New Cage Build for a Hogg Island Boa

[RandomMistakes]

I've been designing, buying parts, building the background, and constructing the cage for the past 2 months, and I'm about 99% done so I thought I would show off. The background is made of Dow Foam carved into rocks, branches, ledges, caves, etc. and then painted with Drylok to waterproof it. The cage is made from 3 sheets of 5/8" plywood. The front window is actually two panes of glass sitting on sliding tracks so that I can easily clean the cage and remove my snake. The shelves also have sliding green plexiglass for extra storage (somehow I need to fit this in my studio apartment).

The whole thing is 5.5' tall, 5' wide, and 2' deep while the enclosure area is 3'3" tall, 5' wide, 2' deep, which should be plenty of room for my Hogg Island Boa and possibly another if my girlfriend decides to get one. Let me know what you think!

[video=youtube;g1eMQIw-hoE]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g1eMQIw-hoE&list=HL1342328043&feature=mh_lolz[/video]


Sorry about the images turned sideways... They're correct on my computer but when I attach them they turn the wrong way.

 

[Sylvias]

Wow that's quite an elaborate cage for a little hogg island! very nicely done! I need to do something like that for my scrubs...

 

[RandomMistakes]

Thanks! The background was a lot of fun since you can really design every space that the snake will hide in and climb on. It's hard to tell, but all the branches hide a bunch of rock ledges and caves and the interior of the tree on the right side is hollow with 3 different perches for the snake to lay in. I just moved him in last night and it looks like he's taken a liking to the middle perch in the tree.

 

[Sylvias]

wow... you wanna come help me build some of those? lol

 

[CJH]

The background is made of Dow Foam carved into rocks, branches, ledges, caves, etc. and then painted with Drylok to waterproof it. The cage is made from 3 sheets of 5/8" plywood.

I like it a lot. What did you seal the plywood with? Drylok as well?

So you carved even the round, curved perches and the faux vines wrapping around them out of solid foam board? I was wondering if they were pool noodles or pipe insulation or something but the way I read it you carved them out of solid foam sheet?

 

[RandomMistakes]

I like it a lot. What did you seal the plywood with? Drylok as well?

So you carved even the round, curved perches and the faux vines wrapping around them out of solid foam board? I was wondering if they were pool noodles or pipe insulation or something but the way I read it you carved them out of solid foam sheet?

The interior has a light coat of Drylok and the bottom actually has a 1/16" sheet of acrylic siliconed to it so that I could wipe it easily for cleaning the coconut fiber.

The rock background and the straight vertical tree parts on the far right are carved from the blue 1-1/2" Dow foam, but all the twisting branches are made from PVC Pipe that I heated and bent, and then covered with pipe insulation, like you said. The vines are different sizes and lengths of a product called Backer Rod, which is basically a small foam rope to stop air leakage.