You are currently viewing our boards as a guest which gives you limited access to view most discussions and access our other features. By joining our free community you will have access to post topics, communicate privately with other members (PM), respond to polls, upload content and access many other special features. Registration is fast, simple and absolutely free so please, join our community today!
If you have any problems with the registration process or your account login, please contact contact us.
What is everyone's experience with them? I know drop down doors such as Wayne's are being used more often, but I have one of those on my burm's cage, and frankly I am less than pleased with it. I like how with sliding doors, you can adjust how much of the cage is open.
If you had a group of monitors, perhaps two or three.. It seems like it would be a hassle keeping them all in. My burm at least doesn't come flying out expecting food..
The only drawbacks I can think of is that there would be a small air leak between the two panels, and dirt could get in the tracks.
If you were to put up a barrier, you could prevent the latter to some extent. Or just use a shop vac whenever dirt got in.
Depends on the species I would say. I will not do sliding doors with ackies again. They fill the track system with dirt and then it becomes a pain in the ***. If course I have always prefered walkin enclosures
To prevent the dirt in the tracks, my idea would be to place a barrier around the edges, on the inside of the glass. This would at least reduce the amount of dirt, and would prevent the monitors from fiddling as well.
I use sliding glass doors on all of my enclosures. With lace monitors, it's important to be able to control the size of the opening as juveniles and adults may rush at you for food and hatchlings my try to bolt out to escape. Also, anything with a hinge may result in tail tip loss at some stage because they have really long tails.
Although the glass tracking in my smaller enclosures is the standard plastic glass track, which occasionally collects substrate, the best way to avoid dirt in the tracks is to use a sort of tracking in which the base of the track is the 'male' part of the tracking system (ie the bit that sticks up) rather than the 'female' part. The glass tracking in my adult lace monitor enclosure has such a system. There is a metal frame on the lower part of the glass that has small wheels, which roll on a raised track on the window frame.
I don't have any photographs of the tracking (I'll have to take some at some stage), but it's visible in this video and you can hear the wheels running along the track in some of the clips. If you pause the video at around 0:36 you can see the track and the window frame.
(as per usual, the video isn't showing up when I preview this post and Wayne normally sorts it out, but in the meantime I'll insert a link below)
Thank you for the info, glad to see you posting again.
Were I designing a fairly large cage for a group of Ackies, which would you recommend? If the dirt problem with the standard ones isn't too bad, I'd prefer to go with those, as the ones with wheels irritate my ears a bit for some reason. Not a huge deal, but still.
Were I designing a fairly large cage for a group of Ackies, which would you recommend?
I would recommend the ones I used for the large enclosure in that video, without hesitation. The sound of the glass rolling along on wheels (loud in the video mainly because of the weight of those particular glass panels) is nothing compared to the sound/feel of glass in a plastic track trying to roll over sand. I've yet to hear anyone comment on the sound of the glass tracks I have on my large enclosure, so it may seem louder or more irritating in the video than it is in life.
I would recommend the ones I used for the large enclosure in that video, without hesitation. The sound of the glass rolling along on wheels (loud in the video mainly because of the weight of those particular glass panels) is nothing compared to the sound/feel of glass in a plastic track trying to roll over sand. I've yet to hear anyone comment on the sound of the glass tracks I have on my large enclosure, so it may seem louder or more irritating in the video than it is in life.
Just look up sliding glass track systems. The manufacturer I bought mine from is called Cowdroy, but that's of no help to you as it's an Australian company. However, when I searched Google images for sliding glass track systems, the very first image that came up was this:
This sort of glass tracking system is usually used by retailers for glass display cabinets (holding jewelry etc) and for wardrobes.
Both have there merits both have there down sides.
What's the down side to sliding glass? What's the up side to hinged doors?
Quote:
Originally Posted by varanus_mad
Tracks is the biggest down side for sliding doors... sand plus track = nails on a chalkboard...
That's why the discussion of the 'male' tracking system as described above. No sand on the track.
I should mention that the biggest up side to sliding vs hinged doors (or biggest down side to hinged doors, depending on how you look at it), especially with some species (like argus and lace monitors, for example) is that you can control how much of the door is open at feeding time. If I had a hinged opening on my adult lace monitor enclosure, I wouldn't be able to type this.
As for tail loss, the difference between sliding doors and hinged doors is that with sliding doors your hands (and attention) are where the opening is as you slide the door closed, so the likelihood of tail tip loss is minimal to the point of not-going-to-happen. I've never had an issue with adult or baby lace monitors and they've got really long tails. With hinged doors, on the other hand, your hands (and attention) are at the part of the door furthest from the hinge, whereas it's the scissoring action right near the hinge that will most likely cause tail loss.
In my opinion, the differences between sliding glass and hinged doors are quite large.
Linear Mode
