Reptile & Amphibian Forums

one of my friends is going away for a month down to florida to visit family and stuff and he has asked me to take care of his 4 foot igg since i am his only friend that like reptiles. so my question is is what is the best way to make a temporay cage for it? it will e able to free roam my room after school and when i get home from work. so how big should it be? i was thinking about using 2by4's and framing it in and then using ply wood for two sides and then using hardware cloth in the front and on the top.

please i need advice as he is leaving in about two weeks and i want to have it finished by then.

thanks

mike d
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0.0.1 iguana
1.0.0 water dragon
0.0.1 mali uromastyx
0.1.0 painted turtle
0.0.1 common snapping turtle
then the ussual
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6 cats
misc fish
hermit crabs
rat
misc. fish

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I built quite a large cage in a day (not Tempest's current one), using 2x2's, metal L-brackets, and that cheap thick panel stuff with melomine on one side. I worked with the dimensions that were easy - the panels are 4' long, so the cage is 4' long, they're 18"'s wide, so the cage is 3' wide - 2 panels. I made shelves out of 1x2's and metal L-brackets, with the same panel stuff but rough side up, these took a bit of cutting. I cut round holes in the top for heat lamps and a large square one for his UVB lamp, and used cake cooling racks to cover them. Hardware cloth, the plastic kind with 1/2" squares, ran up the back so he could climb, I used 2x4's for a couple of ramps with sisal rope around them so he could grip them, and the doors are out of 1x2s again with L-brackets, and sheets of plexiglass. It isn't pretty, but its roomy and it kept him not too badly for quite a while. If the weather was really cold, I draped heavy blankets around the back and sides to help keep heat in.

The biggest thing for you will be getting the temperature ranges right, and the humidity. If I were you, I'd see if you can get a house key and let him stay at his regular home, with you going over for the evening and in the morning to check on him. See if you can stay overnight - my parents are paying friends of the family's kid to live in their house to take care of the pets while they're gone for a month, with me as a backup number to call. Iguana's can take weeks to settle in, he'll barely have time to get used to the new environment before he goes home again.

iguanas are very sensitive to change, and your friend's iguana may not deal well with both a new handler AND a new environment. He may hide, try to escape, refuse to eat, poop where he shouldn't, and just generally throw tantrums. Mine does this when I'm on vacation, even when in his own enclosure! Also, there is just so much room for something to go bad. If they can get tangled in it, escape from it, or hurt themselves on it, they will. Better the known and tested than the unknown in this case, I think.

Good luck!

i was going to just stay at thier house but it is around 45 min away from my house and i have school and work so having him come with me would be easier.

also how well do you think the pvc pipe cages work? because where i work they sell tons of it and i get 20% off of stuff so i could build a roomy cage out of pvc pipe for pretty chep and then cover it with hard ware cloth or something like that. and my room stays warm day and night so temps should be able to keep up. but i have to check into it more.

and if things go good with him i may end up adopting anoth ig!
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0.0.1 iguana
1.0.0 water dragon
0.0.1 mali uromastyx
0.1.0 painted turtle
0.0.1 common snapping turtle
then the ussual
2 dogs
6 cats
misc fish
hermit crabs
rat
misc. fish

My Email

ITS NOT ABOUT YOU DIEING FOR YOUR COUNTRY, ITS ABOUT MAKING YOUR ENEMY DIE FOR HIS.

HAPPINESS IS LIKE PEEING ON YOURSELF, EVERYONE CAN SEE IT BUT ONLY YOU CAN FEEL THE WARMTH