Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Just thought that I would share a pic of my outdoor summer enclosure.....

Another shot:

The fencing scares me. The reason is what if a little child or anyone came by and hung their arms over the fence. The croc could just jump up and grab it. Theres a story for the media and another black mark on the hobby if that happened. I dont know how big your guy/gal is and my apologies if this sounds like Im ragging on you. Maybe you could put some kind of overhang on the fence.

Well.....

My gator is only 3 ft right now. He is only in the enclosure when I am outside with him for the most part- he is not left outside overnight. The fencing is a bit higher than it looks. The rest of my yard is fenced in as well, and my neighborhood doesnt have that many younger kids. In fact the youngest kid that lives closest to me in my neighborhood is 16. Younger than that is only 2 YO. My alligator is NEVER left unattended. I dont trust the human race enough to leave him unattended.

Hope this helps

Stan

>>He is only in the enclosure when I am outside with him FOR THE MOST PART

>>My alligator is NEVER left unattended

As long as the second statement is the correct one, you are fairly safe. If the first one is true, you are asking for trouble, not just from visiting kids, but a very likely escape. Alligators (especially small ones) can climb and jump things you would never expect.

I am perfectly aware of that. I have patched all possible holes, dug the fencing an extra 1.5ft to prevent digging, the rest of my back-yard is fully fenced in with chicken wire dug into the ground due to my old dog that used to like to dig his way out. After patching my holes the dog was never able to escape and that dog could climb like he was sylvester stalone in "Cliff Hanger". I am perfectly aware that alligators are capable of climbing wire fencing as well, that is why I am redoing my fencing with wood fencing all the way around and granted that my neighbors won't complain, I will be putting up privacy fencing. He is a bit bigger now, so I want to make sure that I re-inforce everything a little better this year.

even though your gator is bigger, i had the worry of " other pets " getting into the enclosure. I had some " wild " critters get into mine as well. Because of size that mine got to, I institutionalized the livestock stock tank with the early ones being metal ( galvanized )and the later ones being that very hard plastic. I also drilled the bottoms for a drain plug and installed the bathtub drain catchers and used large vacuum plastic hoses for draining when washed out. Maybe didn't look as good but was very efficient in all forms. Didn't need filters either going this route. My tanks were on wheels so i could wheel them in during winter. In winter I used plumbers heat tape taped up to the bottom ( on the galvanized stock tanks ) and on the plastic tanks I used over head high wattage flood or spot lamps ( on the metal tanks also ). I had to eventually construct a top on the tanks by using wood and heavy gaged metal screening/hardware wire hinged in the middle for a sort of door. The lamps were just rested on top of the wire tops.

Yeah,

The biggest problem I have around here are birds. He has managed to nail himeself a few of them in the past. I am praying that when he gets about a 5-6 feet that he will make short work of this annoying stray cat that keeps tearing open my garbage (lol), but other than that there hasn't ever been any other problems. I plan to build his fence higher with a couple of glass see through areas so that I can monitor him without necessarily going inside the enclosure. I as well have used stock tanks. They are pretty handy while the guys are smaller.

Stan

Great set up I particularly like the slate basking flat rocks that gather heat way better than the mulch. Come fall you will hate bringing them in.
Why not add a second pool a cheaper kiddie pool.

I thought about adding a kiddie pool on certain days. I just primarily leave the kiddi pool for inside the house. I decided to use the brick layout just to add a good basking platform that he would probably get much more from than just the mulch standing alone.

Yes good idea the bricks abosrb heat way better than the mulch and better belly heat.

Nice set up!

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0.1 Bearded dragon
0.1 mexican kingsnake
1.0.2 Leopard Gecko's
0.0.1 Rose Hair Tarantula
1.0 BTS
0.0.1 Reverse Okeetee Corn
0.1 Bullmastiff
4.1 Cats

Thanks I am just working on all of my "upgrade" plans