I just got my first reptarium last week and can't say enough how much the kids and I LOVE it. The extra space is awesome and cleaning has become so much easier.
I did however find a few problems with not having bars to hang things wherever I would like. The two biggest issues for Badger and Roxy were the feeding station and lack of ledges to hang out on and groom. They also missed having a water bottle. My two prefer to eat up high and I noticed that with having the glider kitchen on the floor that they were nervous going down there to eat. The slightest noise or movement and they were scampering up to the top. The result was that they were eating less and being stressed out at the same time *not good*.
Sooooo, I've been racking my brain to come up with a solution. First I built a shelving unit out of hardware netting and zip tied it to the top. It worked reasonably well but was flimsey and not very stable with the ceramic bowls in there.
I went to Tractor Supply last night looking for another type of lightweight coated wire to build soemthing else and lucked out when I found little wire bird feeders. I got two and attached them to each other with zip ties and then attached it to the top corner in the reptarium (photo attached) <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/laugh.gif" alt="" />. It worked perfectly... the kids loved it last night and the food and water bowls all stayed where they were supposed to. I'll attach a few more pics in posts below.
Re: For those with Reptariums!!
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#109414 06/11/0604:17 PM06/11/0604:17 PM
Water bottle solution ~ this is one of the hanging water bottles available in the small animal section at a pet shop. They love this and I've had it there for a few nights with no problems what so ever <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/thumb.gif" alt="" />
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#109417 06/11/0604:23 PM06/11/0604:23 PM
Ok...last photo. This is a rectangleular shape hammoc that I made, it works perfectly as a grooming station and just somewhere for them to chill out on <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/wink.gif" alt="" />
Re: For those with Reptariums!!
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#109418 06/11/0604:26 PM06/11/0604:26 PM
Great job Lorna! I've started using the 'platforms' in my larger cages and the gliders love having that place to just hang out without sitting on metal, etc.
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#109419 06/11/0604:49 PM06/11/0604:49 PM
all those pic's makes me want to switch to reptarium. <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/thumb.gif" alt="" /> Good Job!!! <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/multi.gif" alt="" />
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#109421 06/11/0606:47 PM06/11/0606:47 PM
My guys are used to drinking from open dishes (we had two that got their tongues pinched by the little ball, and refused to go near the bottles after that-Riker and Troi...so I change water twice daily in open dishes)..so that's not an issue for me. Safety pins work well for hanging toys in there, with a looped cable tie thru the pin. Put the majority of the pin on the outside, so if it should pop open (I haven't had one do that, but am aware of the possibility) the point is to the outside of the rept.
And don't put any food they like right next to it, lol. A friend of mine did...and her gliders ate a 1" hole thru the rept to get at the dried blueberries! <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/roflmao.gif" alt="" /> They didn't leave the rept...just pulled the blueberries inside. <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/smile.gif" alt="" /> Before/since they have had no interest in chewing on it...they aren't in one often-travel or cage cleaning-but they REALLY wanted those blueberries!
Thanks for sharing!
Jen/Colin Commander Riker 12 16 02-10 04 12 you will be FOREVER missed Sinbad, Gabby, Baby, and Alley
Re: For those with Reptariums!!
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#109423 06/11/0610:04 PM06/11/0610:04 PM
[:"green"]Lorna, I only have one small reptarium that I use for traveling, but the suet-feeders is a great idea that I will definitely use in the future! Great job on setting yours up!!! It looks wonderful!
This is an old picture of my first setup in a 260gal reptarium. I used many zip-ties and 1inch plastic chain. For water station i use a water buddy bottle that is just hunged in the middle of the cage, sitting on the 2 crossbar with a corner hammock below. As for feeding station here is the kicker.. i went and bought a baby food dish that can be filled with hot water and simply drilled a hole in each corner to hung on 's' hooks. Well, that is what i did for my first week, now i keep cutting the zipties and changing the order of all the chains and food station.
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#109425 06/11/0610:52 PM06/11/0610:52 PM
here is the bottom of the cage - a few yards of fleece cut in square make for great liner and a quick cleanup of all the messy gifts from our furballs. <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/blush.gif" alt="" />
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#109426 06/12/0609:45 AM06/12/0609:45 AM
[:"#666666"] Hi Lorna <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/wave.gif" alt="" /> Great job <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/thumb.gif" alt="" /> I Love it! You sure have your little ones a "bit" spoiled! <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/confused.gif" alt="" /> (yeah..right...more like " VERY" spoiled!!!) <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/roflmao.gif" alt="" /> You're a wonderful suggie mom! <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/hug2.gif" alt="" /> Take care! <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/wave.gif" alt="" />[/]