help Building cage..

These cages here, where built by, and belong to, Scott of The Turtle Store. Which I beleive are actually, For Sale. You could contact him to see if he can give you details, but I beleive that the photos show enough to get your started.

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There are lots of different drain ideas out there. I use a washing machine drain pan on my panther's cage, and am currently building cages using plastic rabbit cage dropping pans. While the utility sinks are certainly efficient, and probably work really well, I have never been able to get over the way they look. Other things that work... tupperware under the bed containers, cement mixing pans, large square oil drain pans. The big thing is adding in a drain and building the cage to match the size of the pan. Or, positioning the cage over the pan. Here is an article on different drain strategies: http://www.chameleonnews.com/watering.html

Picture of drain pan in my panther's cage:

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Pipe fitting going to the bucket from the drain pan:

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Cage:

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Wow

Man what a cage you have there, and you built it your self,...were did you pick up the drain pan...(homedepot,lowes?), also can you give me a figure($$$) on the cost of makinf something simalar i would like to make a 2'x2'x3 1/2' cage....can you break down cost... wood,screen,nails or tacks..or did you staple screen???????

thx jeff
 
Hi Jeff,

I am not sure that I can break down the costs that far. The basic supplies like screws, etc. I already had on hand. The screen is still up for debate.. it is plastic fish pond mesh and I ordered it from a company on the east coast. I bought the supplies and my uncle built it for me because I am not much of a carpenter. I bought hardwood plywood for the base and the frame and trim are also hardwood. The pan was purchased at Home Depot in the appliance section. Here is a thread about this cage right after he finished it for me: https://www.chameleonforums.com/forum/showthread.php?t=778&referrerid=122

As a rough estimate.. I think I spent about $100.00 on the wood, water seal and cage hardware (hinges, latches), $40.00 or so on the screen (I have enough left for another cage, too, so maybe $20.00?), and whatever the pan cost. For the life of me, I can't remember how much it was. I bought the pan first and gave it to my uncle along with rough plans so he had an idea of what I was trying to accomplish. My uncle contributed furniture wheels to the project, so that cost isn't shown here. He also used some extra trim here and there to make it purty. It is a big cage.. with the base, it is a bit over 7 feet tall, and a little over 2 1/2 feet square.

Heika
 
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Heika said:
While the utility sinks are certainly efficient, and probably work really well, I have never been able to get over the way they look.
Not that I'm triung to defend them, but you could build a unit around the sinks, just like you have at the bottom of yours.
 
Will Hayward said:
Not that I'm triung to defend them, but you could build a unit around the sinks, just like you have at the bottom of yours.

Thats what I am planing on doing. Get the sink with stands some nice plywood, hinges, and good edge pieces. You will have a nice base. I was going to go to cages.net to have them biuld me a cage that will fit right in. For just the sink and cage will be about $140 + Tax. To make it look nice I am thinking $50 with stain and all. So you can biuld a nice cage with a drain and its a big sink so you dont see the pots, just plants and the animal. I am going this way for I am not very good at wood working. The hard stuff is done this way I just add sides and a door.
 
That is a really nice cage. Simple and it looks like it would be easy to build.

I saw some pictures of outside/inside cages recently that were made of PVC pipe. The creator of them said the biggest problem was that they were so light they blow around if they aren't anchored down. I keep saying I am going to build one for an outdoor cage, but haven't yet.
 
i been thinking about using the plastic mesh because it won't rust and it won't break their claws ,but im wondering how well the plastic will hold up with the sharp claws ,the advantige i see is that with the pvc and plastic its not gonna rust theres plastic hinges etc. so i might try making one and see , first i would have to design it.
 
well, for draining you could always use pvc....On the bottom make a circular hole, were you could glue, screw, or nail a cillander shaped peice of pipe, which the water would drip out into the bucket below.

Hope it works out(whatever you do)!
 
Hey,

I only skimmed this thread, so what i say might have already been said. :) But heres how i do it....

I simply prop up the back of the cages about 2 inches. It depends on how big your cage is obviously, but you don't need that much of an incline. You can't even notice it on mine. Then I simply drill 2 holes (or however many you want) into the front of the cage. Then I added a gutter (well I used a pvc pipe cut in half, but unless you have the right machines, you can just usea regular piece of gutter which can be bought at home depot) in front of that suspended on the cage. I drilled holes in that which pour out into buckets underneath. I know this sounds very confusing, so I will try to show a pic of what I am talking about. You can see infront of the cages, right under them the white guter system I am talking about. All the water drains into this, and then that drains into buckets. Works very well. I hooked it up on one of my caging systems and I couldn't be happier. If you choose to do this, make sure you use plenty of silicon around the floor, except by the holes where you want the water to drain out. Good luck.

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-Adam
Snail Tail Inc.
 
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