Outdoor PVC enclosure build

[Beman]

Looks great! Your local home depot or lowes may have hibiscus trees right now. That would help fill it out beautifully.

 

[BrittBepler]

Amazing!!!!

 

[Tony_S]

It looks great, I saved this thread for when I want to make mine. Would you do anything different?

 

[RyanBRZ]

Thank you all

@Tony_S - Hardly. The cage came out exactly as I wanted. I only had to do one last minute addition for something I did not consider in my planning. There is a ~1 cm gap between the 2 doors and 1-3 cm gap at the top and bottom of the doors which insects could get through. I bought some PVC molding to block this area -- I've already installed this piece for the top and bottom of the doors, I am going to install another piece on the inside of one of the door pipes and have this door close first and then the other will rest on it. This also prevents the doors from swinging inside the cage. If you have no poisonous bugs where you live, you do not need to do this since the gap is too small for a chameleon to get through.

Here's a few items worth mentioning:

• The mesh was a pain, having a second set of hands would make it easier. To save some zip ties, and time, I zip-tied it to one side (door hinge pipe) and wrapped it around the side/back/other side, and then zip tied it there, having it secured on 2 poles instead of 4. I then did the doors, roof and the area below the wrap-around mesh (I bought 48" mesh). I need to do a second pass to secure any gaps/holes. I have lightning bugs/fireflies here which are really poisonous if eaten. If it wasn't for them, I likely would have gone with poultry mesh.
• Possibly install wheels so it can be easily moved. It gets cold where I live so I want to bring it indoors when winter comes around.
• The 27" depth, which comes to around 30" from the fittings, is too wide to fit through a door. Keep this in mind if you need to bring it inside without breaking it down and you don't have a garage.
• This is a minor one but I would have added another T fitting on the front so there are an even number on each pipe. With there being 1 extra on the back pipes I had to improvise by shortening 4 pieces of pipe by a fraction of an inch to get everything level since the rear was slightly taller. Adding the T fitting in the front would compensate for the difference. I'd likely place them where I have the green boxes below, with a pipe going across the front.

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[RyanBRZ]

I did a UVI index check under the mesh and found it has a ~1.4 loss.

Here's the mesh I used. It is durable and easy to work with. It's strong, but I was able to poke through the holes with a zip tie.
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B000CSK6GS/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_title_o04_s01?ie=UTF8&psc=1

 

[RyanBRZ]

Added a PVC board to eliminate the gap between the doors and added a few more vines. Last remaining items are live plant(s), some type of locking mechanism for the doors, and remove the stump and plant grass under the cage.

 

[Zoomin]

Hey,
Is this cage feeder insect proof? Just wondering.

 

[RyanBRZ]

Hey,
Is this cage feeder insect proof? Just wondering.

Not 100%, if the bugs climbed around where the screen meets the PVC they will eventually find a gap large enough to squeeze through. If you have patience and a million zip ties you could improve it a bit.

 

[Zoomin]

Not 100%, if the bugs climbed around where the screen meets the PVC they will eventually find a gap large enough to squeeze through. If you have patience and a million zip ties you could improve it a bit.

Oh, got it. That's too bad.

 

[RyanBRZ]

Oh, got it. That's too bad.

It's doable, it will just take more time and planning to make sure all areas are zip tied tightly.

I think if you instead go with wood with a solid polyurethane coat, you could make it work outdoors. With wood you could staple the screen into the wood making it bug secure.

 

[Zoomin]

It's doable, it will just take more time and planning to make sure all areas are zip tied tightly.

I think if you instead go with wood with a solid polyurethane coat, you could make it work outdoors. With wood you could staple the screen into the wood making it bug secure.

Yeah, true. But that's too many zip ties for me lol. You cage looks great by the way, even if it isn't 100% secure against feeders.

 

[Chameleomom]

Looks amazing!!!!!!

 

[RyanBRZ]

I put him in the outside cage over the weekend, mid-day, while I cleaned his inside cage, for maybe around 10 minutes. I go out to check on him and he has something in his mouth. I look close and it is a lightning bug, still whole, on his tongue about to get chomped. I panicked and picked him up and luckily he spit the bug out. My guess is the lightning bug landed on the cage and found a way to walk in and was hiding during the day. My cham was hungry at the time and spotted him and thought he'd have a snack. Almost had a heart attack.

I am now trying to decide what to do. Convert this to an inside cage and use my repti-breeze outside, or find a way to make this insect proof.