This article is a step by step guide to how I used an old china cabinet to create by own DIY chameleon cage. If you are the type of person who likes to listen rather than read you can watch the video below:
DIY Chameleon Cage:
SCROLL TO THE BOTTOM TO FEW THE FINISHED PROJECT!
STEP ONE: FIND A PIECE OF CHEAP FURNITURE!
It is always I good idea to have a particular animal in mind when designing and building an vivarium. Or at least a “class” of animal. I converted this china cabinet initially as a diy chameleon cage project but since it was made with an arboreal species in mind, it also worked for my giant day gecko for a while as well.
So, if you have a species or a “class” of species (arboreal, terrestrial, tropical, arid, etc.), hit the classifieds and start looking for a good piece of furniture! Moving sales are great, normally you can get things fairly cheap.
This exact cabinet below I have seen for sale as high as $350 on the classifieds (although who knows what they actually got for it), I bought mine for $50 because the seller “just wanted it out of the house!”… they also may not have been fully aware of the actual value of the unit. Worked for me. Anyway, of course I went with this unit because of its height (3.5′), it was also about 2 feet wide and 2 feet deep (at its deepest point, it is a corner cabinet).
DIY chameleon cage: Corner China Cabinet, $50.00
STEP 2: COME UP WITH A PLAN
Once you have your piece of furniture at home, spend some time planning. Some mistakes are forgiving but some are not, especially if you are working with a one-of-a-kind piece of furniture. This vivarium was being converted to a diy chameleon cage, therefore I needed it to:
Have good ventilation
Handle high humidity and mositure
Have proper lighting
Handle live plants
So, my plan was:
Remove the top and side panels, replace with screen
Seal any wood, as well as any seams
Build some kind of “tray” in the bottom to hold soil and plants
Seems simple enough, let’s go!
STEP THREE: VENTILATION
The first thing I did was remove the side panels of glass. Chameleons require ample ventilation so adding more screen was necessary.
DIY chameleon cage: Removed side glass panels
The top also needed to be removed. This accomplished two things:
Increased ventilation
Provided an area for a lighting system to function properly
As you can see, the top was solid wood. I used a Reciprocating Saw to cut it our completely.
Top of the cabinetDIY chameleon cage: Top of the cabinet removed
I went to Home Depot and bought metal mesh screen and screen frame. I used the “tabs” that held the glass panel in to secure the screen frame to the cabinet.
On one side of the cabinet I included a “hand door,” pictured below. Hand doors are handy (sorry)… but they are! Especially if the main door is very large like the one on this cabinet. It is very convenient to be able to open a small door for feeding, misting, etc., rather than opening the entire front of the vivarium (especially if you are keeping flighty animals).
I don’t have a great picture of it but I also stapled screen to the top as well.
Screens installed to replace glass panels
STEP FOUR: SEAL!
Next on the agenda was sealing the china cabinet up to protect it from moisture damage. First I used GE 100% Silicone I (make sure you use GE Silicone I, not II. Scroll to step 4 HERE to read why), to seal any of the seams in the cabinet.
Silicon filled seams
It was also necessary to seal any exposed wood. Keep in mind, the two major walls of the cabinet are actually mirror. This was great because it really reduced the amount of wood in the vivarium to pretty much just the door frames.
I used MINWAX Polycrylic to do this. It is water based and paints on very easy. Plus, once dry it is perfectly safe for your animals!
STEP FIVE: PLANT TRAY
The second last piece of the “diy chameleon cage” puzzle was building a tray to allow the vivarium to hold soil and live plants. This was my favorite part of the build!
The china cabinet came with glass shelves. I used one of these glass shelves as the base of the tray. Then, remember the glass panels I removed at the beginning? Well I took that glass, cut it to size and used silicone to secured it to the base to form “walls’ for the tray. It worked perfectly!
I let it cure for 24 hours and the filled it with water to ensure their were no leaks. There weren’t!
I found the glass edges to be a little sharp so I cover them with pipe insulation.
Glass plant trayGlass tray completed
STEP SIX: BACKGROUND AND SET UP- DIY CHAMELEON CAGE
The last thing left to do before planting the vivarium was covering the mirror’s. As I said above the two large back walls of the vivarium were mirrors. This was good news and bad news. The good news was mirror’s are obviously made of glass meaning water damage wouldn’t be an issue. The bad news was it needed to be covered because it looked weird.
I went to staples and bought Quartet Cork Roll. It was inexpensive and worked great. I just glued it to the mirror using the silicone and was all set. The cork provided a more natural look to the vivarium’s background and is durable enough to handle moisture.
