Good cages for Burms/Retics?

One of my friends owns two large constrictors, a 7 ft Granite Burm as well as a 6.5 ft Albino Retic. He asked me what's a good large cage for them when they eventually grow out their current caging. (Their cages right now are homemade 5 and a half ft long, three ft. tall, and a couple of feet in width, not too sure the amount) I've looked into it last night, and found AP makes some (T70 8ft L, 3 ft D, 2 ft H) and was wondering what's some other good cages? Input would be greatly appreciated! Thanks!

I'm no expert on housing larger snakes, but I'd think that if your friend is a competent enough builder to do homemade enclosures for them at this size, with a little time and lots of planning he should be able to simply scale the current setups up a notch.

I don't own any, but I have heard good things about Sentec cages...
http://www.sentecreptilecages.com/features.php?id=8

Boaphile makes good cages. I have a 421D for my boa. Downside is that they're built to order, so it may be 4-8 weeks before you receive yours.

The AP T70 is a good cage, but some may even need larger.... there aren't many cage makers that make bigger cages. At this point building one yourself is probably the best option.

All of ours are in homemade 8' cages.

Monster Cages sells 8 foot PVC cages.

Heather do u have a pic of ur homemade cages? How much did it cost if you don't mind me asking?

After looking up the Monster, Boaphile and rethinking about the AP cages, it's all pretty expensive. I think I'll just help with looking up DIY's with sliding glass doors. The cages with hinges didn't work out so well when he (being my friend) went out of town and the snakes lunged forward at me when I decided to clean their cage...

I'd appreciate it if someone can direct me to a site that does it step by step, or even a video or directions. :)

Thanks for the responses!

Oh, and I stumbled across this video, and was wondering, do you think it would work? Just add some support beams and expand it more.

We bought a Boaphile rack system for our babies and it was a huge step up in terms of ease of care. It arrived pre-wired with Flexwatt and in good condition. I currently have a baby Boa and a baby Retic in it but the Retic will have to be moved in about a year (rough guess) to a larger enclosure.

More than likely I will go with a Boaphile cage again as they are worth the price imo and I just don't trust myself to build something that would be able to provide all my snake's needs and be durable as well.

I would think homemade would be best bc that way you can customize it to your exact needs.

We use neodesha, animal plastics and visions. Sentecs are also great cages. The cages can be expensive but they can also last a lifetime. The video you posted would work many people make there own cages out of melamine. Im not a huge fan of it however mainly because its so heavy we move cages around alot and also its harder to clean. Plastic or pvc cages wipe down and disinfect very easily and Burms and retics pee ALOT so cleaning is a huge part for us. Also we like that fact that these cages last forever basically if you care for them properly. Ive seen alot of people that make super nice looking melamine cages and in a few years they look like absolute garbage. But then there are people that still have nice looking ones. Heres what some of ours look like.

http://i37.photobucket.com/albums/e5...945/004-19.jpg

http://i37.photobucket.com/albums/e5...945/001-13.jpg

You can very easily build your own cages, the problem I find with the cages used in the video (the same problem I ran into) is that you need to find a decent glass shop who can supply you with thicker glass. The stuff I buy at home depot works great for 4-6 foot snakes, but past that I just don't trust it. When I looked into making my retic cage the first thing I ran into was that the glass wasn't thick enough, and if he got hungry my cats were toast, and opted for hinged drop down doors and plexi. It wasn't expensive to build it either, building a decent sealed cage minus fixtures costs me only around $100 or less without too much effort, and it should last a few years if not more if maintained well.

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Originally Posted by MMReptiles

You can very easily build your own cages, the problem I find with the cages used in the video (the same problem I ran into) is that you need to find a decent glass shop who can supply you with thicker glass. The stuff I buy at home depot works great for 4-6 foot snakes, but past that I just don't trust it. When I looked into making my retic cage the first thing I ran into was that the glass wasn't thick enough, and if he got hungry my cats were toast, and opted for hinged drop down doors and plexi. It wasn't expensive to build it either, building a decent sealed cage minus fixtures costs me only around $100 or less without too much effort, and it should last a few years if not more if maintained well.

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The only problem I have with hinged doors is that it gives the snake a greater chance of striking at me and it's less protection for me. I could make a double drop down door, but then it wouldn't look very nice, imo. What is the thickness of glass you would need?

We build custom cages ;)

http://i1201.photobucket.com/albums/...s/60df1ba9.jpg

http://i1201.photobucket.com/albums/...s/9de52d7a.jpg

http://i1201.photobucket.com/albums/...sissyblack.jpg

I'll be going the custom cage route also when my little giant gets around to needing one.