5 New Large Enclosures DONE!

I just finished building the first 5 of my new large enclosures a couple of days ago and I thought I would share them with you guys (and girls). It was A LOT of work (and money) building all 5 of them at once, but very much worth it! They turned out really nice... Sadly, after I had already started the project using melamine, I found an awesome local source to get really good deals on PVC board (in both black and white) or else I would have GLADLY spent a little more for PVC... :( Anyway, the 3 larger ones (for my SD Retics and a Boa) are 6' x 30" x 19 3/4" and the 2 smaller ones (for my Blood and Borneo girls) are 4' x 30" x 16 1/4". I have to build at least 3 more of the smaller ones for other Bloods sometime between now and Spring and even more to follow... Aaargh! lol

I have actually decided to start offering pro custom reptile enclosures built to customer's exact specifications on the side for some extra money. I don't know if I would be able to compete with the commercial companies (price-wise), who are mass producing them and shipping would cost a fortune just like anywhere else, but in my local/semi-local area, who knows...

Let me know what you guys think and feel free to ask any questions you may have about building these!

https://ball-pythons.net/forums/cach...enclosures.jpg

https://ball-pythons.net/forums/cach...enclosures.jpg

https://ball-pythons.net/forums/cach...enclosures.jpg

Those came out nice! Not envious of you whenever they may need to be moved though hah! Good work!


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LOL! Ohhh... You don't even know! I built them out in one of my garages and had to keep moving them around by myself then they had to be carried through my yard, around my house and up to my second floor! Honestly, the 4' ones aren't too bad. Those 6' ones are killers, though! Hey, how is your SD with the pushing issue doing, man? Did you ever get her to stop? My females mouth is always all swelled up and now I notice my male's mouth is slightly swollen as well. I'm really hoping they will knock it off now that they have tons of room to explore!

Great job! Your cages look awesome. You should be proud

Hey,

Very classy looking units there, and I think your efforts paid off.

Nice work!

Very nice work indeed! I'm sure your critters will enjoy their new digs. Can I ask approximately what it cost to build them individually?

Thanks for all of your kind words. I really appreciate it! :) With regards to cost per enclosure, I built 5 of these at the same time, so it is difficult to break it down to an exact cost per enclosure. That is because some of the materials, such as the plexiglass and the window tracks require a minimum order from the suppliers. The materials and costs for the 4' and 6' enclosures are essentially the same. Here is an approximate cost breakdown for the 6' enclosures...

Cost Breakdown (6' x 30" x 19 3/4" enclosures):

Melamine: 2 Sheets $30.00 x 2 ($60.00)
Panel Board: ($14.00)
Pine 2" x 2" (2 each): ($20.00)
Center Support/Divider ($7.00 divided by 5): ($1.40)
Window Tracks: $0.89 per foot x 6 ($5.34)
Plexiglass: $118.00 (for all 5 enclosures) divided by 5 ($23.60)
Circle Vents: $2.89 each x 3 ($8.67)
Locks: ($5.78)
Liquid Nails: $1.27 x 2 ($2.54)
Caulking: $8.98
21" THG Heat Tape: $5.00 per foot x 2 ($10.00)
THGHeat Connection Set: ($2.49)
Electrical Wire (7' per enclosure): $0.48 per foot ($3.36)
Screws & Nails (apx. $15.00 divided by 5): ($3.00)

Total: $169.16

This total doesn't include shipping costs for the window tracks and circle vents or any of the tax. It doesn't include the cost of primer, paint or paint brushes, either. Also, my plexiglass supplier normally charges a $20.00 cutting fee, which they were kind enough to wave for me. If I would not have been lucky enough to find an awesome local manufacturer/supplier, the plexiglass would have cost a fortune to buy anywhere else,which would have increased costs significantly! If I would have discovered this local source sooner, I could have built these with PVC for only $28.00 - $46.00 more per enclosure (depending on if it was white or black PVC), but I wouldn't have needed to use panel board on the bottoms of the enclosures, which would have taken that cost down. Interestingly, it is possible to build PVC enclosures without even using screws! This supplier sells a variety of special glues/adhesives, which will weld the PVC together. Anyway, i'm trying to forget that I could have built these enclosures with PVC... :(

I should also mention a few of the minimum necessary tools that are needed to build these enclosures:

- Saw Horses
- Circular Saw
- Miter Box
- Cordless Drill
- Drill Bits + Counter Sink Bits
- 3" Hole Saw
- Corded Drill
- 4' clamps (at least 2)
- Caulking Gun
- Tape Measure

In addition to everything I have mentioned, I also made large custom hides and humidity boxes for all of these enclosures, which cost about $6.00 each and for now, i'm using red rosin paper on the bottoms of the enclosures, which costs about $14.00 per 166' roll. If I calculated correctly, that is only enough to replace the paper in all 5 enclosures 6 times each. I still need to find a cheap local source for printless newspaper. In addition, I am using sphagnum moss in the hides/humidity boxes, but i'm thinking that once it's all gone, wet paper towels will be much cleaner and easier to use, because these snakes aren't hardly spending any time in the hides whatsoever. Instead, they are cramming themselves beside and under the hides, which is very surprising of the Blood and Borneo girls! I thought for sure they would be having a blast, burring themselves in the sphagnum moss, but NOPE!

Bottom line... These enclosures are not cheap or easy to build (or buy) and these animals are NOT cheap to properly house and care for by any means!

They came out looking great. :)

Yes, they look very professional. :gj: So now for the others you plan to build, will you be switching to PVC? or stick with melamine? Hope you don't plan to
move anytime soon...;) -or ever?

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Bogertophis

Yes, they look very professional. :gj: So now for the others you plan to build, will you be switching to PVC? or stick with melamine? Hope you don't plan to
move anytime soon...;) -or ever?

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Thanks again for all of your kind words everyone! Bogertophis, I am still trying to decide if whether or not I will use PVC for the rest of them. I have quite a bit of melamine left over that I could cut my costs for more enclosures down a lot. Also, if I used PVC for the new ones, I would most likely have to buy another thermostat, because I doubt that the PVC would heat the same as the melamine. Ultimately, I will need 4 more of the smaller enclosures for rapidly growing Bloods and Short Tails and honestly, I am already a little concerned about all of the weight of my melamine racks in addition to the weight of these new enclosures up on my second floor, all in the same room. I wish I could just replace EVERYTHING with PVC, but damn... I have to start actually making some sort of profit with this whole thing at some point!