Reptile & Amphibian Forums

I was curious. I know that the beardie cages have to be giant, But I was thinking of building a cage for mine. I was wondering what the right dimentions would be for one beardie that should be able to hold her all of her life? I think I would be using sand, Because Ive read that it makes them the happiest, Is this true? Also What would be the best materials for the cage? I was thinking of making the frame and bottom out of wood and then using plexi glass for 3 of the sides, Screen for one of the sides (as a door) and screen for the top. I want to make sure that there is enough room for there to be constant air flow. Any tips are greatly appreciated! Also do you think that it is okay for a young person to have a beardie? I take great care of all of my herps and reaserch every animal before I get them, But it seems to bother some people that I am a junior high age person taking care of animals. Thanks for reading this!
~Sara
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Well a minimum for one bearded is 36x18x16 ( 40 breeder).I recommend shelfliner because its easier to clean and stays cleaner then sand and also no risk of impaction with it.

4'x2'x2' is the minimum for an adult bearded dragon. My cage I made out of plywood, screen and plexi glass. Wood on the back, bottom and half of the top, screen on the front and other half of top (hardware cloth on top, aluminum screening on front) Plexi glass everywhere else.

For substrate I was going to use sand but opted out of it and used plastic tablecloth instead. I found it worked very well, looked alright (used black) and with some paper towel underneath, it absorbed any spills and provided some padding for my dragon's feet. Poops I spot cleaned every day (basically whenever she went I cleaned it right away or as soon as I noticed it) with disinfectant soap and wiped dry. Never had problem with parasites. Oh my cage was 5'x2'x2' and gave alot of room for my single beardie.

Below is a picture of part of the cage, unfortunately don't have a full view of the cage available right now. If interested I can post it later under my other nick.

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PHLdyPayne

Heres a picture of the first cage i built. now obviously, you're not going to need something this large for one dragon. but building you own cage allows you to customize the size and such. The demensions of my cage are 7' X 3' X 4'. i used 1/2" oak for the frame, and 3/4" plywood for the bottom. Right now i'm using paper towels for the substrate as its cheap and easy to clean/replace, but when my dragons are large enough i plan on using sand. oh, i've moved the lights since this cage was built, they're now spread out evenly over the top (beginners mistake). My cage is also large enough that i can but a partition right down the middle to seperate my dragons when they're older.

You can build your own cage pretty cheap if you know the right people. I only spent like 30 bucks on my cage. A 40 gallon breeder cage should be the minimum size, and i would use shelf liner or paper towels until your dragon is at least 6-8 months old. You have a lot of options as far as building/buying your cage. i'm gonna build every cage i need from now on.

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1.2 Bearded Dragons. Chong, Cheech, Unnamed
0.1 Anery Motley Corn. Cleopatra
1.0 Creamsicle Corn. Faunzy
1.1 Black Labs. Buddy, Booger
1.0 Room mate. Clayton - requires more clean up than my pets.

Everyone seems to be making cages out of screen mesh or wood or something, but is a glass aquarium okay also?
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~Shana~

Both of my BD's live in 55 gallon aquariums and are perfectly fine. You rarly hear anything bad about aquariums, and most ppl who have anythig againt them only do so b/c of personal prefrences.

Here's a pic of my set up...

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1.1.0 Bearded Dragons
Nunca & Nexus
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Signature file edited; [phw 9/24/04]

hey, is that a hammock in the corner of the cage on the right?

the only complaints against aquariums are:

top access sucks, compared to sliding glass doors on the front.

cleaning the cage is more difficult from the top, especially if you have a once piece top

glass gets scratched and is harder to clean

im sure there are more, but i have not heard very many that actualy are detrimental to the animal

Why yes it is,
Here's a pic of when i had it on the left side of the cage-

they love their hammocks-

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1.1.0 Bearded Dragons
Nunca & Nexus
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Signature file edited; [phw 9/24/04]

awsome...i might get one of those always thought it was cool, do you have it under that basking light? or just in a corner?