My Burms New Home Weekend Project (DU WARNING!)

I thought I would share with you all my project from last Saturday. My Burm is getting bigger and I needed to upgrade his encloser. I have found several different blue prints online to build one from scratch. After doing some pricing at Home Depot and Lowes for materials alone would be between $250-$300 depending on how fancy I wanted to make it. I thought I could do better price wise and cut down on my "build time".

I found and converted an 84"x24" large pantry type unit. It was $150. I then spent $30 for a large sheet of plexi glass and had it cut. Then I purchased a pair of latches at $2.99 each. I also purchased a then, non-adhesive rubberised mat for the under the substrate (newspaper and or paper towels). This keeps them from sliding around the cage. Anyway, that ran around $5.00. I all ready had the tools, which were a circular saw, saw-zaw, and a drill and also had the Dark Walnut Stain (for the front).

I removed the removable shelves, and cut the one non-removable shelf out. I then cut the enter "framed" part of the doors. I then cut 12"x12" squares on the side, top, and bottoms. These are for light sources, and Flexwatt. I then stained the OUTSIDE front ONLY (It took about an hour to dry-which I did not include in my overall build time). I then took the cut plexi, and drilled holes for screws in the corners, and then larger air holes across the front (I had to go back and drill a few more after the humidity was a little high). After the plexi was cut, I then carefully screwed them into place. I also screwed some latches, in order to keep the doors up. I think it turned out great for the price, and total build time of less than 2 hours! Here are the pics...Enjoy!

Step 1:

http://i70.photobucket.com/albums/i9.../1Begining.jpg

Step 2:

http://i70.photobucket.com/albums/i9...ideShelves.jpg

Step 3:

http://i70.photobucket.com/albums/i9...bleShelves.jpg

Step 4:

http://i70.photobucket.com/albums/i9...sideShelve.jpg

Step 5:

http://i70.photobucket.com/albums/i9...terAllCuts.jpg

Step 6:

http://i70.photobucket.com/albums/i9...ernalStain.jpg

Step 7:

http://i70.photobucket.com/albums/i9...lf/11Plexi.jpg

Step 8:

http://i70.photobucket.com/albums/i9...12CutPlexi.jpg

Step 9:

http://i70.photobucket.com/albums/i9.../13Latches.jpg

Step 10:

http://i70.photobucket.com/albums/i9...14Finished.jpg


That is it! 10 steps, 2 hours, and around $200 for a nice large new home for my growing Burm! Almost been a week and he LOVES it!

Defintely very crafy bro!

Converting a vertical shelving unit has never even occured to me. I think Neph will find herself in something very similar when she hits that stage! Thanks for sharing!

Very clever!! Now, if you could just resize those pics, everything would be absolutely perfect! ;)

Thanks!

I shrunk the pics down. I had sized them down to begin with, but then uploaded the wrong ones! Anyway, they are still large, but smaller than they were.

Well, they do need to be resized, even if they're smaller than they were before. They need to fit the screens without causing side-to-side scrolling.

Judy,
No more side-to-side!

Awesome...thanks Jake! If you did that earlier, my apologies for repeating myself. I ended up having to clear the cache to see the new pics.


That really is a neat project and one I will keep in mind for someday in the future.....

Quote:

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Originally Posted by JLC

If you did that earlier, my apologies for repeating myself. I ended up having to clear the cache to see the new pics.

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I did do it earlier, I had uploaded the wrong pics, but no biggie. I had to clear my cache too.

Thanks for the positive feedback on my project. I hope others will find it helpful!

Absolutely fantastic looking Jake and what a major savings for you with a very reasonable amount of time involved. Where did you find that pantry unit if I might ask? It's just perfect! I've seen a few premade furniture pieces rehabbed into some pretty interesting enclosures. I also have a friend that took a closet and with only a few hours work turned it into the most amazing walk-in iguana enclosure you've ever seen (Toni the iguana absolutely adores it!)


Great job! Now where's the pics of the danged snake in it LOL

Quote:

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Originally Posted by frankykeno

Absolutely fantastic looking Jake and what a major savings for you with a very reasonable amount of time involved. Where did you find that pantry unit if I might ask? It's just perfect! I've seen a few premade furniture pieces rehabbed into some pretty interesting enclosures. I also have a friend that took a closet and with only a few hours work turned it into the most amazing walk-in iguana enclosure you've ever seen (Toni the iguana absolutely adores it!)


Great job! Now where's the pics of the danged snake in it LOL

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Thanks Joanna!!! I found that unit at a contractor supply wharehouse. Its similar to Home Depot or Lowes, but is usually a little bit cheaper, because mostly only contractors go in there. They have a lot of cabinets, and pantry type units, that with a little creativity could turn into a great critter habitat!

My next project may be a corner unit short and fat bookcase, and turn it into some sort of reptile enclosure.

I will post a pic of "Fluffy" in his enclosure here pretty soon!