Reptibreeze Cage Gaps

[jimmylove]

I know there are quite a few fellow Reptibreeze cage owners out there, and I'm sure mine isn't the only cage with a few gaps in it. Since the gaps are by the doors, I can't just screw the cage shut and close the gaps that way. Not worried about Scooby getting out, but little crickets keep escaping. Any good ideas for how to close these gaps? I was thinking maybe some weatherstripping, but I wanted to see if any of you had any other better ideas. Attached is a picture of the biggest gap. My cage door got a little dented in shipping, and I can't straighten it anymore than that. Any ideas would be greatly appreciated!

 

[GarynTampa]

From your photo, it looks like the "latch" isn't latched.

If it is latched, you could relocate it to the point where the widest gap appears and re-position the catch a little farther apart (re-drilling holes required). This would put more tension on the frames and close the gap.

I built my enclosure using the same screen frame material and also had a small gap. My door is almost 4' tall and I took screen frame scraps and screwed then in from the inside to "block" the gap.

I'm feeding large crickets and they have never escaped. Pinheads might, but I think even med-sized crickets couldn't get out.

Hope this helps.

Gary
Tampa,FL

 

[jaredg87]

try some of the foam strips you put on your door in your house. The ones that help that keep that air in and have a better sealed shut door.
Can find it at any wal-mart or hardware store.

 

[jimmylove]

From your photo, it looks like the "latch" isn't latched.

If it is latched, you could relocate it to the point where the widest gap appears and re-position the catch a little farther apart (re-drilling holes required). This would put more tension on the frames and close the gap.

I built my enclosure using the same screen frame material and also had a small gap. My door is almost 4' tall and I took screen frame scraps and screwed then in from the inside to "block" the gap.

I'm feeding large crickets and they have never escaped. Pinheads might, but I think even med-sized crickets couldn't get out.

Hope this helps.

Gary
Tampa,FL

Actually the latch is closed. You can barely see it at the bottom of the picture. The gap is about the same size below as it is above. I don't think large crickets can get out, but the small and medium sized ones I'm feeding my veiled right now can.

 

[jimmylove]

try some of the foam strips you put on your door in your house. The ones that help that keep that air in and have a better sealed shut door.
Can find it at any wal-mart or hardware store.

Yeah, that's the weatherstripping stuff I'm thinking of. If no one else has a better idea, that's probably what I'm going to try first.

 

[TheHunterMB]

That's crazy. It made me double check my cage for gaps!

 

[jimmylove]

That's crazy. It made me double check my cage for gaps!

I'm using duct tape to cover the gaps right now. It look ghetto, but it works. My son came in my office yesterday and asked, "Daddy, can crickets get out of the cage?". I told him that they shouldn't be able to, and then asked why he wanted to know. He replied, "Because there's one on my pillow on my bed." Turns out I had forgotten to duct tape the gap after feeding Scooby. Guess I'd better fix it right

 

[mrguy]

cage gaps

I used black duct tape...

 

[Jasonmichaelborg]

That is the main reason I am building a custom cage as we speak

 

[CHScrusader]

I know there are quite a few fellow Reptibreeze cage owners out there, and I'm sure mine isn't the only cage with a few gaps in it. Since the gaps are by the doors, I can't just screw the cage shut and close the gaps that way. Not worried about Scooby getting out, but little crickets keep escaping. Any good ideas for how to close these gaps? I was thinking maybe some weatherstripping, but I wanted to see if any of you had any other better ideas. Attached is a picture of the biggest gap. My cage door got a little dented in shipping, and I can't straighten it anymore than that. Any ideas would be greatly appreciated!

mine does the same thing. the reptibreezes are horrible in quality. i regret getting one lol i wish i went with LLL. anyway my only concern at first was that the crickets would get. but i hand feed the crickets and cup feed worms.. i dont know what you do but yeah, its never been a problem for me.

 

[jimmylove]

That is the main reason I am building a custom cage as we speak

Definitely going to build my own from scratch next. Thought I'd use a "standard" for my first cage to see what I was getting into. Not that its bad, but now I have much better idea on what to improve on my next one.

