Reptile & Amphibian Forums

I know I posted a few melamine questions below an Chris took the time to answer,an I appriciate that!But I am a little confused?I know that shower walls can be durable an it makes sence with the water tight seal but,How can that alone be strong enough to hold a 35lbs boa or heavier without overtime crushing the flexwatt an causing a firehazard?Wouldnt their definatley need to be some sort of reinforcment underneath this 1/8in sheet of tub surround?My questions arent to nock anyones opinion,I just want to build the best an most efficiant enclosier I can,because untill things are better down the road 340.00 dollars a month in disability does not give me no money to have to replace cages that were just built 6 months ago!Just trying to better educate myself on the best way to build these cages,to make them water tight an to be able to heat them!I was discussing this with my dad an he brought up somthing that isnt really expensive an gets as hard as glass!It comes in quarts an is called liquid glass,oddly enough!It cures in 12 hrs an gets as hard as glass!If anyone has an aluminum head crack?Machine shops use it to fill cracks,so if you think about how hot an aluminum head can get,well I'd definatley say it can withstand a 90 to 100 degree hot spot with no problems!But I dont know if it will off gas or what,I am just asking if anyone has ever heard of this?Well thanks ahead of time for any help!Eric[Hypoboa]
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E&C's Exotic House of Reptiles

A lot of people aren't comfortable with the floorless cage design. No big deal. I had to see it myself before I tried it.

If you have the cage supported by a cage below or another flat surface that will essentially be supporting the weight.

Another option is to go ahead and build the floor with melamine but then cut several rectangles out of the floor. At least one of those rectangles should be about 2" longer and wider than the piece of flexwatt you'll be using. Look at the cage Dobbert built, top cage in the first picture:

Do that and then cover the floor with Sintra. Attach the heat tape from below and it won't get crushed nor will it have an air space.

But I still like the floorless design better. If you use 1/4" Sintra its the same as the floor of a boaphile cage and they support the weight of boas.

What I really like about the floorless design is that you can take the floor off and redo the seal anytime you need to. In fact one time I replaced a floor on a cage and noticed a bit of damage to the melamine sides. I just took my circular saw and cut 1/8" of material off and reattached the floor. Worked great. If you just laminate plastic onto the inside floor this is a bit harder to accomplish.
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Current snakes:

0.1 Gonyosoma oxycephala - (Silver/Yellow)

1.2 Gonyosoma oxycephala - (Green)

7.6 Gonyosoma janseni - (Black)

0.1 Gonyosoma janseni - (Black & Tan)

Do that and then cover the floor with Sintra. Attach the heat tape from below and it won't get crushed nor will it have an air space.

That should read and it will have an air space.

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Current snakes:

0.1 Gonyosoma oxycephala - (Silver/Yellow)

1.2 Gonyosoma oxycephala - (Green)

7.6 Gonyosoma janseni - (Black)

0.1 Gonyosoma janseni - (Black & Tan)

>>Do that and then cover the floor with Sintra. Attach the heat tape from below and it won't get crushed nor will it have an air space.
>>
>>That should read and it will have an air space.
>>
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>>Current snakes:
>>
>>0.1 Gonyosoma oxycephala - (Silver/Yellow)
>>
>>1.2 Gonyosoma oxycephala - (Green)
>>
>>7.6 Gonyosoma janseni - (Black)
>>
>>0.1 Gonyosoma janseni - (Black & Tan)
Your help is appriciated!Eric[Hypoboa]
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E&C's Exotic House of Reptiles

>>What I really like about the floorless design is that you can take the floor off and redo the seal anytime you need to. In fact one time I replaced a floor on a cage and noticed a bit of damage to the melamine sides. I just took my circular saw and cut 1/8" of material off and reattached the floor. Worked great. If you just laminate plastic onto the inside floor this is a bit harder to accomplish.

I like this idea Chris. So you do not seal/silicone the inside edges/corners of the Sintra...you just set the floorless cage on top of the Sintra?
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Ken Roshak
BlackSwampSerpents@toast.net

Ken,

I put a bead of silicone on that bottom rim of the cage and then staple the floor directly to the cage. So the silicone is between the plastic floor and the edges of the cage walls.

But I also silicone the inside edges.

This really is a slick way to do melamine cages. There is less area for water to get between the melamine and the floor and it's very easy to spot and repair water damage.

Another thing I like about it is that it's very easy to protect the first few inches of the cage sides. Even a 2" strip of clear packing tape provides invaluable protection since just about every snake will deficate along the inside edges anyways. This should be applied before attaching the floor.

If you did this with a regular cage it would be very difficult to replace as needed. With the floorless design you simple remove the plastic floor, scrape off silicone and whatever protects the sides and replace everything. If there is water damage it will only occur on the 3/4" rim where the floor meets the walls. You can trim off the damaged areas as necessary.

You can still include a plastic floor and some sort of side protection in a "regular" melamine cage but they will be MUCH harder to replace. Trust me, I've tried it both ways.

But some people just aren't comfortable with a cage without a solid floor. Having seen Burmese Pythons house in 8' cages built this way I'm quite confident with it.
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Current snakes:

0.1 Gonyosoma oxycephala - (Silver/Yellow)

1.2 Gonyosoma oxycephala - (Green)

7.6 Gonyosoma janseni - (Black)

0.1 Gonyosoma janseni - (Black & Tan)

The bottom corners of the cage can be reinforced with metal corner clamps. There are two types of corner clamps that can be used on the OUTSIDE of the cage. I don't recommend having them inside.

There is one type that would go on over the floor and wrap around the outside. These give a decorative look and also lift up the cage a bit for an air space. You see them on fancy wooden steamer chests.

There are also cheaper types that would simply wrap around the outside corners.
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Current snakes:

0.1 Gonyosoma oxycephala - (Silver/Yellow)

1.2 Gonyosoma oxycephala - (Green)

7.6 Gonyosoma janseni - (Black)

0.1 Gonyosoma janseni - (Black & Tan)

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Ken Roshak
BlackSwampSerpents@toast.net