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Where Do You Start When Building A Snake Cage?
By Mark Chapple, Fri Dec 9th
When I was making my first cage my wife Cheryl came out into theshed and asked me what I was doing. I mumbled something about"building snake cage" whilst ernestly trying to figure out somesmall detail or putting in an annoying screw (I'm not surewhich), to which she rolled her eyes and wandered back into thehouse - I think she was shaking her head. Any way, I wanted to make a good cage. I had made one but it wasfar too small as I had divided it into two sections by placing atimber divider in the middle. It cut the cage in half and wasclose enough to the floor to prevent interaction but still leftenough space to slide a heat mat under. It covered about 1/2 to3/4 of the cage either side of the middle. I decided to do it that way as it cheaper than making two cagesand the two children's pythons were still small, having justgraduated from the plastic containers. (When I housed them inthe plastic containers I used small terracotta plant bases fortheir hides. I cut a little out of the side of the base for theentrance - this is a good trick for juveniles and young snakesor lizards)
I housed the two juvenile carpet pythons in that cage - one eachside. But as they grew I knew I needed to make another cage. So I did some research and with a bit of help from pet shops andsome research on the web I was able to come up with what Ithought was a simple snake cage design that was easy to make,strong, looked good, had good thermal properties, easy access,lockable and easily maintained. I suppose I should back up a bit and tell you how I made thefirst snake cage. I had two children's pythons, my third attemptat keeping snake I'm not proud to say. It was bit different thanI thought. Having two juvenile about to graduate from their smallplastic cages meant I thought I had to make two snake cages -that meant two of lots of things like heat mats, thermostats (Iknow there are alternatives), lighting and twice the amount ofmaterials. So I decided, after multiple diagrams and fiddling about, tomake one cage and divide it in half. I still needed to heat bothsides. I placed a divider in the cage. It was close enough tothe floor to prevent the going underneath yet high enoughto allow the Flexiwatt heat pad to slide underneath. I also made the divider so that it fitted in the cage exactlybut only held in place by screws. These screws could then beremoved when I wanted to make the cage larger and build a secondcage. I made a number of mistakes with this cage. The front was glass but was fitted. I put a lid on the top thatwas hinged but as I had no experience, it didn't occur to methat his was a poor design. I soon found that it was. I shouldhave made the door at the front and either had sliding or dropdown door. The top door was a good idea, but not on its own. I chose to make the door on my new cage a single drop down doorfor a number of reasons. First and foremost was ease. I didn't have to slide the door andget a reptile from the other end. There is a down side and if Ihad dragons or frisky reptiles I would make either a slidingdoor or two drop downs or, alternatively a combination ie a dropdown door at the front with a hinged roof on top. This wouldallow ease of access from above to retrieve the reptiles andalso ease of access from the front for cleaning andaccessorizing. Drop down doors are also the easiest to make and the mostforgiving of mistakes. Sliding doors require a lot more effortand time and given that all I wanted was access to my snakes, Idecided they were not worth the extra effort. I suppose space was not an issue either. If I had limited roomthen a sliding door would be much more satisfactory. As I had carpet pythons, I did not need to have a UV light -usually you can use supplements to provide any extra dietaryneeds with snakes. If I did want to put a UV light in the firstcage for a lizard then I would also have some difficulty as theangle of access when installing a light would make it difficult.The light fitting would have to be installed at the same stageas the half roof. I also chose to make my own heat mats using Flexwatt. My firstcommercial mat was far too hot and buckled one of my plasticcages and the timber it was sitting on. I had to throw it out.According to the instructions
it was supposed to self regulateand not require a thermostat. It didn't work. So I decided tomake my own heat mat and attach it to a thermostat. No problemsso far. I drilled holes in the back of the snake cage and dismantled anold electrical cord. I attached a plug I bought from thehardware and attached it to one end and I soldered the otherends onto the mat. I wanted to use a detachable plug so I couldthread the cord through a small hole in the back of the cage. Iwanted the hole to be small enough to prevent escape, even bysmall snakes. The soldering was a bit difficult as the soldering iron had notbeen refurbished ( I have since refurbished it and it worksperfectly now - you can find out how to refurbish you solderingiron in my book "How to Build Reptile Enclosures".) I also had to drill a small hole in the back of the cage for thethermostat probe, which sat on top of the heat mat. I stuck theheat mat down with some tape but I think I might try doublesided tape in future as it does tend to come off the base. I could have put the heat mat on the base and then placed thinply or something similar over the top. I have yet to try thismethod. I have seen snake cages where tiles were glued andplaced over the heat mat, after applying a layer of glue orsimilar substance. This seems a good idea. I do not know the life span of a heatmatbut provided they can last a long time, this seems to have somemerit for cleaning and maintenance purposes. I prefer to usemelamine on the base as it is easily washable. Silicone shouldbe placed around the edges to prevent water damage and leakageinto the joins. There is a trick to making a smooth siliconejoint. Placing the lights in the snake cage was relatively easy. Idecided that I would place an in-line switch to each light so Icould control them from outside the cage without having toscrounge around finding the cord or a switch on a switch board. I have quite a good range of tools in my shed but I reallydidn't need a lot to make the cages. I think for most people,cutting the timber square is one of the biggest issues. Thereare ways around this so that constructing the cage is relativelyeasy. (you can find these out in the book "How to Build ReptileEnclosures") I did a lot of looking around at various cages, trying todetermine the best material to build them from. I built mineusing MDF. I use it for a number of reasons. - It has good thermal properties. - It's easy to use. - It comes out well painted. - It's easy to sand. - It does not buckle easily - You can work with relatively thin (1/2") material making itnot too heavy You do need to be a bit careful cutting it and I would adviseusing a mask. It can be very dusty. You also need to be a bit careful putting in screws. Put them intoo hard and you damage the hole. They will not hold properly. I would not advise making a snake or other reptile cage frompine or cedar. These materials can be dangerous to reptiles. Afew pieces of pine for framing is fine but not the whole cage. Another good material is plywood. I do not use it mostly becauseit can be splintery. It does look good however if you finish itwith a timber finish or some sort of clear coat. I also painted my cages. I let them dry out for about a weekbefore I put the animals in there. This was to ensure that thepaint had time to cure and that the amount of vapor it wasreleasing had declined enough to be no threat to the snakes. Youcan pop your head in the cage after 4 or 5 days and smell theinside of the cage. When the paint smell has almost gone thatthe snake or lizard cage will be safe to put the animals in. After painting it's just a matter of adding locks, door holdersand accessories like climbing branches, rocks, hides, waterbowls, fake rock walls and whatever you fancy. My two children's pythons are now happily existing in theirhabitats. I am also planning to get a Darwin, Olive or maybe a BrisbaneCarpet Python. My daughter has some blue tongued lizards(skinks) and we also have a bearded dragon and a snake-neckedtortoise which is kept in a pond in the back yard. Good Luck. About the author:Find out how to build these cages as well as arboreal cages.Fullco lour pictures, detailed diagrams and easy to follow,step-by-step instructions. http://www.reptile-cage-plans.com
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