Reptile & Amphibian Forums

i am gonna be building a cage for my uro. right now i an planning on using plywood, basically to just make a big box with an open top about 2' by 5' and maybe have the wallsabout 2' high. now the tough part is how can i set it up so that i can put sand in it without it spilling out. i would like the bottom to be something that is water proof ie plastic,glass,rubber anything as long as it will be easy to clean and safe for the lizard. maybe get some heavy duty plastic and staple/glue it to the box? and second how can i set up heating? i need to be able to get it pretty hot in the basking spot, around 115 to 120. currently i am useing an undertank heater combined with a 150 watt heat lamp about 12 inches up from the basking rock. as long as i get some kinda legs on this thing, to lift the box off the floor, will it still be ok to use an undertank heater? even on a wood surface? and how can i set up the light? thanx in advance

i use a 3x3x2 all glass cage and only use 1 125watt bulb to heat it and i get 130 basking spot and 85 cool end,so you may need maybe a 150 and a 100 to heat it to good temps and yes you can use UTH if you raise the tank at least a few inches.
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1.3 Leopard Gecko's
1.0 mali uromastyx

>>i am gonna be building a cage for my uro. right now i an planning on using plywood, basically to just make a big box with an open top about 2' by 5' and maybe have the wallsabout 2' high. now the tough part is how can i set it up so that i can put sand in it without it spilling out. i would like the bottom to be something that is water proof ie plastic,glass,rubber anything as long as it will be easy to clean and safe for the lizard. maybe get some heavy duty plastic and staple/glue it to the box? and second how can i set up heating? i need to be able to get it pretty hot in the basking spot, around 115 to 120. currently i am useing an undertank heater combined with a 150 watt heat lamp about 12 inches up from the basking rock. as long as i get some kinda legs on this thing, to lift the box off the floor, will it still be ok to use an undertank heater? even on a wood surface? and how can i set up the light? thanx in advance

I wouldn't use untertank heat with a cage made out of plywood or melamine. Much of the heat will be absorbed by the wood, rather than heating the cage. In addition, plywood and melamine contains formaldehyde which I believe gets released as these products are heated. For lizards, it seems like most people tend to go with spot lights, ceramic emitters, or radiant heat panels depending on how much $$$ they want to spend.

As far as sand, I would think wood caulked with silicone would be fine. If you want waterproof, you might use wood as a base then cover it with a thin layer of acrylic or other hard plastic. Again, you'll need to caulk the sides so that sand and water don't leak past the plastic. BTW, if you're really set on undertank heat, you could sandwich heat tape between the plywood bottom and the acrylic.