questnjurny
New Member
Well I'm getting my first chameleon, so I figured I should make my first cage. I was going to try to go at it alone, but decided to enlist the help of my dad...am sure glad I did! I think I could keep an elephant in this thing and it wouldn't break out (okay, a miniature elephant). Two days of construction down, a few more to go. Just thought I'd share what we have done so far, comments, suggestions, tips are more than welcome!
The front, it's hard to tell, but the bar only goes across the bottom in the front, there will be large door at the top, and a smaller one at the bottom.
Corner angle. The whole thing is on a weird angle because its tipped back so the varathane can dry.
The enclosure is 4' high x 3' wide x 2' deep. Made mostly out of 2x2's, back is just a sheet of plywood. Boards around the back/sides are for shelving to sit on. I was originally thinking of just doing one small shelf on one corner and then another one on teh opposite back corner, but now I'm thinking maybe a shelf right across the back at the bottom and one in each corner at the top, one for a dripper and one for a plant? What do you think? Am doing aluminum screen mesh on the sides and front, like I mentioned above, one larger door at the top, one smaller door on the bottom. Top will be 1/4" aluminum mesh. My dad is a welder and will be making me an aluminum bottom for teh cage to sit in with a drain hole in teh middle. Should I put some sort of peel n stick tile on the aluminum at the bottom? I just wonder because aluminum can be quite cold. Stained and got one coat of varathane on it today, a zillion more coats of varathane to go. Oh, its all caulked for waterproofness. It will end up having cost me around $100, I've spent $87 (that's no wood, used all scrap wood from my dad's various construction projects) so far on screen, mesh, stain and varathane, and still have to get the hardware for the doors.
I'll post more pics as it gets closer to being done! I won't be getting my little veiled cham for about 4-5 weeks, so will have lots of time to get this set up with plants/lights etc before she arrives.
The front, it's hard to tell, but the bar only goes across the bottom in the front, there will be large door at the top, and a smaller one at the bottom.
Corner angle. The whole thing is on a weird angle because its tipped back so the varathane can dry.
The enclosure is 4' high x 3' wide x 2' deep. Made mostly out of 2x2's, back is just a sheet of plywood. Boards around the back/sides are for shelving to sit on. I was originally thinking of just doing one small shelf on one corner and then another one on teh opposite back corner, but now I'm thinking maybe a shelf right across the back at the bottom and one in each corner at the top, one for a dripper and one for a plant? What do you think? Am doing aluminum screen mesh on the sides and front, like I mentioned above, one larger door at the top, one smaller door on the bottom. Top will be 1/4" aluminum mesh. My dad is a welder and will be making me an aluminum bottom for teh cage to sit in with a drain hole in teh middle. Should I put some sort of peel n stick tile on the aluminum at the bottom? I just wonder because aluminum can be quite cold. Stained and got one coat of varathane on it today, a zillion more coats of varathane to go. Oh, its all caulked for waterproofness. It will end up having cost me around $100, I've spent $87 (that's no wood, used all scrap wood from my dad's various construction projects) so far on screen, mesh, stain and varathane, and still have to get the hardware for the doors.
I'll post more pics as it gets closer to being done! I won't be getting my little veiled cham for about 4-5 weeks, so will have lots of time to get this set up with plants/lights etc before she arrives.
