how do you make your doors?

latazyo · 02-20-04, 12:43 PM

do most of you use sliding glass panels for doors on snake enclosures, I'm building my enclosure this weekend and I'm kind of stumped on the doors

would it be easier or more escape proof to use sliding or another type of door on the enclosure

Cruciform · 02-20-04, 01:22 PM

Acrylic is probably a better idea. It won't shatter, and it's not too expensive to replace. Just don't clean it with windex or it will become permanently fogged.

Home Depot has sheets of acrylic cut to various sizes, or you can score it and snap off pieces yourself.

A bonus to sliding is that when it's closed, it's closed. If you forget to latch a hinged door you might have an escapee on your hands.

Ed_r · 02-20-04, 01:33 PM

I use doors on all my cages just basically for the cost. With boids if I used sliding plexi/acrylic ir would have to be 1/4" and thats quite expensive. If you use the thin stuff a boid would have no difficulty pushing the sliding plexi out of its tracks, and as we know glass shatters. I build wood frames for the doors and screw on 1/8" plexi. Also inside the cage I put a door frame for the door to close against to seal the enttranceway so it is escape proof.
But if you using it for small cages with colubrids, you could probably get away with sliding 1/8" plexi, just make sure you put a cabinet lock on it.

latazyo · 02-20-04, 03:03 PM

I suppose I should give some more information

yes, 1/4" acrylic would be very high priced, my original plans were to have 2 pieces of 1/4" glass cut to make two sliding doors, however my friend thinks that my snake will be able to escape through the door (he has a JCP which has done this very thing and my corn is much much smaller)

I like the idea of a wood frame and plexiglass though...a sheet of 1/8" is only about 8-9 bucks and I could get two "windows" out of one sheet in the event of a scratch or fog

Invictus · 02-20-04, 03:08 PM

I use 1/4" glass for all of my enclosures, including for boas. It's all you need. If you have it cut right to fit in the tracks properly, and you use a sliding glass cabinet lock, it's extremely unlikely that your snake will be able to get out.

MouseKilla · 02-20-04, 07:16 PM

Ken,

I've seen the boid cages you've built (very simillar to the way HetForHuman posted a set instructions for) and I love the simplicity of them but the glass has always kind of made me apprehensive about using somthing like that for large/adult boids. Am I wrong in thinking that a motivated and large snake could basically either pop out or break one of those thin pieces of glass? I know a guy who had his retic break the door clean off a melamine cage, padlock and all,so I tend to think that many boids may be plenty strong enough to create a horrible situation if glass is involved... Just wondering how everyone is getting away with this design.

Lisa · 02-20-04, 09:53 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by Cruciform
A bonus to sliding is that when it's closed, it's closed. If you forget to latch a hinged door you might have an escapee on your hands.

I wish this was the case. One of my boas can easily open sliding doors. I thought I was going crazy or kate was letting her out the first time cause I was SURE I closed the door. The second time (1/2 hour later) I knew she was opening the door and we fashioned cage locks out of adjustable bungee cords - no escapes since.

Also if the snake is particularly small it can escape through the gap between the glass.

As for glass - yes, a particularly motivated heavy boid can break glass, our burm has done this once.

Cruciform · 02-20-04, 10:24 PM

I should have mentioned having the sliding latch that automatically keeps the door from opening unless you press the button.

Thanks for correcting

latazyo · 02-21-04, 11:03 AM

Quote:

Originally posted by Lisa
Also if the snake is particularly small it can escape through the gap between the glass.

this is the exact concern we have, his female JCP has escaped and she's about twice as thick as my corn is...however he's using 1/8 glass and I plan on 1/4 so there shoudln't be a very large gap between pieces

K1LOS · 02-23-04, 07:15 PM

where do you get the tracks for the doors? I am making a smaller cage out of scraps from the cage i built for my chameleon, and was going to go this route. I am using 5/8" thick melamine, can i get a track that wide at home depot or rona? Will they cut the acrylic for me at their cut centre? Thanks

Geoff

latazyo · 02-23-04, 10:58 PM

I got the track at home depot, it holds 1/4" glass two pieces thick, so it's 1/2" wide total

Linds · 02-26-04, 11:42 AM

I use double drop-down doors on all my enclosures over 3' in length. For safety reasons I prefer to have the ability to keep one side closed at a time. I used 1/4" polycarbonate for the doors, and attched them with piano hinges cut to size. They are secured with barrel-bolt locks.

<img src="http://www.ssnakess.com/photopost/data/504/22cages-finished.jpg">