Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Okay, for now our baby is in a 40 gallon tank and she's still just a hatchling but this spring we are going to construct a much much larger enclosure...here is what I've come up with...

It would be 6 feet tall, 3 feet deep and 4 feet wide.

We would make it mostly out of melamine...but I was wondering if it would be okay to use asponite (strong, thin, compressed carboard) for the backing...

Since melamine is cheap and easy to work with and clean this is what we chose...any other suggestions for material would be appreciated...

We would buy stick on tiles for the floor, to prevent poop and other goodies from hiding in the cracks between the wood...we will also be making a door...opening from the front...(any suggestions for what to make the door out of? we were thinking just 2x2's)

The door will probably be a opening-outwards door with a hardware cloth (screen with much wider and stronger bars) the top of the enclosure will use the same metal hardware cloth...

The fixtures will not be built in, they will be placed on top of the metal cloth...I'm paranoid about burning the iguana when the bulbs are inside the cage...

We will have two shelves (an upper and a lower shelf) and the lower shelf will be placed in such a way that the iguana can be out of sight or to cool if need be. The higher shelf will be for basking...and a ladder will connect the two.

We will most likely put the food and water at the bottom of the enclosure.

That covers everything I thing...since we've never built an iguana enclosure before (just simple boxes for dragons and racks for snakes) any help and suggestions and criticism would be appreciated...

Thanks!
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Chris Vanderwees
REPTILE SALES AND INFORMATION
E-mail Me
1.2.0 Bearded Dragons
1.1.0 Crested Geckos
1.2.0 Veiled Chameleons
3.4.0 Corn Snakes
1.0.0 Tokay Geckos
1.2.0 California Kingsnakes
1.3.0 South Florida Kingsnakes
1.1.0 Albino Sonoran Gopher Snakes
1.4.0 Leopard Geckos
0.1.0 Green Iguanas

np
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Chris Vanderwees
REPTILE SALES AND INFORMATION
E-mail Me
1.2.0 Bearded Dragons
1.1.0 Crested Geckos
1.2.0 Veiled Chameleons
3.4.0 Corn Snakes
1.0.0 Tokay Geckos
1.2.0 California Kingsnakes
1.3.0 South Florida Kingsnakes
1.1.0 Albino Sonoran Gopher Snakes
1.4.0 Leopard Geckos
0.1.0 Green Iguanas

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>>We would buy stick on tiles for the floor, to prevent poop and other goodies from hiding in the cracks between the wood...we will also be making a door...opening from the front...(any suggestions for what to make the door out of? we were thinking just 2x2's)
>>

I would avoid the stick on tiles. As I told my husband who didnt listen to me, the cracks between tiles allow moisture to seep in. There are large floor pieces of linoleum (sp) that would work just as good and probably cost the same. Plus they are easier to replace.

One tip. Screws. Use screws instead of nails.
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Cindy
PHFaust

Email Cindy

Land of the Outcasts!

A few things...

Make sure you use some kind of heat resistant on the wood because obviously you'll have lights that wil be getting pretty hot.

You might want to try a Zoo Med PowerSun bulb, it's an incandesent bulb that provides UV, and saves space unlike a flourescent bulb. Make sure that if your UV source is a flourescent light, that the iguana gets close enough to it when she's basking. UV rays only travel 12-15 inches.

Make sure the basking shelves are wide, and make sure that there are ramps for her to get around on easily.

Don't keep the food at the bottom. Keep it at the top or in the middle to simulate eating in trees. you can put a little box at the bottom(lined with paper towel, not cat litter of course) so that it won't get into her food.

Good Luck with everything!!!!