Screen Cages VS DIY Cages

[STRYDER]

Hey Crazy Chameleon ppl, Gary here

Jus wanted to get a vote for what is best in terms of screen cages vs DIY cages. Im good at wood work and stuff so i was wondering whether it would be better to build a whole lotta wooden cages with aluminium screen or whether i should import cages.

The price difference is much the same but ive been having second thoughts bout importing. Just seems like a long process, i may only do it later to sell cages and accessories here in SA but atm i only need for my chams.

Feel free to comment .

 

[Elizadolots]

Why couldn't you build a cage that had a lot of screen?

 

[summoner12]

If your good with your hands and power tools.... just build. I imagine by the time a cage got to you, you'd be able to build three for the price of one.

if you make something modular you'd be on the right track.

 

[fluxlizard]

Look closely at the pics of most of the commercial screen cages.

They aren't difficult to make with parts that are commonly available at most hardware stores (at least here in the US).

They are usually just made out of aluminum window screen framing, screwed together with small screws, with a hinged door.

You just make screens like you would for a window, and then put them together at right angles to form a box.

So, if you like the look or durability of the aluminum cages but don't want the hassle of importing, it is about the same difficulty to make them from scratch as it is to make them from wood...

 

[STRYDER]

See the issue is that here in SA there is different sized aluminium pieces, they aren't thin they are more rectangular looking as the windows here are made differently.

So i dont have access to the right size aluminium pieces, they would have to be manufactured (expensive) So wood is an option with screen all around still. Just tryna see what would be best at the end of the day.

 

[STRYDER]

Why couldn't you build a cage that had a lot of screen?

what do you mean?

Maybe the way i explained things was a lil confusing... I still plan to build a cage with screen all over, i jus cant get access to the correct size aluminium in order to build the cages corners so i may have to use wooden corners but still the cage will be covered in aluminium screen.

 

[Red Island]

Wood and screen are the most economical.

 

[wafflesmom]

I bought wood and a 25' roll of screen and made mine. It's 4' tall and 2' wide and 2' deep. Everything including hardware was around $60 at Home Depot.

 

[STRYDER]

Ye i reckon im gonna make my own really neat, nice looking cage from wood and screen, then ill import cages to sell maybe in the future . When thats set up maybe ill get a few imported cages. ty for all the advice evry1!

 

[stickytongue]

See the issue is that here in SA there is different sized aluminium pieces, they aren't thin they are more rectangular looking as the windows here are made differently.

So i dont have access to the right size aluminium pieces, they would have to be manufactured (expensive) So wood is an option with screen all around still. Just tryna see what would be best at the end of the day.

i dont know what your hard on with aluminum is, but all you need is untreated wood, two hinges for a door, and screen small enough so your feeders dont escape. dont waste money on importing stuff. There are threads here that will tell you exactly how to do it cost effiicient aswell as healthy for your cham. Im sure weather in SA is uvb appealing to chameleons. If i was you (in the climate you are in) i would buy a large hibiscus, or a live plant that that is under the resources tab on this website and drape a large screen over it. At the base of your plant make a large metal (wait for it) ALUMINUM foil disc which inhibits your cham from escaping your tree of choice... spray water with a hose on it a couple of times a day and you have your own natural chameleon niche covered in screen so your little guy cant escape.

 

[summoner12]

The 'hard-on' for aluminum is that these animals live in humid climates. Steel will rust in such climates. Using a fiberglass mesh would not hold up to crickets.... so... the most reasonable material left, that is fairly common and cheap, (wait for it) is aluminum.

Treated wood and aluminum are a good choice.

 

[fluxlizard]

i dont know what your hard on with aluminum is, but all you need is untreated wood, two hinges for a door, and screen small enough so your feeders dont escape.

Well, I can tell you from experience that untreated wood warps and rots pretty quickly.

I took quite a bit of time once and built about 20 nice wood cages, painted them with exterior house paint, and they didn't warp too badly once painted, but they did rot out pretty fast (like 4 or 5 years which sort of sounds like a long time, but when they start going bad at roughtly the same time it seems like a very short time to have to invest more time and $$ to redo everything) being exposed to misting systems, humidity, rain and weather. The problem was the surfaces where the wood touched wood- like at the corners and around the solid bottom.

If I was going to do wood frames again myself, I'd paint all the parts before assembly, then paint again after, and then seal the seams where the parts touched each other after assembly with some sort of waterproof adhesive- maybe silicone, maybe liquid nails or something else. I would also paint over the staples once the screen was attached as well. All of these places had rot begin.

