Does anyone use this?

PoshPenny

New Member
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I ordered a 260 gallon mesh enclosure for Hoggle today. It has a zippered entry. Just curious how others have set up there horizontal sticks and vines, ect in these. Is it just like the reptibreezes? The mesh is softer then screen. It's also a sunning cage for when it warms up in Atlanta .
 
I use vines to hang horizontal branches, and have large potted plants in the bottom.

For mine, though, by far the best was to wrap the vines around the plastic tubing and hang things that way. You can also tie manzanita branches etc that way too, or just poke the vine through the mesh.

-Jen
 
I use wooden dowels, cut them down to size, and use thumb tacks on each side to hold them up. This way you have the freedom to have any size branch you want and wherever you want it. Get different size dowels so your cham has different size branches to grab on to.
 
29x29x72 for $100? :eek:

I don't feel that these are sturdy in any way and whats to protect your cham from digging out or from cats or other predaters from tearing thru the cage?

For inside use, it seems the mesh would be droopy and placing weight of heat lamps would make it worse. Heat rated or not.

Also by poking holes in the mesh for branches etc, you ruin the mesh and soon you will have a cage that will need a new mesh, because holes are stretched out and such.

Or am I all wrong? :confused:

I'd only use this with a potted plant and then only as a temp cage to set my cham outdoors for a few hours during the summer while he was supervised.

PVC pipe could make the same basic think for less.

Buy it? Maybe, but not at $100. Maybe $30.
 
I used reptariums for many years- from the time they came onto the market until last year. Mostly I used 175 gallon size. Last year I had well over 100 in use.

I never had a problem with cats. One time a raccoon broke into a cage and ate all my dilepis babies, but that cage was aluminum screen. I knew it was a coon cause he left a poopie behind for me in the cage which I took down to the extension service for identification. But that was a very unique time- where I live now I've seen dogs, cats, coyotes, and even a bob cat stroll through the cages and none of these every even peered into a cage.

Some tips-

For branches, drill little holes in each end and zip tie from the hole around the frame to hold tight. Use wire cutters to snip the excess off the zip tie so it looks sweet.

For a better more sturdy reptarium- order 1" pvc corners online or from your local plumbing supply store and replace the frame with 1" pvc frame (or any larger size over 1"). It's actually better to start that way and then cover with a reptarium replacement cover. It's much cheaper too. I did my first 64 175 gallon reptariums like that and I also glued a bottom to the frame (the stuff used in bathroom walls). They were so sturdy they could hold 50lbs of sand in the bottom for desert lizards if I wanted and still have rocks, bricks, cinderblocks, driftwood, etc and be stacked 3 reptariums high. Even with all that weight I could climb on top of the frames.

The black frames that come with them now officially are terrible. The kits I ordered had frames that couldn't even be put together without cracking. They are the most shoddy cheap crap available. If that happens replace the cracked piece with appropriate internal diameter pvc- it's stronger and less brittle. It's also very cheap- I mean c'mon how cheap is the black stuff when a strong replacement piece of appropriate diameter and length works out to less than a buck retail?

Keeping desert lizards in reptariums is a terrible idea by the way- anything but chameleons will eventually dig through the cover, requiring replacement or patching.

Reptariums are difficult to keep clean also- they are fabric- hard to disinfect (think parasites more than germs).

Also- BE CAREFUL WITH YOUR LIGHTING- I don't use them now because last spring I had a terrible fire in my lizard building that started when a flourescent light ballast on a ceiling light malfunctioned, catching a bank of reptariums on fire that was a few inches below the light. The fire spread very very well from reptarium to reptarium and even burned the frames (and pvc frames). They burned very very hot- reptariums across the room melted. It was a horrible horrible experience where I lost over a decade of work and many many precious lizards some of whom came down from many generations in my care and some unique in all the world genetics in a few and I lost lots and lots of money- I will NEVER buy another reptarium or recommend them again.

:mad: :mad: :mad:

Lastly- you can keep the zipper running smooth by spreading a little vasoline along it a couple times a year. :)
 
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So, return this? It's not arrived yet. I'm feeling very discouraged :(

I don't know what to house my oustelet in. The free range will not work until he is not stressed anymore. Until then I need to keep him somewhere he can be comfortable.

He is a year old.

:( I just want him happy. But I'm just wasting money on a lot of trial and error. I want him to have lots of room until he can enjoy his free range and not see me as a threat. So for the next months or so he needs a roomie enclosure. I thought I had it all figured out. But after striking out so much I feel foolish .

