Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Hi. Ok I have decided that building my own enclosure will be the easiest. I am not the best at building anything and am going to have my neighbor (who builds things ALL the time) help me with this. I am in the process of selling my 60 gallon terrarium (it is too wide for the space I want it to fit) and need ideas/websites that give instructions on how to build an enclosure and the tools needed. I would like it to be 40 inches W X 25 inches L X 16 inches H. I would like to know how to build that. I am going to put a barrier in the middle because on one side I am going to have sand (about 5 inches deep) and on the other side I will have a ramp leading down to that and there will be shelfliner so Sam can decide which substrate he likes best. I am going to probably have either sliding doors (If I can figure out how to do that) or just a screen on the top that opens. I will have acrylic or glass (whichever is cheaper) for the rest and wood to keep it together. I found a couple sites for building my own enclosure but they are for iguanas who like to climb really high so the dimensions are way off. Also I will probably have some sort of area cut out to put the heat lamp and UVB fixture so the screen wont get in the way of the heat/UVB. If this is possible please tell me what I will need. Thanks so much and sorry for being so long
Meghan

im not sure about the barrier in the middle but this is pretty close to what your describing. Its a lil bit bigger though. It stand 48"w x 24"d x 24"h. It has a full glass front and a pull open screen top. This has to be my favorite cage i own. I landed up putting a simple light set up on the side of the back insted of on top. This makes it sooooo much easier to open and close without having to worry about taking the stuff off each time. I got the light fixtures at lowes, the ceramic one was only 2 bucks, just had to wire a plug to it, took less then a min. This set up with a normal 60 watt bulb keeps the basking at 115 and the rest of the cage between 75-85. Hope this gives you some ideas.

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1.0.0 Chris Allen red x Red flame Beardie (Phil)
0.1.0 Redflame x Orange Beardie (Lilian)
0.1.0 Flaming Tiger x Orange Beardie (Stevie)
0.1.0 Adopted Beardie (Sissy)
0.1.0 Rescue Yellow/German Giant Beardie (Helga) R.I.P
1.0.0 15 year old Eastern Box Turtles (Radar)
0.1.0 Brown Basilisk (Leroy, I know shes a girl!)

Too many leos to count.....

Wow that is BEAUTIFUL!!! How did you make it? Like wat materials, etc? I was thinking (I found a site) about just getting the acrylic or plexiglass (whichever's cheaper) and just first making the dimensions out of that then putting some kind of wood around the top and bottom just to make sure it stays together. The glass would be glued together first with an aquarium type glue stuff (can't seem to think of the name first). Do you think that would work? Also I am thinking of maybe having the screen/mesh on the front and somehow had the door there that opens for easier cleaning/access. But I dont know if I'll be able to do that. Thanks
Meghan

This ones my GIANT cage. Its 8ft x 30" x 28". Its a beast of a cage. Too bad its not being used since i have nothing that needs that big of a cage. Ill fill it sooner or later.

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1.0.0 Chris Allen red x Red flame Beardie (Phil)
0.1.0 Redflame x Orange Beardie (Lilian)
0.1.0 Flaming Tiger x Orange Beardie (Stevie)
0.1.0 Adopted Beardie (Sissy)
0.1.0 Rescue Yellow/German Giant Beardie (Helga) R.I.P
1.0.0 15 year old Eastern Box Turtles (Radar)
0.1.0 Brown Basilisk (Leroy, I know shes a girl!)

Too many leos to count.....

This one i call my scrap heap cage. Everything on it besides the plexi and light fixtures were pulled out a pile of scraps. Nothing too great to look at but it works really well.

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1.0.0 Chris Allen red x Red flame Beardie (Phil)
0.1.0 Redflame x Orange Beardie (Lilian)
0.1.0 Flaming Tiger x Orange Beardie (Stevie)
0.1.0 Adopted Beardie (Sissy)
0.1.0 Rescue Yellow/German Giant Beardie (Helga) R.I.P
1.0.0 15 year old Eastern Box Turtles (Radar)
0.1.0 Brown Basilisk (Leroy, I know shes a girl!)

Too many leos to count.....

this ones one of my hatchling cages. Its 30"w x 15"d x 19"H. I made this one from an old tv stand. Instead of a sliding door like the first last one, its got a front pull open door and a screen top. Again, the only thing i really purchased was the plexiglass.

