Reptile & Amphibian Forums

i currently have 3 beardies, getting a 4th very soon. 2 about 12 inches and one that's just a baby still. i'll get a room mate for him soon.

ok i want to make a large unit that will have 2 seprate tanks. 2 beardies in each tank. the unit will be about 7 foot tall i figure. the tanks will be about 2 foot deep, 2 foot high and 5 foot wide. (these are ruff figures)

ok here's my few questions.

1.) will the tank size work out for 2 adults as a retirement place.. meaning i don't want to to build another tank for them after this one. yes eventually another will be in the works.. but no time soon.

2.) lighting, as you see in the picture below(if my horrible linking abilities acutally worked!) the red area... between tanks. ok i will put a 4 foot tube light for the UV and i want to figure out how to put some heat lamps in there. and how many would it take. i figure at least 2. maybe 3. the biggest question... is if i have it enclosed... will the lights over heat and catch on fire over time? they will be completely enclosed in wood. i can put vents in the back.

i've seen a picture of a cage a really nice oak one. i won't go that fancy but i will have 3 glass panels in the front to open and have full access to the beardies. glass on the 2 sides and the back will be a back drop. the only part i don't know about is the heat from the lamps being enclosed.

thanks for any tips.

also is there any place i can look at ideas on other homes built by users here or other places... for ideas! thanks!

ok the blue areas would be the tank. the bottom green is the shelf that'll hold all the supplies, the green on top and the red will be the lamp hoods. each piece will be built completely seprate so i can take it apart and move it easily(plan to move eventually.. no need to make it 500 pounds and impossible to move.haha
Thanks again.

As far as size for 2 adult beardies and the design is fine....but one important thing....males can't be housed together.....male/female pairs should not be housed together as the males are relentless breeders and the female will suffer for the pairing......most females of similar size, raised together can be caged together but not all. So your idea of needing only 2 large tanks for 4 beardies may not work at all.....unless of course your have 4 females and are lucky with them getting along.
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Tracey
Tracey's Beardies
www.beardiecrazy.com

yeah i already considered this as an option. originally we were going to have just 2. build a similar design, with a opening between the 2... so they could go in diffrent areas and be totally seprated if they want to. or just put 1 in each cage for the most part...

THEN, we went to go buy some crickets and my girlfriend seen a tiny beardy that had a foot missing and 1/2 his tail. she felt bad for it. and said no one will ever buy it... we have to.
$100 later we had a new cage, set up and footless lizard.

so it went from 2... to well we can't let this guy be all alone! so we need another one!

worst case senerio i'll make another cage similar to this one. but the lighting is my main concern.

thanks for the reply!

Any disadvantaged Beardie should be alone. Otherwise it will be picked on and will not get it's fair share of food. Sometime just psyched out of it nothing phyisical. I know I got a rescued one also and he almost starved when put with a whole Beardie who was smallwer than he was. I seperated them but still the whole one has outgrown him. And he has all his parts just a very crooked tail.