All this talk about caging [I have to change caging this year]

Re: All this talk about caging [I have to change caging this year]

feeds@yuku.com (ITsBUDLUV) — Sun, 11 May 2008 09:11:42 GMT

Aaron- I'm the same way, I come from a family of carpenters and I think I'm the generation that the skill skipped over in fact I think it leap over me, although I have one cage I built from the GM design I've tried twice since then and failed, I'm still going to give it a shot, but in the mean time I've been buying cages from Herp Enclosures, a 2X2 cube cost $167.00 shipped, he also has a 36X24X18 for $210.00 shipped. I live 20...

Re: All this talk about caging [I have to change caging this year]

feeds@yuku.com (Brandon Osborne) — Sun, 11 May 2008 08:20:23 GMT

Aaron, I just finished five 40x20x20 MELAMINE cages for about $75-80ea. They are probably a little larger than I needed, but I wanted everything to be uniform when stacked. Since I'm heating with lightbulbs, or trying to right now, I don't have much expense. I purchased the 5/8" BLACK cabinet grade melamine from a local custom millwork shop for around $45 per sheet.....it is the good stuff with a thick coating sprayed on the wood.

I worked it out so I could get...

Re: All this talk about caging [I have to change caging this year]

feeds@yuku.com (Rico Walder) — Sun, 11 May 2008 04:23:49 GMT

Hey Aaron,

This is easy..... move south where it's warm!

Re: All this talk about caging [I have to change caging this year]

feeds@yuku.com (BuddyBuscemi) — Sun, 11 May 2008 03:47:35 GMT

Aaron

I feel your chill, although not quite like living in a sub artic zone near a large frozen lake.
Take a look at this set up, the bottom photo shows the entire wall.
You could do this with a heat panel in the larger cages, and use heat tape along the bottom or back for supplemental heat in the winter, or in your case 10 months of the year.
If I were to do this setup I would lessen the height to 18" or less, I would use racks that have a wood base, cover the...

Re: All this talk about caging [I have to change caging this year]

feeds@yuku.com (Steve Butner) — Sat, 10 May 2008 21:10:51 GMT

hey Arron- not knowing the size of your basement but have you considerd partitioning (sp) a portion of it? with the correct footage the enclosures help keep the room warm, and by adding proper ventalation you can cycle without problems due to the basement temps. just a thought.

Re: All this talk about caging [I have to change caging this year]

feeds@yuku.com (Gary Schiavino) — Sat, 10 May 2008 18:39:01 GMT

Can one assume that by "transmission" you mean "pedals"?

Re: All this talk about caging [I have to change caging this year]

feeds@yuku.com (aaron florian) — Sat, 10 May 2008 18:08:29 GMT

I am *so* glad you chimed in Gary.

Thanks for your wonderful insight. Now can you help me with my transmission?

Re: All this talk about caging [I have to change caging this year]

feeds@yuku.com (Gary Schiavino) — Sat, 10 May 2008 18:07:21 GMT

Aaron,

Go with old fish tanks. (aka "Leakers")
They're inexpensive, you can seek your animal from every side, and screen tops make it easy to run a "Hot Rock" cord.

Now please stop bothering the community with your inane questions.

Gary

Re: All this talk about caging [I have to change caging this year]

feeds@yuku.com (chondro1) — Sat, 10 May 2008 18:04:53 GMT

Aaron,
I'll take some close ups in the morning, The framing around the glass is just plastic glass track, that's it nothing more, I got my glass cut at a local glass supply house It's 1/8 inch glass panels, and the most expensive part of making the cage ($21.00) Home Depot has glass and cutters and all, but I figure At $50.00 per cage, that works as well as anything I've seen Im well ahead of the game.

Mike

Re: All this talk about caging [I have to change caging this year]

feeds@yuku.com (aaron florian) — Sat, 10 May 2008 17:30:52 GMT

I've done uncoated melamine (no con-tact paper), have had them for 5 years, and they are still in great shape. The actual "box" part of it is easy enough to rebuild for $15 if it comes time, it's the acoutrements that end up costin... :/

I sealed mine with silicone in the joints, no problems yet. But they're only 5 years old. Sharphorn cages are going to cost a lot more than 50 a pop more. Not out of the running, but just mathemagically speaking (I'm a...