I would also not use a solid bottom. (In my situation where the cages are not in my living room) Last time I used a solid bottom with a hole for a drain, so it could support the weight of a large potted plant. the bottoms eventually weakened considerably from rot. I would use rubber coated hardware cloth (the green stuff often used for rabbit cages), and I would then cover that with a layer of screening as well, to keep insects in, yet provide enough strength to hold heavy potted plants.

The other weakness in this type of cage is a door that doesn't allow the feeders to escape around it's edges. It's pretty hard to get a door tight enough to prevent feeders from just walking out around the door frame, and even more difficult to get a wooden door and frame that won't warp pretty quickly out in the weather so that it remains feeder escape proof, even if you are lucky (or skilled) enough to get one that starts off that way.

The type of aluminum window framing that they sell in the US is pretty cheap too- pretty similar to wood framing in cost I *think*. Aluminium framing is just as easy to work with, and doesn't warp or rot either...

I'm actually looking at all this stuff right now too, because I've got about a zillion new cages to make for this summer season, and it's coming up on us pretty quickly now...

 

[summoner12]

I think if you get wood and stain it and then spray a lacker finish the would should be pretty well sealed. I think if you buy treated wood it has arsnic? I am not really sure...

About the screen bottoms. I don't think they are a good idea. Screen will trap bits of poop and parts of bugs and dirt. This will make cleaning kind of hard. If you make a support system and then use PCV plastic sheeting (like in the metal screen cages) or use plexiglass with a couple of holes drilled in the middle and make it removable, you will find cleaning is much much easier.

 

[stickytongue]

The 'hard-on' for aluminum is that these animals live in humid climates. Steel will rust in such climates. Using a fiberglass mesh would not hold up to crickets.... so... the most reasonable material left, that is fairly common and cheap, (wait for it) is aluminum.

Treated wood and aluminum are a good choice.

Thanks for mocking my post. Im not too sure if you have ever welded before but aluminum is one of the hardest metals to weld. Secondly have you ever touched a piece of metal that has been in 100+ weather all day? I also would not call aluminum a cheap metal. unless you are keeping your cham indoors and have the money and time to waste for a shipment from the place summoner is advertising i would look to alternative measures.

 

[summoner12]

Thanks for mocking my post. Im not too sure if you have ever welded before but aluminum is one of the hardest metals to weld. Secondly have you ever touched a piece of metal that has been in 100+ weather all day? I also would not call aluminum a cheap metal. unless you are keeping your cham indoors and have the money and time to waste for a shipment from the place summoner is advertising i would look to alternative measures.

Not sure what the diffictulty of welding aluminum has to do with anything?

But, yes I have...a perfect roll of dimes EVERY time........

 

[Juxocyde]

Im currently on a building my own screen caging adventure and its not as simple as it looks but it is half the price at what screen cages go for, but a screen cage is simply 6 window screens screwed together, just make sure all the dimensions for each is correct and start screening, if youd like i can give you some decent dimensions i used to make mine but their still a work in progress.

 

[lisagr07]

At the base of your plant make a large metal (wait for it) ALUMINUM foil disc which inhibits your cham from escaping your tree of choice... spray water with a hose on it a couple of times a day and you have your own natural chameleon niche covered in screen so your little guy cant escape.

are chameleons afraid to cross over aluminum/shiney things??? lisa

 

[fluxlizard]

Thanks for mocking my post. Im not too sure if you have ever welded before but aluminum is one of the hardest metals to weld. Secondly have you ever touched a piece of metal that has been in 100+ weather all day? I also would not call aluminum a cheap metal.

Maybe you shouldn't use terms like "hard on" if you don't want to be mocked. I sort of found that offensive language.

Aluminum window screen framing is not welded. It is easy to cut and drill, and there are cheap premade corners for it.

It also very inexpensive. An 8' piece costs less than $2 here- very similar in cost to lumber.

Don't they have the same screening in Canada on your windows as in the USA?

To understand what we are talking about you can see pics of commercially built cages on sites like this forum sponser:

http://www.diycages.com/

and cages like the ones here:

http://lllreptile.com/store/catalog...een/-/24-x-24-x-48-inch-aluminum-screen-cage/

and here:

http://lllreptile.com/store/catalog...-med-small-repti-breeze-aluminum-screen-cage/

And basically all the other commercially manufactured screen cages are using this same aluminum window framing.

I've used it before for doors, and no, it doesn't get hot when sun shines on it, that I've ever noticed...