Attempting to build a cage...again.

[CaptainMorgantown]

So when I first got my chameleon, I thought, "Hey, I'm going to build her a chameleon paradise." Yeah. That didn't work. I'm not even going to go into any details about how horribly I failed, so I'm just going to leave it as I didn't know what I was doing.

Anyway, I am going out to Lowe's tomorrow to get some supplies, but I wanted to ask a few quick questions.

Those of you that built your own screened cages, what materials did you use?

Is it cheaper than buying a commercial cage?

Since my JoJo had MBD and can't move around that well, how tall should I make the cage? Right now she has the smallest Zoo Med Repti Breeze cage, because I was afraid of her falling, but now that she has become more confident in the branches, I want her to really be able to move around. I'm still slightly nervous of her falling, especially when she get older. Should I make it more wide than tall? What do you all think?

 

[Seeco]

If you failed previously, welcome to the club! Here is the ABSOLUTE easiest approach:

 

[twatts704]

If you failed previously, welcome to the club! Here is the ABSOLUTE easiest approach:

That's a pretty sweet and easy set up, good for an outdoor cage

 

[twatts704]

Could you list your supplies you used?

 

[CaptainMorgantown]

Me, or the other person?

 

[twatts704]

The other person with the pictures sorry.

 

[ASublimeDay]

I built two large cages (24" x 24" x 48" and 18" x 24" x 48") using pine 1" x 2"s. I used the fiberglass/charcoal door/window screening from home depot. Lots of sanding/polyurethane and some assembly required but they're beautiful cages. Will post pics soon. One I built into a table, the other had built-in legs. One was about $60, the other $75. Depends on how fancy you want to get.

How handy are you? Before this I built a smaller version of the bucket cage pictured above and it worked well. My problem was access. With the cage I have now I can open an entire wall of the cage.

 

[Seeco]

It s possible to cut a door on the side of this tube cage and make hinges out of twist ties or zip ties.

A preliminary materials list would be:

Vinyl coated hardware cloth 3x5
Rope handle tub 19 gallon
Potted plant base for lid
Roll of plastic coated wire twist tie (garden section)
Zip ties (optional but stronger than wire)
Bag of potting soil
Ficus tree

 

[NorCalAnthony]

I built two large cages (24" x 24" x 48" and 18" x 24" x 48") using pine 1" x 2"s. I used the fiberglass/charcoal door/window screening from home depot. Lots of sanding/polyurethane and some assembly required but they're beautiful cages. Will post pics soon. One I built into a table, the other had built-in legs. One was about $60, the other $75. Depends on how fancy you want to get.

How handy are you? Before this I built a smaller version of the bucket cage pictured above and it worked well. My problem was access. With the cage I have now I can open an entire wall of the cage.

+1 It really all depends on how fancy you want to go. Using pine 1x2's (~$4/8'), charcoal aluminum screen (<$10), cabinet hardware (~$20-30 for the whole cage but you can just use regular wood screws if you aren't too picky about how it looks), and some polyurethane (~$7) you can build one much cheaper than what you can buy one off the shelf/online. Not to mention you can build it tailored specifically for JoJo and her needs. Or if you do what I did and use all oak and furniture grade hardware, stains, sealant, etc it can get pricey. I think mine was around $150 by the time I was done with it (here's my build thread to get some ideas https://www.chameleonforums.com/my-first-cage-build-84441/). One tip I would give you is that if you plan on using a drip tray, figure out what size you're going to need for your cage and then buy the drip tray first so you can build your cage around it and make sure everything will fit. I didn't think about that when I did mine and it was a PITA trying to get something to fit my custom cage, luckily a fellow forum member was able to fab up something for me really cheap. This was my first time building a cage too but I was really happy with how it turned out.

If you failed previously, welcome to the club! Here is the ABSOLUTE easiest approach:

That's a really sweet idea for a simple outdoor enclosure I love it. I'm going to use your idea so I can move my little guy outside to enjoy the sun for a couple of hours on occasion and I bet I could do something similar to a plant at my office so I could bring my little guy to work with me once in a blue moon lol.

 

[CaptainMorgantown]

I kind of wanted to go in the same way as my Reptibreeze. I went out and bought everything that I will need today. It is going to be the same size as their large ones: 18x18x48.

Does anyone have any suggestions for how I should do the door? I bought the hinges and some extra pieces of wood, but I don't really know how I should go about it. I think that I am going to start building the cage on Monday or next weekend.

 

[froggielog]

As for a door, I have always wanted to build a cage with cabinet doors. They seem to give it more class and seem to work better :roll eyes: at least in my eyes

 

[CaptainMorgantown]

Cabinet doors would be awesome, but that is way out of my skill range. I was thinking about driving up to my grandparents because my grandfather started a garage storage company, so he had better know a thing or two about building doors