Build Your Own Reptile Cage

When I first started my interest in reptiles I was only young. At that stage of my life I had tiny or no skills & did not understand the requirements of the brilliant creatures so I did not keep them effectively. They kept the local lizards, so the cage temperature was not an issue.

I rekindled my desire later in life but I also had mortgages, the cost of raising a relatives & the every day costs of living to contend with. A reptile was pricey , without adding the costs of retail cages & accessories. So I built my own. It saved me lots of funds.

You do need some basic tools but the funds you save by making it yourself will let you buy a quantity of those tools that help make the cage. The remainder can go in to accessories so that for the cost of a basic cage with nothing else you can make a cage, get some tools & the cage accessories & still have funds left over. That is a giant difference.

Plenty of people have materials about the house. In the event you are going to make your own cages you can save even extra funds by using bits & pieces or timber you may already have, screws, elderly glass, hinges, light battens etc. that you already have in the basement or garage.

When upgrading of my cages recently, I could reuse a quantity of the materials & the fittings for use on the new cage. This saved me having to buy new accessories & materials.

Another benefit is the ability to maintain your own cages. Plenty of of the plastic or moulded cages cannot be fixed one time they are broken. With a cage you made yourself you can usually fix broken locks or replace doors (I haven't had to do any of these yet as they are sturdy).

When you build your own cages you pick how strong it will be & what quality of fitting, glues & materials you will be using. The higher the quality of materials & accessories you use, the better the final cage product. You are not at the mercy of manufacturers saving funds by using inferior materials & poor quality fittings.

Another benefit is the ability to customise you cages to fit your purpose. of my earliest cages was built as a standard cage but by placing a removable divider in the middle it allowed me to re-use the cage when I shipped of the snakes out. This divider was fitted over the middle of a heat mat, allowing for reptiles to be housed in the cage. It also had doors. The cage is now used for another purpose but will soon be empty. The divider can still be placed back in the cage for another tiny snake & then basically removed as the snake gets larger. Tis snake will finally be moved in to an arboreal cage. To buy a plastic cage with divider that will only be a transient cage before the snake goes in to a final cage is an pricey exercise.

In the event you do need to upgrade again, you have the time to build the final cage as the snake grows.
Making your own cages lets you build & maintain your reptile cages in a cost effective manner while keeping them comfortable & healthy. You can also expand your collection in an affordable way, making extra funds obtainable for the reptiles while still getting quality cages.