How To Build Your Own Reptile Enclosure! | Perfect for Bearded Dragons, Skinks + More

As many of you know, I recently had these awesome cages built for my blue tongue skink and bearded dragon! Ever since I showed these cages i've had a lot of people request a video on how to built them, so here it is!

The cages shown in this video are perfect for animals like bearded dragons, blue tongue skinks and other medium sized lizards. With a few small modifications, they can be used for many other animals such as snakes!

Supplies used:
4x8, 1/2” melamine sheet, cut into these sizes:
- 48”x24” (top panel)
- 48”x24” (bottom panel)
- 24”x23” (side panel)
- 24”23” (side panel)
- 47”x4” (front, bottom piece)
- 47”x2” (front, top piece)
- 18”x2” (front, side piece)
- 18”x1.5” (front, side piece)
- 18”x1.5” (front, middle piece)
2x4, 1/8” melamine sheet (back panel)
Ikea komplement glass shelf (door)
Ikea komplement glass shelf (door)
2 silver door knobs
2 cabinet latches
2 air vents
1 and 1/2” screws
Finishing nails

Don't forget to like and subscribe!

Social media:
Instagram: @emmasam99
Twitter: @emmasam99
Snapchat: emmasam99
Younow: EmmaLSampson
Amino: Emma Lynne Sampson
Zoopix: @sandwich and @lex

Music:
LAKEY INSPIRED: Wonder

[aksampson]

Hello all! Emma’s dad here... thank you for the many compliments! Just a quick update to this, I found that the small vertical pieces on the front (where the door hinges attach) and the center piece (where they latch) weren’t really sturdy enough for my liking the way I attached them originally, so I attached an extra piece of the same width, but the full length of the space inside from top to bottom (approx 23 inches) directly to the back of each vertical piece. This way I was able to screw that extra piece into the top and bottom horizontal pieces for extra stability, and then also put in a few screws into the original piece now in front of it, so the center piece especially that was “toe-nailed” in the video is much stronger now. In simpler terms all the vertical bracing pieces have all been “doubled”, but again since the extra piece was attached in the inside, it can be several inches longer and attached at the very top and bottom. Much more stable now. Thanks for watching Emma’s vids! ☺️

[emslilzoo]

Your dad’s a natural! He should make a channel if he does woodworking/hands on DIYs regularly, he’s really good with explanations haha!

[britanidunn]

He should start selling his enclosures I know that I would forsure be a customer. It came out nice

[KalynWoodbury]

Your dad should make a DIY channel! He's so good in front of the camera :-)

[ItsR]

Lmaooo Emma, can I borrow him for a day or two. So he can build me some cages lol.

[Brothawick]

Gotta say I’ve been A carpenter for about 25 years and I would say your dad needs to teach .😜. I think this is perfect for people who are not knowledgeable With woodworking and he gives them every step excellent video

[MeowijuanaMama]

this is EXACTLY the type of video i’ve been searching for! i wanna build cages just like this for my two hedgehogs. thank you to you and your dad!

[krystlestevens]

Your dads explanation of the edges lining up and all the adjustments you need to consider with the wood thickness were amazing! I’ve watched a few of these videos and his emphasis in the beginning were sooo helpful! Saved me so much time and work where I definitely would’ve been thrown off by not taking all that into consideration.

[zareptiles]

YES DAD! HE HAS NATURAL YOUTUBE TALENT! GET THIS MAN A CHANNEL! 👏👏👏👏👏👏👏👏👏👏👏

[openworldgaming]

Just wanted to say a big thanks to your dad. Not many YouTubers go into such detail at each step and explain the simplicity of it. Love to see more vids of him making stuff. I'd love to see him do an inside enclosure for an aboreal larger snake.

[Owlcopettube]

Hey Emma, I also have a question. Would you consider doing a video about properly setting up lamps in your reptiles cages? I know in the reptile community lighting in the cages can sometimes pose a fire risk. I have yet to own a reptile that requires one inside the cage, but I think it would be a good topic to talk about since your videos may reach more and new reptile owners! Let me know what you think! :)

[justmeLoyalLove]

Best Video I watched to help me build my reptiles new terrariums! The fact you mentioned an estimated the price, included the list of items needed and your dad is great at teaching how and why to do it this way! Im so happy I found this video! Im going to Subscribe and watch more of your videos right now!!!!

[serensanders]

your dad is adorable 😂 the way he kept checking the camera could see 😂🥰

[brooklyngracesparks]

I could listen to the man say IKEA for at least 10 minutes, without getting tired of it. Cherish your dad. Love this wholesomeness.

[RT-.]

I’ve never seen so many real profile pictures in a video’s comments before 🤔

[dhaleyg]

Your dad is a very talented man you're lucky to have someone that can help you build things for your animals they look fantastic

[chademr]

I built this cage for my young savannah monitor and it came out great. I wired my own light fixtures into the top though and had to make a few tweaks to the dimensions because the Home Depot employee who cut the melamine butchered it, but overall I’m thrilled with how it came out. Thanks for posting this! The ikea shelves worked out perfectly but I wanted to use decorative cabinet hinges and in order to stop them from sagging I had to use four on each side since they aren’t that strong.

Tip for anyone that tries this: I also found white “tape” next to the melamine in Home Depot that I ironed on to cover the areas that didn’t have the plastic coating on on it and it worked perfectly because it was made out of the same white material.

[kristinskingdom]

Omg your dad did such a great job explaining I'm moving from New York to North Carolina in less than 2 days, so when I'm settled I'm definitely gonna be getting my boyfriend to help me build my adult ball python an enclosure like this!!

[samarabevin]

Thank you Emma and Emma’s dad. This was so helpful. I’ve been exhausted trying to find someone who could explain like this. So nice thank you 🙏

[nikolasburris]

I thank your father for the wonderful diy tutorial! I really needed it for my hedgehogs new cage!