New 8 foot retic enclosure build

[Gatlin]

Hello to all. This is my first post to the forums. Let me know what you think of my new cage! It's an 8'x3'x3' cage. The frame is made out of 2x4's and the walls on the inside are foam boards. I then attached self adhesive "wood print" vinyl to the inside.

For heat i have a 160 watt RHP controlled by a Herpstat ND. I have the lights on a digital timer. The come on in the morning at 7am, then kick off at night at 9pm. When they kick off at night, my black lights come on.

I also have a humidifier setup to automatically come on for 15 minutes every 3 hours. It keeps the humidity up around 70% or so. She's had amazing sheds after i added this system. The shelf and branch are removable for deep cleaning.


A lot of hard work went into this cage, please let me know what you think!

[bcr229]

Sweet setup! We have three BCI's, a future breeding pair and a normal female, and we're making similar enclosures for each of them. Fortunately the largest female is only 5' now and she's in a 6' tank, so we have some time.

[Danimal]

Nice looking. Is that 2" foam board insulation used for the walls?

[Gatlin]

Thank you very much. The bottom foam is 2-1/2" styrofoam and the walls and ceiling are 1" foam board.

[Gatlin]

Here is some more progress..

[Gatlin]

I think it turned out well

[Gatlin]

The humidity fills up the cage pretty well

[Gatlin]

And this is Alice. She's a 10 foot, 1-1/2 year old white phase tiger retic.

[JWFugle]

holy crap.... im just drooling.... amazing, superb, beautiful....

the humidifier out the eyes is so cool!

great looking snake too

please share more photos!!

[Freebody]

very nice mate! very nice.

[Terranaut]

Wow I have designing a cage for quite some time now and I am shocked at how close some of it is to what I have come up with. Love the skull but those flowers...well not my favorite ;) . Nice job and from the pics great craftmanship. Stellar.

[Bloedig]

So cool, great work!

[Mark Taylor]

That's excellent well done.

[jausi]

nice enclosure!!!!! thanks for sharing

[Jack C]

Very impressive, well planned out.

[Mark Taylor]

Are you going to put hides in?

[Gatlin]

Thank you guys very much for the compliments! It went from a weekend project that wasn't intended to be this nice and just got out of hand! You know how it goes with a project, once the ideas started coming they just didn't stop.

I will not be adding any hides. I had her in hides for 6 months or so when she was a baby, but she is very conditioned to not having a hide now. Well as conditioned as a snake can get anyway.

She is a doll! As requested, here are some more miscellaneous pics.

[Gatlin]

This was the messiest feeding she's ever had! All of her food is frozen/thawed but for some reason this rat kinda exploded! It looked like a horror scene in there.

This was the first time i have fed her on bark and was a little paranoid about what i've heard about retics swallowing the bark and having trouble passing it. I laid down some paper to be safe. I have since switched to the black outdoor carpet. It's so much easier to clean and swap with a fresh one.

[Gatlin]

Here is where i have my Herpstat mounted. I used a computer chord plastic circle to make it look a little cleaner.

[Gatlin]

Here are a few more pics with the flash off.

[JWFugle]

again great looking snake and cage, nice to see display cages instead of the "rack and stacks"

is that the only support for that log? it looks great i would just be worried about it breaking if she puts her weight on the opposite end. idk more curious then concerned.

can we get a pic of the how you connected the fogger? it looks awesome and id like to some day do the same.

sorry for the bombardment :)

[BrownSugar92]

Really cool! I have to buy my cages already made because I can't build anything like that o.o
I admire people who have that sort of talent. Well done

[Gatlin]

again great looking snake and cage, nice to see display cages instead of the "rack and stacks"

is that the only support for that log? it looks great i would just be worried about it breaking if she puts her weight on the opposite end. idk more curious then concerned.

can we get a pic of the how you connected the fogger? it looks awesome and id like to some day do the same.

sorry for the bombardment :)

Thanks man. No that's not the only support for that log. I have two "hook and circle" bolts on either end. The circle bolts are attached to the 2x4 frame of the cage. The hook bolts are bolted about 4 inches into the log. Trust me it's not going anywhere!

I also have three of those hook and circle bolts attached to the basking shelf. Both the shelf and the log are very easily removeable for cleaning.

I'll try to get some pictures of how i ran the plumbing.

[Tracy33]

Fantastic looking cage !! , and nice snake . I also wish i could build something like that . Still , i just come on here and watch you guys . well done !!!

[Bloedig]

I assume the log is a natural log and it appears you treated it with something? What did you use to coat the log? I am interested in using a large branch off one of my trees in the backyard for this purpose, but afraid to use un treated/coated.

[Gatlin]

I assume the log is a natural log and it appears you treated it with something? What did you use to coat the log? I am interested in using a large branch off one of my trees in the backyard for this purpose, but afraid to use un treated/coated.

Yes it is a natural log i went into the woods to get. I brought it home and stripped the bark off it. I then let it soak in bleach water for a couple hours. After scrubbing the crap out of it, it got 3 coats of medium walnut stain followed by 3 coats of polyurethane. I then let it sit outside for about 5 days air drying. Then after another heavy scrubbing with bleach/soapy water. It was ready for the cage.

The same thing was done with the basking shelf made out of 2x4's. They are both completely sealed and water proof. It really makes cleaning them a breeze as well.

[Bloedig]

Great. thanks for the info on that.

[MikeM77]

Beautiful work on the enclosure and gorgeous retic you have bud.

[Gatlin]

Beautiful work on the enclosure and gorgeous retic you have bud.

Thank you much!

[Lickeypie]

Wow, great work! I wish I was at least half as handy as you!

[ReticRonnie]

I know you used foam board on the inside but what did you use to border the outside

[ReticRonnie]

I know you used foam boards on the inside but what did you use on the outside

[rocknhorse76]

Are those circle bolts for gate hinges? Also, about how much $ do you have into this cage so far? I'm thinking about building some 6 foot cages for my boas.

[Abraxxos]

Awesome skull. That is definitely very cool.

[Sweetloaf]

Quite possibly one of the coolest enclosures I've ever seen. Bravo, man.

[Kid Boa]

THAT, is a very sweet setup. :)

[Mutiny]

Very nice enclosure ! Love how the bull skull

[Reddog]

Man that is sick

[ckdavis9]

This is an amazing set up! :) Great work!

[ZStone]

Awesome build!

[hutt132]

That is a very nice cage.

[athms]

Its bitchen good job

[Detroitboa13]

This is a true inspiration to craftsmen everywhere. Amazing job.

[Jim Smith]

Very nice job on your build! I especially like the smoking hot skull. One question though. What did you do to treat the wood you used to line the cage? I would be afraid with wood, especially with tongue n groove lumber, that "crud" could get into the cracks and make it almost impossible to keep clean.

p.s. When I looked quickly at your final photo with the two sconces and the picture in the center, it kinda looked like a casket with a window for viewing;) I think I liked it better with the rifle over the cage.

[Paratoxins]

Holy cow! When I go to build a custom enclosure I'm definitely coming to you with my questions! I've never seen such a lovely, gorgeous, and striking enclosure before! I think the blue flowers with the skull say,"Beautiful but deadly."... Kind of bittersweet. Also adds a kind of surreal feel to it. Well done!