 

[jimmylove]

mine does the same thing. the reptibreezes are horrible in quality. i regret getting one lol i wish i went with LLL. anyway my only concern at first was that the crickets would get. but i hand feed the crickets and cup feed worms.. i dont know what you do but yeah, its never been a problem for me.

I'm hand feeding when I can, but leaving some extra crickets in the cage for days (like today) when I'm on the road.

 

[Hoj]

Thats a pretty big gap, I have 20+ reptibreezze cages and none of them are that bad. I really like the cages. I had a few of the older ones that rust and contacted ZooMed and with a recipt they were able to take care or me. I would maybe try that.

 

[ParabuthusKing]

hard to quite tell, but it looks like there might be a crease in the frame at the gap.. I agree with previous post as I had a cage that arrived damaged similar to that and I was able to get a free cage sent no charge and they let me keep the damaged but still fully functional cage as well ( LLL reptile) I would recommend trying to bend the cage back to normal shape but you have to know what you are doing not to damage even more

 

[Psychobunny]

Same here, I have 4 of these cages and they all have wide gaps between the panels!
Crickets are all over my house. One woke me up chirping under my bed in the middle of the night

I just ordered my very first DIY F3 2x2x4 cage, YAAAAY!!

I want to slowly replace all these stupid rickity ReptiSleeze cages

 

[jimmylove]

Thats a pretty big gap, I have 20+ reptibreezze cages and none of them are that bad. I really like the cages. I had a few of the older ones that rust and contacted ZooMed and with a recipt they were able to take care or me. I would maybe try that.

Definitely going to contact them. Hopefully the fact that I bought it from Amazon doesn't complicate things. The white floorboard has a big crease in it too (another spot I found crickets escaping from... thank God for duct tape!)

 

[jimmylove]

Same here, I have 4 of these cages and they all have wide gaps between the panels!
Crickets are all over my house. One woke me up chirping under my bed in the middle of the night

I just ordered my very first DIY F3 2x2x4 cage, YAAAAY!!

I want to slowly replace all these stupid rickity ReptiSleeze cages

Other than the gaps, I think the cage is pretty nice. I'm going to try the weatherstripping from Home Depot I think. I'll let you know what solution I find when I figure it out. In the meantime, duct tape is working great as a temporary solution to keep them from escaping for me. You might want to try that.

 

[jimmylove]

hard to quite tell, but it looks like there might be a crease in the frame at the gap.. I agree with previous post as I had a cage that arrived damaged similar to that and I was able to get a free cage sent no charge and they let me keep the damaged but still fully functional cage as well ( LLL reptile) I would recommend trying to bend the cage back to normal shape but you have to know what you are doing not to damage even more

You're exactly right, its a crease and I can't straighten it out any further without damaging the rest of the door more

 

[Nrupaw]

Weatherstrip might do the trick for you and help you fill the gap. My only concern would be about it getting wet during misting an losing its effectiveness

I faced a similar problem with a sizable gap on my lllreptile screen cage. Was afraid of crickets and other feeders getting out.

I opted for velcro. Went to home depot and bought a strip 1 inch of heavy duty (for outside use) sticky velcro. That was the skinniest they had.

I took the hook strip ( the prickly side, the soft side is called loop). Cut it in half with scissors.

Tested to see if the door would shut snuggly if the velcro strip was there. Dry run. Just propped the velcro in the gap and made sure the door could close. Everything looked good and so i stuck it on.

 

[jimmylove]

Weatherstrip might do the trick for you and help you fill the gap. My only concern would be about it getting wet during misting an losing its effectiveness

I faced a similar problem with a sizable gap on my lllreptile screen cage. Was afraid of crickets and other feeders getting out.

I opted for velcro. Went to home depot and bought a strip 1 inch of heavy duty (for outside use) sticky velcro. That was the skinniest they had.

I took the hook strip ( the prickly side, the soft side is called loop). Cut it in half with scissors.

Tested to see if the door would shut snuggly if the velcro strip was there. Dry run. Just propped the velcro in the gap and made sure the door could close. Everything looked good and so i stuck it on.

Velcro is a good idea! I have lots of velcro tape, might give that a try tomorrow. Thanks for the suggestion!