Trough, furniture dolley, plexiglass, hinges, plywood, power cord, ceramic light fixture, dimmer switch.
Screw furniture dolley to trough from the inside. The dolley allows for airspace between the floor and the bottom of the trough and also makes it easier to move a trough full of dirt.
Screw the two pieces of plexi to the trough in 4 places with self tapping screws (2 on each piece of plexi). The two pieces of plexi should butt against each other in the center of the trough.
Cut the plexi to fit the trough. This may seem optional until you walk into one of the plexi corners. The trick to cutting plexi is to let the tool do the work using only very lite pressure.
Line up your hinges and drill the mounting holes, again very lite pressure on the drill.
Remove the 4 screws from the plexi and save for later use. Flip one side of the plexi over and mark hole locations for mounting and wiring the ceramic fixture. Carefully drill holes.
Run wires through holes and wire to the fixture. You should use replacement wire for household appliances such as irons as the insulation can take the heat put off by the bulb.
Mount the fixture to the plexi using screws and nuts. I uesd 8-32 screws, but it doesn't really matter.
Put both pieces of plexiglass back on the trough and attach the hinges. It is important that you drill thru holes that are slightly larger that the intended screw. Do not thread screws into the plexi as it will eventually crack during use. I use pop rivets with washers, the holes in the plexi are sized so that the radial expansion of the rivets won't crack the plexi.
Attach the plexi half with the light fixture to the trough with self tapping screws. Wire a dimmer switch into place, when you purchase a dimmer switch it comes with very easy wiring instructions. The dimmer switch is useful so that you don't have to changes bulbs when the weather changes. I usually install a higher wattage bulb than required and dial it down with the switch.
Cut the plywood into small sections 12" x 10" or something similar. Cut pieces of 1/2" x 1/2" trim pieces to match the length of the cut plywood.
Screw the trim pieces onto the plywood. Here is where you go crazy, one pieces of trim, two pieces of trim, on the ends, on the sides, etc.
When piled they should look like this picture. This is an often misunderstood concept, "Retes Stacks" should look like a pile of wood with lots of crevices for the animals to wedge themselves.
Add dirt. Dirt should be able to hold humidity without being really wet. It should provide a nice home for the animals and a place to nest. *Disclaimer* there are other options for substrate that some species might use better than dirt.
The finished product. Notice how the wood is piled throughout the cage and not just a uniform stack under the basking spot. This setup would work for most odatria. I have used it for ackies, caudos, gilleni, storri, pilbara, tristis, and crosses.
All parts were bought at Home Depot with the exception of the trough which was bought at a feed store. Everything down to the last screw, even dirt cost $225.00. This took about an hour to assemble ( I'm a bit rusty). I stole this design from Goanna Ranch.
