Moving reptiles from one cage should be easy....
by Mark Chapple
I recently moved some snakes from a smaller cage to another and in the process vacated a larger cage that I could place the lizards into. Easy, you would think. It should have been. In fact it was quite a drawn out process that took a few hours. In the process I learnt a few things that will help me in future.
One of the issues was the light fittings. The lizards have a UV light and the snakes did not, although they did have a small fluorescent light. So I had to take out the fluorescent light fittings from one cage and put it into the other cage. I had to do this for both cages. I also had to change the basking light fittings as I had different basking lights.
In any future cages I make I have decided to keep the same style of light fittings consistent, so that moving animals is a simple process. This will make it easier all around as I can have spare globes on hand that will go into any cage.
I also had to change the castors as I decided to place the newer cage underneath another cage as it was larger.
The castors on the cages are fixed to pieces of MDF or timber of (about 5'' x 5'') that themselves are attached to each bottom the corner of the cage. This makes changing castors very easy as I can attach the castors to another cage and leave the timber pieces on the bottom of the cage. This also allows some airflow between the cages while still giving adequate support to the cage underneath as the weight is distributed over a large enough area. Should I want to use an upper cage as a bottom cage in future, it is merely a matter of attaching some other castors to the existing timber pieces.
The rest of the move was relatively easy as I just moved the temperature probes. The heat mats will stay with each cages so that it can be reused any date without too much effort. Making the heat mats yourself is easy and the cost of them is quite minimal once you know how to do this.
I have decided that I will, where possible, use consistent light fixtures so that any future moves are a very simple process. One thing that did make the move easier was the way I had attached the castors.
I have also decided that I will place MDF or timber pieces on the bottoms of cages as a matter of course so that moving and rearranging is a much simpler process.
The heat mats will stay in the cage and remain that way. Setting any the
cage is therefore a simpler process as the only thing that I will have to
do is change the thermostat from one cage to another, adding globes, accessories
and furnishings.
Mark Chapple is the Author of "How to build enclosures
for reptiles"
Find out how to build these cages as well as arboreal cages. Full color pictures,
detailed diagrams and easy to follow, step-by-step instructions.
http://www.reptile-cage-plans.com