Temp iguana caging...

  • We are currently upgrading MFK. thanks! -neo
I think a 75 would be okay so long as it is temporary but bigger is better with something like this. Good luck with selling your house man.
 
snakeguy101;4516455; said:
I think a 75 would be okay so long as it is temporary but bigger is better with something like this. Good luck with selling your house man.

I can build an enclosure out of plywood for cheaper than I can find a 75g near me (although it'd be easy to change the 75g over to an aquarium once he outgrows it :naughty:).

I've already drawn up a design, the only thing I'm not sure about is heating. Should I put a glass or acrylic plate in the bottom, so I can attach the heating pad to it, or should I just lay the heating pad on the bottom of the enclosure (inside) and cover it with substrate? Or should I just go with a heat lamp and not worry about the heat pad for now?

Thanks, we have someone already interested and we haven't even listed it yet. Hopefully he'll want to buy it, and I won't have my house sitting on the market very long. The house we want to buy keeps getting cheaper every day, but it probably won't be around too much longer...
 
And I think I will probably go ahead and do at least 48"x24"x20" (LxWxH). I will probably put my ball python tank on top of the iggy tank, and I don't want it to be too tall. Although I might go ahead and make it 24" tall as well...
 
sounds good!, I would forget the heat pad and make a big basking spot, I like to use two 50watt spot lights and then a UVB tube
the two lights about 8 inches apart lets their whole body be able to bask and it seems cheaper then one 100watt according to the light bills lol
good luck with the new house!
 
I've got a 125w spot light and a 65 or 75w regular bulb for heat lamps, plus a 10.0 UVB bulb. I'll probably use the spot light and the uvb bulb together.

If I find that temps are dropping too low at night with the basking light off, then I may be forced to add the heating pad to help keep it warmer (it's been dropping to about 70-72 overnight in the house the last week).
 
HA HA your iguana is named Ash?! :D "Down to your pocket ball pikashu!"
"I wonder how it is inside one of those pocket ball?"
"I wonder when your going to start cooking my dinner?"
 
coura;4517139; said:
HA HA your iguana is named Ash?! :D "Down to your pocket ball pikashu!"
"I wonder how it is inside one of those pocket ball?"
"I wonder when your going to start cooking my dinner?"

:D My girlfriend thought up the name. She was thinking of pokemon, I was thinking of the Evil Dead movie lead character...
 
Well I stopped by Lowes on the way home and picked up just about everything I need. I blew my budget by double already though. I didn't like the selection of 1/2 or 5/8" plywood, so I went with 3/4" AC grade birch plywood. It looks snazzy :). I got all brass hinges, door latches, and handles for the sides. I'm using a piece of aspen 1x6 for the front bottom (to hold back the substrate) and settled for some nice pine 3/4" square trim boards for the door frames. I'm going to get some glass cut for the frames either tomorrow or maybe sometime next week, depending on when I can get to my hardware store.

I went ahead and cut the plywood to size when I got home, and I went ahead and cut to 48x24x24 dimensions. I'm going to do 2 front glass doors that hinge on the bottom and latch at the top.

I'm going to move this cage (once its finished) into the back bedroom of my house, since that room stays the warmest year round. That way I won't have to worry about heating the cage other than the basking spot.

I won't get to work on the tank until Sunday, but I probably won't post any pictures until I'm done with it and its set up, since I'm going to be very busy moving furniture out of the house and into storage, and rearranging the house so that I can get it looking good enough to list it for sale.
 
So I got the terrarium built last night, except for the doors. I've got to have my dad cut a groove in some trim so I can build the doors/windows.

I went ahead and made the enclosure 48x24x24. I'm glad I did. It meant less cutting for me and more space for Ash.

I am sealing it inside and out with polyurethane. I'm doing 3 coats outside, and at least 4 coats inside. This should provide plenty of protection against water.

I'm also thinking about siliconing the corners on the inside of the enclosure, what do you guys think about that?

Lastly, what do you guys prefer, doors that open up (hinge at top, latch at bottom), or doors that open down (hinge at bottom, latch at top)? I'm trying to figure out which would provide easier/better access to the cage.
 
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