Tono's new enclosure.

[Brinven]

So I was prepared for a large lizard, I was NOT prepared for a large lizard 2 months after bringing home this adorable little 10" guy. He absolutely exploded, growing to almost 24" inches in just a couple of months. He sheds every 2 weeks... Oh, hes a black and white
Anyway, I had to build something, and get it done fast! I settled on a 4'x3'x30" design (cant be any taller or I cant get it into the room). My plan is in a few months, I'll build one identical, minus one side wall, and "connect" it to this enclosure, that way he will have 3x8...
We went top notch on this build (the wife insisted ). All the plywood is oak (sealed completely on the inside with DryLock) all the solid wood pieces are oak as well. Due to my complete inability to plan properly there is a lot of excess/leftover bits so lumber costs alone were close to $300). We then stained it and sealed the heck out of the outside with polyurethane... and its been sitting outside for the better part of week to make sure its good and cured.
It SO close to being done FINALLY... just need to mount the door and get it set up.
Its going to sit on an existing table, so I didnt buyild any legs or anything on it.
For the substrate I went with a bioactive system from https://www.genesisexotics.com/ (I HIGHLY recommend these guys, the substrate isnt cheap, especially with a large enclosure (my total, with everything, was $160)) but its tottaly worth it.

I cant wait to get him in there (should be today)!!

 

[Walter1]

So I was prepared for a large lizard, I was NOT prepared for a large lizard 2 months after bringing home this adorable little 10" guy. He absolutely exploded, growing to almost 24" inches in just a couple of months. He sheds every 2 weeks... Oh, hes a black and white
Anyway, I had to build something, and get it done fast! I settled on a 4'x3'x30" design (cant be any taller or I cant get it into the room). My plan is in a few months, I'll build one identical, minus one side wall, and "connect" it to this enclosure, that way he will have 3x8...
We went top notch on this build (the wife insisted ). All the plywood is oak (sealed completely on the inside with DryLock) all the solid wood pieces are oak as well. Due to my complete inability to plan properly there is a lot of excess/leftover bits so lumber costs alone were close to $300). We then stained it and sealed the heck out of the outside with polyurethane... and its been sitting outside for the better part of week to make sure its good and cured.
It SO close to being done FINALLY... just need to mount the door and get it set up.
Its going to sit on an existing table, so I didnt buyild any legs or anything on it.
For the substrate I went with a bioactive system from https://www.genesisexotics.com/ (I HIGHLY recommend these guys, the substrate isnt cheap, especially with a large enclosure (my total, with everything, was $160)) but its tottaly worth it.

I cant wait to get him in there (should be today)!!

Count yourself among fellow cream of the crop enclosure makers on TeguTalk that know how to combine function and style to their tegu enclosures. Three cheers!

 

[Brinven]

Thanks Walter!
Finally done. Will try and get some pics up with Tono in it tonight Its not terrible, and considering its my 3rd actual woodworking project and the first that actually mattered what it looks like (others were outside planters and such). I dont hate it

 

[Brinven]

Happy, happy lizard. His old tank was 3 sq ft... which was fine when I got him. The new one is 12 sq ft.
He usually goes to bed around 4:30, 5pm or so. Today? He was up till almost 8:30, doing laps in the enclosure, tongue going a million miles an hour

 

[Walter1]

Happy, happy lizard. His old tank was 3 sq ft... which was fine when I got him. The new one is 12 sq ft.
He usually goes to bed around 4:30, 5pm or so. Today? He was up till almost 8:30, doing laps in the enclosure, tongue going a million miles an hour

Love it.

 

[Brinven]

Got some live plants in there now. Benjimina Ficus and some sort of Monkey grass (it's lizard safe, I just don't remember the name )

My wife also got him a "Happy Halloween" decoration that he seemed to enjoy rolling around...

He hasn't been destructive towards the plants yet, but he was thouroughly fascinated by them. He checked each one out in detail. Both are pretty hardy... we'll see what happens

 

[solo87]

Nice setup!

Question on the inside, what is the white paint?

 

[Brinven]

Its DryLok. Its a super-duper sealant. Keeps the humidity nice and keeps the moisture out of the wood.

 

[beardeddragon111]

Hope the plants survive lol. I tried to plant some in my tegus cage and they were gone within an hour .

 

[Brinven]

Apparently my Tegu is a weird one. He loves his plants. He checks on them daily, but never tries to hurt them at all. Even his burrows avoid them almost completely. We added some wheat (cat grass) in there to give him something easy to destroy. He randomly walks over and sticks his nose in it, does tongue flicks and then wanders off. He even goes around them to get to the food bowl. 2 weeks in, they are all growing and look great.

 

[JimB]

Looks awesome, however as I understand it, screened openings for the UVB light block a lot of UVB rays. Anyone else read about this? Nice job though.