Reptile & Amphibian Forums

I'm new to posting here, but have been reading here for awhile. I just got a baby Bearded Dragon about a week ago. He isn't my first reptile, but he is my first Beardie! I am wanting to build him a custom enclosure. For now he is in a ten gallon tank - He's only about 6" in length.

I would like to make an enclosure that is as long as a 55 gallon but about twice as wide. Does that sound large enough? I would have sliding plexiglass doors for the "front", and a door that opens by hinges on the top. The top would be a screen mesh, so that I could place his UVB light and his heat lamp on top.

How would that work with crickets though? Wouldn't they be able to hide pretty good in a large enclosure? Is there anything I could put the crickets in inside the enclosure to hold them? I know he is too young to move into a larger enclosure for awhile yet, so hopefully his "aim" when catching crickes will get better .

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Misty & the zoo:
1 Bearded Dragon
8 Ferrets
1 Red Ear Slider
1 Chinchilla
1 Cockatiel
2 Guinea Pigs
2 Dogs
1 Sugar Glider

4ftx2ftx2ft is the ideal cage size for an adult bearded dragon. You can prob. manage going a tad bit less but not too much. Sliding glass door is prolly the most common front on cages, and if you do that, you prolly dont need a flip up top on it. Below is a pic of one of my cages. its 8ft long x 32" deep x 24" high. its way bigger then you actually need. My dragons have no problem catching their crickets in it. just keep the cage clear of a lot of stuff they can hide under, and ull have no problems. I would keep your hatchling in a 20 gallon or similar for a while so that he can catch the crickets easier.

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2.0.0 Veiled Chameleons (Eros & Himeros)
1.1.0 Senegal Chameleons (Francois & Fifi)
0.1.0 Adopted Beardie (Sissy)
0.1.0 Sandfire Adpoted beardie Missing limb (Stumpy)
1.0.0 Sandfire red/gold Beardie (Whitey Ford)
2.0.0 Red/Gold Beardies (Hubert & Foster)
0.1.0 Red Flame/Hypo Red Beardie (Rosie)
0.1.0 Yellow/German Giant Beardie (Helga)
0.1.0 Brown Basilisk (Leroy, I know shes a girl!)
0.1.0 Chinese Water Dragon (Maggie May)
0.0.1 Marbled Gecko (Chalmers)
1.0.0 15 year old Eastern Box Turtle (Radar)

Wow that is a great cage! Thanks for your help.

here is a product i think you will definetly find usefull
it's inexpensive and should work very well. I have yet to find out but its a very clever idea!
here is the link, good luck!