Built my own DIY cage

[Daesie11]

My family may have an issue with that... But I am planning on taking up a huge corner of the small yard

Hey man I dont see what they could possibly complain about having the entire backyard screened in, itll just block some of the sun so you always have dappled indirect sunlight!

 

[jedijon]

Happy to answer questions. This is about $10 of wood, $5 of misc fasteners, $15 of window screen and spline, and a $5 tub I got for free. False bottom is 10% of $15 of supplies (so I hope I make more!), and 10% of $30 of bedding mix materials (will be bio active soon).

Stressing over the design is something I’m intimately familiar with! The front panels screw mates with a rare earth magnet I placed in the door frame. Dope right? Except the screen tension warps the frame a bit so I needed to add closures...anyway, it was important to me to have no mid-panel braces, a door that sits [nearly] flush in the frame, and screen held into the wood with spline not staples—and you can see what THAT did to my door engineering!!

 

[Daesie11]

Happy to answer questions. This is about $10 of wood, $5 of misc fasteners, $15 of window screen and spline, and a $5 tub I got for free. False bottom is 10% of $15 of supplies (so I hope I make more!), and 10% of $30 of bedding mix materials (will be bio active soon).

Stressing over the design is something I’m intimately familiar with! The front panels screw mates with a rare earth magnet I placed in the door frame. Dope right? Except the screen tension warps the frame a bit so I needed to add closures...anyway, it was important to me to have no mid-panel braces, a door that sits [nearly] flush in the frame, and screen held into the wood with spline not staples—and you can see what THAT did to my door engineering!!

See guys even this Jedi master stressed over his design!
I've never built anything like this, and nothing without a blueprint provided so it's a very new thing to me! Hoping I can pull it off without too much wasted materials lol

 

[Thatwizard420]

Built a cage out of 1x2 lumber from the home store.

Hardest part was figuring out how to make the corners. Basically all half lap joints.

I ripped thinner boards to form a door - open mortis joints in three thicknesses because that was easy to tablesaw.

Then, before I assembled and stained it, I grooved channels to hold the screen with regular rubber tubing - the screen is 3 pieces. One for the top, one continuous around the sides/rear, and one for the door.

It’s screwed onto the flange of a Rubbermaid tray—this is a few “ deep and has a false bottom.

Arranged the sticks into a structure and hot glued together. Then mixed up soil blend and planted. Fun project—and interesting start for first chameleon.

Where you find that mesh? I been looking for some

 

[cyberlocc]

Happy to answer questions. This is about $10 of wood, $5 of misc fasteners, $15 of window screen and spline, and a $5 tub I got for free. False bottom is 10% of $15 of supplies (so I hope I make more!), and 10% of $30 of bedding mix materials (will be bio active soon).

Stressing over the design is something I’m intimately familiar with! The front panels screw mates with a rare earth magnet I placed in the door frame. Dope right? Except the screen tension warps the frame a bit so I needed to add closures...anyway, it was important to me to have no mid-panel braces, a door that sits [nearly] flush in the frame, and screen held into the wood with spline not staples—and you can see what THAT did to my door engineering!!

10 dollars worth of wood???? Whaaa? What kind of wood is that.

Pine is posion btw. Do not use Pine anything for anything Reptile. The Aromas will kill them.

 

[jedijon]

Where you find that mesh? I been looking for some

It’s fiberglass—go to Home Depot website and search for “charcoal windowscreen”.

As to the other poster saying pine odors kill—I’ll take that risk. It’s just wood. Stained and urethane’d. A 1x2 furring strip is 0.98 for 8’, and “whitewood”, whatever that is, is $4.40. I may have dipped into a 4th piece with a miscut...

 

[cyberlocc]

It’s fiberglass—go to Home Depot website and search for “charcoal windowscreen”.

As to the other poster saying pine odors kill—I’ll take that risk. It’s just wood. Stained and urethane’d. A 1x2 furring strip is 0.98 for 8’, and “whitewood”, whatever that is, is $4.40. I may have dipped into a 4th piece with a miscut...

Whitewood means it's 1 of X amount of woods, it could still be pine.

Douglas Fir is safe(r), and is 4 dollars a board (I think 3.97 at Lowe's). "Taking that Risk" to save a few dollars is wow. Litteraly saved 10 dollars at cost of killing your animal. It might not die immediately, it's the Aromas that pine gives off, it gives lung issues not just to reptiles, but to all small animals and even humans.

That's why you don't burn pine in your fireplace. The fir is still kind of bad, but not Pine/Cedar levels of bad. It's just Wood alright, it's Just the wood that kills you and your Animals, and will warp and rot the fastest when your barrier fails.

