DIY Cage Tips?

[Justin Ward]

ive been thinking about building a custom cage for a while now, and i finally broke down and went to lowes to get wood and whatnot...i was wondering if anyone has any tips/tricks to make the process any easier...also, i got the Minwax indoor/outdoor helmsman spar urethane, i am almost finished sanding all the wood and i just wanted to make sure that this will be safe for my chams before i put it on...thanks in advance, and ill try to take some pics once i get everything rolling

 

[reptoman]

I built this cage completely from scraps of either 3/4" plywood or solid lumber and used outdoor spraypaint for the coating. The side panels are 3/4" foam insulation panels painted with white latex both to hold humidity and to provide a visual barrier for the chams on either side. I used the plastic hexoganal 1/2" mesh from home depot over the sides for climbing. The screening is petscreen for the back, bottom and door on the front. The top I used 1/4" galvanized mesh to let in more light. It has worked out very well so far and the drain table is awesome for catching all the run off. (https://picasaweb.google.com/bcstinso/Draintable#) I have an auto drip system that runs 10 mnutes a time, 7 times a day. Along with a misting in the morning and afternoon it provides plenty of drinking opportunity and humididty stays around 50% normally and goes to 80% at mistings. Let me know if you want more details. This took me about a day to build but I let the paint dry and air out for 10 days or so until there was little odor. I also added an adjustable light clamp on the top so I can turn it to raise and lower the basking light to achieve the optimal temp. Let me know if you need more details. This is my fifth cage build so I have tweeked my design over the last couple of years.
https://www.chameleonforums.com/spocks-cage-upgrade-56132/

 

[kookychameleons]

Just be sure that you use wood sealer to keep out the wood and humidity