Question about catching water on bottom

Hey guys,
I have been trying to figure out a way to catch water on the bottom of the cage (I have an open cage and the bottom leaks all over my dresser)

I have a plant in it (picture attached) to help catch water from my mister (and keep humidity up), but it doesnt seem to be catching enough water.

Does anyone have pictures of any drain systems (not connected to your water pipe system) that they could show me? I'm looking for an inexpensive, not ugly way to set this up.

Maybe its as simple as putting a tray or a cup in to catch excess water?

Let me know what you guys think!

I am trying to avoid the same problem. I would look into LLL Reptile's drainage pan. I think it is the easiest way to go. All you have to do is drill a hole in the side of the pan(dont drill too close to the bottom!) and insert a 1/4 male pipe with a clear hose and bucket. You could hide the bucket and this would also solve the problem of drainage. Also, make sure you drill a hole in the bottom of the cage, close to the plant so the water leaks into the pan and not on the dresser.

here's the link: http://lllreptile.com/store/catalog...screen/-/16-x-16-x-30-screen-cage-water-tray/

not a bad deal considering it would be about the same price to build one and much more time consuming.

Thanks .. that definitely looks like something I'd buy.

The problem is, I dont have those dimensions. I have the Repzilla small cage, the smallest screen cage they have available..

Wonder if they have one...

It wouldnt be to hard to make one. They make ones for plants that can be bought at home depot or lowes ect. Just run to the store and look for anything to catch the water or you could raise it up and drill some holes and use tubes to drain out the water.

I don't use any sort of drainage system, but I do have a potted pothos and schefflera at the bottom of my cage. I also have a round plastic container with mesh over the top to catch the water and to be sure my chameleon doesn't drown in a pool of water.

this is what i find works best and is in-expensive.

Step 1: Raise the cage about half and inch to inch by using an object and placing one under each corner of the cage.

Step 2: Go to walmart or any store that carries gardening supplies, and purchase a small stand for your plant, drill holes in that stand so the water that the plant absorbs can drain as well.

Step 3: Now that your plant is on a stand and your cage is raised a bit, the weight from the plant should get your PVC bottom to have a slight inwards bend towards the middle of your cage (under your plant stand). At this point all you have to do is drill a few holes (make sure they aren't big enough for crickets to escape) in the middle of the PVC.

step 4: What you do here is up to you, if your cage is raised enough you can slide a skinny container under the holes in the PVC to catch water or you can drill a small hole in the table your enclosure is sitting on and place (glue in place w/e) a funnel pointing downwards through the table and place a large container to catch water.

good luck, i hope you find a solution that works for you!

Guys,
I was thinking of using something like this..
This is for my product - it is a bedding changer for aboreal animals so you can just open up the bottom flap and remove the tray... but i was thinking I could use it to catch water.
Maybe I could put screen on the top of this tray and then the water would go through to the tray.

take a look... what do you think?

that looks great, see if it works!

So you'd have to lift heavy plants with rocks in them off the tray every day? Sounds like a pain in the butt, especially if you have a large cage with large plants that are in large pots.

yea, good call. That might get annoying. I might see if LLreptiles' water tray will fit on mine. Im not sure if it will...

The LLL pans are great I have two of them and they work awesome.

Based on a picture someone posted here, I now have mine on top of plastic storage drawers (they come in a variety of sizes see: http://www.sterilite.com/ ). No substrate. Holes drilled in the bottom of the cage and top of the drawer system allow water to run out of the cage into the drawer...just pull the drawer out occasionally to empty.

Yea, both are great ideas. Thanks both of you!

Summoner - I checked out LLL, how do you dispose of the water once it's in the tray?

PicassothePanther said:

how do you dispose of the water once it's in the tray?

Click to expand...

Very, very carefully....

I put all post chameleon cage water down the toilet...I figure that goes to the most intense purification site in the county....

PicassothePanther said:

Yea, both are great ideas. Thanks both of you!

Summoner - I checked out LLL, how do you dispose of the water once it's in the tray?

Click to expand...

The material of those pans is PVC.... so you just need to buy a $0.50 PVC elbow with a thread on one side and use normal PVC glue. Drill a hole in the side and flue the elbow on. I should show some pics of mine..... remind me later lol.

I have a LLL tray to and I love it. I drain mine with a tubing fitting mounted in the tray with a short peice of tubing draining into a bucket and for a setup like that you can get all the parts needed from Home Depot for under ten bucks

pssh said:

So you'd have to lift heavy plants with rocks in them off the tray every day? Sounds like a pain in the butt, especially if you have a large cage with large plants that are in large pots.

Click to expand...

The low tech way to remove water in a setup like this would be to mop it up with a large sponge. You wouldn't have to move the pots.

Some other larger tray ideas include cement mixing trays or forms and hydroponics flood tables. Not as cheap, but they come in a variety of sizes. The flood tables support a lot of weight on their own.

Here is what we use. It is plastic tray/bin from Wally World.

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summoner12 said:

The material of those pans is PVC.... so you just need to buy a $0.50 PVC elbow with a thread on one side and use normal PVC glue. Drill a hole in the side and flue the elbow on. I should show some pics of mine..... remind me later lol.

Click to expand...

can i see pictures of this? i am reminding you lol!

Speaking of large sponges ... what about using a shamwow? lol They are great for holding LOTS of moisture. Wring out once a day? Would that work? Cuz I currently have the same issue and I am trying to solve this minor issue.