The polyurethane, will help. But their again that needs to off gas for months to be safe, if it's oil based, and if it's water based it won't last. The proper thing to use here, would be a low VOC epoxy Sealer, such as Sweetwater Epoxy, Pondsheild, or a Rubber Emulsion like Flex Seal.


Your screen is also worthless. That fiberglass is easily chewed through by the insects you will feeding. This post has actually became How NOT to build a cage....

 

[Daesie11]

Whitewood means it's 1 of X amount of woods, it could still be pine.

Douglas Fir is safe(r), and is 4 dollars a board (I think 3.97 at Lowe's). "Taking that Risk" to save a few dollars is wow. Litteraly saved 10 dollars at cost of killing your animal. It might not die immediately, it's the Aromas that pine gives off, it gives lung issues not just to reptiles, but to all small animals and even humans.

That's why you don't burn pine in your fireplace. The fir is still kind of bad, but not Pine/Cedar levels of bad.

The polyurethane, will help. But their again that needs to off gas for months to be safe, if it's oil based, and if it's water based it won't last.


Your screen is also worthless. That fiberglass is easily chewed through by the insects you will feeding. This post has actually became How NOT to build a cage....

I'm assuming a furring strip is pine? That's what i bought, but like you said the wood in total was maybe $15, the hardware is where I spent my money. I can easily get new wood.
If I am going to be sealing it with FlexSeal will that solve the issue? Or will I still have fume issues?

 

[cyberlocc]

I'm assuming a furring strip is pine? That's what i bought, but like you said the wood in total was maybe $15, the hardware is where I spent my money. I can easily get new wood.
If I am going to be sealing it with FlexSeal will that solve the issue? Or will I still have fume issues?

Yes furring strip is pine. It's cheap because it's garbage. It's okay for framing and that's about it. It's a softwood and it's aromatics are toxic, especially in small animals. It will warp with the slightest wetness, and is full of knots.

If you are going to Flexseal it, very very well, it should elimanate the problem mostly. However I still don't think it's worth it. Douglas Fir is much much less toxic, and not much more money. Also the DF trim boards are already S4S so you don't have to sand and clean the sides of the board, it's already smooth and good to go.

If you go a little more expesensive, at 10 dollars for a 12ft you can get PVC trim. It's white, 5/8 x 1.25ish and it's PVC so you don't have to Seal it at all. The only reason to use wood IMO, is if you want the stained wood look. If you find the PVC is not rigid enough for your large build (the screen will help with this) you can double the boards in Ls or add Alumiunum angles to the corners.

If you go the PVC (or you could do it with wood) you can also use it to make "Dragon Ledges" like things. This will add rigidity as well as ledges to hang things, and that's helpful in screen builds.

 

[Daesie11]

Yes furring strip is pine. It's cheap because it's garbage. It's okay for framing and that's about it. It's a softwood and it's aromatics are toxic, especially in small animals. It will warp with the slightest wetness, and is full of knots.

If you are going to Flexseal it, very very well, it should elimanate the problem mostly. However I still don't think it's worth it. Douglas Fir is much much less toxic, and not much more money. Also the DF trim boards are already S4S so you don't have to sand and clean the sides of the board, it's already smooth and good to go.

If you go a little more expesensive, at 10 dollars for a 12ft you can get PVC trim. It's white, 5/8 x 1.25ish and it's PVC so you don't have to Seal it at all. The only reason to use wood IMO, is if you want the stained wood look. If you find the PVC is not rigid enough for your large build (the screen will help with this) you can double the boards in Ls or add Alumiunum angles to the corners.

If you go the PVC (or you could do it with wood) you can also use it to make "Dragon Ledges" like things. This will add rigidity as well as ledges to hang things, and that's helpful in screen builds.

Ok, I'll keep that in mind and go get some new stuff. $10 for 12ft is nothing Haha
Thank you for the info! Any other tips on materials would be super helpful.

 

[cyberlocc]

Ok, I'll keep that in mind and go get some new stuff. $10 for 12ft is nothing Haha
Thank you for the info! Any other tips on materials would be super helpful.

Alumiunum screen. Crickets can and will very very easily chew through that fiberglass stuff. The only thing fiberglass screen is good for is seperating a drainage layer and soil layer in bioactives lol.

I can help ya, when you go to build. If you do it right, (I will finish a sketch for ya) you can make the door sit flush while still being the 5/8x1.25 the rest of the cage is. It will also hide the cut marks on the face frame. Though you will still see mechanical holes from your screws/nails, but if you paint the outside frame you can hide that.

All in PVC might be cheaper if it's rigid enough for a build like this one. Because you will not have to seal it. I have been thinking about building one out of PVC myself for my QT instead of using the Reptibreeze and converting it.

 

[Daesie11]

Alumiunum screen. Crickets can and will very very easily chew through that fiberglass stuff. The only thing fiberglass screen is good for is seperating a drainage layer and soil layer in bioactives lol.

