I'm gonna put glass in them.
After I build it, and put the doors on, I am going to put a little frame around the outside edge, so it looks nicer and gives me a little backup in case a door pops out of track.
I am going to put a ceramic heat emitter in the cage. It is gonna be about 9" from the side, and shoot straight down. I figure I can easily swap in a proheat panel in if the time comes.

What I need help with is:
After I put it all together, I stain it, then seal the seams with something like caulking or aquarium silicon, right?
Do you think 2 vents that are about 6"x2" will be enough? I can give you an exact measurement and picture of them tommorrow.
If I use these sliding door tracks, where can I get a lock for the doors to keep them closed?
What stain? I like birch or maybe walnut.

I did draw up what I was going to do on paper, but not on the computer. I could take a picture of the paper and post a pic of that if you do not know what the hell I am talking about which you probably don't (my fault not yours ). Thanks again for the help everyone.

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Tim W.

toss the nails and use screws..they help alot when putting it together..You can make sure everything fits like you want before you glue it...

I was thinking screws or nails and I thought nails would hide better, but screws would be more useful.
>>toss the nails and use screws..they help alot when putting it together..You can make sure everything fits like you want before you glue it...
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Tim W.

>>It is going to be a 48"Lx24"Dx18"H space inside. It is really gonna be 26" deep inside so I can put a litter dam and sliding doors, those take up about 2" or so.

>>I am going to make the tops, side, and back out of 3/4 birch cabinet grade plywood. The bottom I was going to use a plywood BC handy panel or something. I don't care if the bottom looks crappy, it's gonna be covered up anyway, and it saves me buying another 4'x8' sheet of plywood.

I'm out of town right now and don't have time to check the math, but if you limit the outside depth to 24" I *believe* you can get away with one sheet of plywood. Again, I'd have to check the math.

Also, when I build a 4' cage I make them 49.5" long when using 3/4" plywood and 49" long when using 1/2" plywood. In other words, my sides go on the outside. This means cross-cuts for most of your pieces which tends to simplify things.

Not a huge deal by any means.

>>I was going to use wood glue and nails to hold it together. I can't make any fancy dovetails, or biscuits, or anything like that, so it is just nails and glue holding it together.

I think counter-sunk screws is better unless you have a nail gun. But again, this is not a huge deal if you're pretty handy.

>>Inside on the bottom, I was gonna use expanded PVC, but it only comes in pipes around here, so I am probably going to use vinyl floor tiles, or a piece of FRP, or acrylic, or something like that.

Don't use acrylic or tiles. Acrylic is not all that easy to clean and is the most likely to crack when exposed to certain disinfectants. Tiles are the most likely to allow water through.

Expanded PVC can be found at sign shops, ask for Sintra. FRP is nice but you'll have to buy a whole sheet. Vinyl flooring is pretty good.

>>I am using these sliding doors. I'm gonna put glass in them.
>>After I build it, and put the doors on, I am going to put a little frame around the outside edge, so it looks nicer and gives me a little backup in case a door pops out of track.

I'm sure you've seen the pictures of my oak cage. I used some oak mouling with a leaf pattern routed in to cover the exposed plywood edges and to hide the glass track. Worked very well. I can post another pic if you like.

>>What I need help with is:
>>After I put it all together, I stain it, then seal the seams with something like caulking or aquarium silicon, right?

You need to stain it AND clear coat it. Is this for a Dumeril Boa? Use several thin coats of OIL-based polyurethane and then caulk the corners with 100% silicone.

>>Do you think 2 vents that are about 6"x2" will be enough? I can give you an exact measurement and picture of them tommorrow.

I'm sure that will be enough.

>>If I use these sliding door tracks, where can I get a lock for the doors to keep them closed?

Rocker carries locks or you can use simply wooden dowels to keep the doors shut.

>>What stain? I like birch or maybe walnut.

Birch plywood is not the most accepting material of stain. As such I've been told that darker colors are preferable. I used a Mahogany stain and ended up with a dark cherry color that I really like. That's my bearded dragon cage. Again, I can post pics if you like.

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Current snakes:

1.1 Gonyosoma oxycephala - (Silver/Yellow)

3.4 Gonyosoma oxycephala - (Green)

2.1 Gonyosoma janseni - (Black)

Hey Chris, when you say "OIL-based polyurethane" do you mean "as opposed to water-based?" What's the difference for our purposes? Resistance to disinfectant checmicals?

water based breaks down very fast, and will need to be re-done within a years time. oil based takes a while to offgas, as in a couple months, but it will last for 10 years. If you use a water based polyurethane, such as polycrylic (which is actually what I did, i didnt have a couple months for offgassing), then say you set a coke on top of the cage thats done in polycrylic - it will leave a water ring.
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-Chris

The reason mainstream thought is thought of as a stream is because it's so shallow. -George Carlin

A fool doesn't learn. A smart man learns from his mistakes. A wise man learns from the mistakes of others. Which one are you?

My Website
Rat/Corn snake care sheet I wrote

Current snakes:
0.1 Licorice Stick Black Rat (Lola)
1.0 Black Rat (Frankie)
1.1 Texas Bairds (Jose and Rosa)
0.1 Blue Beauty (Brunhilde)
1.0 Green Tree Python (Claudius)... coming soon

I was going to use wood glue and nails to hold it together.
What I would do is dry fit it with some screws, countersink them about 1/4" or so... then take it all apart. run some 100% silicone (GE silicone 2) inbetween the joints and put them back together. This will cause a solid bead of silicone inbetween your panels and will protect a LOT better from any leaks. You can seal along the edges, but it may peel up. This can't peel. Then go buy yourself a plug cutter, and from some spare trim wood cut yourself out some plugs to put in to cover the countersink holes. Make sure you put the grain of the plugs with the grain of the wood.