All of my cages are utilizing a different style. I wanted to show you the differences you can do, maybe give ya some ideas. All of these have worked very well for me.

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1.0.0 Chris Allen red x Red flame Beardie (Phil)
0.1.0 Redflame x Orange Beardie (Lilian)
0.1.0 Flaming Tiger x Orange Beardie (Stevie)
0.1.0 Adopted Beardie (Sissy)
0.1.0 Rescue Yellow/German Giant Beardie (Helga) R.I.P
1.0.0 15 year old Eastern Box Turtles (Radar)
0.1.0 Brown Basilisk (Leroy, I know shes a girl!)

Too many leos to count.....

the easiest way to build your own is visit a thrift store and buy a small entertainment stand with a glass front door and build you cage around it. That way it's all made looks nice and it's sturdy and most important cheep so you can experiment. I glued styraphom onto the walls and bought a bag of morter mix and spred it on the walls, its alot easier then you think it would be. If you just fallow the directions and take your time it will come very easy to you, my first one took 3 days, now I build them for side money. any other questions just email me I'll be happy to give you an easy step by step plan to fallow.
cory

this is one I have built, It's a corner unit 40"*40"*56.5", the top opens and I used an old entertainment canter glass door for the front. No matter how you make it make sure you include vents on the top and the bottom. If you have ? email me

heres a pic of the first cage i built. Since the pic was taken i added another light and spread the other 3 out a bit (beginners mistake). I didnt have any plans for it, i just knew i wanted it big and kinda slapped it together. Its has full screen top, front, sides, and back so i do have a little bit of difficulty keeping the temps up. I wish i would have used plexy glass instead. I got the wood and screws for free and only had to pay for the hinges, door latches, and screen. Total cost was around 30 bucks. The demensions are 7ft X 2.5ft X 3ft. When my dragons were about 4 months old i put a partition right down the center to seperate them. Okay, i'm rambling on now. Anyways, building your own cage is definatly the way to go. Most of the time its cheaper, and it allows you to customize the demensions and such. Hope i helped.

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**Am I the only one that gets frustrated when I cant find just plain old white paper towels?? I dont want any dorky lookin flowers in my snake or dragon cages! Its the little things in life that bother me....**

1.2 Bearded Dragons. Chong, Cheech, Unnamed
0.1 Anery Motley Corn. Cleopatra
1.0 Creamsicle Corn. Faunzy
1.1 Black Labs. Buddy, Booger
1.0 Room mate. Clayton - requires more clean up than my pets.

Wow all of you guys' cages are so beautiful!!! I hope mine will look as good!! fatjay, how did you make your cage? That is awesome!! That is almost what I want to do with mine!! I drew what I wanted the cage to look like but unfortunately my scanner is acting up so I cant show you guys!! Also how did you make the doors with the screen and wood? That is what I want to do (make a door that opens on the front but the front will be screen. I kind of have an idea but not really lol. Im hoping my neighbor (who is going to help me) will know what to do because I will be SO lost!! Thank you all for showing me pics of you AWESOME cages!! That helped a lot!! Thanks
Meghan

Building it was really easy. With the exception of putting on the screen, it only took like 2 hours or so. My cage is basically a frame with screen across the opening. The doors are basically 4 narrow peices of 3/4" wood screwed together in a square and fits in the opening with hinges on the bottom and a latch on the top. Again, the only thing i would have done differently is use plexiglass instead of screen. With screen on the top. The screen makes it hard to keep your temps up, and the crickets keep excaping before they're eaten. With that being said, i'm so glad i built my own rather than buying one. I was able to build it to the size i wanted and didnt have to spend very much money.
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**Am I the only one that gets frustrated when I cant find just plain old white paper towels?? I dont want any dorky lookin flowers in my snake or dragon cages! Its the little things in life that bother me....**

1.2 Bearded Dragons. Chong, Cheech, Unnamed
0.1 Anery Motley Corn. Cleopatra
1.0 Creamsicle Corn. Faunzy
1.1 Black Labs. Buddy, Booger
1.0 Room mate. Clayton - requires more clean up than my pets.

Building your own is great! I've now made two and this is the site I've used:

http://www.arbreptiles.com/cages/tips.shtml

I used nice quality plywood and made the double decker cage!
Think ahead, draw it out beforehand, and ask a lot of questions!
Enjoy!
Beth