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8x4x7

they seem to really be growing well in soil blend I used

what kind of soil blend did you use? and what kind of plants do you have in the cage? do you have any plans for your cage? and if you dont mind me asking how much did it cost to build?

First, as always, I have no plan, I just kind of wing it. I do plan (and already started)on writing a detailed description of methods and materials. The first thing I will make clear is this cage is being built in my finished reptile room which is the basement. This thing is HEAVY, HEAVY, HEAVY. I would not build it on an upper level unless it was positioned directly above a support beam.

Soil: First, there is a 1.5" layer of gravel. The beach, or egg laying area, is 3:1 mixture of Home Depot "play sand" and clean, screened dirt, or topsoil from the local quarry. The planted area, on either side of the beach, is made of:
1 40# bag of potting soil
1 large bad pine mulch
12 "blocks" of bed-a-beast coconut husk fiber
6 40# bags of "lite-way" top soil

A couple notes: It took me a lot of searching to find the right kind of top soil to use in the planted area. Most topsoil at place like Home Depot contain compost of some type, usually manure, very very bad! The kind (lite-way) I used I found at a mom and pop garden store. It is a mixture of peat, ground leaves, and dirt. Another note, I kept the mulch towards the bottom, and the potting soil in the middle.

Plants: I have one large pony tail palm on the left. On the far right is a Sanseveria, or snake plant. The other larger plant on the right side is a Massangeana Cane (Dracaena massangeana). Mixed in are a couple bunches of ornamental grass, and several ferns I dug up in the woods of the Appalachian Mountains. There are a couple ground cover plants called "creeping fig" I believe. The predominant grond cover, all that green you see is, are ready for this? good old fashion grass! In the top 4" of soil I mixed in 2# of sun/shade grass seed. I can see that I will soon have to mow it, he he. This I will do with garden shears, but I do want to let it get a little long. I also have an order of plants, mostly aquatics on order from a vivarium supplier. I don't plan on moving the dragons in until late September so all the plants should be well established by then.

Cost: My best estimate would be $500. It's hard to say (actually I might not really want to know) because I've been working on it since April as time and money permit. The biggest expense was the pond liner and pond filter.

Hope this helps.
Paul

thanks for all of the great info. i wan o get my dragons cage set up before i get them!! i am getting four baby awd from bert at agaminternational!! they are gonna start in a 75 gallon fish tank and then move into an enclosure that is 8feet long, 4 feet wide, 3.5-4 feet tall

This center portion alone conatins a mixture of 150# of sand and 60# dirt. its 12" deep.

i keep trying live plants in saturns cage but they keep getting dry and dying. i water them once a week. the kind i use are big palm trees. well theyre not big only about 3 ft tall.
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CHONG188

Awesome work, I'd love to do like that but I dont got the cash or room. however I would like to "upgrade" my WDs current "billabong". But I can never get passed figuring out a good way of draining the water for larger water areas. Do you have any tips or how do you do it in that big area you got there? Again niice tank!!
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THX> Kyle