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RE: Front opening cages?
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by Peter on December 18, 2008
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I have plywood cages that are over 30 years old that have been used continously and they have never soaked up water enough to notice. I probably would choose something other if I were planning to keep them soaking wet but wood works just fine for 95% of all critters. A few coats of polyurathane seals them up just fine as does regular paint with the advantage that you can repaint them every few years when they might start looking sort of dingy. I never saw the advantage to putting vinyl/tile/shelf paper or what not down since it invariably works loose over time and provides a great crap trap if any seams are exposed and even if you seal them with silicone it doesnt last forever and than you have stringy bits coming lose and more crap traps. Plus it multiplies the effort in building each cage. Make square cuts and glue and nail or better screw them down tight and your good to go basically forever.
Your cage looks perfectly servicable to me except that the hasp/lock wont let you stack them. If your not going to do that I'd say its fine except id finish the wood somehow.
The drop fronts can be a bit harder to work than side ways sliding doors since the whole thing opens at once. I dont care for double glass that passes itself as much as a single pane that can be slid all the way out. The biggest advantage to cages with glass like in visions is that they stack prettier.
Peter
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RE: Front opening cages?
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by LarryDFishel on December 18, 2008
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Like Rob said, they wouldn't be great for elapids, but I assume that's not what you have in mind.
The thing with the piano hinges is not the strength of the hinges so much as allowing you to better secure them to the wood (more screws).
The only cage I have with hinges is a big python cage with 2 hinges per door, but the frame is made of 2x4s, so it's got big honkin' hinges attached with aggressive, 2 inch screws.
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RE: Front opening cages?
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by Cro on December 19, 2008
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I like using piano hinges also, however, I find that the tiny, short length screws that come with them will often loosen up over time when they are screwed into the sides of plywood.
What I usually do, is buy a small box of longer screws of the same diamater, and then alternate a longer screw with a short screw, then a longer screw again, etc. This keeps the piano hinges from working loose over time.
Another way around this, is to put a drop of wood glue on the threads of the short wood screws before you drive them in.
Best Regards
John Z
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RE: Front opening cages?
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by LarryDFishel on December 19, 2008
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Oh yeah, hinges almost never come with usable screws. I always replace them with longer screws with broader threads if I have enough wood to screw into.
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RE: Front opening cages?
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by agkistrodude on December 19, 2008
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I put a pic of one of my cage setups on my profile pic.The doors open on the right, hinged on the left. Lock on the right.A lock-box on the side containing individual keys to each cage, The ones pictured are approx. 2x2x2 each, Painted on the inside, 8x4x2 total. Marty
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RE: Front opening cages?
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by najasuphan on December 19, 2008
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I have only built one cage so far, but I'm getting ready to build another one, using the same design. I built mine like vision cages, with the two pieces of glass, because I think it is a lot easier to use than a cage with a hinged door. The hinged door seems more of a burden to me, as I have worked around snakes in those types of cages also. It is no fun when you have a large, fast snake to deal with in addition to the cumbersome door. That is just my experience with those types of cages. For my cage, I used 3/4" sanded plywood and built it to the dimensions of 4x2x2, roughly. There is a 2x4 in the front, on the top, and 2x2's on the bottom and sides. It is stained and sealed with self-adhesive linoleum squares on the floor for easy cleaning. Here are a couple of pictures of the cage I built. Excuse the mess he made in his cage, but I just cleaned it about 30 minutes ago! -Jamie
http://img211.imageshack.us/img211/5288/dsc00374ay9.jpg
http://img257.imageshack.us/img257/1764/dsc00373tv0.jpg
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RE: Front opening cages?
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by agkistrodude on December 19, 2008
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The reason I went to swing open doors was because I was tired of all the close calls from trying to slide doors closed that would get stuck from trash in the tracks.Then you had to clean it out or mess with it with with a hot snake way too close to your fingers.These open and close every time, as far as you want them too. An inch to slip in a mouse with a pair of hemostats,all the way open, or anywhere in between. Marty
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RE: Front opening cages?
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by najasuphan on December 19, 2008
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Yeah, substrate in the rails is annoying, however, I use newspaper so I don't ever have anything in the rails. I did use cypress mulch for a brief period but it makes my male forest cobra sick so I just switched back to newspaper. -Jamie
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RE: Front opening cages?
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by 23bms on December 21, 2008
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The comments regarding the screws on piano hinges are curious. The screws are small, but there are A LOT OF THEM. The number provides the strength. I have cages 40 years old with piano hinges that are as tight now as they were when I installed them. The interior laminate has long since gone to pot, but the hinges are like Gibraltar.
jrb
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RE: Front opening cages?
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by Cro on December 21, 2008
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As far as the piano hinges, cages that I built with them 40 years ago are also still in use, and the hinges have not loosened up.
However, back in those days the screws that came with the hinges were longer. Now days, the brass piano hinges that are sold by Lowes or Home Depot have these tiny screws that are half as long as they need to be. And if they are used on something like a reptile transport box, they will loosen up fairly quickly. This happens more quickly if they are screwed into the side of the plywood, and less quickly if they are screwed down through the top of the plywood.
So the solution is to purchase longer screws to replace the junk ones, or, use some glue on the short ones, or, search the internet for American made pianno hinges that still come with screws of the correct size.
What do you expect from door hardware that is made in China or Korea, to be sold as cheaply as possible from the big box stores ?
Best Regards
John Z
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