Cork background
Then it was time to add soil, plants and decor!
diy chameleon cage- door opendiy chameleon cage- door closed
Before it was sold, I swapped out some of the plants shown below:
diy chameleon cage- replanted
This was a really fun project to work on and fairly simple to do! Again, the project was intended for chameleons but I was able to keep my giant day gecko in it for a few months before I sold it.
I encourage you to go out, find a piece of furniture and do a diy project of your own! Always remember the animal’s safety is priority number one!
Some of the most common questions surrounding boa constrictor care have to do with feeding. I would argue it is also the area where most mistakes are made.
Here’s the problem…
If you are like me, when you first started doing research on feeding you found 10 different answers that all contradicted each other. I know how frustrating that feels! In this post, I hope give you the tools you need to be able to solve this problem on your own. Why should you be able to solve it on your own? Because there are no two animals alike and you need to know what is best for your boa.
Also I have provided a FREE Boa Constrictor Feeding Chart to help you keep an accurate log.
Spoiler Alert: There is no simple, straightforward answer. Every animal is different, it is up to you to understand your animal’s behaviors and feed appropriately. First, we must lay down a foundation of information to properly address the question of feeding. But since you have your animals best interest at mind I know you will read through the entire post 🙂 I promise it will be worth your while if you are a newbie to all of this!
Before we start, Let’s watch some Boa’s Eat!
Feeding my snakes never gets old! Anyway, let’s get to the important stuff!
Here are the two main feed related questions:
What size should the prey item be?
How often should I feed?
In this post we are going to look at both those questions as well as some other important information that is often left out of the discussion!
Disclaimer:
First, I should say: I am not an expert! I am just sharing the experience I have had working with my animals. I also closely follow the care protocol Vin Russo, lays out in his book Complete Boa Constrictor. If you own a boa and don’t have this book… you need to get it! It is 100% worth the buy. Vin is a legend in the Boa world, he has more experience than most people in the industry and in my opinion his recommendations are very valuable. For my full review on the book, check out my Resources page.
Do you know what a healthy Boa looks like?
The first tool you should have in your arsenal is the ability to judge (by sight and feel) whether or not you have a healthy snake (by “healthy” I mean “a healthy weight”).
Overweight Boa constrictor:
It is pretty easy to make an animal fat! Boa constrictors are no exception. Over feeding a boa will quickly turn your boa into a stuffed sausage. It may sound funny but it is actually quite dangerous. Snakes are not adapted to be able to easily store large amounts of fat.
Here’s why:
Mammals (including humans) store both subcutaneous (under the skin) and intra-abdominal fat. When discussing human health, you have probably heard people say something along the lines of “internal (sometimes called visceral) fat is more dangerous than the fat under the skin”. This is a true statement for many reasons, none of which we need to get into here. Snakes , like most reptiles store the majority of their fat intra-abdominally. In other words, they are predisposed to only gain what we call “the dangerous fat” in humans.
The bad news is…
Internal fat is only visible once an animal is direly over-weight. Excessive wrinkling and “ring” shaped fat deposits are a sure sign of an over-weight boa. An over-weight boa will develop Fatty Liver Disease and die prematurely, period.
Here are some very fat boa’s so you know what to look for:
Fatty ring deposits in boa constrictor. Picture from http://reptile-talk.tumblr.com/post/125789581956/can-you-show-pictures-of-what-a-healthyunderOverweight boa. Picture form http://reptile-talk.tumblr.com/post/125789581956/can-you-show-pictures-of-what-a-healthyunder
Underweight Boa constrictor
Having an under-weight boa due to poor feeding practices is a much less likely occurrence as boa’s have an incredibly slow metabolism and can go long period’s of time between meals. I would think an under-weight boa is more likely to be due to a parasite or illness in most cases. But it definitely does happen from poor feeding habits as well!
An under-weight boa will have a slight triangular shaped body, i.e. the spine will begin to show. It will also have a reduced muscle tone.
Underweight boa. Picture form http://reptile-talk.tumblr.com/post/125789581956/can-you-show-pictures-of-what-a-healthyunder
Side Story: Poor Feeding Routine!
Last year I “rescued” a 1- year old female Colombian boa from a lady who was selling her in the local classifieds. This boa was in rough shape. She was over 1 year old, covered in stuck shed and very frail. I have no idea where the lady got this information from but she was feeding the boa 4-5 mouse fuzzies (2-3 g each) per week!! She also did not provide the animal with any heat, I quote: “It’s a snake, they don’t need heat”. I thought she was joking, she wasn’t. This boa should have already been on 10-12 g hoppers at this point. So the snake was simultaneously being overfed and underfed, the meals were too small and too frequent. All that with no supplementary heat to aid digestion… it was terrible, some people don’t do an ounce of research.
