Custom Molded Drip Trays - Sizes? Internal or External?

Howdy ya'll,

Everyone is aware of the problems associated with keeping humidity up in a chameleon cage. Once you get the water into the cage, you have to get rid of the run off. Those cheesy PVC squares aren't exactly made to hold water, to support plants, nor to keep crickets from hiding underneath them when a heavy plant is in the middle. The options available from Home Depot aren't exactly visually appealing since they're made for other purposes.

Chad and I are looking to change that. We're going to custom mold drip trays for cham cages. They will be formed out of black 1/8" ABS material, have multiple locations for drainage via a bulkhead or tubing and possibly a molded plant riser, too. However, we can't make twenty different sizes though, so if you all could answer a few questions, we can make exactly what you want.

Here are the advantages and disadvantages to each option that we see right now. Obviously, a more complicated design means a more complicated and expensive mold. The disadvantages are in red.

Internal

• Would fit to the sides of the screen
• Could have corner drainage
• Easier to use in a rack system with no wasted space
• Neater looking
• Would slide out for cleaning
  [*]Might not fit every cage of that size perfectly
  [*]Would need internally molded lip for bottom frame of cage so it would sit flat on the floor

External

• Could fit more than one size (16" square could fit 15"x15")
• Cage would sit inside the tray
• Easier to remove for cleaning
  [*]Not as "clean" looking
  [*]Less useful with custom cages
  [*]More expensive due to larger size (mold cost and fewer units per sheet of material, especially with 24"x24")
  

Plant Riser

• Would keep plant roots from sitting in water
  [*]More effort to clean due to nooks and crannies
  [*]Possibly not as strong (have to check with fabricator)
  [*]More expensive (how much is unknown right now)
  

We're obviously looking to keep them as affordable as possible, hence, this post.

What sizes would you use the most?

Any thoughts would be appreciated!

24x24, 16x16, 18x18.....and internal would be real nice.

Yea… What he said…

But really… The main reason behind this is to come up with a cheap tray to fit the most common sized cages that will help alleviate of the drainage woes which we all face, myself included. The basic plan is to facilitate the easy drainage of your cage and keep crickets from hiding under and getting out of the edges of the flat cage bottoms.

We also need a few well known people to test out the things for us once they are done, if you are interested then shoot me an e-mail. Right now I think that the most common cage size is probably the 16x16 18x18 and 24x24 height really dose not matter for this. So again, if you are interested then let me know.

If you have anything that you would like to see in them let us know as well, this product is going to be for people such as us so if you have a need, want and or wish now is the time to speak up. Molds are going to be made soon and once that is done they are not going to change for a while.

Hey Chad,

Do you guys have a blueprint or any drawings that you could share?
Not asking you to give up any "trade secrets" but some kind of visual might be helpful.
This is a really cool idea/solution by the way ... I for one am wishing you and Jason great success on this project!

-Brad

We dont have anything yet, but I can whip up a CAD real quick... I needed to get an image going anyhoo.

as far as plant riser goes, i don't think that's necessary and will complicate the effectiveness too much (we can always buy the metal plant riser and put it in the cage, right?)

I love the idea of the internal drip tray especially with corner drainage.

Plus I have a custom size cage.. so i am a bit biased

Brad Ramsey said:

Hey Chad,

Do you guys have a blueprint or any drawings that you could share?
Not asking you to give up any "trade secrets" but some kind of visual might be helpful.
This is a really cool idea/solution by the way ... I for one am wishing you and Jason great success on this project!

-Brad

Click to expand...

Here you go brad.. Just for you.








Keep in mind that the holes are probably not what we are going to have. I just put them in to give you an idea of what they will look like. A lip so they will set into the cage and not move then areas that make contact with the ground keeping it level and not letting the tray flex.

Thanks for the good luck send off!

This is what I've been hoping for. I made a bunch of screen cages a few years ago, and also use 38 gallon reptariums. But finding a neat, practical, inexpensive way of draining them has nixed my misting system's expansion. In fact, I can't use it at all now due to drainage problems.

I say look at the most common cage sizes - 18"x18" & 24"x24" are probably the best to start at. They seem to be the most common dimensions that fit the most uses.

