Reptile & Amphibian Forums

I was considering building a cage for my Tegu. It will be 6'X3'X2'. I will have 2 lamp holes. One for a Basking Light, 160 watt PowerSun. A second one for a Ceramic Heat emitter. Do you think that will be a significant amount of space?

Sure, that should work. That is about the minimum amount of space you'd need for a tegu.

I have a question for you. My tegu still likes to climb and jump. I like your cage, but I am worried about him climbing up on the lights and breaking them. Have you ever had problems with this? Also, how do you heat the other side of your cage? I noticed that you have light and stuff on the left side, but is there any heat or light on the other side. If you can, can you post or send me some plans on how you built this. I am going to build one this weekend. Any suggestions you can give me would be greatly appreicated.

Thanks,
Jason

I wish I would have kept the plans for it… a couple of times now. To tell the truth is was my wife that did all the planning. It was my idea to just use a single pane of glass that slides between the 2 doors that open : ) It simplified the design, gave us access to each half the cage, and it was easier to make the track for the glass. I do suggest you have it open in front like that so you have the option of letting him go in and out of the cage on his own. You'll have to put a lip on the bottom to keep the substrate from falling out. I didn’t ever have problems with the lights but they didn’t ever try to climb much of anything. I had to keep the mercury vapor lights that close to get enough basking heat. Since they’re all grown up I’ve switched over to the halogen outdoor flood lights that can stay further away. I only used heat on one side to create a warm and a cool side for them. The hide box in buried on the cool side. I never recorded a temp higher then 82 or lower then 75 in there. I kept one light on all the time, the other came on during the day. If your going to make a cage be sure to save the plans and G' luck!