Howdy all,
I have bred and raised corns, balls, boas and burms. So although this is my first post I am not a stranger to the herp industry.
One of my biggest frustrations especially with my burms was cleaning the cage which was melamine and I always envied the ease of access and cleaning my friends with racks had, but I was unable to let go of the glass front view as I took great pride in my collection and wanted them to be viewed!
After a few years of being unable to have a collection (due to housing restrictions) I still miss reptiles but the quest to design a cage that offered both the best of racks and cages in one was often on my mind. I have since come up with an idea that I am working with a few companies to to develop on a mass market scale but wanted to run it past some experts in the field and with kingsnake being one of the biggest resources to the herp industry I figured what better place to get critiques.
(PS My goal is to be able to present this at the Rocky Mountain Reptile Expo on May 5th which is just around the corner!)
Ok so imagine an X shape with the tips resembling arrows. This is a basic form of T-Slotted Extruded Aluminum which comes in different configurations and lengths and can be anodized to any color. The great thing about this stuff is that it is essentially like an erector set as you can build without welding and do just about anything you want with it.
Using this material as the frame and supports for a 4' X 8' X 2' box you get a very sturdy structure. Now by taking 1/4" ABS Sheets and turning them into "panels" if you will that sit in the valley of the X shaped frame on all sides except for one of the 8' X 2' sides that would act as the front. You get a very basic snake cage assuming your put sliding doors on the front but my idea continues.
Inside of the box your then build another frame with the height of 7". This internal frame will then have a solid plastic tub set inside the frame. This internal frame will slide out the opened side of the cage which will reveal two handles built into the side of the internal frame for easy carrying (with two people)
Finally the front door will be a single piece of clear lexan that will hinge from the top side (opposite of the internal frame and tub) of the cage and slide inward the depth of the cage.
I believe this design will allow for:
1) Stackability
2) Strength
3) Easy Cleaning
4) Full Access
5) Full Visibility
I do not have all final pricing together as I am still putting some finishing touches on the design and waiting on a few vendors for final details but this is why I am open to any critiques or needs that may not have been made in this design specific to Retics?
Reading alot online I have found some that say Retics need 4' of height as 2' will not suffice. Is this true?
If so I will definitely be offering both sizes :0)
The nice thing is this idea is scalable to just about any dimensions.
