As promised, here's my new crestie cage

[Marla]

I've read a number of care sheets regarding crested geckos, and there does not seem to be a consensus on proper cage type. Some say high humidity is the most important thing, others say air flow. I figured heading into a Georgia summer, low humidity is not going to be an issue here anytime soon, so I went for air flow in the enclosure I made.

First, to give credit where it's due, I did base this design off another I found on the web somewhere, designed for iguanas. Unfortunately I haven't a clue where at this point. I did modify it pretty heavily to account for differences in inhabitants, available materials, and purpose, though.

The original enclosure used plastic-coated wire mesh, which I was unable to find in any size which would actually contain the geckos, so I went with 1/4" hardware cloth instead. It was made of galvanized steel, but as I expect to be misting it quite a bit (and I thought it would be nicer aesthetically), I gave it a thorough coat of Rust-O-Leum paint after the enclosure was assembled except for the doors. I painted the doors separately. I expect the paint will buy me some time on rust, and it shouldn't be an issue for years.

The doors were another thing that gave me difficulty. I had a great plan to fabricate a door of one full side of the enclosure, using PVC tees as hinges, with one side sawed off. I was using 1/2" pvc pipe and appropriately-sized joins, so I bought 3/4" to 1/2" tees. This would have worked just fine if I had taken into account the corner connectors and been able to find 1" to 1/2" tees instead.

As I didn't, I made hinges with 4" cable ties tightened a little less than fully, clipped holes for the velcro fasteners to loop through, and closed them that way. I wouldn't suggest that for any strong snake or other strong herp, but it ought to work fine for cresties. The actual assembly was done with 7" cable ties, as 4" are a little short and a little weak for the structural bits.


I made a door at the top on one side and the bottom on the other side for easy removal of the kitty litter pan I put at the base for cleaning, searching for eggs, etc. After attaching the doors, all that was really left was to cover the bottom with newspaper, put an inch of peat moss into the kitty litter pan and slide it in, then put in some clean branches (baked) from the yard and a few bunches of fake plant life, secured to the side with more 4" cable ties.

[Wizill]

if that ain't a fine example of a home-made enclosure, i've never seen one. great work marla.

[Marla]

Thanks Will! I'd like to find a way around the cable ties and clipping them, but I figured it was better to have them poking out and possibly scratching me or the kids than poking in and scratching the little guys.

[JLC]

Wow....that is really cool, Marla! I'm impressed!

[Marla]

Thanks, Judy! To tell the truth, I'm kind of impressed too, that I designed and made it work by myself, instead of just wasting money and ruining supplies.

[Cthulhu]

Something you might have done instead of the cable ties is wrap each edge in copper or stainless wire. Would have been a lot more work during construction, but it would be smooth.

--Maarken

[JamminJonah]

with a nice torch you really could have soddered some nice metal bands. Just try not to melt the PVC.
:wink:

[Marla]

Maarken, I actually bought some wire as well, but I think I'd still need the cable ties holding it together in order to get it stitched up. That would definitely be a way to stop the scratchy bits, though. I may do that yet, as a finishing step, in addition to getting more velcro fasteners for spares and so I can hold the top side door open when needed.

Jonah, LOL. I do have a soldering iron, and I'm sure I could "borrow" some solder from here at work ...