Best diy cage?

[ispitroseas]

Anyone have favorite diy methods? Doing a build in the spring.

[sharudd30]

Re: Best diy cage?

I just build a box with a front opening either drop down or sliding glass works. I usually put a false floor for the uth to go under

[ispitroseas]

Re: Best diy cage?

I just build a box with a front opening either drop down or sliding glass works. I usually put a false floor for the uth to go under

What material? I've been looking at tutorials

[natieb]

Re: Best diy cage?

What size boa is it for, and do you plan on having multiple snakes? If you have more than one boa and they're not fully grown you should look into a rack system. They're easy to clean and hold heat and humidity well, and take up a small footprint. If it's for a fully grown boa or you just want to build one cage for its lifetime, you'll want a 4'x2' cage (minimum). The DIY forum here has a ton of builds to get you started.

Melamine board is a great material because it's cheap and sealed off from humidity. The downside is that it's very heavy. Plywood can be used, but make sure it's very well sealed. Plastic is better than either, but costs quite a bit more and might be more difficult to work with.

DIY is fun to do and challenging and rewarding, but if cost is your main concern, it sometimes ends up costing a lot more than you expected. I'd recommend checking out boaphileplastics.com and apcages.com if you're interested in a commercial product.

[Kung Fu Joe]

Re: Best diy cage?

There is a PVC/vinyl material at home depot posted in a recent thread... I believe the thread title was "Cages by Design". It's a1/2 inch material that looks like I would be perfect for doing a build. If no one posts about it I'll get down there this week and see if it is usable.

[sharudd30]

Re: Best diy cage?

I use plywood. But melamine is a really good cage material. I actually prefer buying pvc enclosures but I built the first few that I've used.

[taxcollector]

Re: Best diy cage?

Its up to you, everyone builds melamine enclosures. I went out on a limb and came up with my own design a couple of years ago using a 55 gallon long fishtank. The problem with fishtanks are that they lose heat and humidity really bad through the screen opening at the top. If you look at professionally built cages they are ALL front opening cages. So I did a little thinking and this is what I built..



I then covered the entire outside of the cage except the doors with drawer liner that can be bought at walmart for a few bucks so that my snake does not feel so out in the open. I have sence purchased professionally built cages for the fact of how HEAVY that cage is, but it works perfect! If you make a business out of it atleast mention my name

[ispitroseas]

Re: Best diy cage?

What size boa is it for, and do you plan on having multiple snakes? If you have more than one boa and they're not fully grown you should look into a rack system. They're easy to clean and hold heat and humidity well, and take up a small footprint. If it's for a fully grown boa or you just want to build one cage for its lifetime, you'll want a 4'x2' cage (minimum). The DIY forum here has a ton of builds to get you started.

Melamine board is a great material because it's cheap and sealed off from humidity. The downside is that it's very heavy. Plywood can be used, but make sure it's very well sealed. Plastic is better than either, but costs quite a bit more and might be more difficult to work with.

DIY is fun to do and challenging and rewarding, but if cost is your main concern, it sometimes ends up costing a lot more than you expected. I'd recommend checking out boaphileplastics.com and apcages.com if you're interested in a commercial product.

It's for a 6' girl and her future boyfriend. Obviously seperate! So I want to do two. I thought of buying boaphile but I aleady have polyurethane varnish, OSB and tools. Could I use OSB board?

What size boa is it for, and do you plan on having multiple snakes? If you have more than one boa and they're not fully grown you should look into a rack system. They're easy to clean and hold heat and humidity well, and take up a small footprint. If it's for a fully grown boa or you just want to build one cage for its lifetime, you'll want a 4'x2' cage (minimum). The DIY forum here has a ton of builds to get you started.

Melamine board is a great material because it's cheap and sealed off from humidity. The downside is that it's very heavy. Plywood can be used, but make sure it's very well sealed. Plastic is better than either, but costs quite a bit more and might be more difficult to work with.

DIY is fun to do and challenging and rewarding, but if cost is your main concern, it sometimes ends up costing a lot more than you expected. I'd recommend checking out boaphileplastics.com and apcages.com if you're interested in a commercial product.

[ispitroseas]

Re: Best diy cage?

I use plywood. But melamine is a really good cage material. I actually prefer buying pvc enclosures but I built the first few that I've used.

What about OSB?

[Pandorasdad]

Re: Best diy cage?

Here's a link to the write up I did after moving Pandora into her new cage in 2010. 4+ years later and it's still a sturdy, clean awesome cage. That cost me almost twice what an Animal Plastics T8 would cost.

http://www.redtailboas.com/f140/new-improved-pandoras-box-50700/

[sharudd30]

Re: Best diy cage?

What about OSB?

No OSB will be destroyed in no time. The only reason melamine stays good for quite a while is due to the outer coating that seals the wood from the moisture.

[sharudd30]

Re: Best diy cage?

[MENTION=17615]taxcollector[/MENTION] that's what you call thinking outside the box, or inside depending how you look at it. I can definitely see it as being heavy though lol

[ispitroseas]

Re: Best diy cage?

No OSB will be destroyed in no time. The only reason melamine stays good for quite a while is due to the outer coating that seals the wood from the moisture.

Even sealed OSB or plywood?

[ispitroseas]

Re: Best diy cage?

Here's a link to the write up I did after moving Pandora into her new cage in 2010. 4+ years later and it's still a sturdy, clean awesome cage. That cost me almost twice what an Animal Plastics T8 would cost.

http://www.redtailboas.com/f140/new-...ras-box-50700/

Thanks! I'll check out your link.

[natieb]

Re: Best diy cage?

I personally wouldn't use OSB since it's such a low quality material, but if you had a lot of it laying around and it wouldn't cost anything, I don't see the harm in using it. It won't outlast a plastic cage, but you might get a few years out of it.