Ok, I'm spillin' the beans

Ok, I wasn't going to tell you guys this untill the cage was finished. But then I figured out that I know nothing about building cages. My uncle is a carpenter(SP?) and he has promised me that if I can give him plans that he could build me a cage! :P But, I don't know anything about making cages. So I need some help. I plan to heat the cage with Flexwat controlled through a T-stat. Thing is I don't know what size the cage should be. Whats the average size for a custom cage? Thanks for your time.

What kind of snake are you building the enclosure for?

Its for Link my Ball Python.

Are you planning to house Link in it the rest of his life? If not, go with 2x2x1 (lxwxh) If so, I would say 3x3x2

Yes, this would be to house him for the rest of his life. But I wasn't planning on moving him into it until he outgrows his current sterilite.

i'd say if its for the rest of his life, and if you have the space
do a 4x2x2

I prefer square, so I would do 3x3x2, because technically it has the same space as a 4x2x2.

Ok, cool. I'm trying to decide if I should go with sliding doors or swing doors, or a cage that opens from the top.

I think sliding doors would look good. THey would be transparent right? Because they take up less space, and its easier to get them out.

Yeah, they would be of glass.
Ok, cool, sliding doors. How do you do that?

YOu might want to ask home depot or something, cus I have no I dea. I know how to open them lol.

It's done on a set of tracks, and the way the sliding doors work on my crestie's cage (I didn't built it, I bought it from a carpenter who makes them) is that you can lift up on the doors and take them out of the cage entirely.

If you have sliding windows in your home somewhere, or if you know of some place that has them (that you can look at) it works on the same principle. That won't necessarily tell you how to build them, but it'll at least give you the idea.

I would at least recommend one side of the cage being 4ft, if u want to do a 4x4 sqaure, that'd work as well

its just having 3ft per side is kinda small for an adult BP, if i were housing an adult bp for display, i would definitely ensure it had at least 4ft to strech out in one direction of the tank. But that of course is entirely up to you.

A long and skinny enclosure allows for a better temperature gradient than a square one.

4x2x2 is the ideal custom cage in my opinion as those are ideal dimensions for a lots of different herps (anything from JCP's and GTP's to beardies and ackies).

yea, thats another good point i failed to mention
oblong cages definitely lead to easier control of temperature gradient

Ok, cool. I'm glad I don't have a set limit as to how many feet the thing has to be.
Sliding glass doors on tracks
4x2x2
Will be heating it with Flexwat
Ok, thats the information I have now.
Question, how can you make glass walls? Can you cut a groove in two 2' high 1"x"1 thick and put the glass panel in the groove of the both and glue it?

FTH, as for what doors to use I would do this If you plan on feeding him in this enclosure that make 2 sets of doors a set in the front for taking him out and such and a small door on the top to feed him thru since orver time snakes will be like hey door opens food comes in so if he is used to food from the top and pick up from the side you may avoid feeding responce strikes. Not sure how sound that theory is

Acually I think thats a good idea. I think I might put that in.

Front-sliding doors are awesome on a cage. It makes cleaning and feeding easier, in my opinion. Here's a pic of Goblin's customized cage; bought it at a pet store for $50!

https://ball-pythons.net/modules/cop...8/gobcage2.JPG

The front panel is actually the door, or doors I should say. They're plexiglass and they're fitted into some grooves, like the kind that hold sliding glass doors but smaller. I know the front panel looks like one piece, but it is 2 pieces of plexi that overlap and therefore create a snug fitting door; they slide to either side to open.


Here's another angle; you can see the split in the plexiglass clearer here.
https://ball-pythons.net/modules/cop...8/goncage3.JPG

Here's a view from the side. It is roughly 2 feet front-back , 1 foot high, and 5 feet long. Pretty big! I figure it'll be a great breeding cage someday. It looks a lot better now though; I set it up with cypress mulch and naturalistic hides.

https://ball-pythons.net/modules/cop.../gobintank.JPG[/list]

WOW 50 dollars for that massive cage! :shock:
What pet store! Im buying me five!

no kidding, I want one too