Posted by:
ChaoticCoyote
at Tue Nov 16 11:37:33 2004 [ Email Message ] [ Show All Posts by ChaoticCoyote ]
I'm planning to build high-quality habitats for two lizards:
...a 6yo Uro mali (32 cm, 12.5 inches)
...an African plated lizard (G. validus, 45 cm, 18 inches).
The Uro (Wizard) is in a 40 gallon breeder at this point, where he's been happy for some years. However, I'd like something easier to clean and more attractive for human eyes.
As such, I'm looking at building a 2'W by 4'L by 2'H enclosure, with three solid sides of plywood and a clear front. The base would be heavy screen, covered in pea gravel, with a drainage system below to allow cleaning by washing down the gravel and having the waste flow out the bottom, through a spigot.
For Cylde, the plated lizard, I'm looking at something a bit larger, perhaps 3'W by 4'L by 2'H.
I'm less certain of substrate for Clyde, who was kept in wood chips before I acquired him. He seems to like the play sand I'm keeping him in now (lots of digging!) I'd like something that I could wash down easily without having to empty and refill such a large habitat, but I don't know if he'd take well to small rounded pebbles or not. Sand is cheap, but hard to keep clean.
If only I had space for a self-maintaining terrarium... 
Also: While Clyde is *not* an aquatic reptile, he is very fond of the big water dish I gave him -- sometimes soaking, sometimes dangling his front feet in that water. I'm debating whether to create an automatically-filtered, shallow "pond" in one end of his new home. Unlike most reptiles I know, Clyde does not defecate in his water.
I'm checking out local landscaping shops for flat stones so I can build these guys small rock gardens. I'm thinking silicon sealer would make a safe way of securing rocks together.
Yes, I'm an engineer, with tools. A dangerous entity, to be sure.
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Scott Robert Ladd
1.0.0 Iguana (Rex)
1.0.0 African Giant Plated Lizard (Clyde)
1.0.0 Uro mali (Wizard)
0.1.0 Corn Snake (Amber)
1.1.0 Red-Eared Sliders (Jade and Emerald)
0.4.0 Homo sapiens (Maria, Elora, Becky, Tessa)
blog: http://chaoticcoyote.blogspot.com/
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 Building two habitats for different lizards - ChaoticCoyote, Tue Nov 16 11:37:33 2004
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