Custom enclosures for colubrid question..

[marisa]

Hello. I am trying to work out some details for giving my colubrids larger cages.

Now, does anyone who keeps colubrids in custom enclosures prefer a certain door type? I have been trying to figure out what's best...sliding glass doors in tracks, or fold down front doors, or what. I don't know about yours but my colubrids often come out of the cage when the tub lids are lifted, and I want doors that will be both secure and keep things simple.

Any suggestions?

Marisa

[Steve]

I personally like the sliding doors on tracks. Easy to install, practical, securly locks and its cheap.

[lolaophidia]

I prefer the hinged opening doors. I don't have to worry about anything getting caught in a track and they're secure. I keep a large Taiwan in a Boaphile cage (with the hinged door) and I just use a little hook to push him gently back if he's trying to get out when the door is open. Most hinge doors can come with a key lock option which works well for me.

[vanderkm]

Our plywood cages for large hondos and cal kings have hinged doors (ours open up and are hooked to the stacking cage above to keep them out of the way when cleaning). I like the security of hinged doors and hate sliding door tracks that always get stuff stuck in them. Also like to be able to open the full front of the cage to be able to get a snake in or out.

Our snakes virtually never rush the door when it is open and I find it easier to put them back into a fully opened cage front. They actually seem much more content in these wooden cages than in tubs and are less frantic to dash around than when a tub is pulled out - I sometimes think the movement of pulling out a tub disrupts their world a bit and gets them going!!

If I was making them again, I might opt for a split hinged door so half the cage could be open and the other still secured.

mary v.

[Tim_Cranwill]

Any pics of your enclosures, Mary? If not, don't worry about it. I know you're busy!

[vanderkm]

Some pics on my computer at home - will upload tonight - just no good ones on this machine!! You would think with several thousand pics I would have at least one cage picture here!

mary v.

[marisa]

I'd love to see pics as well. I like the idea of a split opening door.

Thanks for the replies so far! Sounds like for colubrids sliding glass doors could be annoying.

Marisa

[vanderkm]

Tim - busy doesn't begin to describe it - tonight's chore was dismantling the hatchling rack and getting it into the mini-van. We built it in anticipation of moving, so it has removable, slide-in melamine shelves with a plywood frame. Idea was that when the shelves were out - it would be very light to move even though it is 4 feet wide and 6 ft high. It was light, but manouvering it out of the basement was still a major challenge - not to mention getting it out the back door and off the porch!! Then - after all that - the frame was too big -- by only a couple inches to fit in the back of the van!! Had to end up taking it apart anyway - but out in the cold garage instead of in the warm basement. The joys of moving!

Anyway - here are the cages we use for hondo females and our large cal king and yellow ratsnake. They are 5 X 2 X 2 - could probably be less high, but these still stack three high and give the snakes plenty of room. Construction is 3/4 inch plywood, painted with enamel, inner corners and edges siliconed and lino floor. We used metal brackets (love these things) to join the sides so that we didn't need 2X4's and again keeps the weight down and makes for clean inside corners.

They are vented on top and sides so are elevated above each other - wouldn't bother with the top vents (and doors) if we were making them again and they would stack better. There is a 4 inch litter dam and the door is a sheet of plexiglass that has holes drilled around the perimeter and is then screwed to trim board. The trim was just to give something to attach the hooks and hinges to.

The doors hinge up and they clip to the door of the cage above them to hold them up. We considered doing a hinge down but it would be very awkward for the cage on the bottom - hard to reach over the door without having that cage raised quite high off the floor. The door of the top cage in a stack just attaches to a hook on the ceiling or flips completely over the top of the cage. Only thing I would change is to maybe have two doors. These are 2 years old and have stood up well.





latch and metal bracket construction


and the rack that is now in pieces in the minivan!!



The best laid plans and still doesn't always work out!!

mary v.

[Brent Strande]

Wow Mary! Looks Great!

Marisa, I def like the idea of hinged doors. I built my first custom enclosure with sliding doors, and planned on using it for corns, but wound up housing the JCPs instead... and they were able to squeeze through the glass! (hence the names Bonnie and Clyde) so I have never been able to trust sliding doors ever since...

[dannyc]

My enclosure has a hinged acrylic door. I used aluminum angle on the outer edges to make it ridgid. If your enclosure is 18-24" high you can hinge it from the bottom and just let it swing down when open so that it's out of the way. You also should put a piece of wood, about 1 1/2 to 2" high at the bottom on the inside to keep the substrait from spilling out when you open the door. Acrylic is a little expensive but you don't have to have a wooden frame to hold it in place and you can drill it. I'll send pics and instructions if you give me an email address. I haven't figured how to insert pics into these messages. . . . Yet

Danny

[marisa]

What I PROBABLY plan on doing is making doors that open 100% and swing out to the left or right. I will have a 4 inch or so plexi litter dam behind each door.

How does this sound?

Marisa