When I received this boa she was covered in stuck shed, had never had supplementary heat and was used to being fed everyday!
Healthy Boa constrictor
Boa constrictors are very muscular snakes. A healthy boa should have a square shape to their body (remember I am talking about boa’s specifically here, some species of snake are round in shape naturally), with a slight grove running down the center of the back (often described a loaf of bread). There should be no protruding spine and absolutely no rolls or fat rings (wrinkles in the skin are normal).
Here is the same from above boa 1-year later:
Healthy boa constrictor
Note you can also see a groove running down the middle of the tail indicating lateral muscle development on the tail. Also note there are no wrinkles in the tail even though it is tightly coiled i.e. she is not over-weight.
Healthy Boa constrictor
The picture above should give you a decent idea of what is meant by the “square” body shape. Each side of the snake should be relativity flat. In other words the animal should be more shaped like a square tube than a round one.
It is also a very good idea to track the weight of your snake so you can monitor its growth.
Boa’s are not Human!
As much as some people like to think of their animals as “children,” it is very important to understand the biological differences between us and them!
So now that you have an idea of what to look for when judging the health of a boa constrictor we can review a few more vital pieces of information that will help you understand you boa:
Ectotherms: Boas, like all reptiles are cold blooded (or ectotherms). This means they do not have to produce their own body heat, unlike you and I and all other mammals. Studies have shown that a snake can survive off just 10% of the food a mammal of the same size can (Snake, Chris Mattison). That is really an incredible stat, who know producing our own heat cost so much!
Ecto vs Endotherms
Opportunistic Feeders: If you own a boa you know they are incredible eaters! Boa owners generally don’t have to deal with “fussy” snakes… unlike ball python owners. Boa’s will eat essentially whenever a meal “wanders” by. In the wild not only does this not happen often, they are not always successful when they strike. Your job is to mimic the wild conditions as much as possible. Your boa would likely take a meal everyday if you let it! This is where understand your snake’s behavior comes into play. Watch for when your boa starts to “hunt” i.e. comes out of its hide in search for food (usually at night), this is NOT a cue to feed but will indicate that it would take a meal and you can adjust your feed plan accordingly.For example: maybe you planned on spacing your boa’s meals out by 5 weeks. But on week 2 there was a bit of a heat wave outside and your animal’s enclosure went up a degree or two, speeding up its metabolism… now its week 3 and the boa is out every night looking for food. This is scenario where you might think about feeding it after 4 weeks instead of 5.
Waiting for food to ‘walk’ by
Seasonal Eaters: There are natural temperature shifts present in the habitats boa constrictors are native to. As the climate cools in the winter two things occur. 1) A boa’s metabolism will slow down, meaning it will take longer to digest meals. This automatically stretches the time between meals. And 2) there are less options food items available to eat (some animals migrate to warmer climates, some burrow , periods of dormancy etc.). Both reasons cause boas to consume less food in the winter/cooler months. Seasonal eating (eating in summer, and little to none in winter) is so important to a boa’s biology that it induces the most important behavior of them all: breeding. This is why I seasonally feed my boas (even though I don’t plan on breeding). I want to properly replicate the conditions the snake’s biology is adapted to.*
*You do not HAVE to seasonally feed and ONLY seasonally feed your boa if you provide a temperature drop during the winter months*
Boa Constrictor: What Size to feed & how often?
Now you can see why this is not a simple question to answer! However, with the information above we can tackle those two common questions I listed above:
1)What size should the prey item be?
The prey item should be no thicker than the the thickest part of the animal! At the most, the meal should produce a slight lump. I know that is not a clear-cut answer. Below I have a chart that indicates the size of prey and the weight of my male boa at the time (He is 50% Colombian/ 50% Sonoran, i.e. he will be smaller than a normal common boa).
Prey Type
Prey Weight (g)
Boa Weight (g)
Hopper Mouse
8-12
67- 155
Medium Mouse
17-20
155-222
Jumbo Mouse
27-35
222-332
Weaned Rat
35- 45
333-455
Small Rat
50-85
455- 725
Small Rat (Large ones)
85- 105
725- 1026
Medium Rats
120- 140
1026- 1118*
*This is his current weight at 3 years old. I will update the chart as move up in prey size.
Y-Axis: Blue Line= Boa’s weight (g) and Orange Line= Meal Size (g)
Also please note: this is the way I fed! It is not an exact science, so don’t feel you need to follow this exactly. It is just a general idea. Try your best to pick a meal size that is slightly smaller or equal to the thickest part of the animal.
2) How often should I feed?
Again, I will show you a breakdown chart of the feed schedule I have followed with by boas and what I plan on doing in the future as they mature. This chart indicates the days between meals in the two right hand columns. Note: I always transition from the “summer” to the “winter” feed schedule and visa-versa. I.e. I always gradually increase space between meals until I get to where I am shooting for.
