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Anyone have any experience with, or opinions about, alternative housings for lizards? I was given a bearded dragon this weekend by someone who didn't have the time or money to care for it. I don't really have a lot of money either, but I do have the time. He's about 17in long now and stuck in a little 20gal tank. I've seen some tutorials about making your own tank out of melamine or repurposed furniture, so I thought I might try that over spending $100+ on a decent terrarium, but I don't know if it would be good enough quality compared to a regular glass tank.
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Oct 14, 2014 18:01
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| # ¿ May 21, 2024 14:15 |
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I'm sure one will pop up eventually, but most of the ones I've seen are expecting to get what they paid for it. In the meantime I feel bad for the guy being stuck in that little tank. I saw this at the thrift store and was wondering how easy it would be to repurpose:  I have the tools, but I don't know how it would work for a lizard.
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Oct 14, 2014 18:42
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Leperflesh posted:Beardies want big wide flat habitat, rather than narrow tall vertical habitat like a climbing lizard would want. You don't need to have glass all the way around - one side with glass lets you see the lizard, but otherwise being enclosed is OK. Thanks. This is probably the best write-up I've seen. I think I really will build a simple wooden box for now. One more question though I guess: I'm kind of confused about the different kinds of light that I need. I know not to get a compact light for UVB, but earlier in the thread I saw the Exo Terra Solar Glo recommended, and that's just a single bulb that puts off both UVA and UVB. Is that an exception, or are mercury lights a fine replacement for fluorescent? I was originally going to get one of those long fluorescent brackets and a Zoo Med ReptiSun UVB fluorescent bulb in addition to my regular lightbulbs that I already have mounted, but if I can get it all in one bulb then that sounds nicer. Fitzy Fitz fucked around with this message at 15:20 on Oct 15, 2014 |
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Oct 15, 2014 15:14
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Thanks man, that's a huge help. I went ahead and bought one of those mercury lights because I felt bad for the little guy, and they were having a huge sale on them at the store. Down the line I'll probably upgrade. Right now the temps are 105 under the light, 85 on the close end, and 75 on the far end. I'm a little concerned though because he started shedding just a few hours after I hooked the thing up. It seems like normal shedding as far as I can tell, so maybe the light actually helped him out a little bit? I hope it's not bad! He's been hanging out under the light, so I think he likes it. I was thinking about building something like this: https://www.beardeddragon.org/forums/viewtopic.php?f=75&t=171697 It looks nice and sturdy. A lot of the designs I've seen were with cheap materials or didn't include the kind of screens I'd want.
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Oct 17, 2014 01:31
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Leperflesh posted:I didn't read it thoroughly but that looks like a decent enough design. The one thing I'd be careful of is the screen - if your bearded dragon rubs its nose on the screen much it can abrade away scales and give them an open wound. It's better to have glass on the front, although with glass you then have to provide ventilation (hence my suggestion to add vents to an enclosure). Ah that makes sense. He didn't mention why he went with screen on the front, but it wouldn't be hard to add glass and vents. Also, why aren't these supposed to have open tops? I keep seeing things about people wrangling with ways to get lighting inside the enclosure or have it shine properly through the screen. And all the lighting has warnings about not putting it inside an enclosure due to fire hazard. Is it just because there's a chance of things falling in?
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Oct 18, 2014 18:03
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Hey thanks. I'd looked at melamine designs and wasn't sure if they were really durable enough, but the cost and weight would definitely be good. Yours looks much nicer than most of the ones I've seen. I'd really like to see exactly how you've handled the doors and the basking light. That was one of my main concerns (keeping it far enough away from his face, giving enough heat, not catching things on fire, actually fitting it in there).
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Oct 21, 2014 20:41
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| # ¿ May 21, 2024 14:15 |
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Fausts Pen posted:I've got a 4 year old bearded dragon named Arkose who has been been showing some weird behavior for the past couple of days. He's been jumping at his heat/light lamp (mercury vapor bulb) in the morning after it first turns on. Its about a foot above the bottom of the tank and I have some tank decoration so if he wants to get closer (by a couple of inches) he can. I've seen him hit his nose on it and once he caught his claw on the rim of the housing. His temps seem fine, a little less than 100F right under the light and ~75F everywhere else, and staying that way through the night. What worries me is that it coincides with us bringing a dog home. He's been super chill about the lizard, but I'm wondering if he's stressing Arkose out. I just wanna keep my little buddy safe! My bearded dragon wants to eat my dog's face. Meanwhile my dog has never even noticed him.
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Dec 7, 2014 20:01
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