Tegu Enclosure Designs

[Kebechet]

I thought I might share some cage plans I've come up with, and modeled in Google SketchUp

Tegu Enclosure design 1 - the top was left open on this one- I can't remember why, but planning a top shouldn't be too hard. The many windows on this one make it a good candidate for an outdoor enclosure, despite what I said in the description.

Tegu Enclosure design 2
Another open-top design. Design your own top. This is similar to the previous design, however there are less windows, which makes it suitable for going against a wall indoors. It would be a nice livingroom enclosure. Ignore any frivolous bits in the designs.

Tegu Enclosure 3
This one is designed to be much more practical. The windows are minimal, the doors are more standard, and it isn't designed to be a walk-in enclosure. This is the design I think I'll be using for my tegu in the next few months. It's large, but uses space well, and has a lot of potential for building structures within the cage for climbing/basking/hides.

Hopefully these help someone!

 

[Rhetoric]

:[ my comp isn't loading the images for some reason but I'm glad you put these up! I keep thinking I know what I'm going to be doing for my savy this summer but then I see more ideas and pull bits and pieces from them.

 

[Kebechet]

:[ my comp isn't loading the images for some reason but I'm glad you put these up! I keep thinking I know what I'm going to be doing for my savy this summer but then I see more ideas and pull bits and pieces from them.

You could also download google sketchup, download the designs, and view them as 3d models

 

[Rhetoric]

Ive never used that program but it might be worth a shot! Thanks I'll check it out

 

[entropy]

Pretty cool I like the corner design a lot. I am learning the program and trying to draw my idea...

http://sketchup.google.com/3dwarehouse/details?mid=60cb0dc04bb472a7abec765d98aee8

I'll get better at it soon. My design is to house Tegus that might not like each other, which is the case with my two. Right now I've got two completely separate enclosures and I really want to save a little floor space for myself. The dimensions are a little off, but any suggestions?

 

[Kebechet]

Pretty cool I like the corner design a lot. I am learning the program and trying to draw my idea...

http://sketchup.google.com/3dwarehouse/details?mid=60cb0dc04bb472a7abec765d98aee8

I'll get better at it soon. My design is to house Tegus that might not like each other, which is the case with my two. Right now I've got two completely separate enclosures and I really want to save a little floor space for myself. The dimensions are a little off, but any suggestions?

There's a couple of concerns that it doesn't look like you've addressed in your design. One, is how you're going to be accessing the enclosures. If you're looking at 4Hx5Dx6L that's a pretty deep cage. How are you going to get in to clean it? You'd need large doors or, for the top to come up on a hinge. - but the latter would require a high ceiling, because the top of your cage would add another 5ft of height when open, because of your depth. That means ideally you should have it in a room with a 10ft ceiling.

The other thing to address, is ventilation. How would you be having air circulate through the cage?

Another thing you might want to consider, is that while you have good dimensions on your enclosure, an adult arg should have 8 feet in length to a cage. 6ft is good for a yearling, but they grow and need that extra space.

If you want to do a double cage the way you're thinking, with the 6ft dimensions alone, you'd need 12ft of wall space. A better option would be stacking the enclosures on top of each other. 5ft deep would be nice, but I'd shoot for 4ft for easier cleaning. You might also consider expanding the length to 8ft. Then you only need 8ft length of wall, and 8ft high for the top of your enclosure. - that still has the problem of you needing a ladder to clean the top cage though.

So you might also consider a more simple design, such as an 8x4x3 If you're stacking, then the highest point you'll have to clean is only 6ft up, rather than 8ft up

I hope that helps! I'm only looking at bigger enclosures in height, because I have one Tegu who likes to climb on things.

 

[entropy]

http://sketchup.google.com/3dwarehouse/details?mid=5254a85dca2c22e6872f2e624f944d0f

The first drawing wasn't very good because I just didn't know much about the software. This is an updated version with a few tweaks. Thanks for your input Kebechet... I added a feature to this design to allow for an 8ft long enclosure size if need be. The idea is for the middle walls have doors on hinges that can be opened to allow the critters to travel from one end to the other. The ramps will also be on hinges and can be opened or locked up. With this design, I can shut the middle door and have the two ramps open to create two, two tier 4'x4'x5' enclosures, OR the middle walls can open and the ramps shut to create two, one tier 4'x8'x2.5' enclosures. There will be two doors that will account for much of the enclosure's face, so accessing the enclosures won't be an issue. The entire bottom will also be waterproof, naturally. Chicken wire on the top to allow good circulation, and possibly both doors.

I like the idea of the two tier enclosures because I believe it would actually help the animals get even more exercise by climbing the ramps to get to warmer temperatures. Let me know if you have any other suggestions