Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Okay. My wife works at one of those pet stores that everyone hates. Anyway, someone came in with a bearded dragon that they could not take care of anymore, so we have a bearded dragon. I have experience with geckos but not dragons. I was looking for a cage. Right now it's in a 10 gallon aquarium. The largest that the pet store has is 40 gallons. I have heard this may not be enough so I am looking for cage suggestions. Have you had experience with the cages that are 100% screen? They seem economical, but I wanted to know if you guys had an bad things to say about them. If not that, I may build one.
Thanks in advance.

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You can never have just one gecko. Actually it is almost impossible to have two
www.crgeckos.com
marty@crgeckos.com

You didn't say how old and big the dragon is.

Well I'd get him out of the 10 gallon right away, even if you use a big plastic bin or something. He need to be able to thermoregulate and a 10 gallon is to small for any size dragon to properly do that.

First of all here is a good care sheet.

http://www.dachiu.com/care/abeard.html

Here is another site with a lot of good care information on Bearded Dragons. Including a great nutrition guide.

http://www.beautifuldragons.503xtreme.com/home.html

A screen cage is not suitable for desert dwelling species. The required temps. are to hot to make an open air cage work unless it is outside on a warm day. But, then you have to remember they need a dry heat. A 40 Breeder is 36 x 18 x 18 tall and is smaller than I and most would recommend for an adult home. I and most recommend a minimum of 4 x 2 floor space. But, I have read a few books that say the 40 breeder is OK for one adult. So if that's your best option for a while that would be OK.

If you're on a tight budget, like me, your best option is probably to build one. I don't know where you live, but you may also want to try craigslist. I've seen a lot of big tanks for sale on there near me for very cheap lately. But, you can probably build a barebones 4'x2' cage for fifty bucks. You'd just need a sheet of plywood, a couple of 2"x4"s, and a sheet of plexi. Oh, and of course, some know-how.
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0.9.0 Ball Pythons
0.1.1 Leopard Geckos
0.0.1 Egyptian Tortoise
0.0.1 Bearded Dragons

Skip the plywood and go with Melamine it's $25 a sheet at home depot and doesn't need to be sealed etc. The $50 is a little optomistic though since you'll need track for sliding doors, light fixtures, silicone caulk, etc.

Yeah, I was going to also suggest melamine, but I went the cheapest way. I can build one for roughly $50. Granted, I have a lot of tools, and it wouldn't have legs or anything fancy.

Melamine: 25.00
One 2"x4" 4.00
Plexiglass 12.00?
Screws 6.00
Silicon 2.00 at wal-mart

You don't need a track for the doors if you have a table saw to cut tracks (hence the 2x4) or if you use hinges which you can get for a couple of bucks. And as far as light fixtures, if he doesn't have them, he'd have to pay extra for them no matter what kind of tank he got. They usually aren't included.

I'm not saying you could build a really nice enclosure for fifty bucks, but you could make something functional.
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0.9.0 Ball Pythons
0.1.1 Leopard Geckos
0.0.1 Egyptian Tortoise
0.0.1 Bearded Dragons