*ONLY seasonally feed your boa if you provide a temperature drop during the winter months*
Boa Age (yrs)
Summer (days)
Winter (Days)
0 (neonate in summer)
7-10
10-14
1
14
21
2
14
30
3
21
42-45
4
30
70-90
5- and up
30-37
90
The chart above is a rough outline of how I feed my boas! This does not mean you should follow this exactly. Reason being is there are many factors that could alter how often you feed, the most important being temperature. The warmer you keep you boas, the faster their metabolism is, the more you’ll have to feed.
You need to watch your animals, learn their body language. If you never see your boa “hunt” (i.e. exploring their cage at night, or perched somewhere waiting for a meal to walk by) you may be feeding to often. If they start hunting one day after you feed, you may not being feeding large enough meals. Watch their weight, look and feel their body tone, these are all good cues to keep your feeding schedule in line.
The take away is this: The chart above is a general idea of what a feeding schedule should look like, but you need to be in-tune enough with your animals to know how to adjust it for their benefit.
Boa Constrictor Feeding Chart
Okay, last but not least! I personally think it is VERY important to keep a log book for you snakes. Especially if you have more than one or two! Boa constrictors are not hard to care for, but it is important that you stick to a proper care plan. A log book can help you do that.
It can be very easy to forgot when you last feed you animal if you didn’t write it down. I always lay out a rough feed plan for 2-3 months in advance (so I know how many rats to buy) and as I feed I make sure to log it so I don’t forget. I HIGHLY recommend you start doing this if you are not already!
Logging your boa’s meals will help pull you in-tune with you animal. It gives you something to refer, especially when trying to figure out the animals behavioral patterns.
Below I have shared a PDF of the boa constrictor feeding chart that I use to keep track of food intake for my boas. I print these sheets out and put them in a binder (I like writing things by hand), but I also made the PDF fill-able so you can keep a digital copy instead. Please help yourself by clicking the photo or link below!
Thanks for reading. If I had to sum this up in a few points I would say this:
There is no clear-cut, black and white answer to feeding
You can follow a general guide BUT you must stay in-tune with your animal by:
Watching body tone, keeping track of weight
Reading body language- remember the act of hunting itself is not a cue to feed, but hunting can indicate if you need to adjust your estimated feed plan.
KEEP track of your feeding! I can’t stress that enough. The only way to help you learn your animal’s body language and habits is by keeping a proper log so you have something to refer to.
If you have any questions, comment them below or shoot me anemail!
This post is a breakdown of my How to Make: Reptile Radiant Heat Panels Tutorial.
As I stated in the How to Make Reptile radiant heat panels video, I did not record the process but hopefully this will give you a really good idea of how I made my own radiant heat panels! This radiant heat panel was designed with snakes in mind, but would work for most reptiles.
Try this at your own risk! I take full responsibility for the safety of this setup for myself, but cannot recommend anyone copy what I have done unless you are willing to do the same.
Scroll to the bottom to view the total cost breakdown and PROS and CONS of this project!
Brainstorm
I stumbled across a very dated post onBall-Pythons.net, which the original poster described how he build he’s own radiant heat panel from Flexwatt Heat tape and plexiglass. Unfortunately, all the pictures were gone and it was pretty tough to fully understand how he did it (maybe you’ll have better luck?). But it got me thinking!
I already had some spare Exo-Terra heat cable, which in my opinion is slightly safer than heat tape for some reason. I think mainly there is less chance of user error with heat cable as it requires no wiring, etc.
The first problem was figuring out what material(s) to house the cable in. I tossed around a bunch of ideas from ceramic tile to acrylic sheets. Finally I decided to got with pegboard for the bottom and Styrofoam for the top.
The Materials: DIY Reptile Radiant Heat Panels
Below is a picture of the pegboard. You can buy pegboard in your local hardware store in the plywood section. It is very inexpensive. I settled on pegboard for a few reasons:
Light weight
Porous i.e. the cable has the opportunity to heat air as well rather than just the board itself
High ignition temperature (450-500°F)
Reptile Radiant heat panels
As I said above, the top layer is Styrofoam. I went with 1″ thick pink Styrofoam that I found at my local hardware store in a 2′ x 2′ square. I settled on Styrofoam because:
Again, light weight
High ignition temperature (500°F)
Reduce heat transferring in the wrong direction i.e. I wanted to avoid (as best I could), heat through the top of the panel
Stryofoam for reptile radiant heat panels
**Ignition temperature refers to the temperature these materials will combust at WITHOUT a spark. These temperatures are well above anything the heat cable is capable of producing… although that doesn’t mean things can’t over heat and start melting/release fumes. I just means I won’t burn the house down. In any case, they are on a thermostat anyway!**
It was also necessary to pick up a roll of Multi-Purpose Foil Tape to help reflect the heat in the right direction, more on that below!
