Reptile & Amphibian Forums

I am fixing to have to upgrade my iggy's cage. He is in a 55 gallon tank right now but he is about two feet long already. I can't believe how fast they grow. I am wanting to build a cage for him/her. I have no idea what type of wood to use or even any idea as to how to put it together so he can't get out, lol. Meaning do you just staple screen to the wood. That doesn't seem like it would hold them in for long. I planned on building his cage about 8 ft high. Long story short, if anyone has any suggestions that would help me i would be very greatful. Iggy would also.

Thanks,
-----
Dragonflygirl109

Hi. My hubby and my dad built Ozzys cage for me. First i got online and found as many pictures of cages as i could to get ideas. The advice i woudl give is build as big as you can, cause boy they grow fast as your seeing. Now the type of wood im not sure, i know we did poly urethane ours, and let it dry really really good first so there would be no fumes, i used hardware cloth, stay away from any metal screening, cause it can cut there toes. For the bottom i recommend tile, just those cheap squares work well or linoleum would be good. I put newspaper over it, its easy to change and clean. I found my cage is a work in progress, i have redesigned the inside about 3 times now. It takes a bit to figure out the best way to do basking areas etc. The other mistake i made was too much mesh, in turn i have a hard time keeping my temps and humidity up. So im going to be replaceing some mesh with plexi soon. And hold on to your wallet when you buy plexi, its quite pricy i thought. Well hope that helps a bit. tami

Thank you for your help. Your very right, plexi glass is exspensive. Someone told me to use screen and i know that wouldn't hold him in when he gets older. And i thought like you said metal could do more damage than good. I never would have thought of puting tile down on the bottom that is a very good idea. Easy clean up. Thanks again for your suggestions, they do help. Stephanie
-----
Dragonflygirl109

My Ig is only 3-4 yrs old and is 5 feet long already!
My cage is made of 4 sliding glass house doors. We attatched the doors together standing up in a stop sign shape and hinged them together. The door of the cage is made of galvanized wire covered by a blanket and it is the same size of the sliding glass doors. The 'roof' is covered in the same wire with plywood over the top of that to hold in the heat and humidity better. The floor is made of plywood with Linolium covering it. The lin goes up the sides of the door bottoms (about 2 inches) to hold in any mess that he makes in case he misses the potty lol We have 2 shelves, one mid level and one higher up for him to sleep and bask on. His lights hang from the top wire on the 'roof'.
The best part about this cage? All the glass doors we got for free just by spreading the word that we were looking for them for an Ig cage!! We have since recieved 6 more glass doors and will expand his cage soon.
If you put in " homemade Iguana cages" in Google all sorts of cage ideas will pop up for you.
Good luck!
Dove