need simple drainage.

[tbone412]

So I've only had my cham for a few days but I need to make some changes to his cage. I was lining the bottom of the cage with paper towels/newspaper with a plastic storage bin to catch some of the water. But the newspaper is giving the crickets a place to hide (and die) and it just gets soaked at the first misting. And the plastic bin I'm using isn't anywhere near big enough for the bottom of the cage, it just catches the majority of the water because of where I positioned it. The rest of the cage is still getting soaked tho and I'm getting lots of drowned crickets both in and out of the bin.

I was hoping for a quicker and cheaper solution than this but if I can't think of anything else I am going to order this substrate tray http://lllreptile.com/store/catalog...es/-/24-x-24-x-48-screen-cage-substrate-tray/ and just fit some kind of mesh or screen over the top so it catches the water but doesn't allow crickets to get in or my cham to drink out of it. But along with shipping this is really more than I want to spend after everything else I just got for him. They also have a product that is more specifically for catching water as it leaves the cage but that one doesn't really solve my problems.

Anyone have any thoughts or suggestions? At the moment I don't have the setup to make or use a more complicated drainage system that I've seen throughout the forums, I really need something to catch the water that I can empty.

 

[xraygirl]

Check out this thread from another member who used that same substrate pan from LLL and created a drainage system.

https://www.chameleonforums.com/custom-drainage-system-121443/

 

[MelissaB]

There's a whole thread on drainage systems, with great pictures. It depends on how you want your cage set up, and how much you want to spend. It can be as easy as setting your cage on something you can drill a drainage hole through, or a vented shelf, and setting a bucket underneath. Right now, I use a LLL water tray on one cage, that I drilled and placed a fitting into, so it can drain into a bucket. My other cage is on a sink base cabinet with a washing machine pan underneath the cage. I drilled a hole, connected a pvc fitting, attached a hose so it drains into a 5 gal bucket. I think having a tray inside the cage, might be a huge pain in the butt to empty, unless you don't have a lot of excess water and it dries on it's own.

ETA:
Xray girl, that is a cool thread. How the heck did I miss that one?!

 

[Mijah139]

You can buy a small section of screen or hardware cloth from a big box store (home depot, lowe's, menards) and suspend it with silicone or zip ties a few inches from the bottom of the enclosure. It will keep debris and feeders from falling to the paper towels, but water can still get through.

 

[tbone412]

Xraygirl and MelissaB, I was just looking at those threads before posting this. They are nice but don't exactly work for me because of the stand I have it on currently. In the future I'll be upgrading my set up but right now I've spent enough money getting everything else that I don't want to go buy a different stand too. Sorry for posting such a similar thread, just didn't find any solution for me in them.

Mijah139, good call on suspending the screen in the cage. That is along the lines of what I was thinking but would be more convenient than attaching it to the tray.

 

[Lpsouth1978]

If you decide to get the water tray from LLL wait until Monday Dec. 2. They are having a Cyber Monday sale and may have the pans on sale then. I am hoping to get 2 - 24x24x48" cages then.

 

[tbone412]

If you decide to get the water tray from LLL wait until Monday Dec. 2. They are having a Cyber Monday sale and may have the pans on sale then. I am hoping to get 2 - 24x24x48" cages then.

Wow thank you so much! I was just about to checkout and I didn't know about the sale. You saved me a few bucks and I'll probably be able to order more for his cage too!

 

[xraygirl]

ETA:
Xray girl, that is a cool thread. How the heck did I miss that one?!

I scope that stuff out on drainage systems and enclosures all the time, looking for ideas to eventually build my own bigger and better enclosure and a sweet drainage system I have a good general idea of how to go about a drainage system, it'll be expensive but will look nice and will work if I use this large reptibreeze or upgrade to the bigger ones

 

[Lpsouth1978]

I scope that stuff out on drainage systems and enclosures all the time, looking for ideas to eventually build my own bigger and better enclosure and a sweet drainage system I have a good general idea of how to go about a drainage system, it'll be expensive but will look nice and will work if I use this large reptibreeze or upgrade to the bigger ones

I just used the water trays from LLL on each of my cages and drilled a hole for an aquarium bulkhead. This allowed my to use PVC pipe to plumb all of the cages into 1 bucket.

Simple
Cheap
Effective
Looks Nice and clean

Fits all of my requirements and works great!

 

[Lpsouth1978]

Wow thank you so much! I was just about to checkout and I didn't know about the sale. You saved me a few bucks and I'll probably be able to order more for his cage too!

That's what we are all here for. What kind of a community would this be if we didn't help each other out. I would expect the same from any other member of the forums.