Foil Tape: Reptile Radiant Heat Panels
And of course, I needed the heat cable! I went withExo Terra Heater Cable-25-Watt. This cable is 5m long, they also make a longer (7m) cable that comes in a higher wattage (50W). The 25W cable was more than enough and it is the only size my local pet store sells.
The Process
Step One:
I cut the pegboard (actually I had the hardware store throw it on the table saw) into a 1′ x 1′ square.
Step Two:
I cut the Styrofoam into a 1′ x 1′ square.
Step Three:
I snaked the heat cable back and fourth on the pegboard. I used Gorilla Tape to hold it in place. DO NOT OVERLAP THE CABLE in any place! That can create a dangerous hot spot. You are looking to have each “row” of cable at least 3 cm apart. Luckily if you let the pegboard guide you, it will be perfectly spaced.
The picture below is my best attempt at recreating what I did!
Step Four:
Then, I took my 1′ x 1′ square of Styrofoam (the picture is of a scrap piece of Styrofoam, it is larger than 1′ x 1′ so you have to use your imagination) and completely covered one side with the reflective tape.
Step Five:
Now it was time to put it all together! At this point I had:
1′ x 1′ pegboard with heat cable attached to one side
1′ x 1′ Styrofoam with foil tape completely covering one side
I sandwiched it all together by taping the Styrofoam to the pegboard, creating a nice little package. I used theGorilla Tape to hold the two pieces together and then sealed the sides withFoil Tape.
If you were to take a cross-section of my diy radiant heat panel you would see this:
TOP TO BOTTOM:
Styrofoam
Foil Tape
Heat Cable
Pegboard
Hopefully that is relativity clear!
Finished: DIY Reptile Radiant Heat Panels
Temperature Control:
As I stated in the video I will be running these on a thermostat to control the temperature. It was suppose to be here already but it got damaged in shipping, I am now waiting for a different one to arrive. As you can see… I have a blank spot on my “control panel” waiting to be filled! Thermostats are very important as they help prevent injury to the animals and fires!
**Since these are diy radiant heat panels, my risk of fire may be higher than a store bought RHP. My first line of defense is a thermostat, and my second is the high ignition temperatures of the materials I choose. Both of these combined will make accidents extremely unlikely**
Hopefully this will allow me to monitor temperatures when I am away from home! I do have another (non-Wifi) thermostat from this same company (as you can see in the photo above). I really like it! Here’s why:
It has a very long cable for the probe
The probe itself is very slim (not bulky like some probes)
The probe cable can be disconnected from the actual controller which can be very handy if you probe is taped in place like mine are. If the cable accidentally comes unplugged the controller beeps like all hell broke loose
Relatively inexpensive compared to other herp thermostats
I will make sure to review the Wi-Fi model when I get it.
Even though I have two diy radiant heat panels running in two separate enclosures, I am only running them off of a single thermostat and I will set it to 85°F. Most likely they will run constantly as I have never seen the panels get the warm side over 84°F. I will place the probe in the top enclosure. The metrics in each enclosure are basically identical meaning if the top enclosure gets to hot, the bottom one is likely too hot as well.
Worst case scenario: the bottom one malfunctions and begins to over heat. If this occurs, it will trip the probe in the top enclosure before any damage can happen due to the heat that transfer through the top of the RHP’s.
How I use them and Results:
The reptile radiant heat panel’s are set on a timer. They turn on at 7:00 am and turn off at 10:00 pm, this allows me to simulate a temperature drop during the night.
I have been extremely impressed with the way these have held up so far. They bring they warm sides up to about 81-83°F by mid day and even create some warm spots on the wood decor of about 85-86°F. Although keep in mind, I do have a heat mat for a hot spot. In conclusion:
Pros:
Inexpensive
Easy to make
Creates ideal warm side ambient temperatures
Cons:
Not powerful enough to create a hot spot of 90°F i.e. a heat mat is still necessary (maybe higher wattage would help?)
The Gorilla Tape is starting to soften a little bit due to the heat, I would probably use a more heat resistant tape next time around.
Material List/Cost Breakdown (CAD):
** These are the prices I paid. Click the links below to view the current prices**
Scroll to the bottom for a material list with prices.
DIY SNAKE CAGE: PART 3
STEP ZERO: LET ME EXPLAIN
Okay, let me explain! The reason I have a step zero is because I went ahead and did a few things without filming myself. The picture below shows what those particular items were.
