My insulation company has been slammed and I haven’t been able to put any man power towards building these. We closed early yesterday so I took advantage and slapped these together.
Still need to add lights, heat, shelves, and order glass. I’m doing the shelves different than I have in the past, I’m making them removable for cleaning which I think will be a big improvement. They’ll also get some real or simulated branches.
These are all 2’x2’x4’. I still need to build 4 new 18”x18”x48” so the rattlesnakes have somewhere to go that’s a not a rack, when they get out of quarantine. I don’t have the same problems a lot of people do with melamine. I also have years of carpentry experience a shop full of tools. PVC as a material has advantages but at the current cost, it’s cheaper to buy vision cages than buy the PVC to make one of these. It also requires more/different support to keep large enclosures like these from sagging in the middle. Because the sheets are thinner, screw traction is also a concern. Countersink and screw placement have to be exact as well or you’ll get blow outs.
I’m probably going to use radiant panels on these since it’s all large boids going on these. For the smaller boxes for the rattlesnakes I’m thinking radiant panels and some UV lighting.
Nice looking cage so far. But you should add a top header to the cage opening for strength. This will help with keeping the top from sagging when you stack your cages.
Thanks. I don’t like the look of a header. They’re getting manzanita center supports top to bottom like I did in my retic cage. I had to use a header in that cage because it’s an 8 footer and a I don’t like it. I’m a contractor and I’m super picky about detail stuff like that. I won’t let them sag, it would drive me up the wall looking at it all the time. The little sag between the lower two that’s showing now has to be eliminated before I order glass anyway.
It’s actually a real manzanita tree I cut down on my property. It grew in the shade in a ravine so it’s straighter than they usually grow from reaching for light for so many years. This is the ‘middle’ box, the trunk was long enough to do this in each of the 3 but I’ll have to cut the cross branches for the other two from a different tree. In the process of maintaining defensible space to mitigate the fire danger, manzanita is premium fuel so it’s first to go. It’s a nice problem to have when you’re building enclosures
Thank you! I’m really excited to get them finished. I live near Lassen Volcanic park and Mount Shasta so lava rock is plentiful in some areas. I picked up a bunch recently and haven’t decided if I want to incorporate it into the bottom one (too heavy for the rest).
Ordered glass for one box to make sure I got the measurements exact. Glass has gone up about 200% over the last year so 2x 17.25”x27” pieces totaled $92. Total cost to this point $170.
These pieces were 1/16” too big to drop in the way they’re supposed to but that was an easy solve. I’ll have the rest cut 1/8” shorter.
Messing with some different ways to assemble 2x2 cubes for efficiency. A couple of Amazon Tree Boas are getting new digs with these. Still have to add plants, hides, etc.