I wanted something big for him. I messaged the cust serv team on the site to see if I can swap this out for a reptibreeze. They cost the same.

I hope they let me. I just want his husbandry over with all ready. Regardless of what I thought, Hoggle had his own personality, and he likes to climb and is big, mellow and wants room. I hope I can swap this out. I'm going broke trying to figure this all out and in the end still not succeeding in giving him what he needs.
 
So, return this? It's not arrived yet. I'm feeling very discouraged :(

I don't know what to house my oustelet in. The free range will not work until he is not stressed anymore. Until then I need to keep him somewhere he can be comfortable.

He is a year old.

:( I just want him happy. But I'm just wasting money on a lot of trial and error. I want him to have lots of room until he can enjoy his free range and not see me as a threat. So for the next months or so he needs a roomie enclosure. I thought I had it all figured out. But after striking out so much I feel foolish .

I wanted something big for him. I messaged the cust serv team on the site to see if I can swap this out for a reptibreeze. They cost the same.

I hope they let me. I just want his husbandry over with all ready. Regardless of what I thought, Hoggle had his own personality, and he likes to climb and is big, mellow and wants room. I hope I can swap this out. I'm going broke trying to figure this all out and in the end still not succeeding in giving him what he needs.


I would return it personally. The cage I bought is from DIYcages.com
Really sturdy aluminum screen and it comes with actual hardware to build. Simple installation and you don't have to worry about him escaping or fires.
I bought the 2x2x4 cage and I believe it was around $100 if not less, free shipping.
 
I used reptariums for many years- from the time they came onto the market until last year. Mostly I used 175 gallon size. Last year I had well over 100 in use.

I never had a problem with cats. One time a raccoon broke into a cage and ate all my dilepis babies, but that cage was aluminum screen. I knew it was a coon cause he left a poopie behind for me in the cage which I took down to the extension service for identification. But that was a very unique time- where I live now I've seen dogs, cats, coyotes, and even a bob cat stroll through the cages and none of these every even peered into a cage.

Some tips-

For branches, drill little holes in each end and zip tie from the hole around the frame to hold tight. Use wire cutters to snip the excess off the zip tie so it looks sweet.

For a better more sturdy reptarium- order 1" pvc corners online or from your local plumbing supply store and replace the frame with 1" pvc frame (or any larger size over 1"). It's actually better to start that way and then cover with a reptarium replacement cover. It's much cheaper too. I did my first 64 175 gallon reptariums like that and I also glued a bottom to the frame (the stuff used in bathroom walls). They were so sturdy they could hold 50lbs of sand in the bottom for desert lizards if I wanted and still have rocks, bricks, cinderblocks, driftwood, etc and be stacked 3 reptariums high. Even with all that weight I could climb on top of the frames.

The black frames that come with them now officially are terrible. The kits I ordered had frames that couldn't even be put together without cracking. They are the most shoddy cheap crap available. If that happens replace the cracked piece with appropriate internal diameter pvc- it's stronger and less brittle. It's also very cheap- I mean c'mon how cheap is the black stuff when a strong replacement piece of appropriate diameter and length works out to less than a buck retail?

Keeping desert lizards in reptariums is a terrible idea by the way- anything but chameleons will eventually dig through the cover, requiring replacement or patching.

Reptariums are difficult to keep clean also- they are fabric- hard to disinfect (think parasites more than germs).

Also- BE CAREFUL WITH YOUR LIGHTING- I don't use them now because last spring I had a terrible fire in my lizard building that started when a flourescent light ballast on a ceiling light malfunctioned, catching a bank of reptariums on fire that was a few inches below the light. The fire spread very very well from reptarium to reptarium and even burned the frames (and pvc frames). They burned very very hot- reptariums across the room melted. It was a horrible horrible experience where I lost over a decade of work and many many precious lizards some of whom came down from many generations in my care and some unique in all the world genetics in a few and I lost lots and lots of money- I will NEVER buy another reptarium or recommend them again.

:mad: :mad: :mad:

Lastly- you can keep the zipper running smooth by spreading a little vasoline along it a couple times a year. :)


Talk about bad luck. That's sounds horribly tragic. I can only imagine the frustration and sadness that came with the fire. Unreal
 
I have seen several Oustelet's owners here say they use the repteriums because of the size. Chameleonowner32 has an Oustie and posted a thread about his setup in a repterium like the one you bought. I want one so I always read the Oustie threads!
 
