Turning "junk" into a cage..

[aSnakeLovinBabe]

A friend of my boyfriend's dad just gave me a 100 gallon tank. The catch? The bottom of it is cracked and spiderwebbed out to the edges. It's still sturdy and in one piece aside from some tiny splinters but the cracks need strengthened. It's extremely dirty (still some mulch crumbs! and there are some shards of glass in there too), has calium buildup all over it... It has sat unused for like 10 years. It has a hinged door on one side of the top made of plywood and screen, but there is nothing on the other side. The door is in great shape...

So my mission?
-Clean it up
-seal the cracks in the glass off with epoxy
- adhere a board of some material to the inside to further strengthen it
- Turn the tank on it's side to just about double the amount of floor space, build a hinged door of the exact same dimensions on the other side
- replace the old chicken wire screen with new window mesh screen.
- apply background to the bottom (which will actually be the back) for a finished look

I figured I would allow others to watch my progress with photos... Here is the tank as of tonight:

[Snakers]

gl looks like it could be an awesome cage with work

[guidofatherof5]

It sounds like you have a good plan of action, Shannon.
It will be interesting to watch the progress.

[count dewclaw]

Free cages are so much fun! Yeah, sometimes they require some work to make them functional, but they are still great. That will make a nice large enclosure for some of your snakes. Can't wait to see updates as well as the finished product.

[Mommy2many]

Have fun with your new project! Can't wait to see the progress photos.

[Corinne33]

I have 2 55gallons in my garage and i never would have thought to turn them on their side!! Make sure you post detailed pictures on how you maket the door to it so i can copy what you do.

[aSnakeLovinBabe]

no problem! Headed off to the home depot in a bit.

[mustang]

and they said there was no such thing as a girl who likes building and stuff, well for that matter they said no girls love snakes and for that matter i got 5 girls # s beceause of my good looks and my snakes hottness....good luck

[aSnakeLovinBabe]

Didn't get to work on the cage today, I was too darned busy!

But, It's the other way around as far as I am concerned. I had the HARDEST darned time meeting guys who still wanted to talk to me after meeting the snakes. They were fine with me right up until they learned about the snakes! In High School, I was simply, "that girl with the snakes". Then I met Eddie. We invited his family (they're neighbors, actually), He showed up late, I was drunk, drug him into my snakeroom within 5 minutes of meeting him and we've been inseparable ever since

...even though he doesn't own any snakes! but he likes them. which is good! MY SNAKES. all mine.

[Charis]

I'm thinking of doing something close to that with a tank I have, so will be really interested in seeing pics of the stages & finished project too! I had a question, though. I've heard you want to keep your snakes away from any part of the cage that has screen, because they can rub their faces on it & hurt themselves. Do you think there is any danger of that happening with this type of configuration? Sorry if this question doesn't make sense, I'm dead & off to bed.