In my experience:

EXTERNAL all the way. Unless it's an integral part of the cage, you want it external. #1 is drainage. If you have an external drip tray, you can connect it (with a bulkhead) to a PVC pipe for easy drainage. Internal ones would require a hole in the cage. While an internal one would make cleaning so much nicer, I don't think that outweighs the drainage issue. Also - chameleon waste will accumulate along the joint - even if the tray is flush with the inside of the cage, poop will pile up there. Insects will find a way under it, they always do...

Plan risers are a good idea - but keep it simple. Make the plan risers seperatly, if at all. I need to put my plants in certain places, a riser would limit placement.

I like the idea of a bulkhead. The washer pans at the hardware stores are nice for this - just attach some PVC and you've got a drain system. They could be expensive. Maybe just have a lower portion in the corner, in which we could cut a hole and install our own PVC bulkhead. I'm sure that would save a ton of money. And those who simply want to use an open gutter drain system won't be wasting their money on expensive PVC fittings.

I don't like pooling water. Holds bacteria, drowns bugs, tempts chameleons into drinking water they shouldn't be drinking... gotta make sure that these things are channeling water towards the drain hole as much as possible. Maybe mold them to have a slope, a kind of swale, fixed into the shape, so as to funnel water towards the bulkhead/drain hole.

If you need help testing these, I'm in. Part of the reason I have't finished my animal room is the lack of drainage material. Anything that'll work is too big (washing machine pans).

I have 6, 24"x24"x36" cages and 4, 38 gallon reptatiums in use right now. I am not in a huge hurry to get drain pans, but as soon as I can get them, I'm going to work setting up a permanant setup for everything.

Let me know if I can help at all. I'm interested in testing out some prototypes if a final product isn't yet available for purchase.

The plant risers I imagine are ribs molded into the pan, about 1/2" tall, diagonal from the corners towards the center. However, they would not meet completely so the center would still be available for drainage. I won't attempt to draw anything to illustrate this idea since my Sketchup skills are way behind Chad's 3D.

The plastics guy is a genius, though. I'm sure he can tell us if any ideas will or will not work before we actually make anything. Creating a gentle slope to one side or the middle will not be problem. In fact, I didn't even have to complete the sentence when I described it because he was already going to suggest it.

I like the idea of a bulkhead.

Click to expand...

Me, too. I currently have one installed in the side of my flower pot tray. It's plumbed outside to a bucket and catches most of the runoff. It is very convenient. Hey, that may give me a reason to stock two colors of tubing.

Howdy,

I'm biased to external drain pans since that's what I made for myself . As you can see from the photos, my enclosures sit raised-up from the pan bottom by ~3/4" risers attached in the ~1" deep drain pan. The pan dimensions leave about 1" around every side between the enclosure and the pan sides to allow for ventilation between the two. The enclosure's bottom is drilled with a dozen small holes so that the excess mist water will drip through to the drain pan. A relatively cheap pipe threaded barb fitting and tubing is threaded into one corner where the water collects due to a slight tilt of the entire setup to that corner. The old water drain into a ~4 gallon bucket with lid. I've found that I don't need to clean the drain pan but once a year or so. My plants sit on their own metal plant stands on the enclosure's PVC floor bottom. My heavy plants in my 24x24 enclosures required a little bit of support towards the middle of the drain pan floor so that excessive drooping didn't occur with the enclosure bottom. Drain pans designed for 18x18 enclosures don't need a center support (The drain pan in photo was for ~16x16 enclosure.) I've found it is very easy to clean under and around my plant stand without lifting them. The enclosure's PVC floor is smooth with no other obstructions. And like I said, the drain pan dries out in-between mistings and doesn't seem to need cleaning very often.

My concern with internal drain pans is with insects hiding in-between the drain pan and the enclosure bottom. It also seems to require running the drain tubing from the drain pan through the enclosure bottom. That might be difficult to deal with.

This is really a dream come true if you solve the drain pan problem. I half-heartedly approached several manufacturers at some of the big reptile shows with sample of my drain pan as an example, suggesting that there was a market for a lower cost solution but no one wanted to tackle it .

Now I just need to find some nice stainless steel plant stands !



