Reptile & Amphibian Forums

this is my new ackies cage... made with a big cooler (4L x 2w x 3H)... I use some local sustrate that works great for digging an holds humidity great...
I´ll use1 75 wtts and 2 50 wtts halogen ligths to heat it... also a hot rock and a ceramic heat emiter, all working with dimers..

in the left side it has 1 1/2 ft of sustrate going down to 1 ft on rigth side...

on the space you can see on left side I´ll place some stacks...

what you guys think of this cage??

Rick

you can see the vents and lamps

this is the substrate

last pic..

weels to move it

ups sorry, no pick...

where are the weels

You can pull out the hot rock and throw it away. It will more than likely burn the animal. You really can throw it away, they are not good for anything. I like the design, but provided it is heated well enough, you don't need all those lights. You can probably use just one 50 watt bulb, maybe two provided that your enclosure will hold the heat in. With all those additional heat sources, you will fry the poor animal. Way to improvise with your cage, all you need is a basking spot for the animal. Your light should probably be between six and twelve inches from that site, depending on how hot you want it to be. My Ackies like it hot and will move to a lower spot if they are too warm. If you are going to put a stack on the left side of the cage, you may accomplish this. In summary, ditch the hot rock, the extra lights, and get a temp gun.
Good job, though,
Matthew T. Schaefer

i like it alot, it looks great, still got that natural feel, plus functionality and well, looks nice to the human eye, but, most people warn against those heat rocks, since they lizards cant feel their stomach, so they burn themselves... anyway, i have two 4-month old ackies, your setup is way more elaborate and seems home made, like i said nice

I undertand what you mean about hot rocks, but I use it with a dimer and a temp gun, so it can only reach the temps I want

about the ligths... al are controled with dimers too, so not all are working at their max temp... this way I can control temps in all the cage... wattages are (lefth to rigth) 75, 50 and 50.. I should also mention the ligths are at least 1 ft over the floor, and just the branches are 10 to 6 inche from ligths

thanks for your comments, I really appreciate it

Rick