I've been looking for a bigger enclosure myself, and was looking at those to buy... I wish we had the time to build an enclosure, but we don't have the tools, and don't know of anyone to borrow them from to build a cage. I wish there were some metal cages that are bigger than the 24x24x48 size, unless I'm just not finding them? Only things I've seen is the cage extender from LLL that takes a 4 ft cage up to 6 ft, but I'm looking for the 5 footer.
 
I built a custom sized enclosure without power tools. It wasn't too hard, actually. You'll need a mitre saw and box, pine 2x2s (most hardware stores will cut them for you if you know what dimensions you want), an electric screw driver, screws, aluminum screen, hinges, wood trim, wood sealer, foam brushes, plastic sheet, a latch, and a staple gun. You can probably pick up all the supplies you need plus tools for $150 and you can make it any size you want.

If you want, I can help you work out a design and dimensions. I have AutoCAD, so that's easy. The advantage would be that you can add extra supports on the sides to support heavier branches for your oustie.

Actually, this would be a really fun "How To"... I might put this together this weekend :D
 
Talk about bad luck. That's sounds horribly tragic. I can only imagine the frustration and sadness that came with the fire. Unreal

It was horrible- ruined me financially. I'm still digging my way out. Nearly everything in the building had to be thrown out- 3 24' dumpsters full of years of equipment. I've got another pile about that big under a tarp waiting to see what is salvagable. Had to rip the building down to the studs, pull out all the wiring and drywall and insulation, clean the actual studs (couple months wiping with chemical sponge every square inch of the studs and under the roof and outer shell walls and what I couldn't get with that I used a power sander on), clean and seal the concrete pad and rebuild everything. I'm so glad this happened in my building and not in my living room...

I found this video on youtube - how to build a nice professionally looking cage of any size out of stuff you can buy at home depot or lowes-

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AnNl5IMXFCIp://

I built some of these, although I modified the door. Instead of a divided front (don't know why this design for the front is popular- all the commercial cages use this same divided front) I built an inner frame out of the window framing that the door butts against all the way around. It is strong and then you've got a whole side door that you can reach into and out of to clean. Not sure why everyone designs a small panel below the front door on their cages- to clean I'd rather have more room and be able to lift the plant out when I want...

If you already have a few tools you can probably build a cage of the same size for about the same price as the reptarium...
 
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Luckily they let me switch out for the 24x24x48 reptibreeze. After reading fluxs post I don't want to risk a fire in any regards. My chams are in my photography studio where the equipment is pricey. I'd have mental break down--or if I lost my chams!!

I'll just stick to aluminum mesh!!!!!

I will get the extender too when I can afford it.

I'm going to reinforce the sides with black 1" PVC pipe on this anyway too. Hoggle likes to climb on the cage. And I swear he is just huge.
I want it sturdy. He has 2 umbrella plants currently, a pathos, and ficus.

Sadly I'm kind of scared of him. His gape and huff are enough to make my hands shake. Giving him some reptiboost last night was super fun!!!!

NOT!!!

If this doesn't work out with the extender I'll build one.
 
I would return it personally. The cage I bought is from DIYcages.com
Really sturdy aluminum screen and it comes with actual hardware to build. Simple installation and you don't have to worry about him escaping or fires.
I bought the 2x2x4 cage and I believe it was around $100 if not less, free shipping.


This looks more like a $100 cage! :D Nice call. OP, if it were ME and I was set on a mesh cage, the one below seems like a decent bet. It looks SO much more sturdy than thin PVC and flexible plastic mesh. (sorry!)

http://diycages.com/1915.html?shopCountry=US&strReqMode=execStored&shopLanguage=en
 
I have to give props to DIY cages.com also- after building 20 like the video I linked to last summer after the fire, I talked with DIYcages.com and they are shipping me my next bunch this coming week. They will give large quantity discounts and although I've never seen one in person in the photos they look very nice and sturdy and so much less hassle to assemble.

I agree though- they do need larger sizes- I think 48" long x 48" high x 30" wide would be a nice size for larger chameleons...
 
^ ordered this, and cancelled my order at lllreptile. Sturdy is the key word here for sure. I got the extra large one. I can't wait for his stuff to be finished. I also got free shipping. Thanks guys!
 
I'm excited . This had me so stressed out. Thank you to flux especially for referring them. This why I appreciate this site so much.
 
Can anyone tells me if the 24x24x48 DIY cage has the small door at the bottom to open? It looks like it does from the pictures, but I'm not sure!
 
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