Building an enclosure. Got a few questions....

[w30olds]

I'm in the process of making our boa a new home. It's going to be a 6x2x2 enclosure. Mainly I wanted to find out what type of materials are you guys using to make your enclosures with? As far as wood is concerned are you using regular plywood and then adding a paint finish to it? The front I'm going to make plexiglass with 2 doors. I'm also going to build a hiding spot on one end for a little privacy. The rest will be open space with some tree branches and rocks. As far as heating the enclosure I was thinking of buying the flex watt heating materials. Problem is will this stuff heat through plywood and supply enough heat to heat the enclosure, or should I go a different route? I'm also adding secondary heat in the form of heat lamps as well. Do I need to add any sort of ventilation?

If you guys could offer anymore input I'd greatly appreciate it. I wish some of the local hardware chains offered a large plasitc style cube to buy. Then I could modify it as needed. No such luck as of yet.

Thanks,
Andy

[JuliusSqueezer]

Tileboard!

Here are some of my tileboard cages and racks I have built. Tileboard/shower surround comes in 4x8 sheets for about 10 bucks at any Lowes or Home Depot. I frame it with 1x2s and panel the sides and top inside and out but single layer the bottom and back for easy heating and lighting. The bottom is framed and braced though. It's about as light as plastic caging but strong enough to stand on....and a LOT cheaper. It's only 1/8" thick so it's easy to work with and easy to heat through...and once it's all framed up and put together..pretty freaking strong. I'm 308 pounds and I can easily stand on top of them without them even slightly flexing.

This is a double arboreal cage I built for a couple of emeralds. total length is 4 feetx 20" deep and high.



This is a little 2 foot cage I made out of scraps..


This is a pile of misc caging..some Barrs, some precision and some of my tileboard cages. The bottom cage is an 8x3x2 tileboard burm cage where Max lives.



As I built and kept building...the cages evolved...that ghastly metal hardware was replaced with white plastic twist knobs and much smaller hinges painted with white enamal...This is an early photo. That stack looks a little better now lol

Here are some racks I have built with the same stuff.

[w30olds]

Thanks for the info Julius. I'm going today and look at Home Depot for some building materials. Nice cages by the way. I like the tree boa setup. Looks very nice.

[TheBoaGuy]

i use 3/4" sanded funiture quality plywood with a minwax stain and 3 coats of semi gloss clear coat.

[JuliusSqueezer]

That stack looks really nice PF...how do you heat the bottom? or do you?

Something to consider when planning a front opening cage is doors. There are many choices but usually come down pretty much to hinged or sliders. Sliders, I like the best for most snakes...but absolutely under no circumstance would I ever put a venomous snake in a slider. Drop down, hinged doors are the only way to go for vens. Sliders put your fingers in bad spots at times. You never forget to close drop down doors and when you are opening or closing, you can better use the door as a shield.

	Venomous Reptile A term commonly used to refer to a venomous reptile. Most commonly used in reference to venomous snakes.

[WeissChoice]

Great looking enclosures guys~!! Very amazing~!!

[JMReptiles]

im almost finished with my 6x2x2 cage. im using flexwatt for the bottom and inside the back paneling..built into the cage. i worked on it for about 7 hours yesterday..and i think im gonna do something for the doors today so i can seal it up and check the temps and all inside before i move CHASE into it.

[JMReptiles]

heres a pic of how i put my flexwatt...just so you can see for ideas if you need them.

[TheBoaGuy]

i use flexx watt on all the cages on the bottom i had to add a che with a wire cage to boost heat cuz temps are to low down there

	Ceramic Heat Emitter Ceramic Heat Emitter: A porcelain heating device that screws into a standard porcelain incandescent socket