Lewis' New House

[Hobbywood]

As promised in my first thread (about magazines), here is the vivarium I built for our daughter's bearded dragon, Lewis.

It's made of melamine. It's 48" wide, 24" deep and 20" tall.

Nothing really special about the construction. Though I had fun squaring up the panels with a $10 guide and my old Skil circular saw. I was hoping to rough-cut the panels and then do the final trim on my table saw but I couldn't get the blade off. Nothing I tried worked and I knew I didn't want to cut melamine with an old 20-30 tooth blade. I put a 60-tooth (Diablo) blade in my circular saw and it did a fantastic job. Very little tear out and where necessary, I assembled the pieces where it wouldn't show or would be covered with silicone (on the inside).

The acrylic handles on the glass are from a company in Australia. There's a guy here locally that builds vivariums this size for $300 and includes these handles as an option. He has the link to the company on his website so I ordered direct. Only $14, shipped, for the pair.

The last picture is of Lewis. He's probably grown another 2"-3" since that picture (he's 15" as of last Saturday). Full grown is about 24".

Our daughter was already looking at a bigger enclosure and was going to buy a 36" one from a pet store but as I did some research, I found that I could easily build her a bigger one for about the same price. But since it was just before Christmas, I decided I wanted to build this for her as a present. It's a little late, but she still loves it as she got to spend more money on the things that will go in it.

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[Hobbywood]

BTW: underneath is a little dolly I built for it. Our daughter was wanting to put it on the floor but I thought it would be easier if it could at least roll around instead of just sitting on the floor (plus, it's heavy as all get-out), so I built the dolly.

[stav]

Lewis looks like a happy fellow in that fancy enclosure. My daughters beardie lives in a large aquarium. She’s mentioned the possibility of building our own at some point. I’ll show her yours and see what she thinks.

[Hobbywood]

Lewis looks like a happy fellow in that fancy enclosure. My daughters beardie lives in a large aquarium. She’s mentioned the possibility of building our own at some point. I’ll show her yours and see what she thinks.

There are lots of videos on YouTube to get ideas from. The local guy here is  South Texas Dragons. Lots of pictures to get ideas from.

Amazon was our friend for ordering things like the track for the door and the UV fixture.

[stav]

Are you doing anything to control moisture inside?

[Hobbywood]

Are you doing anything to control moisture inside?

She has a temperature and humidity gauge to measure, but nothing to control other than a timer on the lights.

I have caulked all the interior joints with silicone to keep moisture away from the particle board. The vents across the back and sides are for excess heat and air exchange. She'll be using some "artificial turf" for the bottom. It's made of Olefin. The idea is to have multiple pieces to rotate out for cleaning.

She's done quite a bit of research in caring for her beardie and she's never mentioned anything about controlling moisture. Are you talking about humidity-based moisture or soiling created by the lizard?

[photobug]

She's done quite a bit of research in caring for her beardie and she's never mentioned anything about controlling moisture. Are you talking about humidity-based moisture or soiling created by the lizard?

If you live in South Texas, the humidity is already taken care or for you.  Unless you have something that needs a lack of humidity, like a tortoise.

My wife is also into exotics.  I made a cage for her tortoises when we lived in California.  When we moved out we left the desert tortoise behind and kept the Pancake Tortoise, only and the Tarantulas.  Not everyone is happy staying in the guest bedroom.

Here is Wanderer's cage made of cedar and redwood.

[BrokenOlMarine]

Excellent job, she should give you extra kisses for that one. 

When Miss Tina and I were first married in the early 90s, with four kids at home, she went thru an exotic pet phase.  I built her a large heated enclosure that sat in the corner of the living room.  The front glass came from a butchers case... 
. It was about six or seven feet wide, three feet tall, and four feet across.  The access was from the top.

It's residents included a huge iguana, a monitor lizard, a variety of snakes including one about seven feet long, and a prarie dog.  He was the end of the line.  We didn't realize what escape artists they were.  He ate thru the bottom of the case, the carpet, and almost all the way thru the sub floor, covering his progress with shavings when anyone was in the room.  It all went after that. 

[Hobbywood]

Yup, San Antonio.

[stav]

Ah, that explains it. Here in Orlando, humidity is more of an issue.  Although I have been told there is a colony of beardies living in the wild in the Ocala National Forrest. It must not be too bad out there for them.