Inside on the bottom, I was gonna use expanded PVC, but it only comes in pipes around here, so I am probably going to use vinyl floor tiles, or a piece of FRP, or acrylic, or something like that.
Don't use vinyl floor tiles... they have seams and will seperate. I haven't ever used expanded pvc, I used FRP for the lining of my cages, works great.

I am going to put a ceramic heat emitter in the cage. It is gonna be about 9" from the side, and shoot straight down. I figure I can easily swap in a proheat panel in if the time comes.

I want to know about this. I was considering it, but I figured my snakes would probably try to crawl up over it, and end up burning themselves on the CHE. Could this work?

After I put it all together, I stain it, then seal the seams with something like caulking or aquarium silicon, right? thats what I was talking about putting the silicone inbetween the panels of wood.

Do you think 2 vents that are about 6"x2" will be enough?
yeah, with the siliding doors you wlll be getting ventilation from that as well... I have one 4" vent in each cage. Works fine.

If I use these sliding door tracks, where can I get a lock for the doors to keep them closed?
i got one at home depot, its like the kind that a jewlery store uses to keep the display locked.

I also agree with everything chris h. posted, just attempted not to repeat it. (Sorry if i was repetitive, however.)
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-Chris

The reason mainstream thought is thought of as a stream is because it's so shallow. -George Carlin

A fool doesn't learn. A smart man learns from his mistakes. A wise man learns from the mistakes of others. Which one are you?

My Website
Rat/Corn snake care sheet I wrote

Current snakes:
0.1 Licorice Stick Black Rat (Lola)
1.0 Black Rat (Frankie)
1.1 Texas Bairds (Jose and Rosa)
0.1 Blue Beauty (Brunhilde)
1.0 Green Tree Python (Claudius)... coming soon

I have never noticed my boa trying to get at her CHE. I figured if it was in a wire cage she could get close, but not on it. They get pretty hot, I had one melt a shirt it touched, so I don't want them getting on them.

>>I was going to use wood glue and nails to hold it together.
>>What I would do is dry fit it with some screws, countersink them about 1/4" or so... then take it all apart. run some 100% silicone (GE silicone 2) inbetween the joints and put them back together. This will cause a solid bead of silicone inbetween your panels and will protect a LOT better from any leaks. You can seal along the edges, but it may peel up. This can't peel. Then go buy yourself a plug cutter, and from some spare trim wood cut yourself out some plugs to put in to cover the countersink holes. Make sure you put the grain of the plugs with the grain of the wood.
>>
>>Inside on the bottom, I was gonna use expanded PVC, but it only comes in pipes around here, so I am probably going to use vinyl floor tiles, or a piece of FRP, or acrylic, or something like that.
>>Don't use vinyl floor tiles... they have seams and will seperate. I haven't ever used expanded pvc, I used FRP for the lining of my cages, works great.
>>
>>I am going to put a ceramic heat emitter in the cage. It is gonna be about 9" from the side, and shoot straight down. I figure I can easily swap in a proheat panel in if the time comes.
>>
>>I want to know about this. I was considering it, but I figured my snakes would probably try to crawl up over it, and end up burning themselves on the CHE. Could this work?
>>
>>After I put it all together, I stain it, then seal the seams with something like caulking or aquarium silicon, right? thats what I was talking about putting the silicone inbetween the panels of wood.
>>
>>Do you think 2 vents that are about 6"x2" will be enough?
>>yeah, with the siliding doors you wlll be getting ventilation from that as well... I have one 4" vent in each cage. Works fine.
>>
>>If I use these sliding door tracks, where can I get a lock for the doors to keep them closed?
>>i got one at home depot, its like the kind that a jewlery store uses to keep the display locked.
>>
>>I also agree with everything chris h. posted, just attempted not to repeat it. (Sorry if i was repetitive, however.)
>>-----
>>-Chris
>>
>>The reason mainstream thought is thought of as a stream is because it's so shallow. -George Carlin
>>
>>A fool doesn't learn. A smart man learns from his mistakes. A wise man learns from the mistakes of others. Which one are you?
>>
>>My Website
>>Rat/Corn snake care sheet I wrote
>>
>>Current snakes:
>>0.1 Licorice Stick Black Rat (Lola)
>>1.0 Black Rat (Frankie)
>>1.1 Texas Bairds (Jose and Rosa)
>>0.1 Blue Beauty (Brunhilde)
>>1.0 Green Tree Python (Claudius)... coming soon
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**********************************
Tim W.

I would probobly try and figure somthing else out instead of having the CHE inside the tank....sounds kinda scary...I would be willing to bet a boa would try and climb on it....seems like a wire cage would get just about as hot as the CHE if it was pretty close to it.

I build a section on top of my cages that house all my electrical and is seperated by screen. It adds about twelve inches to the top of the cage but if you put a similar face frame as yout doors it makes it very attractive.

This is the safest way to light and heat your animals. Never a worry about if they can get the che or bulbs.

Hope this helps.

Chris

Cap'n hook 2 did this, i am just reposting his picture here. Looks like a great idea, i'm still sticking with my RHP's however.

notice how he vented the back - this is a must. dont want heat to build up, because after a long time with heat accumulation, the wood may sponteously ignite.
-----
-Chris

The reason mainstream thought is thought of as a stream is because it's so shallow. -George Carlin

A fool doesn't learn. A smart man learns from his mistakes. A wise man learns from the mistakes of others. Which one are you?

My Website
Rat/Corn snake care sheet I wrote

Current snakes:
0.1 Licorice Stick Black Rat (Lola)
1.0 Black Rat (Frankie)
1.1 Texas Bairds (Jose and Rosa)
0.1 Blue Beauty (Brunhilde)
1.0 Green Tree Python (Claudius)... coming soon