Looking for a good verticle showcase type cage for a JCP

[girlundertherainbow]

Online..or ideas on converting something.. or building one (for someone NOT experienced with building anything so must be easy lol).
I really want a nice, big, showcase type cage for my JCP girl at some point. Not a breeder..she's just one of my pets and I would love to display her well at some point. Any ideas and tips appreciated.
OH and at this point she's 2.. and about 6ft.. I'm thinking with enough hides (she loves her hides) I could in the near future put her in a larger enclosure and she's be OK till she is grown (meaning it wouldn't be TOO much space I hope)?

[twh]

Online..or ideas on converting something.. or building one (for someone NOT experienced with building anything so must be easy lol).
I really want a nice, big, showcase type cage for my JCP girl at some point. Not a breeder..she's just one of my pets and I would love to display her well at some point. Any ideas and tips appreciated.
OH and at this point she's 2.. and about 6ft.. I'm thinking with enough hides (she loves her hides) I could in the near future put her in a larger enclosure and she's be OK till she is grown (meaning it wouldn't be TOO much space I hope)?

i've never owned a cage but if i was shopping around i'd take a good long hard look at: showcasecages.com

[redstormlax12]

Showcasecages.com make very nice show cages. There is also repti-racks.com that can custom build pretty much anything for you with unbeatable prices.

About the "too big" factor. With almost every species I highly disagree with this notion of a cage being too large. A cage may be too baren, too clustered, too small, but in my opinion a cage cannot be too big as long as the cage is properly filled with necessary factors.

[mainbutter]

For a real showpiece, be ready to fork out a TON of money. Big cages are expensive, and they're even more expensive if they look really nice. However, a big jungle girl perched up high in a large, 6ft tall professionally built showpiece cage would be quite a sight.

I get my fix by converting 2ft tall exo terras into planted vivariums for young carpet pythons

If I was in the market for such a thing, the first place I'd look would be cages by design: cagesbydesign.com

You'll probably provide heating via basking lamps and such, so keeping room temps somewhat warm for a suitable ambient air temp will be a good idea, so if your living spaces gets as cold as my apartment does in winter, such a large cage (particularly such a tall cage) may not be best for your snake.

[mainbutter]

About the "too big" factor. With almost every species I highly disagree with this notion of a cage being too large. A cage may be too baren, too clustered, too small, but in my opinion a cage cannot be too big as long as the cage is properly filled with necessary factors.

and "too big" is even less of a problem for large, adult carpet pythons.

[grits]

Talk with a local cabinet shop. I have built a couple different cages for customers and a really big showcase typu for my big burm.

[LizardPants]

If you want something to look nice, and you have the budget, a skilled and open minded cabinet shop might be your best bet. Make sure they understand that it has to be designed to accommodate a snake, and that there are design requirements, and material restrictions.

If there are pre-made cabinets which suit your tastes, you could modify it to suit the needs of your JCP. If you do this, you need to take into account all of the materials and finishes that are used, and make sure it's safe. Also it might be tricky to modify to suit your snake, and still retain the tasteful appearance. Of course you can't sacrifice functionality or your animal's safety to suit appearance.

I'm actually in a similar situation. After looking at all of the options out there I haven't found anything that is both a perfectly functional enclosure, as well as suits my furniture tastes. Therefore I've decided to design and build it myself. There are plenty of great enclosures out there from a functionality stand point, however in my opinion over 95% of them are ugly and would not fit in with anyone's furniture beyond a laboratory, grandma's antiques, or cheap walmart pick ups. That's not an insult to the cage industry, but that's how it is at this point. If you're reading this, and you're an enclosure designer. Here it is: You're enclosures are ugly. If you don't think so, let's talk. :-)

[Colin Vestrand]

you know... i've thought about this quite a bit and really a cabinet is a cabinet. it will never be as functional, fresh, and easy to clean as a nice, professional made pvc cage in my opinion.
so i was at the local home store the other week buying trim... i think what i'm going to do whenever i go this route is to get black pvc cages and buy some nice trim/moulding/wood strips and basically trim out the cage, using liquid nails or something similar to affix the stuff to the face of the cage. a little paint or whatever to get everything matched up and it's done... for a fraction of the cost of a customer cabinet style cage (like cagesbydesign.com).

[LizardPants]

you know... i've thought about this quite a bit and really a cabinet is a cabinet. it will never be as functional, fresh, and easy to clean as a nice, professional made pvc cage in my opinion.
so i was at the local home store the other week buying trim... i think what i'm going to do whenever i go this route is to get black pvc cages and buy some nice trim/moulding/wood strips and basically trim out the cage, using liquid nails or something similar to affix the stuff to the face of the cage. a little paint or whatever to get everything matched up and it's done... for a fraction of the cost of a customer cabinet style cage (like cagesbydesign.com).

That's a good idea. I've thought of the same using a vision, showcase (ugh hate that moulding look), animal plastics, etc... I've also thought of buying one of the aforementioned enclosures and building a full cabinet around it, with ventilation of course. The best of both worlds. Currently I'm looking at cages made from HDPE or PP which are both FDA/USDA approved food safe. Whereas PVC is known to leach, and acrylic is very brittle. PVC is probably safe for a ball, but I also plan to get into GTPs, and of course I want everything to match.

[LizardPants]

Check out this thread http://ball-pythons.net/forums/showt...5-display-cage