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Hi everyone,

I went back to the drawing board to rework the design plans for a new cage for my burm. My goal was to maximize the amount of floorspace I can give him, while using that space efficiently. Also, I wanted to keep the cage design 'safe' for me to work in (ie, cleaning, handling, etc).

Here's what I've come up with. I have four proposals, which vary on how much space the cage will take away from 'my space' and how much space it will provide for 'his space'. Note that each plan is a variation on using the corner of the room his cage is kept in (and all are intended to be 18" high).

Plan A:

Plan B:

Plan C:

Plan "Z":

I think I like plan "Z" best (so far).

Please let me know what you think (good or bad), and any ideas or suggestions you have to make it better.

Thanks,
- Mark
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I agree, I like plan Z as well. I also think it would work best for a burm (of the cages you have there).
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Corbin

Is it just me or do you seem really stupid?!

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I like plan Z the best, assuming material usage/wasteage and the ability to build it are not issues.

However, I will posit again the dangers associated with a cage with a short opening and 3' of depth. How tall of upper and lower lips do you have planned? You need to subtract both from the height to determine how big of an opening you will have.

My other concern would be with the 2'x2' ends of the cage. Not knowing exactly what you have planned for doors I think the snake might like to hide back in those ends and be tough/unsafe to remove at times.

Again, I agree with your points. Here's what I have planned:

- The are two reasons why I'm sticking with the 18" height: 1) I currently have him in a Vision cage (#632) which is 18" high, less the upper and lower lips, and I find this to be reasonable, as I have had no problems with it to this point. 2) I plan on stacking other enclosures on top of this one - so I want to keep the overall height down to something within reason.

- In each of the 2' wide ends of the enclosure there will be an access door. This will make the entirety of the enclosure at least, or more, accessable as the Vision cage he is in now. In all, the three forward facing panels will be access panels.

One of the bigger questions I have to answer is, should I have such an enclosure made by Cages By Design? Or should I make it myself? To have it made would yield a much less heavy finished product, and would probably look much nicer than anything I might throw together. Of course, it would cost much, *much* more (I expect). So far, I haven't found any other company that can do custom caging like I am looking for.

There are other details, but I'll hash those out once I've been able to decide on a basic design, and how to get it built.

Any suggestions are very welcome.

Thanks,
- Mark
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-----
.
-------------------------------------------------------------
My personal website: www.antegy.com
-------------------------------------------------------------
My Kingsnake.com Picture Galleries

- 1.0.0 Labyrinth Burmese Python Gallery
- 0.1.0 Suriname Boa Gallery
- 0.1.0 Mexican Black Kingsnake Gallery
- 1.0.0 Pueblan Milksnake Gallery
- 0.1.0 Trinket Ratsnake Gallery
-------------------------------------------------------------
My photography on photo.net
-------------------------------------------------------------
My photography on modelmayhem.com
-------------------------------------------------------------
Me on myspace.com

Mark I like plan Z also. As for having it made or doin' it yourself, I think that depends on weather money is or isn't an issue. And how good you are with tools. It would certainly be cheaper to do it yourself, but may well be worth the extra money to have it done well. Personally I'm incompetent when it comes to tools and measurements Good luck which ever direction you take.

Quig

I like plan Z also, but I would make the cage ends at least 2 1/2 feet long so he has enough room to curl up in them if he desires. Seeing a 11 foot long snake try to curl up in a 2 foot wide cage can be painful.

I'd like to say that I really admire how much thought you put into your reptiles well being.

>>One of the bigger questions I have to answer is, should I have such an enclosure made by Cages By Design? Or should I make it myself?

I know little about Cages by Design or other custom cage companies. I assume their design is limited by the angles available for the connectors so you might send them a schematic and see if they can do it.

Don't assume you'll save that much money by building it yourself. There are a surprising number of hidden costs in cage construction, especially with a large, complex design like yours.