I can help ya, when you go to build. If you do it right, (I will finish a sketch for ya) you can make the door sit flush while still being the 5/8x1.25 the rest of the cage is. It will also hide the cut marks on the face frame. Though you will still see mechanical holes from your screws/nails, but if you paint the outside frame you can hide that.

All in PVC might be cheaper if it's rigid enough for a build like this one. Because you will not have to seal it. I have been thinking about building one out of PVC myself for my QT instead of using the Reptibreeze and converting it.

I'm passing on everything you're saying to my moms bf because I'm trying to get him to build it while I'm in Mexico under the guise of "a fun new project", we will see if I come home to a new enclosure

 

[cyberlocc]

I'm passing on everything you're saying to my moms bf because I'm trying to get him to build it while I'm in Mexico under the guise of "a fun new project", we will see if I come home to a new enclosure

So I just went to check out my PVC trim. At 36 lenghts, it's pretty rigid. Obviously it's a plastic so it bends a little, but not enough where I would see an issue, it takes force.

At 12ft it bends under it's weight, but it's fairly heavy, I think if you were to do 36inches it would be fine to do as a single layer. I think I am going to do my QT out of this, for Science!!! All the snake guys use it for their racks and such, and cages, it works.

I wish the sheets were easier for me to source, I would use it for my rack builds that I will eventually get to. It's twice the price of my AC grade Ply, but doesn't need sealed or anything.

 

[Brodybreaux25]

PVC boards are a must know for Chameleon keepers

Whoa, let’s not get carried away now...

 

[cyberlocc]

Whoa, let’s not get carried away now...

You don't like PVC boards?? Cheap Dragon Ledges not your fancy?

 

[Brodybreaux25]

PVC boards are crap.

I’ve built dozens of vivs with the select pine from Home Depot, zero problems .

Poly will completely off gas in one week, not months.

If you can afford the FlexSeal that’s your best option because not only will it waterproof the interior, it also acts as a binding agent making your viv far more rigid.

Unless a customer specifically asks for aluminum screen, I use the fiberglass hi-visibility screens from Home Depot. Never had a feeder damage it although I’m sure it’s possible.

My most recent, 100% automated, build:
https://www.chameleonforums.com/threads/bioactive-mentor.167174/

 

[cyberlocc]

PVC boards are crap.

I’ve built dozens of vivs with the select pine from Home Depot, zero problems .

Poly will completely off gas in one week, not months.

If you can afford the FlexSeal that’s your best option because not only will it waterproof the interior, it also acts as a binding agent making your viv far more rigid.

Unless a customer specifically asks for aluminum screen, I use the fiberglass hi-visibility screens from Home Depot. Never had a feeder damage it although I’m sure it’s possible.

My most recent, 100% automated, build:
https://www.chameleonforums.com/threads/bioactive-mentor.167174/

Lol why do you think PVC boards are crap exactly? The snake guys use PVC, to make huge racks holding way more weight than we do. As well the fact the PVC boards are sold as Trim for outdoors and sheets for wood replacement in water heavy areas like Boats. It cost more than cheap wood, and doesn't have the strength of wood, but it is not crap. Lol, in our use case, it's actually a great product.

Polyurethane Off gasses for Months to Years not a week... Litteraly 2 sec Google search. https://homeguides.sfgate.com/long-vocs-last-hardwood-floor-refinishing-70407.html

"Select Pine" is kiln dried, most of the aromatics are removed in Kiln dried wood. Furring strip is fresh ripped. That's completely different wood, and at that point the price of Select Pine is barely under that of Poplar which is a much better wood so why even bother?

As to the crickets, again easy quick Google is your friend. https://www.vulcantermite.com/home-...p-insects-from-chewing-holes-in-your-screens/

You can link all the builds you want. However when you make statements like VOCs off gassing in a week, everything you said is meaningless. You Litteraly learn that in 9th grade woodshop.....

If your going to attack everything some one says. I suggest you know what your talking about, JS.

 

[Brodybreaux25]

Polyurethane Off gasses for Months to Years not a week... Litteraly 2 sec Google search.

Rustoleum Ultimate polyurethane, ready for use in 7 days.

"Select Pine" is kiln dried, most of the aromatics are removed in Kiln dried wood.

Is it pine or not? Is it poisonous or not?

As to the crickets, again easy quick Google is your friend. https://www.vulcantermite.com/home-...p-insects-from-chewing-holes-in-your-screens/

I could say the same to you, you either diddnt read my post or diddnt comprehend it. What exactly did I say? Did I say “Cyber is an idiot, there is no way a cricket can eat through a fiberglass screen!”? No, I did not. Maybe you should take the time to comprehend what your trying to read and not be so quick to the keyboard.

 

[cyberlocc]

Rustoleum Ultimate polyurethane, ready for use in 7 days.


