My Burms New Home Weekend Project (DU WARNING!)

[Jake_la_serpiente]

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:



Step 2:



Step 3:



Step 4:



Step 5:



Step 6:



Step 7:



Step 8:



Step 9:



Step 10:




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!

[Smulkin]

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!

[JLC]

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

[Jake_la_serpiente]

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.

[JLC]

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.

[Jake_la_serpiente]

Judy,
No more side-to-side!

[JLC]

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.....

[Jake_la_serpiente]

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

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!

[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

[Jake_la_serpiente]

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

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!