Installed a short strip of LED lights
Stained the oak runner board
Bolted on the radiant heat panel
I fed the light/RHP cords through a vent hole (second picture below)
STEP ONE: GLASS TIME
This was definitely the most rewarding part of the entire process (besides introducing the snakes to their new enclosures)! Installing the glass really pulled the entire project together. Before I get to the actual glass, lets talk about the tracks.
I ordered the glass and the tracks from the same local glass shop in my city. The picture below shows what the tracks look like.
Below is a picture of extremely clear glass… so basically its a picture of nothing! The only downside of glass was the expense. Here is the actual order description the company gave me:
4 lites (sheets) of 5mm clear tempered glass @ 23 5/8” x 16 5/8”, complete with polished heights, minimum widths and “touched” corners to allow for easy sliding
2 Pieces of top track @ 45 ¼” & 2 pieces of bottom track @ 45 ¼” (cut to size)
Note: To fit a cabinet opening of 45 ¼” x 17 3/16”, complete with 2” overlap in the middle. Deductions have been made on height to accommodate the track. $287.00+taxes
The actual glass was about $200.00, which really wasn’t bad i.e. $50.00/sheet. But after paying for the tracks and service fees (polishing etc.), it added up to something higher than I was initially looking to spend.
I took a few days to pull the trigger on the order, but eventually I just realized the glass NEEDS to be done right. It is not an item you want to cheap out on. The company that did it was great as well, I essentially gave them the size of the hole and they did all the calculations to make sure the glass would fit (certain precise, dedications need to be made to ensure the glass can be removed from the track after installation).
I also recommend tempered glass if you plan to build something similar. It is so much strong and so much safer than traditional plate glass.
Okay, back to the build!
I used the product, No More Nails Adhesiveto glue the tracks down to the cabinet. At first I thought it would be a good idea to reinforce the tracks with small screws after I glued them down. I do not recommend doing that! To make a long story short, the screw I used got jammed, stripped and then I had no way to remove it. Luckily it didn’t impact the glass sliding through the track.
In summary… a liberal amount of No More Nails Adhesive is more than strong enough to get the job done!
Once the rail was coated in glue, I pressed it in place and weighed it down for 20 minutes or so. After 20 minutes, it was rock solid. I am amazed at how well that glue holds!
Of course, I then glued and compressed the bottom track too.
STEP TWO: SET UP
And voila, glass is installed! The next thing I did was run a 24 hour, heat/ humidity test. It is very important to do this when you set up a new enclosure!
It is so tempting to throw an animal in as soon as the enclosure is finished but patience is very important here. You need to ensure the enclosure is safe for the animal first.
Setting up the enclosure:
Tape heat mats to bottom of each enclosure
Hook up thermostats and probes
Plug in radiant heat panels (set on timer, on at 7am, off at 10pm)
Plug in lights (set on timer, on at 9am, off at 8pm)
Place large water bowel in enclosure
Add thermometers and hygrometers
Sit back and wait!
The most important thing was properly calibrating the thermostats. When keeping boas, you are generally looking for a 90°F hot spot on the inside of the enclosure. Although, my thermostats need to be set for much hotter. Reason being, is the mats are taped underneath the enclosure, meaning the heat has to penetrate through the melamine (3\4″ and the vinyl floor).
The thermostat probe is sandwiched between the heat mat and the bottom of the enclosure which means it is exposed to much warmer temperatures than the inside of the enclosure gets to. Both my thermostats had to be set to roughly 98-100°F to achieve an ideal hot spot on the inside of the enclosure.
After 24 hours of testing my metrics were as follows:
Hot Side Ambient: 81°F
Cold Side Ambient: 76°F
Hot Spot: 88-91°F
Humidity: 60%
Everything looked great! Although I did end up bumping the humidity of the reptile room up so I could increase the enclosure humidity to about 75%.
STEP FOUR: DECOR, RELEASE THE BOAS!
Now that I was confident that I had balanced and ideal parameters inside the enclosure, it was time to officially set them up!
I set a hide up on each side, through a layer of coconut husk down and set up some driftwood that I had found (and treated) a few weeks back. I also threw in some Exo-Terra foliage for some ground cover.
Time to introduce the homeowners! Here is Winstontaking he first “steps” into his new home. Winston is 50% Colombian/ 50% Sonoran Desert, and since he is a male, I am thinking a 4′ enclosure might be large enough to be his forever home. Or at least his home for many years still!
And here is my second boa, Whip checking out her new place. She is full Colombian, so this will only be her home for the next few years likely.
DIY SNAKE CAGE: PART 3
MATERIAL LIST (appropriate prices, in Canadian dollars), keep in mind I built TWO enclosures so this is the list of materials I used to do both.
