Reptile & Amphibian Forums

So, I've been thinking more and more about when I could build the lizards new cages, but I'm not sure if it would be a good idea to do that this summer for one main reason. The college I want to go to after highschool...2 more years....is very expensive, and I figured I might want to start saving up now for some of the expenses so my college loans won't be as bad. If I get enough work over this summer (doing odd jobs and giving drum lessons...so far I've made $150 from that this summer), I might just put about half of it away and invest the other half in new cages. Oh, and also, the reason I want to go to that one specific college is because it's the only college that offers a music edu degree that's close enough that I could live at home the first year or two (after which I might try for an apartment). All of the rest of the colleges that I could possibly go to are 2 hours away, and I wouldn't be able to take care of my reptiles.

So now you know the situation I'm trying to get figured out, so in the meantime, I'd like to revamp my current cages (which I have up until now considered to be temporary) so that they could be fairly permanent homes for the little guys. So here's what I'm working with:

cage for 0.0.1 mali uromastyx, full grown: 48"x13"x13". For this cage, I have a general idea of what I want to do. I figure I'll plan on taking out all of the dirt and rocks and everything in the cage, and start over with some new dirt, and here's the basic design I think I'm going to go with... Build two "roofs" for her fake burrows. One will just be an 11"x20" piece of thin plywood or panelling, with 2 1x4's for support (running the length of the panelling). There will also be another one that will be the same design, only possibly a little shorter (meaning not 4" tall), and smaller, like 11"x12" or something of the sort. Put those down first. The big one on the hot side, all the way against the end of the tank on that side, and the small one on the cold side, again up against the end of the tank. Then fill them in with dirt, and the bare part in the middle of the tank with dirt (not all the way though, leave enough open that she can see where she can dig) and then I'd like to either put dirt on the wooden platform roof things, or slate or something...not sure. What do you think?

The bearded dragon tank is fine for now, since I need to keep it clean while he's going through yet another parasite treatment. I'll work that one out after he's rid of parasites.

Wow, long post, but I'd really like to have some input for everyone. I wish the uro tank was a little taller so I could put something in there for her to climb on (she seems to love climbing on stuff). Maybe I'll think of something that will work. Thanks for reading and answering.

-ryan

So you plan on building a new enclosure? Isn't that going to be more expensive then buying a tank and then building the burrowing areas for your female?

My suggest is that you just go buy a bigger tank, that will give her plenty of room to run around in, and then go out and buy the plywood and supports you need, build those and put those in the new tank. If the old tank she was in is big enough for your bearded dragon, then clean it out, sanatize it with hot water and vinegar and put new substrate in it and you'd be all set.

Sorry, I know my post must be hard to understand. basically, I'm trying to find ways to make the cages I have (that are minimally sized) work for now while providing the most space possible for my lizards to utilize. At first I was thinking I would build some new cages this summer (or buy some, depending on how much money I could save up through summer jobs), but I'm not sure if that would be wise right now because I've got college coming up in two years and I thought it might be better to save up for that so I could pay for the college I would like to go to, which is more expensive then the others (about 3 times more expensive), but close enough to home that I could take care of my lizards on a daily basis. I figured that would be the most important aspect.

Just checking if anyone has any ideas.