Building materials for a tegu vivarium

[Fozzy]

Ive bought a Small pond which Im going to attach a filter to to use in the vivarium so that he can get right into it and make an attractive feature. However as its going to be going above ground the plan is to build it on a large peice of wood using rocks and plants so that it can actually be removed to clean it. However I need some material to form the base that this pond will sit on. Im thinking of using durable fibreglass like the ponds made of but does anyone know of another alternative to use? Also where would be a good place to get some authentic rocks for it?

 

[Neeko]

Rocks If your near a river just get some from there. Disinfect them though maybe an oven. Also some tegus like going waste in water, the filter might be over worked lol when It's built post pics please sounds awesome.

 

[Ntyvirus]

Yeah, you're not going to be able to get a strong enough filter to deal with tegu poopy.

 

[Strange_Evil]

Rocks If your near a river just get some from there. Disinfect them though maybe an oven.

I agree, but you would be better off soaking them in hot water opposed to putting them in the oven.

Trust me when I say this the filter would go to waste unless its a really strong filter, I tried this with my tegu and he wreck the filter and all of his plants, I ended up taking out all of the decor and filter and changing the water by hand!

If your looking for some more advice on ponds though,tegubuzz built a really cool pond,he could probably give you some tips!

 

[Roadkill]

Pond support: With those "naturalistically shaped" ponds, especially with the larger ones, the key issue is being able to support it properly over as much of its bottom as possible. While this can indeed be done with wood, unless you are a really good carpenter and thorough, there will likely be areas that are unsupported and will sag. Depending on the construction of the pond itself, this can lead to warping or even cracking. What I have done with these sorts of ponds is build whatever sort of "standard" base to generally enclose the area of the pond, then use spray foam insulation to fill all space underneath for support. If you spray the foam into large garbage bags (between the pond and the support box), this will ensure that the foam doesn't stick to anything and allows easy removal of the pond for needed cleaning. It has the further benefit of insulating the pond if you want to use a heater OR preventing condensation underneath if you aren't using a heater.

Filters: There are indeed filters built that could handle the waste load of tegus, however you need to stop thinking aquarium filter and start thinking small pool/jacuzzi filters. I've successfully used sand filters for keeping green sea turtles (and when we're talking 70-80 kg turtles, we're talking SERIOUS waste) and I have seen some sand filters small enough to contemplate putting them on small ponds/large aquariums. However, these are indeed going to be bulky and the pumps necessary to power these are going to be significantly noisy.

 

[Dubya]

If you are going to make the base from wood and fill around it with dirt, the wood will rot in the damp soil. Coat it all in epoxy and then paint it with porch and deck latex paint. That is how glued lapstrake wooden boats are made. It will last many years. You will just have to repaint it every few years. Paint must be used to prevent the epoxy from degrading in sunlight. From my tropical fish days, I remember reading not to use rocks collected outside unless you know what you are doing because some rocks contain minerals and metals that could affect water chemistry and harm the fish. I don't think a tegu would be as sensitive, but I just thought i' mention it because the tegu will be drinking the water. In the outdoor enclosure that I am building, I am building a small pond with a drain and an external ball valve that empties into a 55 gal plastic drum with holes in it buried underground like a septic tank so I can just hose it out.

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One more thing. I like roadkills idea for the foam support. But how about using an identical pond supported with foam upside down under the pond. It would be an exact fit and would not rot.

 

[hppel]

Hey, just thought I'd give you a warning, rapidly heating River Rocks (i.e in an oven) can actually lead to them exploding due to the rapid evaporation of the water trapped inside the rock. Just thought I'd tell you, learned this the hard way while making a fire pit using river rocks... lol