Reptile & Amphibian Forums

I am looking to build an enclosure big enough to hold one adult dragon. Any ideas, suggestions, advice from those who have built their own? thank you!
Justin

Several suggestions:

I like to limit the length of my cages to 4' (actually 49.5" once you factor in the width of the two sides) in order to save on material. To provide more floor area it's almost always cheaper to increase the depth (or width) of the cage than to increase the length. The problem with this design is that you then need to limit the height so the cage can fit through doors.

If you want to build a tall cage to allow for climbing area consider having lights installed under ledges on the lower levels of the cage. To be brief, if you have two cages with lights at the top but one is 2' tall and the other is 4' tall, the taller one will have 1/4 the light intensity of the shorter cage. Not good for a diurnal lizard.

For material I prefer laminated plywoods over melamine. They are lighter, easier to work with, and generally more durable with a several coats of polyurethane. Even better is that such a surface is easily touched up. It does cost a bit more, especially when you factor in the cost of stain and polyurethane.

Lastly, my false-ceiling design seems to have been well liked among those who have tried it. It also allows for high ventilation without excessive heat loss. A good combination for a Bearded Dragon. It also hides the lights.

Here's a picture of my Bearded's cage. This is made from birch laminated plywood sealed with mahoganey stain and water-based polyurethane. It was built from leftover material so the dimensions are a bit odd... 49.5" x 20" x 27.5". My biggest regret with this cage is that I was not able to build the false-ceiling tall enough to allow for the vertical installation of a mercury vapor bulb.

The cage looks much better in person than in this picture.

This is a picture of another cage showing the false-ceiling. This cage is much larger... 49.5" x 30" x 48".

What you see in this picture is a frame that runs from the top of the back panel the bottom of the upper lip (the upper lip is where the glass track is attached).

The back panel of the cage is only about 40" tall so it stops about 8" from the top of the cage. Screen is attached to the frame and this leaves a 8" x 48" space along the back of the cage where lights and heating elements can be accessed.

With my bearded cage the FC area is only about 5.5" tall.

Hope this makes sense.