My setup isn't quite so messy these days .
Note the plant stands inside the enclosures.

i had problems with water buildup in my cages too and i could never get a good drip tray. i finally solved it by getting a cycle timer for my misting system. so instead of 2 or 3 mists a day for however many minutes (making oceans of water) you personally like, you spray for 15-30 secs at a time multiple times a day. i set mine up to spray 20 seconds at a time every hour and 15 minutes.

this is the system that has worked for me it keeps the plants wet until the next spray. just my 2 cents. they start at about $80 for the cheapest made in china analog model and start at $150+ for digital models.

didn't mean to dis the drip trays i just never really has success with them. i hope you guys can market a nice drip tray, people do need it!

chris said:

i finally solved it by getting a cycle timer for my misting system....they start at about $80 for the cheapest made in china analog model and start at $150+ for digital models.

Click to expand...

Yeah, quite the ripoff. I'm shooting for $40-$50 for mine. It will also have a built in "night drop". No light=no mist.

it keeps the plants wet until the next spray.

Click to expand...

Then you're not allowing the cage to dry completely between mistings?

What didn't "work" about the trays you used? Were they sized for your cages or adapted from other uses?

it doesn't drench anything so i wouldn't call it wet. keeps nice sized droplets on the leaves. it usually dries completely depending on the outdoor temps, usually the hotter and dryer it is the faster it evaporates. depending on the cage design i try to keep the mist to one side to keep one side drier. to my surprise the chams are pretty good at knowing where they will get wet and where they won't once they are accustomed to their cage. when you start having the same cycle going for a while some of them know when the water comes on.

other thing i like about the timer is it has a photocell so when the lights go out so does the timer. made in USA and 3 year warranty too

i just didnt like all the run off water, dead crickets, smell, dirt, clogs and the constant hassle of dumping it out. i was going to make a gravity runoff trough for all my cages. then i got the timer keeps my chams hydrated with nice fat pads and barely any water on the bottom of the cage.

-16x16", 18x18", 24x24", 18x24"
-Internal in place of the PVC bottom
-Prefer 1 drainage exit with hose connection
-Drain placed 2/3rds into corner on both sides.

No need for plant pot riser. A) that's what the drain is for, B) if your plants have root rot, you should add hydroton or somethign similar.

Happy to be a tester.

i have 28"X18" bottom, 24"X24", and 24"X12"
definitely need a drainage hole built in with already a tube connection so i can just insert a tube (so i do not need to drill it, attach an adapter thing, bla bla bla).
I sent you a PM. very interested as a tester too

roger roger. . . Baised on what you all have said we are going to start with the drip pans that will fit the outside of the cage! We are going to swing by the shop today to see what we can get goin. Thank you for all the E-mails and feedback!

My main concern would be directing any standing water to the drain. (Well I guess it would not be standing anymore but . . .)

I do have a couple of questions:

If the drip pan would be outside the cage (which I feel would be better) how does the cage sit in it? Will there be a seal so the feeders do not get out? Would the bottom of the cage be removed and the cage just sit flush with the pan?

Also, what is the advantage of having drains in the corners? I would think that a center drain with the pan sloping toward the center would be the best.

** I have (2) 24x24 if you need another tester

Jim

Lowes and Home depot sell a $40 timer that works well. It's digital, easy to program, and the timer can be set to have intervals of as low as 1 minute. Only negative is that it's only got 15 or so settings - which, in my experience, is more than enough.

It also allows you to have different settings each day. So, normally, I'd have it keep humidity up by having several light mistings for two days, and then a long, soaking misting about twice a week - along with supplimental humidity-boosting mistings, of course. When allowed to drink it in for 30 minutes or more a couple times a week, my animals seemed more hydrated. When I allowed them 30 minute sessions every day, they would move away from the water most days.

I tried to find the best alternative to constant rain, since drainage was an issue. I had it worked out - but the 'fix' was kinda half-..... adn temporary, since we were moving anyway. I used inverted storage container lids as a drip pan. It was hard to fix a bulkhead in, but it worked. Pooled some water, but it worked.

http://www.zorabellarose.com/JuneChameleonpics/IMG_2126.JPG

http://www.zorabellarose.com/JuneChameleonpics/IMG_2127.JPG

Lowes and Home depot sell a $40 timer that works well.

Click to expand...

Sounds exactly like the one I sell for $18.49, the Intermatic DT-27.