Reptile & Amphibian Forums

just lokin in to this for future refrence, just got my tegu but i would eventually like to build him a custom cage any sugestion would be greatly appreciated
jeff.
1.0 coloumbian tegu
0.1 mutt dog

Tegu cages need to be pretty large in order to allow sufficient substrate depth. Plan for this carefully so you can have a cage that can fit into your home, around corners, down/up stairs, and through a doorway into the room where it will be kept.

Don't sacrifice the viewing area too much, which seems to be common in large lizard cages.

Decide how you want the cage to look and how much you're willing to spend to get that look. Also decide what your main priority is for building it yourself. Is it to save money? Or are you trying to make an attractive cage? Or are you trying to make a light cage?

All of those are reasonable answers, but it can get a bit difficult when you try to combine all three.
-----
Current snakes:

0.0.1 Gonyosoma oxycephala - Java locale (green)

1.2 Gonyosoma oxycephala - Jave local (green)

2.2 Gonyosoma janseni - Seleyar locale (all black)

1.2 Gonyosoma janseni - Celebes locale (Black & Tan)

space and moving the cage in to my room arent a big concern cause im thinkin i can get it ready to be put together then screw and glue everyting in to place in my room and i really want to build an atractive cage that is very functional and will provide a nice home for my tegu. any recomendations on materials and dimensions or any pix any one could show me would be great i know this is a very long off project but i want to have as much knowledge as posible when i do build it.

I believe there is a website called thetegu.com which is probably where you should get the species specific information like cage size, etc.

Otherwise, I would use mostly cabinet grade plywood and some matching hardwood for face frames, etc. If you want a finished wood look on the inside then I'd consider an epoxy coating for a finish, although I would lean towards slightly darker woods in that case as the epoxies don't look the greatest over lighter woods.

If you want a solid color and/or faux rock-work look of sorts on the inside and most of the cage exterior will be hidden due to a built in look then you can use cheaper materials.

If you plan to build the cage on-site, I do recommend coming up with some sort of modular system that will allow you to move the cage out of the house whenever you might move. My wife and I have a house we love but even I am careful about building cages that could easily be moved to another home if that were to ever happen.

Let us know what else you need.
-----
Current snakes:

0.0.1 Gonyosoma oxycephala - Java locale (green)

1.2 Gonyosoma oxycephala - Jave local (green)

2.2 Gonyosoma janseni - Seleyar locale (all black)

1.2 Gonyosoma janseni - Celebes locale (Black & Tan)