Hey all i was thinking of building a lizard's paradise lol, i was either thinking a few bearded dragon's like 5 or 6 or 2 savana moniter lizard's, the enclosure an 8'x12' shed with barn doors at the one end and a regular door on the side down at the other end. I would have wood and an acrylic viewing window about 2 feet into the shed from the barn door end and have the side door as an access door to get into where the lizard's actually are. I was planning on putting a pond inside with the lizard's probably a pre formed pond but a large one with a few large koi in it and possibly my turtle. I would have a few basking area's with large flat rocks and heat lamp's throughout the area with sand as the floor and large piece's of stump's and tree's laying around so they have something to climb on. I was wondering though what would be better for this type of set up the moniter lizard's will have alot of space to get huge but i'm not into feeding them rat's and such when they get larger but would it be able to house 5 full grown bearded dragon's or maybe more? As soon as my taxes come in i should start the build i won't get the lizard's till i get everything built so i have time to figure everything out. i thought i'd knock out two birds with one stone to get a pond build and a lizard tank build at the same time. let me know what you guys think.
Bearded dragon's or savana moniter?
- Thread starter efchris
- Start date
if you go with monitors, anything you put with them in that pond will sooner or later be eaten, or diseases may be transfered. especially when you mix species (ie. turtle and monitor's)
Also i would also suggest ditching the sand and going with good ole dirt, better benifits and holds humidity better than sand.
Also how would you heat this shed?
what are the demensions (lxwxh)
you might run into trouble if the monitors turn out to be both males..
also why the interest in monitor's?
to just feed them rats like you stated..?
Also i would also suggest ditching the sand and going with good ole dirt, better benifits and holds humidity better than sand.
Also how would you heat this shed?
what are the demensions (lxwxh)
you might run into trouble if the monitors turn out to be both males..
also why the interest in monitor's?
to just feed them rats like you stated..?
Your gigantic setup looks pretty good but yes defenetly needs some adjusts. First of dont mix lizards with turtles, lizards are very sencitive to amebiasis wich turtles can carry in assimptomatic fashion and hardly get sick, but can kill a lizard. Also none of the lizards your considering its very fownd of water. I would not put beardys in there but maybe the savanahs would eventualy like it. If you do beardys you would see a great diversity of social behaviors. Your setup would however be IDEAL for 5 water dragons or 2 sailfin dragons both love water. However thouse are more of tropical rain forest animals, dont know if you would like that?
if I were you, I would just pick one larger animal for that enclosure. That way you do not have to worry about one picking on the other or being more dominant. maybe you could set up a divider and keep one on each side. It seems like a good enclosure and I think that sand would be fine and I know that savanna monitors do like water but there is a BIG no as far as putting a turtle in there as both would likely kill each other eventually. Also, if you get a sav, you had better get over feeding them rats since that should be their staple food among it diet.
If you have had experience with monitors, I would say go with a nice sized water monitor since what you had described would be ideal for one (with minor adjustments).
If you have had experience with monitors, I would say go with a nice sized water monitor since what you had described would be ideal for one (with minor adjustments).
My interest in moniters came from seeing them in petco they looked awesome and when i talked to the guy he said they get huge but like i said i am not to fond of the idea of feeding them rats thats whats making me not wanna get one of them mostly cause rats will add up in price being like 2-3$ a piece at my local petco. The dimentions of the shed would be about 8' wide 12' long maybe a little shorter and like i said i would put the viewing glass about 3 or 4 feet into the shed so the actualy part where the lizard's would be would only be about 8 or 9 feet long and 8 foot wide. Heating shouldn't be a problem the shed is insulated and i would put 3 or 4 heat lamp's through out the enclosure facing various large flat rocks which should hold heat pretty good and i would face a couple at the sand or dirt at a couple place's. I am not wanting to get rid of the pond idea since i do want to build a pond since i want to build a pond anyways. I wouldn't even know how to begin making a tropical rainforest type enclosure i would like it but i wouldn't know where to begin. I like the desert idea but if i did put the pond in there with a couple bearded dragon's what would happen? if they don't like water wouldn't they just leave the water alone?
why have a pond if your not going to use it? I agree with the above just get one big animal for the enclosure. If you reeally want something big that swims there are water monitors that would utilize a pond. But as far as difficulty water monitors are way past beardies so im inclined to ask you experience levels im going to assume you have kept reptiles before.
Rodents are very important to most large lizards diet wise so that might be important. You don't have to feed live. Get frozen rodents. I would order from rodentpro.com and just buy in bulk. Shipping is a killer but you actually save alot of money.
Rodents are very important to most large lizards diet wise so that might be important. You don't have to feed live. Get frozen rodents. I would order from rodentpro.com and just buy in bulk. Shipping is a killer but you actually save alot of money.
I have had a turtle that i caught for about 10 years now maybe longer, and i have caught my girlfriend 4 wild green anole's and a treefrog and have basically been doing all the maintenance and care for them my experience level isn't low but i don't know everything. And i would utilize the pond i would have a waterfall and everything for it with live plants i think it would give the area a nice look and i wanted to put bigger fish in it that the bearded dragon's wouldn't be able to eat but everybody said that bearded dragon's don't like water i just wanted it to set the place off and have fish in.
I agree you basically want a reptile "fish tank" with all different species cohabitaing. Reptiles aren't like fish you can't just mix and match them. Heck I don't even like to do that with fish. I would also stay away from the large monitors considereing your experience. I would do beardies but just a simple 4x2 cage would be easier.
I don't want a reptile fish tank, i wanted a large reptile tank with a pond in it like something you may find in the wild.