Re: All this talk about caging [I have to change caging this year]

feeds@yuku.com (Amedachan) — Sat, 10 May 2008 17:28:44 GMT

Joey, I agree 100%. I also looked into building my own cages, but I'm now on my 3rd order from Jim and I couldn't be more pleased with his cages. They are super lightweight, easy to maintain, and are holding up beautifully. My animals really seem to like them and I do too.

Aaron, you can also order them minus the heat panel and light, if you wanted to save a few bucks and explore cheaper heating...

Re: All this talk about caging [I have to change caging this year]

feeds@yuku.com (PITDRAGON) — Sat, 10 May 2008 17:04:27 GMT

Aaron melamine will eventually fall apart due to humidity. Bite the bullet and go pvccages.com. I figured with my time and material to build maxwell cages ,the sharphorn cages only cost me 25-50 bucks more and will last forever. Just my 2 cents

Joey

Re: All this talk about caging [I have to change caging this year]

feeds@yuku.com (whitehillreptile) — Sat, 10 May 2008 15:38:37 GMT

anyone have any malamine cages that have been in use for quite a while? every one that i have had in the past would eventually start swelling. this is probably more of a "manufacturers" (that being me) defect than anything else. How did you seal yours Kim?? silicone??

Tre' Hill

Re: All this talk about caging [I have to change caging this year]

feeds@yuku.com (MegF42) — Sat, 10 May 2008 14:53:58 GMT

I have melamine cages built ala Greg Maxwell style. I love them. I heat them with Desert heat panels which are much cheaper than the pro panels and they do a fantastic job. No problems keeping the temperatures where I want it.

Re: All this talk about caging [I have to change caging this year]

feeds@yuku.com (aaron florian) — Sat, 10 May 2008 13:43:07 GMT

Joe, they look cool, but wonder about heat loss ... I've never done acrylic, I'd imagine it depends on the thickness ....

Re: All this talk about caging [I have to change caging this year]

feeds@yuku.com (milmoejoe) — Sat, 10 May 2008 13:27:58 GMT

Hi aaron,

you might also want to look into something like this:

http://moreliaviridis.yuku.com/topic/593

vision rack with acrylic tubs.

I personally HATE racks, but still find that to be a fairly sexy setup.

Whatever the rack costs + $50 per acrylic tub

Re: All this talk about caging [I have to change caging this year]

feeds@yuku.com (aaron florian) — Sun, 04 Jul 1926 12:10:45 GMT

Thanks for all the comments so far, please keep em coming.

Heating the basement is not THE answer. I need to get rid of the Visions, period. They are too big for what I need, and I need to get more efficient space usage. Investing in insulating the basement and getting a heat source down here isn't out of the question, it's just not the whole shabang. I need to upgrade, so to speak, for space, and consistency.

Mike, that's close to what I want if I build....

Re: All this talk about caging [I have to change caging this year]

feeds@yuku.com (Ben Team) — Sat, 10 May 2008 11:39:31 GMT

2 thoughts-
1) If you are going to heat individual cages, use retro-fitted rubbermaids and heat with lamps. Very affordable, 'disposable', easy to tweak, etc.
2) With that number of animals, it is far cheaper to heat the room (according to my super top secret sources).

Re: All this talk about caging [I have to change caging this year]

feeds@yuku.com (chondro1) — Sat, 10 May 2008 11:19:44 GMT

Aaron,
I made 6 cages this year out of melamine, my basement also gets cold but I have no problems keeping the cages heated at the desired temps. 3 cages are 24 inch, and 3 are 32 inch. Best part of all they only cost me about $50 each to build, including having the glass cut. I got my melamine from our local Home Depot it comes in 2 by 4 sheets, and I even had them cut it to...

Re: All this talk about caging [I have to change caging this year]

feeds@yuku.com (milmoejoe) — Sat, 10 May 2008 11:09:50 GMT

I personally am looking at the black HDPE 24x24x24's from repti-racks. But, that unfortunately is the $400 / each "deal".

All this talk about caging [I have to change caging this year]

feeds@yuku.com (aaron florian) — Sat, 10 May 2008 09:57:17 GMT

So I've got a dilemma. It's about caging.

Last year I got a bunch of Vision 222's and Exo's on a "Fire Sale" deal. They are awesome, except for the fact that my basement gets to be 55 degrees in the winter. Underneath heat tape and the lack of insulation in these cages has not been enough to be able to "dial in" a temp where I want. Daytimes would sometimes get only to the high 70s. Futzing around, putting a big heat source in the room would...