Vivarium Vents= I paid $10.00 (click link for current price)
TOTAL: $345.00
TOTAL COST BREAKDOWN OF DIY SNAKE CAGE PROJECT:
PART ONE: $101.50
PART TWO: $60.00
PART THREE: $345.00
TOTAL COST: $506.50 (~$255.00 per enclosure)
Not Bad considering a PVC cage of similar height (with lighting and heat) would have been closer to $350-$400 EACH before taxes and shipping (Canadian dollars)!
We are DONE the DIY SNAKE CAGE Project!! Thank you very much for reading along/ watching the videos I have made. Also, once I receive my cabinet locks and finger pulls for the glass, I plan doing a quick update so stay tuned for that!
If you have any questions please add them in the comments or contact me directly, using the subject line “DIY Snake Cage”
Scroll to the bottom for a material list with prices.
DIY SNAKE CAGE: PART 2
STEP ONE: TIME TO LAY SOME FLOOR
Ok, so now it was time to start laying the floor in the enclosure. This flooring is basic vinyl flooring, it comes in a large roll. I found it in a discount box at Home Depot! I went with a large plank, hardwood appearance. Here are the main benefits vinyl flooring provide:
Incredibly easy to clean
Durable
Seals and protects the floor and back wall from damage
It actually looks pretty decent, there are may different designs to choose from (ceramic, brick, rock, wood)
Easy to install
Absorbs heat
Non-abrasive on the animals
I used an exacto blade to roughly cut out the size of vinyl floor I needed. I decided to cover only the bottom and back wall with the flooring. The sides do not see enough wear for flooring to be necessary, nor does the ceiling.
Then, I dry fit the piece of vinyl into the enclosure. Once I was happy with the fit, I was ready to glue it down.
NOTICE: I only used a single piece of flooring for the back and the bottom.
This means there is no seam where the back and bottom of the enclosure meet. This is definitely the way to go as now I don’t have to worry at all about any leaks, etc.
Instead of using proper vinyl floor adhesive, I used my trusty tube of General Electric Silicone I. I used silicone to glue the floor down for 2 reasons:
I knew it would hold (silicone sticks to pretty much anything)
It is completely non-toxic to the animals when it is dry
First I laid down a bead of silicone in a “squiggle” pattern on both the back wall. Then, I used a scrap piece of hardboard (from Part 1) to smear the silicone out as best I could.
Once I finished smearing the silicone on the back wall, I “squiggle-smeared” the bottom with its share of silicone as well (not pictured).
Now it was time to insert the vinyl flooring in for real. The flooring is very easy to work with and the silicone is quite forgiving. I was able to set the floor in the enclosure and wiggle it around till it sat in the position I wanted.
I used a rolling pin to press the flooring into the silicone to ensure they were bonded together thoroughly. Then, I cut off the excess flooring that was hanging off the bottom.
And finally, you guessed it… more silicone! (my personal rule of thumb: if your lungs and eyes aren’t burning… you haven’t used enough). I used more silicone to seal the seams where the vinyl floor meets the melamine of the cabinet.
STEP TWO: WE HAVE A RUNNER
I’m not sure if you can actually call that board in the picture below a “runner board” but that’s what I call it! Anyway, at this point I was ready to install the runner board along the bottom of the enclosure.
This board is being installed so the glass tracks on the bottom have a place to sit. Technically, I could have installed the glass track directly to the cabinet itself but this way substrate doesn’t fall out every time I open the doors.
The board is a 1″ x 3″ and the wood is oak although you could probably use any type of wood (hardwoods should only be used).
I punched about 5-6 screws through the bottom of the enclosure to secure the runner board in place.
And of course… more silicone! This is the inside seam i.e. where the oak board meets the vinyl floor. Seriously, when in doubt you should seal it up! There is no point in risking moisture damage. Realistically, oak can resist a lot of moisture but it just makes more sense to make sure it is completely sealed.
STEP THREE: SKIS!
One little thing I did that I forgot to record was add “skis” to the bottom of the enclosures. I made these from scrape 1″ x 3″ lumbar I had lying around as well as some left over vinyl flooring. I installed 3 of them as you can see two pictures down. These skis serve two main purposes:
They allow air flow between the top and bottom enclosure and the bottom enclosure and the carpet in the reptile room. Since I am using heat mats for a hot spot, air flow is very important to reduce heat transfer between enclosures.
They make the enclosures far easier to slide around on the floor when moving.These skis weren’t in the original plans but I am glad I thought of them! Sometimes the ideas that come to you on the fly are the best ones!
STEP FOUR: BACK TO THE REPTILE ROOM AND WAIT…
At this point all the dirty work is done! I am very pleased with the way the enclosures have turned out. Part two is complete!
