How to Make Construction Plans for Reptile Cages

Providing an appropriate cage for your reptile is perhaps the primary means of keeping the animal safe and healthy and meeting all its needs. While it may be tempting to buy an aquarium at a discount price from the local pet shop and outfit it with a plethora of decorations, a heating source and other items your reptile needs, there is a way to prepare your reptile's enclosure that makes a lot more sense. Making detailed construction plans for reptile cages not only saves you money, time and aggravation, but it also ensures that you get the cheapest possible cage that meets all the animal's needs.

Things You'll Need

  • Measuring tape
  • 8½-by-11-inch ruled notepad
  • Pencil
  • Ruler
  • Tracing paper
Show More

Instructions

    • 1

      Educate yourself about the needs, requirements, habits and basic keeping requirements of the reptiles you are thinking of adding to your household. Plan to build more than one habitat over the lifetime of the reptile.

    • 2

      Determine the number of reptiles you wish to house in the cage. A good rule of thumb for snakes is to allow ¾ square foot of cage space for each foot length of snake. If you are keeping snakes, use the measuring tape and measure the snakes you will keep to find out the square footage of the cage you need to build. Otherwise, rely on the information about the specific reptile you have to determine its space requirements.

    • 3

      Calculate the square footage needed and draw your plans with a pencil on the notepad. Draw it to scale with 1 inch representing 1 foot. If you are working with smaller measurements, drop it down to 1 inch representing 6 inches.

    • 4

      Decide if you wish to keep two or more reptiles in the same cage but separate them with a divider. The size as well as the divider option must be calculated into the overall design of the construction plans. Draw the divider option on the notepad, showcasing the approximate space left on either side of the divider.

    • 5

      Consider the animals' habitat needs. Arboreal reptiles require a tall cage, while terrestrial ones will be fine with a smaller one; semi-aquatic reptiles need a built-in water area, which requires an increase in depth with respect to the cage's bottom. Transfer these plans onto the notepad. Mark the approximate sizes of decorations and habitat components.

    • 6

      Determine the opening. If you are dealing with lively and agile animals that dart all around the enclosure, a front opening is unwise; a top opening is most likely a better idea. Conversely, animals that are more subdued and unlikely to dart, like snakes, will do best with a drop-down opening. Add a simple locking option to give you control over who can touch the reptile.

    • 7

      Use the tracing paper to draft different openings for your enclosure.

    • 8

      Consider material options. Reptile cages frequently require heating sources for the animals. Incorporate a heat-conducting material for the bottom portion of your reptile cages in the construction plans. Wood is usually preferred over glass or acrylic because it is versatile, easy to work with and insulates well.

    • 9

      Factor in the need for lighting; this will have impact on the kind of top you choose for your reptile cages. If you are thinking of keeping a lot of reptiles and want to stack cages one on top of the other, the tops need to be sturdier and permit light access if you are thinking of placing your light source in the top of the enclosure.

    • 10

      Remember the reptiles' primary sources of nutrition when determining the materials used for the enclosure. Constructing a reptile cage with a chicken-wire opening is nice in climates that are naturally hot and humid, but if you keep reptiles that primarily eat crickets and other live insects, you will find that quite a few of them will escape via the openings.