Reptile & Amphibian Forums

ok... ive heard a lot of conflicting info...so before i start building this... does this sound sufficent? I plan on building a cage that is 4 feet long 20 inches deep and 2 feet wide for my uro... The back of the cage will be wood... the two sides screen/mesh (which would be better?) the front glass/plexiglass and the top screen as well.. o yeah... the bottom would be glass to make cleaning easier.. I'm planning on building two of these.... one for my uro and one for my beardie... also as far as stains go.. what would be the best? is there anything in forgeting? how can i make it perfect... all criticism is greatly appreciated!!! anything i missed?

thanks
liz

Hi there. I'm in the processes of finishing a cage for the same reasons. What kind of Uro do you have? Take into consideration that some get lager than others, so you may want more room, but the size you're aiming for sounds good to me. As for stains, I used a water based varathane, because I couldn't find anything else that was close to animal friendly. This stuff is fine for us, so I'm assuming it is for reptiles. My cage is all plywood, except the front, which is two glass doors. The sides I cut vents and stapled on mesh, and the top is mesh also. I was really concerned about keeping the heat in, so I didn't make the entire side mesh. I hope this helps, Good luck.

Did you mean 20 inches high? Sounds a little high to me. The basking spot won't be close enough to the light, won't be hot enough. Uros can't climb sheer walls so I'd say 15 inches max for the cage height.
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Mark Martinez
University of Florida

she is an egyptian...should the cage be bigger? her basking platform is a good six inches... do u think the cage should still be shorter? .. and what about heat? will i have a problem keeping heat in with mesh sides?... mesh sides was the only way i could think of to drop the humidity to a bare minimum.

If you can get the temp gradient right, then humidity shouldn't be a problem. Deadfrog had a good point, that it might be too tall. According to Deer Fern Farms, Egyptians can get up to 3 feet long and everything I've read says to make the cages at least 4 times the length of the full grown animal and at least twice that wide. They reccomend a cage 5 - 6 feet long and 3 feet high for a pair. I think you could get away with your dimensions. Here's the link, it's really good.

www.deerfernfarms.com/Uromastyx_Egyptian.htm

Humidity shouldn't be a problem inside the home. Ambient cage temps are much more important.

Mesh sides are a no-no, unless you figure out a way to magically get the ambient temps right. I had this problem, the top was partially uncovered in my enclosure, the ambient temp was too low, and they just stood in the basking spot without moving much.

Wow, an Egyptian? That changes things a bit. Yes, they get three feet long, but it takes years anyway. Good floor space is usually the main concern. The height of the cage also depends on the substrate. My enclosure is 14 inches high, but because of the substrate and platform they are 9 inches away from the light, which seems (by experiment) to be the max for a 100 watt bulb. The important thing is to measure the temps and play around with it to get it right.
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Mark Martinez
University of Florida

My cage for my Saharan is 4'x2'x2', and I have no problem getting the basking spot hot enough.... just hang your basking light inside the cage rather than having it on the top. I'm actually going to have to move down to a 100 watt bulb (from a 150), as my basking spot is getting too hot. If you REALLY want to have your basking light on the outside, then you will probably need to make your cage a little less tall.... but with a 150 watt bulb and a small pile of rock under the basking light, I think 20" would probably be fine for height.

The top of my cage is all screen/hardware cloth, and there's a small vent in either side (added after the pic was taken). The wood is melamine, so staining wasn't necessary.

Dawn