Homemade Caging System Complete!!

Yes, the cage system I've been planning for months and working on for 3.5 weeks is complete! Turned out Very well, too, for being the first thing of its nature I've ever built. But enough talk, let's get down to pictures:

All finished and being heat tested:
http://i184.photobucket.com/albums/x...ncages-new.jpg

Closeup of an open cage:
http://i184.photobucket.com/albums/x...cages-open.jpg

All filled up!
http://i184.photobucket.com/albums/x...cages-full.jpg

Here's my female snow checking out her new home:
http://i184.photobucket.com/albums/x...ewcage1-09.jpg

And my big guy ghost loving the space!:
http://i184.photobucket.com/albums/x...ewcage1-09.jpg


All in all, it seems a great success. :D And of course, I am perfectly willing to explain how it was built and what was used.
So, what do you think? :)

awesome job! i've been thinking about building something like this for my snakes. just haven't gotten around to it. too busy with college now. but glad you got it done and that your snakes are liking it too.

I think you ROCK!!!!!!!! :banana:
Wow!!! Awesome project with awesome results!!! That cage stack looks professional and amazing!!!!!
Woooot!!!!!!!

Rockin it big time girlfriend!!!! So, c'mon, tell us how it's done :P

:D You're the best, Starmom.

Thanks for the compliments. I'm in college as well, which is why it took so long to start this, and this was Winter break which gave me time to build. :) I still have a 3 shelf rack and a Cham cage to build...but I guess those will take a while since classes start Tuesday! :O

As for how it was done, it was fairly straightforward. The frame is plywood - 1/2" thick sides and 3/4" thick shelves, the door frames and bedding dams are poplar strips in varying thicknesses, the doors are plexiglass, the back is Cloroplast corrugated plastic, and the floors are porcelain tiles raised up on 1/2" spacers to allow air circulation for the UTH pads which are the heat source.
The side and ceiling covers are contact paper, and the backgrounds are scrap-booking prints covered with clear contact paper. The air vents are PVC drain covers, and the whole thing is attached to a 3/4" thick plywood sheet with 6 lockable wheels. Oh, and each cage has a light - small florescents in the top smaller cages, and halogen closet lights in the three larger.

It was built as a bookshelf would be, but the back was left off until almost the end to allow for ease of painting as well as installation of the tile flooring. Each cage measures 36"long, 18" wide, and 14" high and the top cage is divided into two 18"x18"x14" smaller cages for my young girls. That divider (plexiglass covered with contact paper) is removable with a bit of effort to allow that top cage to be full size when the girls are adults (two single stackable cages of similar size will be built then for the other two girls).

I'll stop rambling on now...;) If anyone wants more details, PM me and I'll try to remember all the steps. :)

Well done :)

Excellent job. Snakes look happy in there as well. Perhaps you should write it all down and get a DIY thread stickied for it. That much effort and work deserves to be permanently stickied here. It would get my vote. :D :gj:

Looks like you spend a lot of time on that project, and it really paid off. Good job :gj:

Awesome job and it looks great! Well worth the efforts right? It is always rewarding to have a project come out as nice as that.

** I'm really looking forward to seeing that chameleon cage ;)

Jim

Look very professional, hats off to you.

Oh man, I love it! Would love to have something like that... but then I would have to buy more snakes.. and I think I would be in trouble with my fiance if I did that! :rolleyes:

Very nice job!