Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Hello all.

Recently as part of a deal, my brother in law made a viv for my wife and I (I out controls in a commercial hounted house and he did this in return). There is a link below to some pics.

The viv is 8' high, 7' wide, and 4' deep. It is all aluminum frame with plexiglass (sort of) so you can see through it from all angles. It dismantles piece by piece without using screws or any type of fasteners.

My wife and I have set up a lighted waterfall and filled it with plants and a wooden carving we picked up in Jamaica (yes the obligatory parrot sculpture for those who have been).

The waterfall flows into a 50 gallon tub and we set up a filter system (with UV to keep the water clear) and are planning on adding feeder fish. I will be completing the lighting tomorrow and moving the boys in over the weekend.

Any comments are appreciated!

http://gallery.pethobbyist.com/index.pl?user=25914&cat=500&thumb=1
Link

It looks nice, but water dragons may hate it. They don't like things to be able to see them from all angles, and they can't see glass well. My tank was open on the sides, and I had to cover the sides or my dragons would repeatedly jump off their branches and into the glass, bashing their noses.
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We have thought about that. Our current viv has a plexiglass front and the dragons have not rubbed. In addition we have a bamboo looking shade for the back. If they start rubbing on the front or the sides we will either put plants or paint the lower part (on the outside).

However, since they currently don't seem to mind we are not anticipating a problem.

Sizewise it looks Ok, but there is not enough climbing area. A fake rock or bark backwall would be nice. Lots of thick branches are essential and must be added.
Also I would recfommend to use substrate. First they need it for egg laying, second it helps to control relative humidity and third the upper border of the water bassin should fit with the top of the substrate. Otherwise they may not accept the bassin ver ymuch.

Ci@o

Ingo

Thanks Ingo.

We are definitely adding more foliage and climbing. We are planning on making a series of climbing areas using bamboo that will intersect with lots of leafy areas.

With respect to the substrate there is an area under the shelf that we plan on creating an "earthy area" for them dig and lay eggs in.

The pond area may have to have some more shelving around it. There is a large shelf area on one side that allows them to walk in (so it is partially on level ground) but if they seem gun shy we will try building up an area around the pond. I think we could shelve around it pretty easily. Thanks for the tip!

Temp and humidty are not a problem - I have a pretty solid system for maintaining both within a very tight tolerance.

Thanks again for the feedback. As we tweak the cage I will let you know how the suggestions worked.