Reptile & Amphibian Forums

I just finished this 4 x 2 x 19 cage. Took about a full day to complete. Let me know what you think.

Nice Job. How did you do the door. That is my fear I can build the box but the door well different story.
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0.1 Rott
1.0 Super Tiger
0.1 Green Burm
0.1 Ball Python
0.1 Red Tail
0.1 Blood Python

I wanted the front to be really sleek, as you can tell from the pics, the door goes all the way to the edges on all sides.
To do this, I went to lowes and bought a piece of .220" thick acrylic glass. Give them the dimensions that you need and they can cut it. (have it cut to the exact length and hieght of your box.
Then, I went back to the lumber section and found 1/2" thick 2.5" wide wood, they sell it is 4' and 2' lengths.
Then you HAVE to buy a special drill bit for glass. (about $6, but worth it, the acrylic was $50 for the size i had to get so i wasnt going to risk cracking it with a regular drill bit)
cut your wood framing to the size that will go to the edges of the glass( outside edge of wood to edge of glass)
I did not attach the pieces of wood together, i didnt want to crack the wood.
lay out your glass, (if your edge wood is 2.5", you want to drill the holes 1 1/4" away from the edge) drill holes every 6" or so (doesnt really make a difference)
when all of your holes are drilled, take 5/8" screws and SLOWLY drill through your guide holes in the glass into the wood. ( after I drilled all of the holes in the glass, i laid the wood framing under the glass exactly where I wanted it and started putting in the screws)
after you are done with that, attach 2 3-3.5" door style hinges to the glass. ( I did this after the door was complete, laid the hinges where they needed to be, marked the holes with sharpie, then drilled guide holes) after the hinges are attached to the glass have someone hold it where you can drill the hinges onto the bottom edge of the box. (my door folds down i find that easiest for cleaning so you dont have to hold it up )
to keep the door up, I got 2 window style locks and attached them to the top edge of the door.

If you have any more questions, let me know

Good looking cage.

Special drill bits are not necessary for drilling acrylic. I was actually just drilling holes in a piece of acrylic earlier today. I used regular drill bits.

The key is to properly support the acrylic underneath with piece of scrap wood and to start with a small bit and work your way up to make the larger size hole.

I get my acrylic at a plastics supplier. It's cheaper and they make nicer cuts.

Cheers

Another trick is to make the acrylic less than the dood frame so it fits into the cage and the timber is flush. I like to use timber strips, top and bottom to strengthen the front and base of the cage - particularly if you make longer cages. It also helps if you want to stack them.

Nice looking job. Well done.
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Mark Chapple
Reptile Cage Plans
mark@reptile-cage-plans.com

Great looking cage. Are you heating the room to heat it?
It must be nice to be able to build a nice cage in one day no less.

I have heat tape on the way, at the moment they are in their old enclosure, i put them in just to take some pics, i was pretty excited about how it turned out.

Thanks

nice looking cage. thats how i plan on doing the front for my beardy cage but im gonna put the doors on the sides