Saldarya
Established Member
Evening All,
I thought I would post this as a build thread of sorts to track teh progress of these new cages I am building in case it may help anyone else as well as document what I am putting together for a couple of new pairs of chams inc.
To start, I am fortunate enough to be receiving a pair of each of T. johnstoni and K. xenorhina from an import via a member on here and as such, wanted to make sure housing would be adequate for them.
My initial thought was to simply grab some 2x2x4 screen cages and go from there, but the more research and did and in speaking to other keepers, I felt I coudl do better.
Both species (especially the xenorhina) will really benefit from the extra space and moer importantly, thick foliage.
To that point, I decided to build the cages to be 5'x30"x24" out of select pine, stained it, and then multiple coats of UV resistant Poly.
Here are some build pics:
Staining the 1x2's
A pic to show how they side and top frames fit together (ignore the fact that this corner is off by 1/32 of an inch, DANGI!!)
Pics of the sides, back, and top on
The next step will be to add the bottom which will be made with the same 1x2 pine. I will line the left and right bottom side rails with 1" aluminum strip. i will then use pvc sheets for the bottom drain pan which will slide in and out on the aluminum strips.
I am building 4 of these, 1 for each Cham. Each 2 cages will sit on a 5' base with casters that I can move in and out of reptile room on sunny days. Lighting will be T5 Arcadia 6% UVB and 6500K bulbs for the lights.
A separate Mistking system for these critters as they will need more water/humidity than my panthers.
I will update this thread over the next 2 weeks as complete this first cage.
Here is an idea of what the finish cage will look like. I will add some horizontal branching as well as other vines and such to fill it out.
Thanks for looking and I appreciate any comments or suggestions.
Bobby
I thought I would post this as a build thread of sorts to track teh progress of these new cages I am building in case it may help anyone else as well as document what I am putting together for a couple of new pairs of chams inc.
To start, I am fortunate enough to be receiving a pair of each of T. johnstoni and K. xenorhina from an import via a member on here and as such, wanted to make sure housing would be adequate for them.
My initial thought was to simply grab some 2x2x4 screen cages and go from there, but the more research and did and in speaking to other keepers, I felt I coudl do better.
Both species (especially the xenorhina) will really benefit from the extra space and moer importantly, thick foliage.
To that point, I decided to build the cages to be 5'x30"x24" out of select pine, stained it, and then multiple coats of UV resistant Poly.
Here are some build pics:
Staining the 1x2's
A pic to show how they side and top frames fit together (ignore the fact that this corner is off by 1/32 of an inch, DANGI!!)
Pics of the sides, back, and top on
The next step will be to add the bottom which will be made with the same 1x2 pine. I will line the left and right bottom side rails with 1" aluminum strip. i will then use pvc sheets for the bottom drain pan which will slide in and out on the aluminum strips.
I am building 4 of these, 1 for each Cham. Each 2 cages will sit on a 5' base with casters that I can move in and out of reptile room on sunny days. Lighting will be T5 Arcadia 6% UVB and 6500K bulbs for the lights.
A separate Mistking system for these critters as they will need more water/humidity than my panthers.
I will update this thread over the next 2 weeks as complete this first cage.
Here is an idea of what the finish cage will look like. I will add some horizontal branching as well as other vines and such to fill it out.
Thanks for looking and I appreciate any comments or suggestions.
Bobby
