diy enclosure

johnandlyn · May 5, 2009

Hi all im thinking of making my own enclosure and i was wondering what would be the best materals to make it with i want to make it big enuf to split into two so i can keep a male and female yeman so any help would be ace ie sizes,materals,mesh etc thanks john

ChamNovice · May 5, 2009

I just posted a thread yesterday on an enclosure I built. Here's the link https://www.chameleonforums.com/new-cage-project-24473/. If ya have any questions feel free to ask.

SliK JiM · May 5, 2009

You've got a lot of work ahead then! Probably the easiest material to work with is wood (unless you do metal work for a living?) so that's where to start. Decide how you want the enclosure, how many mesh sides are suitable for your conditions to give adequate temps and yet have a good air flow. You don't have to rule out glass if you need to use it to keep the temps up, but if you do, make sure the top is mesh and there are enough vents for air to circulate correctly. If your building it out of wood, remember to treat the wood accordingly and seal all joints with aquarium sealant or something similar to stop the timber rotting on the inside. Build it in mind with a drainage base at the bottom otherwise you've going to have a very wet enclosure that will quickly get damaged.

If you want this enclosure to be for adults, then each individuals enclosure should be no less than 24" x 24" x 48" but if you can, please make it bigger. A height of 6ft is generally a good height for veileds (females may not use it to the full extent, but the male will need the space). Trying to find a good mesh to use will be a problem (Before stateside people say anything it is hard to find flyscreen in this country!), but I'm currently trying to source some myself, so if it all goes well I'll let you know where to get it from!

Anything else?

I'm currently in the process of designing and building an enclosure for my male veiled that is 0.8m x 1.2m x 1.8m, made from wood and mesh. If you're not in a hurry, wait around for a month or two and I should have made a step by step guide to building your own! But, work won't start till late June early July so if you want to press forward, just do lots of research and look on here for everyone elses builds. Someone will hopefully post a list of good builds for you soon!

johnandlyn · May 6, 2009

Thats brill thanks if you do find the mesh can you please let me no.i would like most of the sides to be mesh but i will use glass if i have to.im a little unsure how to make the base i gess i will have to put it at an angal to allow water to drain?what can i treat the wood with im gessing it should have minimum cemicals?i was thinking about making it 6ft high 4ft wide 2ft deep do you think that would be big enuf? i was going to split it down the middle and have a male in one side and a female in the other?i will keep researching and looking before i make anything.i will make it out of wood tho if you can help me anymore id be greatful thanks john

SliK JiM · May 6, 2009

Shall do. I'm getting it off a guy who imports loads of it from America, so hopefully it'll all pan out and I'll pass on the details. But, I'm in no hurry to get it sorted just yet, so you might have to wait a while if that's ok?

The base is probably one of the trickiest things to build properly. I'm going to go with an idea similar to this: http://www.captivebredreptileforums.co.uk/showthread.php?t=6932
By making the floor in a similar way to how he made the walls, I should be able to make contours that drain the water away, and yet still give me a solid base to put plants onto. I asked the guy and it's completely water proof. He just hoses it down to clean it so it's ideal for a bottom. If you keep it smooth too, it'll be easy to wipe clean!

Any sort of stain will do, as long as you give it plenty of time to air so all the fumes dissipate. Decking stains are probably the best option as they're very hard wearing so will stand up well to the conditions in a chameleons enclosure.

Maybe make the males side 3ft wide and 2 ft deep, then you'll be looking great. The female will do fine in 2ft x 2ft x 6ft, but a little extra for a male is generally a good idea.

Yeah, I'll try and draw up a list of all the threads I've looked at on different forums so you can have a good look at all of them. There are a lot so be warned!

This thread has just started up so hopefully it'll get some good results soon: https://www.chameleonforums.com/diy-cages-24534/
My plan is on there, but it needs finesseing just a little before it's ready to build!

johnandlyn · May 6, 2009

Thats ace thanks im gona start drewing some ideas up i think that link you sent about the base is brill how good does it look when its done any more help will be great thanks john

SliK JiM · May 6, 2009

Tell me about it! It looks amazing! I'd love mine to come out looking that good!

I'll try and get those links for you soon (should be by tonight, but maybe not). Some aren't as good as others though!

SliK JiM · May 6, 2009

Here you go! Can't remember what I bookmarked them all for, but they're all good for something! There are a few that are much better than the rest though!

There are also a couple of links in there to places I was looking at buying mesh/netting and stuff from. Hopefully there are a few gems in the bunch.

I think, the ones at first 8 links are the better ones, then the rest are just other that I thought may be useful for one reason or another! The one called "started building my flex today" is a very good thread for a cham enclosure!

I've got some more on my laptop, but it take me ages to work out which ones are duplicates, so I don't want to post half of the list above again! Most of those are off this forum, so just search for custom build and you'll get some good info!

SliK JiM · May 6, 2009

Oh yeah, sorry a lot of these are about building enclosures for BD's with fake rock walls but that's all anyone seems to post about!

SliK JiM · May 7, 2009

Here are the rest!

https://www.chameleonforums.com/cage-project-phase-1-a-20869/
https://www.chameleonforums.com/60-easy-wicked-cool-22916/
https://www.chameleonforums.com/diy-hd-auto-mister-18660/
http://www.amphibiancare.com/frogs/articles/screencage.html
https://www.chameleonforums.com/new-cage-finally-here-778/
https://www.chameleonforums.com/drainage-solutions-21341/
http://www.chameleonnews.com/?page=article&id=75
https://www.chameleonforums.com/svens-castle-lots-pics-10677/
https://www.chameleonforums.com/finally-finished-building-enclosure-19588/
https://www.chameleonforums.com/d-i-y-veiled-20224/
http://www.chameleonparadise.com/?page=care&title=2x2x4 DIY Cage
https://www.chameleonforums.com/built-my-first-enclosure-23705/
https://www.chameleonforums.com/slimline-drainage-plans-pic-23845/

Ok, that should be the lot! I hope that's enough to sink your teeth into and get some ideas down. This last batch are a lot more chameleon orientated so they'll be a lot more useful!

Good luck!

CNorton · Jun 18, 2009

Thanks for the links SlikJim!

SliK JiM · Jun 18, 2009

No problems!

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