Ever since I've been on this forum I've wanted to take a series of pictures of all my different rearing equipment I designed, built and improved on over the years, especially my total habitat controllable rearing cages in many sizes. But my son has what's left of all my equipment buried in his storage facility somewhere, and getting a fire lit under his butt to dig them out has been mission impossible for years.

So when I came across these pictures I thought some of you might entertain the idea as a project to do this winter for next season, and from the looks of them for decades to come with reasonable care. They could be adapted for total habitat control too for not a lot of extra money, and could be used either in or outdoors.

Basically they look like they can be made simply out of screen kits bought from a large local hardware/home and garden store like Lowes, Home Depot, Ace, etc, or from a window company rather than the expensive cage kits from biological supply companies. The framed screen panels come in almost endless sizes to fit all the different window sizes, and would be coated with a finish that is noncorrosive. So they would be light weight and last for many years.

Looks like simply drilled holes and sheet metal/machine screwed or pop rivets to put them together in the sizes wanted, a piano hinge and latch pin on the door panel, a base and call it good. I imagine the base (bottom) could be simply melamine, pressure laminate (like Formica) covered waterproof plywood, possibly polycarbonate, plexiglass or some other waterproof material. Once all the materials are rounded up it would take very few tools and almost no skill to assemble them.

Anyway, food for thought. If enough are actually made this winter I'll do a write up on how to make them fully climate controllable (temperature, humidity, air flow, photoperiod), and if wanted an easier solution using cut plants rather than the potted plants this gent used (cuttings are a far better choice in cages BTW) that has the added adantage of making them very easy to service, clean up and sterilize.

Who knows, I might even get bored enough this winter to go buy the materials and make one myself, including with all the other improvements I mentioned just for show and tell pictures. I would still like you to see my old cages too though as they are better than these in some ways, would be less expensive to build but would require more tools, skill and time to build.

Larry

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