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!
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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!
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