Crazy Jumping

[Dirty_Hampers]

So recently Arya, my new Varnyard Extreme , has taken to jumping at the roof of her cage. A lot. I know this can mean that they want out or are hungry, but I take her out all the time and have fed her every day...

I tried not to be bothered by it too much because I couldn't seem to get her to stop, but recently I noticed she's lost a couple of nails and I'm convinced it's from the screen... Do you guys have any advice on how to get her to stop doing that? or at the very least make it safer for her to do?

Thanks ahead of time!

 

[james.w]

Get rid of the screen top.

 

[Dirty_Hampers]

I wont need to worry about her hitting the UVB or heat lights? Also there is no chance of her potentially getting out of the cage, right?

Thanks for the input by the way

 

[Murkve]

I don't think James was suggesting no cage top whatsoever, but rather than screen cage tops are often rather poor with tegus, due to their inability to hold humidity.

You might consider building your own cage top. This is what I did, rather than spend $35 on a run of the mill screen top for my 75g, I built one out of 2x1s and hardware cloth. I'm sure you could just as easily do the same with 2x1s, hardware cloth, and some plywood. Build the frame out of the 2x1s, cut the necessary holes for the lights and minor ventilation in the plywood, secure it to the frame, then attach the hardware cloth to the plywood holes. Voila! This would hold humidity better, as well as not be made completely out of mesh.

This is what I did, except I just used hardware cloth on the whole thing, and attached hinges so I could open it at the halfway mark. Where I live the humidity stays at about 40-50% throughout Spring, Summer, and Fall, so mesh and a bit of misting mostly works fine. Plus my Tegu doesn't jump.

 

[Dirty_Hampers]

Good stuff. It appears i have a new project for today. Again, I appreciate the input.