enclosure help.....

[Guest]

ok so heres the question.im trying to build a cage to house my two columbian tegus.i have alot of recources.some of which are from a bus being torn apart for scrap.but i dont wanna spend an arm and a leg building the damn thing.i was also wondering ifi could get some tips on keeping humidity up and how important is it for thier health.

any advice would be greatly apreciated. :-D
:dead what is this?lol

 

[JohnMatthew]

Cutting back on ventilation is a great way to raise humidity. Be careful though, you want to keep a fair bit of ventilation so the air doesn't get stagnant! I've never done anything special for humidity but it's very humid down here naturally so I'll let others chime in on this one. Good luck and keep us posted on the new enclosure.

 

[JohnMatthew]

As to your :dead :dead :dead question..

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[chelvis]

i find it impossible to keep a whole cage humid, especially with a basking spot of 110, unless you are going to use mister. If you use misters you than have to worry about drainage and possible mold and what not, no fun really. Foggers work great but making sure a young tegu doesnt mess it up not so easy. I use a simple solution the cage is misted daily and this great for them but the humidty drops in a few minutes. So i creaed a den box (a rubbermaid box with i hole just large enough for my tegu to enter and exit) this smaller area is much easier to keep the humidity up in. I use new zeland moss and coco husk in there other material can be added, just the hold moister well and resist mold. The humidity in there stays up in the 70% range for a week or two than i just add more water. My tegu loves it! Thats were he beds down at night and its funny like a dog he has never pooped in there, so the bedding is normally clean, ok well he sheds in there but that's ok. I place his water tub on top of the box to keep the lid in, that way if he knocks his water over it just spills on the lid and into the den box.

 

[james.w]

Chelvis can you post some pics of your setup? Would be much appreciated.

James

 

[Guest]

thanks for the info. hmmi though u had to keep the cage humid...but i do a hide for them in the cage and i stuffed moss in there and keep it pretty moist.im guessing it is at least 70 on up.. and i will eventually put up some pics of my tegus,was gonna the other day but me and my fiance were busy.the cage shold be up within a week or two.=]

 

[Toby_H]

Building an Enclosure:

Your options are endless...

Recycling parts fr0om the bus will surely save you the cost of buying materials, but it will require a more elaborate set of tools to work with the materials the bus has to offer. If you have cutting torches, an appropriate welder, grinding tools, etc then use the bus.

Personally, I find wood the easiest material to work with so I built a wooden enclosure. You can make the framework out of 2"x2" lumber and then use 3/8" plywood for the outter shell.

The doors will be the expensive part. Tempered glass and plexi glass are both fairly expensive. It is your choice to use tracks to make a sliding door or frames to make swinging doors. There are pros and cons to each type.

Sealing a wooden enclosure is simple and fairly inexpensive. I use Drylok to seal wooden enclosures. It's worked very well for me on many projects some of which are several years old. There are other products you can use but I'll limit my suggestions to what I have personal experience with.


As for humidity:

I use Cypress Mulch which holds in moisture and is quite mold/mildew resistant. While the humidity in the air is fairly low in my enclosure the mulch which he burrows and sleeps in is very moist. This, along with fresh clean water in a drinking dish, has prevented any issues of dehydration.

 

[Guest]

thanks ill try that out.yeah i have all those tools.my family builds race cars.=]so if we can manage that we can build a cage lol.and where do you get cypress mulch?i havent seen it really.as for there dish ihave a dish from the pet sore that they can soak in and have space to move.havent really seen them drink from it tho.or maybe i just dont see them when they do.but anywho thanks for the advice.

 

[BlacknWhite]

Look into amazon.com i'm going for 26L bags

 

[Guest]

I went to a feed store and ordered a pallet 80 2cubic ft bags [big ones] 3dollars and seventy-five cents a bag ..... Nice stuff too .