Rhino iguana...

  • We are currently upgrading MFK. thanks! -neo
Mike D;4365658; said:
yeah its been while since i have posted. but i am back!

as far as my mix goes i went a little heavy on sand so its prob like a 50/25/25 mix. but you could really go with whatever you wanted. if iwe to do it again i would prob use top soil and sand. the eco earth stuff dries out super fast. and the sand is whatever home depot sells. its like 3 bucks a bag i think last time i bought it. i also keep a ceramic tile on the side that i have the ehat light on. it holds and displaces the heat a little better it seems. and it will hold onto the heat for a tad longer once your lights are out.

i dont see the need for a heat pad. if your house stays warm they will be fine. my rhino is in my herp room with the other iguana and i dont run any sort of night time heat for either of them. even in the winter they are fine.


also good call on keeping him in a low traffic room. when i moved mine from the living room to the herp room i noticed a huge difference. it was like night and day. she went from being super jumpy to super laid back. you should look into putting the cage so the doors open from the side. that should help calm them down faster. its always easier to tame when you are coming at them rather than from above them


i think you are really going to enjoy the rhino when you get it home.
Click to expand...

I may do some organic topsoil and play sand mix then. That should be cheap and easy to get.

I was planning on laying a slate tile, or something like that, for the basking spot, or else just use a large piece of driftwood, so he can stretch out.

As far as laying the cage on its side, I can't. The hinges stick out on one side, and the latch on the other, so its pretty much upright or on its back. I suppose I could try building a platform to support it, but that wouldn't be the easiest thing to do. I'll think about it though. Plus, if I turn it on its side, substrate would always be falling out when I open the door, unless I were to silicone in a ledge to hold it back.

As far as room choice, it was either the front room (with the tv) or the back bedroom with the aquarium. I was actually worried about the back room being too hot, since it faces west and has french doors, it gets pretty hot back there sometimes (upper 80's). The front room also has more room for the terrarium, and we don't spend a LOT of time in that room, although enough to socialize it with us. Eventually I'd like to let it have the run of that room, since we keep it closed off from the rest of the house.
 
that room sounds good to me. the room i keep mine in gets hot. sometimes hotter than what yours gets, but its ok. just keep and eye on the basking spot if the temps in the room climb. i have been able to come down in wattage as well as far as heating goes. which has been nice. setting him up with driftwood will be good, i have some in with mine and he loves them, another thing he likes are rocks. i got mine from the woods behind my parents when i was living there. they give him rough spots to wear his nails down some. and they wil hold heat as well.

you dont even have to go with organic topsoil either. just go to home depot and get some scotts topsoil i think it is. they keep it by the pallet, ussually if they have an outside lawn and garden area it out there. no need to spend a ton of money on organic. i didnt realize that the door was the way it is for some reason, it was a long day at the office:irked:. i would just keep it top opening then. keep things simple.

also as far as feeding goes these things are bottomless pits! mine eats a ton. some times she amazes me with the amount she can pack away.
 

I've got several pieces of driftwood to choose from (there wouldn't be any room for him to walk if I put them all in), and I've got a pile of nice rocks outside (limestone and granite) that I collected for putting around my pond. I'll be putting some of that in as well.

I picked up the generic brand of the scotts topsoil. That's what I meant when I said organic, not some special label crap that costs 5 times as much. But its just top soil mixed with peat moss. I picked up 3x 40lb bags of topsoil, and 2x 50lb bags of play sand. I'm probably going to mix up 2 bags of topsoil and 1-1.5 bags of sand, and see how far that goes. if I need more, I'll add the rest.

I also picked up a bunch of those felt furniture pad things. I can stick those on the back of the tank, so when I set it down, its not resting on the hardwood floors. And I can semi-level the terrarium with them, so that its not twisted and putting stress on the glass.

I stopped by the LRS on my way home, and checked in on the little guy. He didn't mind when I picked him up, and he was very calm as I held him. He closed his eyes and arched his back while I was petting him, and he let me pet his back, the top of his head, his chin, and his cheek. I held him flat in my hand for a minute or two before he decided to climb back down into the tank. I was very surprised, considering how little attention he probably gets in the store.

I did learn a little more about his history today, from the owner of the store. Apparently he was a trade in from someone. Not sure why they didn't want him any more, as he's in perfect condition from what I can tell. I think they wanted something they could cuddle with, and this wasn't it. So that's why its already somewhat tame, as well as being so cheap. The owner told me he felt like they were practically giving it away, but said he couldn't really justify charging any more for it, considering the guy only traded it for about $50 worth of feeder rats and mice :screwy:.

Oh well, his loss my gain, right? And he was chowing down on some salad greens (not sure what kind) while I was watching him.
 
Got the enclosure set up the way I want it, I think. I need to hear your guys opinions to make sure I'm not missing anything.

I put 18 of those felt furniture "feet" on the back of the terrarium before laying it down. This will serve several purposes:

1. Distribute the weight evenly to the floor, without creating pressure points.
2. Raise the terrarium off the floor so it doesn't get scratched.
3. Alleviate any stress from an uneven floor.
4. Make it really easy to slide the terrarium in the event I need to move it around the room.

There's about 2" of substrate on the entire bottom, getting as deep as about 4-5" in front of and to the side of the hide box. Its 3x 40lb bags of topsoil mixed with about 1/2 of a 50lb bag of play sand.

There is a food bowl and water bowl (both heavy ceramic) on top of the hide box. There is a Tupperware container (holds about a gallon or so) buried in the substrate for a soaking/pooping tub. There are 3 pieces of driftwood in the tank, 2 large long pieces, one smaller. There are 4 stones in the tank, 2 set where the basking lights will be, the other two placed elsewhere in the tank for him to rub against during sheds.

The basking and uv light are going to be placed at the screen on the near side of the enclosure. I can control temps by moving the lamps closer or farther from the enclosure. No heating pad for now.

The door opens upward. It is a little difficult to reach into the back bottom corner of the terrarium with it set this way, but hopefully that won't cause any problems. The tank is right under the windows, so hopefully the light will be enough to light the enclosure without being too bright (the windows face east, so it only gets direct light for about 1-2 hours in the morning).

The tank is set next to the couch, and slightly behind it, so that the iggy can see us in the room while still being able to hide from us. Hopefully this ends up being good positioning. If not, I could probably move the terrarium completely behind the couch, but then he wouldn't be able to see us at all, and I don't think that would be a good thing.


Sorry for the long post, what do you guys think?

001.JPG

005.JPG

006.JPG

009.JPG

011.JPG

012.JPG

014.JPG

015.JPG
 
very nice! now post the iggy in there :nutkick:
 
Lepisosteus platyrhincus;4367283; said:
very nice! now post the iggy in there :nutkick:
Click to expand...

I'll have my iggy before you have your caiman! :owned:

I'm hoping this Friday after work, although we'll see how things go. :headbang2
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
MonsterFishKeepers.com
Top Bottom