Well, whatever the size, construction techniques are fairly similar. For most cages, you can simply start off with a rectangular frame made from 2x2, then cover it in plywood, OSB, or whatever. That's basically a box, and you just replace say the front with glass or screen, maybe a hinged lid, etc. What sort of size space are you looking to fill? What kind of dimensions?
I'm going to put my mali uro in it, a cave, some rocks, fake vines on the cool side, a food and water dish too!
Well, just make it as big as possible... The basic principles of wooden cage building are no different to cabinet & cupboard building really. So it mostly depends on the kind of appearance you want, how large the enclosure would be and the materials you want to use. On a small enclosure, 1/4" cabinet grade plywood might be fine. On a 6ft long enclosure, it would need support (2x2 or 2x4's) to help keep its shape.
Here is an example of what is being taked about. This enclosure is 7ft long, 3.5 feet tall, and 2.1 feet deep frame built with 2x4's and screws. I will be wrapping it with plywood on 3 sides and plexiglass in the front. It will also have 2 hingled lids on the top. If I remember when I get home I'll also upload the most recent pctures of this enclosure. I'm just about ready to add the plywood.
Plexi glass is good for building a cage, and put the cage on some wheels maybe for easier transportation, gutted out my dresser to put a 55 gallon long tank in there. It wasn't homemade but I put a lid on it with a sliding door in the middle of the lid, and installed 2 light fixtures for night time heating and day time heating, I laid down a sheet of hard wood in my dresser and attached wheels to it and some handles to pull it out and chains like a drawbridge to the sides for support if I want to pull it out farther, good luck.
Plexiglass CAN be ok, but it depends what's goin inside. A lot of lizards starting at about beardy-size can scratch the hell otu of plexiglass in no time, but for something like a leopard gecko, or anoles, something that doesn't constantly scratch at the sides, it could be good
I'm using the plexiglass for 2 ornate wood turtles. I haven't noticed them scratching at the glass in there 55 gallon tank so I don't think plexglass will be a problem in my enclosure.
What type of water proffing should I use for the wood. What should I use to line the floor of the enclosure to help the wood from coming in contact with the moisture. I was thinking of placing plastic along the floor with staples but not sure this is the best thing for the job. I use bed o beast for floor covering and it holds lots of moisture which over time will rot and warp the wood. Any suggestions would be great.
A good water-based polyurethane should be good. Or just check your local home depot. Speak to the staff, tell them it must be non-toxic, water proof, and safe for use around animals once dry.
Shane, Just a couple of comments. 1) Don't use plexiglass. I know beardies will scratch the heck out of it. 2) I have two solutions for waterproofing the interior of wood enclosures. Both have worked well for me: One of my cabinet cages is built with MDF coated with melamine-type of laminate. The laminate side is on the inside of the cage and the seams and corners are sealed with silicon cement. My larger bearded dragon cage is built with 3/4 in cabinet grade plywood. The cage interiors has been coated with 2 coats of a two-part epoxy paint. This 2-part paint is sold at Lowes and is used for sealing and painting garage floors. I got this idea off a website from a guy who uses this epoxy paint to build 100gal plywood holding tanks for marine tropical fish. He has used one of these tanks for almost 20 years and has yet to spring a leak! You can look at this cage at: http://www.imagestation.com/picture/sraid1...61/f9c246e8.jpg Here's another view of it: http://www.imagestation.com/picture/sraid1...d6/f9c246e9.jpg George
