Could this work?

[luna]

I need to make an enclosure for a tegu I am getting and I have an idea about how I can save a little money but I don't know if it will work.
I was thinking that I could buy a used desser (from a garage sale of flea market for around $50-$75) and configure it so it would work as a good enclosure. Any opinions??

 

[Richard21]

How big is the tegu? If it is a baby you can make your own small wood enclosure for less then $75.

 

[Beasty]

Well, it all depends on the size of the tegu and how long you expect it to be in said enclosure. If you don't have tons of money or space right at the minute and it's a hatchling, you could feasibly make a 2x2x4L wicked, crazy cheap and if you take it out to play a lot that will do until it hibernates which would give you time to build a larger enclosure to properly house the little one.

Go to Home Depot and find some OSB plywood in 4x8 sheets I bought one 3/8" thick for $9.98 or some such.
Take that and have them cut it into 4 2x4 parts. The last part is to be cut in half.
So, now effectively you have if cut properly,
3 parts at 2x4 and
2 at 2x2.
So now you have a top, back, bottom and 2 sides. For $10!
AND you haven't even left the store yet!
Add to the list either 2x4 framing type wood or fir strip type 2x2 to connect all the pieces which you could possibly have them cut to size.
Then you get extra to fashion the door frame in which you put the most expensive part, the Plexiglas window.
All this and some screws along with some silicon caulk and a 1 gallon bucket of mis-mixed paint for $5 and a $2 paint brush from the local dollar store and you have a nice little 2x2x4L cage for $75 or less depending on how much ingenuity you have and or how fancy you want to get.
AND if you make it well enough by the time the tegu grows out of it you can sell it and get your money back towards building the next one, double the size!
For my money, that's what I would do. Be creative yet practical.
Ugg... :doh now I got to go to the store and get stuff and do the 4x8 thing.
Take my own advice. It's been long enough.
I'll take pix and post an article when it's done.

 

[luna]

Thank you for your advice but the tegu is already about 3 feet long so I pretty much need to build his permanent home

 

[carcharios]

If you want to do an outdoor enclosure on the cheap, you can do what I'm doing. I searched Craigslist for rabbit hutches and found one last week that is 6.5' long x 3.5' wide x 5' high and it totally enclosed with wire mesh. Most rabbit hutches are already designed to be outdoors and are pretty sturdy. I figured I'll keep my big female outside in the hutch until it begins getting too cold and then bring her in for the winter. Outside, she'll be getting natural sun too!

Carcharios

 

[luna]

trust me... I would love to have an outdoor enclosure but where I live we only have one month of 'warm' weather.

 

[TanMan57]

Well I just went to home depot and spent 30$ on framing 2x4's screws and a sprite and im going back to home depot tomorrow and buying plywood to finish it but that should only be like 30 dollars and just need caulking primer and paint and there you have it a 80$ 8x3x3 enclosure