Increasing floor space

[crittermom]

Hi BTS lovers! It has been ages since I've posted on here, but I hope you are all doing well! I have a Northern BTS (Eliot) that is about 5 now. So far He(she) has been living in a 40 breeder, and seems to be doing well. We are going to be having a baby in the spring, and my plant/animal room is going to become a nursery, so I am trying to figure out a way to build a nice cage for Eliot (and his cornsnake sister) out of an old dresser that will look nice enough to be out in our home in the main living area, without showing cords, lights, etc. I've looked into buying nice stackable cages from showcase cages, but just can't affor them right now. I have an old dresser that is about 5 feet tall, and has an inside opening of 36 inches by 18 inches, and about 36 inches tall. (The snake will go in the bottom section which is about the size of a 40 breeder). I am hoping to build the part for Eliot in a way that has several levels, in order to increase the useable space for him, but as much as I've searched for pics of what I'm invisioning, have found nothing. Maybe this isn't a good idea for a ground dweller? He does seem to love climbing, and the actual floor space would be no different than what he's in now, but it would just have upper areas as well. I don't want to create something where he could fall and injure himself, but how likely is this to actually happen? I would like to use branches/ramps to go up the the upper level, where the basking spot will be. Anyone have any advice/input/pictures of what you have done to increase floor space without increasing the footprint?

Thank you!

[critterguy]

I would build the levels and ramps in a way to insure the animal is unable to descend/fall more than one level at a time.
You'd probably want each level to be almost complete with only a small entry hole to the next level with a nice wide gently sloping ramp. You could use particleboard or similar material, even plastic tubs would do. I think a front opening design would be ideal to facilitate cleaning all the levels.

[Richard.C]

sorry ,i saw the names and thought are you two related,lol

i tend to think along same lines as critterguy,im not sure about alot of levels but if only slightly off the floor level could be good,another option is elevated hides,though low levels already offers that,hides and more floor space,id be concerned with making them to high,blueys are clutzes,they may think there as agile as an arboreal agamid,but climbing for them is almost akin to a fish out of water,lol

[crittermom]

Thank you so much for the responses. I think I'm going to try for what critterguy is describing. I think I may only do one upper level, that goes all the way to the front of the cage (which will be front opening) and is essentially a solid level, which the exception of the opening with a ramp going down to the base. That way, if he does go crashing to the lower level, he won't have too far to go. Do you think it would be acceptable to keep the shavings only on the lower level, along with the water bowl, and then have the upper level have his basking area and his climbing log? I could try to put shavings on both levels, but I think it will be more difficult to keep them from falling out when I open the doors. Thanks again for your help!

[El Lobo]

You could fix a strip of timber/glass/plexiglass across the front slightly higher than the substrate depth to stop it falling out when the door is opened. My enclosures are all front opening with such strips and can be opened without any loss of substrate.