housing dilemma

[drache]

all of my animals are currently adequately housed except for one and I've been chewing on this problem for a while
thankfully he's not in great discomfort, but I need to make some sort of decision and get on with it
it's Drache, my PI king
I want to give him a 6'x2'x2' enclosure
when we moved in, I popped my 4'x2' lizard cages on this quickly cobbled together thing and now I'm ready to tackle this corner

http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2113/2477853305_ced01761e4_b.jpg

these are the issues:
Henner needs to be able to get in and out of his cage on his own and I'm not sure he could figure out a ramp, so he probably needs to stay on the bottom
if I put the largest cage on top, it needs to be lighter than a glass tank would be - particularly one with sliding doors, which it would also have to have
wood would also be too heavy
it would really have to be acrylic
but I don't like most of the acrylics I've seen
granite really wouldn't go with my wood floors
also - they're pricey
any suggestions?

[thinkmore]

I'm no expert on this, but what you really need is a shelving unit of some sort, no? If you build it yourself or get it built for you, you'd have a lot of options in how it's designed. It could be built quite strong. You're not dealing with huge weight loads like you would with aquariums, so would think's it's doable.

Acrylic can be manufactured in different ways, and is by different companies. Maybe there's a type that would work for you?

[drache]

thanks for the response
after all the agonizing I did over this, I found that my most economical solution will be to get another glass tank with sliding doors, like the other two, but longer, and to build the supporting structure myself
I'm quite relieved that the decision part is over
now I just have to see, whether I can get it together to build the supporting structure by mid-june, or whether mid-july is more realistic, since I don't have a car and lumber procurement generally requires one
also - I'm not looking forward to moving a tank that size
the 66"x18"X13' we got already weighed a ton and that didn't have the sliding doors
this one's gonna be twice as heavy . . .

[Snake lover 3-25]

wow that's alot!!!! maybe someone here can help?????:D

[drache]

wow that's alot!!!! maybe someone here can help?????:D
lol
I didn't mean a ton literally, but it sure felt that way

[Snake lover 3-25]

ooooooo LOL i'm gulable!!!:D

[Stefan-A]

if I put the largest cage on top, it needs to be lighter than a glass tank would be - particularly one with sliding doors, which it would also have to have
wood would also be too heavy
Plywood. I made a 110 x 70 x 50 cm plywood terrarium a couple of years ago. I made a frame of 21 x 21 mm wood and covered the whole damn thing with 4 mm plywood and made swinging polycarbonate doors. The terrarium ended up lighter than the 460 x 577 x 6 mm sliding glass doors on the terrarium it replaced. The only way to make it lighter than that, would be to replace the plywood with fabric or very thin plastic. :)