Unfortunately, the glass I ordered took about two weeks to come in which left me waiting in anticipation. If you are as excited as I was to install the glass… check out PART 3!
Also, at the end of the video I briefly discuss how I built my own radiant heat panels shown in the photo below. I ended up making a more detailed version to help answer any questions some of you had, you can check that video out HERE –> DIY RADIANT HEAT PANEL
DIY SNAKE CAGE: PART 2
MATERIAL LIST (appropriate prices, in Canadian dollars), keep in mind I built TWO enclosures so this is the list of materials I used to do both.
I just finished uploading a video tutorial for my latest DIY project, which was converting two cabinets into snake enclosures for my boas. I have posted Part 1 of the video below, but in case you don’t have time right now to watch it… OR maybe you are at work and you need to make it look like you’re “working” I have broken it down into steps below with pictures! Although I highly recommend eventually watching the video as I go into more detail.
Scroll to the bottom for a material list with prices.
DIY SNAKE CAGE: PART 1
STEP ONE: ACQUISITION
Hunt the local classifieds for cabinets and/or shelving units! These can be very useful, especially if you’re like me and have limited carpentry skills and/or a limited space to work in (I live in an apartment). Usually old cabinets can be picked up for rather cheap and provide a solid foundational structure to work with.
The cabinets I found were vertical standing, about 72″ high, 20″ wide and 18″ deep. Originally they were used to house my Exo-Terra 18x18x24, which they held perfectly.
I rotated the pic below so you are able to sort of picture what they originally looked like. But don’t stare at that picture for too long… it will really mess with your mind.
DIY Cabinets into Snake Cage
Eventually I moved my Exo Terra’s from them and got the idea to lay them on their side so I could store a large bin in each one as shown in the picture below. But just like my reptile induced debt, my snakes grew and it was time for an upgrade.
STEP TWO: DEMOLITION
Next I had to remove parts of the cabinet that I either hated or did not need. These particular shelves had two things that fell into both categories:
The back panel:The back panel was maybe of a very thin sheet of essentially a melamine type material. I had punched holes through it in the past and it was just overall too flimsy of a material to have as a back wall, so it had to go.
The fixed shelf: These cabinets came with several removable shelves as well as a few fixed shelves. The fixed shelves are held in place with wooden pins. I had to remove the highest shelf, as I wanted to use the full 46″ length the cabinets had to offer.
If you are interested in watching me struggle , watch me try and cut that shelf out with a hand saw. It’s pretty funny.
STEP THREE: “CONSTRUCTION”
Now it was time to add a new back to the unit. I choose a product called “hardboard” which I found at Home Depot. It is essentially a very thick, very hard (I’m going to stop you right there)… very compressed sheet of cardboard.
Hardboard was cheaper than plywood and has more than enough structural integrity. Plus it would eventually be sealed with vinyl floor and silicon so I wasn’t worried about water damage, etc.
First, I ran a bead of No More Nails Adhesive by LePage around the perimeter of the unit. I really recommend picking up a tube of No More Nails, even just to have for around the house. I was amazed at how well it adhered once it was dry, and it basically has zero chemical smell. Although, I can’t say it is non-toxic for animals though so I’d stay away from using it where the animals can readily access just to be safe.
Once I compressed the hardboard into the adhesive, I added a few screws per side for some extra support. The screws probably weren’t necessary but, why not?
STEP FOUR: SEAL ‘ER
It is very important to seal up all seams in the enclosure! Melamine and wood cabinets can quickly become damaged due to moisture, so I went heavy on the silicon! Boa constrictors aren’t kept in wet/damp enclosures by any means but their urates/pee can do some real damage.
I used General Electric Silicone I. This is very IMPORTANT because GE Silicon I is 100% non-toxic and safe for animals once dry. GE Silicon II, is not!
GE Silicon II is labelled as “Mold Free”, meaning they add a chemical to the silicon to prevent any mold growth. This chemical is toxic to animals. GE Silicon I is labelled as “Mold Resistant” meaning no additional chemicals are added.
DIY SNAKE CAGE: PART 1
MATERIAL LIST (APPROXIMATE PRICES, in Canadian Dollars), also keep in mind I built TWO enclosures so this is the list of materials I used to do both.
Cabinets= $50.00 for both
2 x Hardboard 2′ x 4′ sheet= $17.00
No More Nails= $9.50
4 x tubes GE I Silicon= $20.00
Screws= $5.00
TOTAL: $101.50
Okay, that is enough for DIY Snake Cage: Part 1! Next up is installing the vinyl flooring, below is a shot of the flooring I picked. Click PART TWOto see how it got installed.
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