Reptile & Amphibian Forums

An escaped/abandoned boa (found on my friend's patio in the 114 degree heat) has come into my care, and I need to build him a cage. He's 4', and I want something that will keep him happy for a couple years, and eventually be my ball python's.

I was thinking of a wood-frame cage, 4Lx2Dx2H. Screen on the two short sides, Acrylic sheets as the door on the front, and wood for the top, back and bottom. The bottom would actually be a 3" deep tray that would come out so I wouldn't have to haul this thing around my apartment to clean it. The top would have two screened-over openings for lighting/heating, and a simple wooden "lid" to cover the lights.

I've drawn a lot of designs of how I think it could work, and I priced materials, including weather-proofing for the wood and whatnot, and I think I can make it for under a hundred dollars. Does it sound like it could work? Am I going to need some sort of diagonal struts on some of the sides because it'll be flimsy? Will the two screened sides cause too much of a draft?

Are there any sites about cage design? Things like the best way to get screen attached on wood tight and straight, what kinds of weather-proofing to use, stuff like that?

Thanks for any advice.

You can definitely do it for under 100 bucks. Not positive but it may be hard to maintain desired temps for a boa just with lights on top and all that side screening. Anyhow, for your other ideas, use the search forums function to find previous posts on various ideas and scan through the photo gallery once in awhile to see what others have done. Good luck!!