starting my build today, few questions..

[Dereks-Dragons]

Okay so I know my tegus are still small but I'm re building all my cages for all my hero into on giant stack to cover one wall of my bedroom and the 8x4x4 tegu cage will be part of the base so im starting it today and I may put my 27.5 inch red in there soon cuz after a week or 2 he's already looking too big for his 4x2 he seems uncomfortable he can't burrow anymore lol. Fatty. But I'm going to use osb plywood for the bottom top back and sides and I'm going to silicone plastic panels to the inside to help humidity and look nicer, will be picking them up after work today. I'm going to mount lights on the inside so Its going to have a solid top. Eventually boh my tegus will be in here but as of right now my extreme would be a snack for my red . Now ill be using glass sliding doors, should I put an 8 or 10 inch board on the bottom of the front to keep the mulch in? Also for lighting, I used to keep saltwater fish ans coral and had to use metal halide lights for the coral to imitate the sun, can I use metal halide lights in the cage instead of mercury vapor from a Petstore? It gives off heat and uv but they are cheaper for me to get cuz I still have an in with the fish stores and tthe bulbs are physically a lot larger. Also I'm going to get mulch at home depot or lowes. I know it has to be all natural ect ect and no dyes but does actual mulch hold humidity like cypress? Also i was thinking about building a slightly higher platform in the cage with the too cut out and slip one of those preform ponds in it and have a ramp going up to it so it looks more natural than a cat litter box, this sound ok? I just wanna make it perfect and I'm open to any suggestions as well. I'll post pics latee tonight to show my progress. It planning to completely finnish the cage tonight and furnish it at another time. Only thing that won't get done right away is the glass doors

 

[james.w]

Make sure the plastic panels completely seal the OSB because the mulch/humidity will destroy it. I would put at least a 12" litter dam. The mulch will hold humidity.

 

[Neeko]

Uv (visible light) isnt UVB. UVB shoudn't really be considers light from what I've read it more like radiation that's mimicking the sun. When the radiation is in contact with skin it makes D3. Im not a bio science expert. I think that's the process though, correct me if I'm wrong. Also I've seen tegus jump up high at least 8 inches or so, dont want a bulb to get hit or break or burn the tegu.

 

[Dereks-Dragons]

By uv I mean uvb and uva, the live coral in the reef fish tanks needed it to survive, so its pretty Much the same as a mercury vapor I just am able to get them at massive sizes because I was figuring, 2 adult tegus will need more than one or 2 regular MVB bulbs to heat them up because the heat will have to cover a greater area because of the size of these beasts lol

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Also I'm aware of this, plus this osb isn't normal osb I got it from one of our job sites its like waxed and has chemicals I believe, but the plastic paneling is in 8x4 sheets so it will he be fine I'm going to silicone it in and silicone the corners and edges to make it perfect also for the litter dam can I just use a 2x10? I can grab what I need from the job site today after work, i think I'm going to put the sliding glass door track on top of the liter dam

 

[james.w]

A 2x10 would work, only problem I can see is the mulch will get pushed into the door track. As long as you don't mind cleaning it out daily it should be fine.

 

[rrcoolj]

I used osb wood for my cage as well because that is all they sold in my area. I sealed it with drylok and it holds water like a charm. No problems with it falling apart. It has been together for a year now. I used to keep saltwater fish and I would not suggest the hallides. Just buy a mercury vapor bulb. They are not designed to serve the same purpose. Coral needs light to grow algea in which to feed I believe. It is not the same as a tegu which uses the uvb for D3 absorption. Just get a powersun they can't be more than like 40-50 dollars. You don't want to risk anything when it comes to uvb it is too crucial to a tegu's well being. Also in an 8x4 you should not need 2 MV bulbs. I have one 100w and a 75w halogen and it keeps my 8x4 at the temperature it needs. Wooden enclosure hold heat very well.

GL with your build

 

[Dereks-Dragons]

Not true, at least not for Lps(large polyp stony) and sps(small polyp stony) they need the uva and uvb from the halide as well as a calcium supplement. Corals are pretty much solid calcium, the hard parts of it only though. But okay ill just use 160 watt exo terra mvb. Powersun 160 watt are 79.99 here and I have both, and prefur the exo terra

 

[rrcoolj]

Your probably right. I kept polyps mostly so I wouldn't know about sps and lps too much. I would just feel better using a product desighned for reptile use. Where do you live? I could probably find powersuns cheaper than that online. I don't know about the quality of the exo terras so I can't comment on that.