How To build an enclosure

[White_Lotus]

i have seen everything from plywood to glass and i was wondering what is the way to build a tegu enclosure? i Know humidity rises so no screen tops, opens from the front but is it better to use glass or wood? if wood what type of wood? what do you seal it with to keep humidity in?
just some questions i would really like to have answered and i hope they will be :fc

 

[DaveDragon]

Take look through the many post is this forum. There are many great idea's. I bumped up the post of the enclosures I built. The only difference is I replaced the vinyl coated hardware cloth on the doors with Plexiglas and added the upper front panel to keep in the humidity.

 

[White_Lotus]

is polyurethane safe for my tegus?? will they scratch it off or something??

 

[DaveDragon]

Water based poly is fine. I used exterior latex paint over Kilz exterior primer.

 

[White_Lotus]

i also was wondering what wood i should use, i mean i know not to use Cedar(As it is toxic to herps) but for the frame and side panels, there is jsut so much wood to choose from >.< it makes my head hurt

 

[Wil]

For the frame you can use pine 2x4's or 2x3's. For the Top, Sides ect, you can use either pine, oak, maple plywood, but pine would be cheaper. Also if you didn't want to use polyurethane you could use FRP and line the inner cage. You can find FRP at lowes or home depot for about $30-40 for a 4x8 sheet. And the best and easiest way to do it would be to laminate it to the plywood first then make your cuts.

 

[DaveDragon]

I used fir 2x2's for the frame (except the base is 2x4's) and 1/4" plywood for the "skin", 1/2" plywood on the bottom. Sheet vinyl in the base, no Tegu has ever scratched it.

 

[White_Lotus]

thanks guys that helps a lot ^.^

 

[gboleslavsky]

I used formica for the bottom and sides and the vinyl deck materials for the frame. Both materials are very resistant to moisture but they are more expensive than wood. For the sliding windows you can get tempered glass table tops, they are 2x1 and have 4 holes drilled so no handles are needed, they cost $10 each.