Is it pine or not? Is it poisonous or not?


I could say the same to you, you either diddnt read my post or diddnt comprehend it. What exactly did I say? Did I say “Cyber is an idiot, there is no way a cricket can eat through a fiberglass screen!”? No, I did not. Maybe you should take the time to comprehend what your trying to read and not be so quick to the keyboard.

Hmm, funny as you did the same thing.

Rustoleum Ultimate polyurethane is a Water based Poly. Yes it off gasses very quickly. It also is worthless for sealing after a year or two, it does not last nearly as long as Oil based, but has the pro of off gassing faster. I stated that in my OG post. That I was talking of Oil and water based is junk.

There is much better solutions, such as the ones I gave. Flex seal, is okay, it's rubber emulation isn't toxic after 24 hours and is really waterproof. It's also a rubberized coating that can scratch off easily, and silicon will not stick to it.

Pond Shield and Sweetwater cost more, are harder to apply, however they are hard surfaces, they will last as long as you will probably have the cage, and won't leak. The 1000 gallon reef guys use those, to make Plywood Aquariums.

Pine wood itself is not toxic, the Aromatics is what is toxic, the Aromatics come from the oil and saps in the wood. You know the saying "Smells Like Pine", Pine has that Smell that tree smell, it smells fresh and good, or we are trained to think. That smell is poision, it destroys our lungs. Grab some Pine at Home Depot, you will see the smell I am talking about.

Humans are not as badly affected as animals, especially small animals. However Humans burning it in their fireplace are known to get sick, not everyone not every time, but it's especially bad on people with asthma. However it can and does kill small animals. Want to nix your kids gerbil, throw some pine shavings as bedding in there, it will be dead in a month.

Now the select wood that you buy, has been kiln dried. When they did that, they completely dry the wood, fully of all oils and saps. They are still there, they are just super duper dried, so they don't let out the smell anymore. They are not releasing as much pine toxins into the air. The furring strip is fresh cut, super smelly pine wood. It will let out mass amounts of aromatics. If the wood is 100% air tight sealed it should not let out Aromatics, however unless your are resin dunking the cage I wouldn't bet on it.

Further, the way you attach the screen door play a part, you are now reopening holes in the wood.

Also, when pine, even kiln dried gets wet, it releases an absurd amount of Aromatics. Wet and burning pine are the worst. So if the cage begins to leak into the wood, and rot, that's when you have the biggest problem with the pine.

There is people here, that have made Pine cages that later leaked, and they noticed that by their animal having RIs that would not going away. As that's what pine does. It's causes RIs, especially in small animals, like Chams and Snakes, and Gerbils lol.

Pine is just our unluckily most common wood. The US has the largest pine forests in the world, so it's easy and cheap for us to get. I think it's actually more expensive for pine across the pond. If you use Douglas fir, it's still a softwood so still has some Aromatics however they are not nearly as much or as bad as pine. The price is pretty similar, "Whitewood" is just a generic for some type of softwood.

This could be Pine, Cedar (worse than pine) Fir Spruce, or a I think a few others. So that's just as bad. But they sell Fir Wood, and it's cheap and not as bad. It's not as cheap as "furring strip" as Fir is sold for AC grade so cabinets, and trim boards where it is dried and it is finished on 1 (for plywood) or all 4 sides (S4S). This is usually knot free, sanded smooth not as Bowed, or bent, it's just a better quality wood for making furniture ect. Though Hardwood is still much better.


Though for most DIYers. I still prefer the PVC, it's pretty strong if built right, only costs a little more than good plywood (I have seen it from 80-120 per sheet) and it can be glued whilst mechanically fastened and be 100% leakproof and waterproof permanently. It's plastic it doesn't warp, it doesn't expand, it doesn't contract, it doesn't rot. It will last in theory for ever.

For me it's hard to source, the closest would be a 5 hour drive. Which is why I don't use the sheets, I wanted to for my big Viv, but it was just too much to ship and too much to go get. Though I think my future designs I am going to use it. I just need to buy a ton of it, at once to justify it.

Here's a good viv of using the sheets. But the strips (1x2, 1x3, 1x5) are at every HD / Lowe's I think as it's used for outside baseboard trim.

 

[cham_urchin]

After several weeks of intense OCD and monkeybrain - not to mention more than 3 trips to Home Depot wandering the aisles for hours and talking to the clerks about all the myriad of products they stock (including the pvc products), and realizing there's at least 50 ways to do what I'm trying to do...I finally, FINALLY got my customized rolling cart built and sealed. Just the cart, nevermind a cage, almost drove me over the edge and DANG the repetitive motion injuries after screwing that f*cker together!! Jeeeeeeez.... but it fits my reptibreeze perfectly and isn't too hard on the eyes either.