Crossfire cage questions

[argolupin]

ok, so me and my husband have finally found a house (landlord is verifying our information) and with it being much closer to where i work (mind you my hubby works from home) we will be saving a total of around 300 between gas money and storage units per month. So i can finally look at building my crossfire enclosures.

I am looking at building the ones for my larger juvies and my adult female that is coming to me first, and then my adult males as he already has a large enclosure.

Questions are:

For those of you who have done this:

1) how many melamine boards were needed to do a standard 4x2x2 enclosure?

2) i can't seem to find a 36" florescent strip did anyone else find one and where?

3) Where did you find the 3" circular vents or can i do the square vents like on the sides?

4) can you use regular paint on the inside as long as it says non toxic when dried? I have some pretty good ideas for decorating the cages.

I am kind of excited to finally be able to build these enclosures. my hubby wants one for his ball python but i am making him wait as i am still figuring out how to do one that will look nice...

 

[wandigo]

Questions are:

For those of you who have done this:

1) how many melamine boards were needed to do a standard 4x2x2 enclosure?

2) i can't seem to find a 36" florescent strip did anyone else find one and where?

3) Where did you find the 3" circular vents or can i do the square vents like on the sides?

4) can you use regular paint on the inside as long as it says non toxic when dried? I have some pretty good ideas for decorating the cages.

I am kind of excited to finally be able to build these enclosures. my hubby wants one for his ball python but i am making him wait as i am still figuring out how to do one that will look nice...

Hey there!

My brother and I started building a new enclosure for my Beardie just last week. We are almost finished with the actual box, and should have all the fun designs on the inside done within a week or so. So I will try to answer your questions the best I can. Also, the price I paid for everything came to much more than the $130 range he mentions on the website. The piece of plexi-glass alone was about $55, and with everything else I think I'm somewhere between $200-$250.

1) Only one sheet of melamine board is needed, it is 8 feet long by 4 feet wide and I found mine at Home Depot.

2) I haven't bought a bulb yet but I've seen them on Amazon for around $25 (http://www.amazon.com/pet-supplies/dp/B001F97J86

3) I found the vents at Lowes in the section by the big bags of cement, just down the aisle a little bit (At my store it was the far right aisle when I walked in, I think by roofing stuff). I was able to find the 3" Circular Vents and the 8"x16" vents for the sides right next to each other on the shelf.

4) From what I've read and watched as long as it is non-toxic you should be okay. But maybe get a second or third opinion on that question before going through with it.

If you want to see a few pictures during the progress up until now I can post them if you'd like. It's a lot bigger than it looks on the Crossfire website pictures!

 

[Jrsti04]

I built 2 of these enclosures and will be building 2 more in the very near future. I get my Reptisun bulbs from DrFosterSmith.com they have very reasonable prices, I think $23.something for the 36", free shipping if you spend over $49 or something and fast shipping. I had to order my 36" fixtures from HomeDepot.com because the Home Depot and Lowes in my area don't carry them. Again, shipping was free, or you can have them shipped to the store, I think I paid $52 shipped for 2. The other thing I had trouble finding was the sliding track. I wasn't able to find the one shown in the Crossfire enclosure but i found an 8' white strip of plastic with a groove that I cut and put one in front of the other. If you have had any luck finding the sliding track please let me know, I will be starting my next 2 in a couple weeks.

 

[Jrsti04]

heres the link for the fixtures i used.

http://www.homedepot.com/p/t/202813953?storeId=10051&langId=-1&catalogId=10053&productId=202813953&R=202813953#.UfCbMY2Tgb0

 

[Jrsti04]

and heres the bulbs...

http://www.drsfostersmith.com/product/prod_display.cfm?pcatid=15468

 

[wandigo]

and heres the bulbs...

http://www.drsfostersmith.com/product/prod_display.cfm?pcatid=15468

Is this the smaller bulb? I think a T5 or something? The fixture I got takes the smaller in circumfrance bulbs so I want to make sure I get the right one.

 

[wandigo]

and heres the bulbs...

http://www.drsfostersmith.com/product/prod_display.cfm?pcatid=15468

Is this the smaller bulb? I think a T5 or something? The fixture I got takes the smaller in circumfrance bulbs so I want to make sure I get the right one.

 

[Jrsti04]

The link I posted is for t8 bulbs. Just go to the lighting tab and click on t5 reptisun 10.0