looking for bci enclosures pics

[malibou]

i'am getting a couple of bci and would like some ideas on how to build a good enclosure. so does anyone have pics of there enclosures or good ideas on how to build. thanks muchly

[king nick]

heres a pic of my hog island boas cage, its a 50 gallon with sliding doors at the front.

http://www.reptilescanada.com/gallery/data/2/11.JPG

http://www.reptilescanada.com/gallery/data/2/22.JPG

nick

[malibou]

thanks nice pics i would like to build a stacking cage of sometype lacking room and need three cages. any ideas would help

[BOAS_N_PYTHONS]

If these BCI are babies up to 3 feet, there are a wide vareity of plastic containers like Sterlite or Rubbermaid that will house these easily until they go over the 3 foot mark. If they are older than a custom larger cage made or bought will suit them fine. Assuming you want to maximize space and limit the amount of building or re-buying of cages then a 4 x 2 x 2 cage even 3 stacked will work fine. As for the bottom cage do not place it directly on the floor but a few inches higher with clearance is your best bet, main reasons are floor is always colder and to make the snake feel less stressed seeing your feet come up to the bottom cage will only spook it more. So build a rack or something that leaves the bottom cage a bit higher than level with the floor. The reason I said plastic tubs for smaller boas is because a large cage will create stress on small snakes even baby to juvenile boas. I understand you may not want to graduate your BCI from small cages to larger ones but its in the animals best interest.

There are a wide vareity of materials for cage making and the popular one is melamine easily found at any hardware store. 1/2 - 3/4 is the way to go, I would go 3/4 its heavier but stronger as well. There are alot of blue prints through these forums and others that can help you or guide you into a great design that fits your needs as well as your animals. The only few recommendations I can tell you are make sure the joints are solid and glued then screwed together (not nailed) and then silicone the edges - this is basic stuff. The are other ideas like boat epoxy and poly-urathene that also incease the strenght and water proofing but they are used more on normal wood materials not laminates.

Depending where you live and your ability to build these cages and as well as funds you can create something rather simple to extensive and there are builders out there as well that make these cages with alot of experience and from trial and error ideas. There is an enclosure section on this forum that have peoples ideas and that can assist you more as well.

After the basic construction, things like the opening either sliding glass or plexi to open door units or hidged as well work fine all depends on what you favour. Heating on stacked units I would recommend radiant heat panels, they cost more unfront but last longer and give you a sense of security nothing else can do. And then there is ventilation, again its what you favour but I do recommend at least 2 opening from side to side to give proper ventilation like a cyclone effect to control humidty and stale air zones. Also depending on the door method you use, please consider a lock system anything from a real display lock type to a build in lock unit to sliding system......again its in your animals best interest.

Goodluck.

[malibou]

thanks for the info. two are babies and one is a 5 foot male so i would like to stack the cages for future use. i know the smaller ones will llike smaller places at first. thanks any more pics or help would be great

[Chalkie]

Hi here are some pics of my enclosures, the bottom 4 tanks are 5x2x2 and 4x2x2 which i keep my 4 bci in and the tops are smaller for some balls i will hopefully get this weekend.
They are all built out of melamine (screwed and glued) and sealed with silicone. The fronts on the big tanks are 4mm toughened glass sliding doors and the top three tanks are clear plastic on a melamine frame hinged at the base.
They all have individual heat mats covering a third of the tank and a lights on timers.
Hope this helps and let me know what you think

http://i40.photobucket.com/albums/e246/Frankienchalkie/DSC01508.jpg

These are some of my snakes
http://i40.photobucket.com/albums/e246/Frankienchalkie/DSC00968.jpg
http://i40.photobucket.com/albums/e246/Frankienchalkie/DSC00952.jpg
http://i40.photobucket.com/albums/e246/Frankienchalkie/Frankiesfirstmouse037.jpg
http://i40.photobucket.com/albums/e246/Frankienchalkie/DSC00784.jpg

[malibou]

thanks a big help like those cages a good idea i have four ball pythons as well nice snakes to. i'am just getting into snakes and so far love them thank you again

[Chalkie]

up until a trip to australia in august i was terrified of snakes, but there i watched an educational at a zoo and became fascinated, 2 months later i got my first boa now i have 4 of them and hopefully a ball this weekend. they become an obsession,