Reptile & Amphibian Forums

I'm going to be getting an Egyptian Uromastyx (subspecies microlepis) from Doug Dix in either Mid July or End of July.

Right now I'm trying to build a cage for all my other reptiles and one for this new guy.

I just thought I'd show you all a picture of this little guy.

Doug says hes about 7 months old.

I'm probably going to name him Sonic.

Awww, So cute! Is he WC or CB?

Good Luck with your new friend, keep us posted!

Elizabeth
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1.0 Mali Uro Archimedes
0.0.1 Egyptian Uro Zuberi Mosca Khu (Mosca)
0.0 Fish
0.1 Sulcata Minnie
1.1 Iguanas Flik and Loki
0.1 Newfoundland Jasmine (RIP)
0.1 Feline Winter
Indiana & Wisconsin

Doug says he is a CB (captive Bred) microlepis subspecies.

Actually last night I got the ok from my parents to get the little guy/gal.

Emailed Doug last night and told him that I would be buying the little tike and that all he needed to do is wait like a week for me to send the money, I need to build the cage first.

I'm trying to build one like the cage Archimedes has. Need to get the money and go buy the supplies. Then build it out back and do 3 coats of polyurathane.

I plan on staining it like a real light wood, I think its Oak that is like real light in color.

But yeah I'm real happy about that.

Now all I need to do is think up a name for him/her.

You probably already know this, but I didn't, so I am going to pass it along. The polyeurothane will off-gas for quitre a while after you put the last coat on. I was forced to use the cage 2 weeks after I had finished sealing it, and it really was too early. The other forum for cage building recommended a month. So just keep that in mind while you are planning what to do with the little tyke! Luckily at that age a $15 enormous tupperware container can work just as well while the real cage airs out.

Congratulations! I cannot wait to see more pictures!

Elizabeth
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1.0 Mali Uro Archimedes
0.0.1 Egyptian Uro Zuberi Mosca Khu (Mosca)
0.0 Fish
0.1 Sulcata Minnie
1.1 Iguanas Flik and Loki
0.1 Newfoundland Jasmine (RIP)
0.1 Feline Winter
Indiana & Wisconsin

That's what I was thinking. But then there's another problem, where to put the container after the cage is finished airing out....

No place in the garage for it. But I could always clean out the garage or just hurry up and build the tank and then get the little tike after 3 weeks is up.

Very true on both counts! I put mine in the basement, but, I also have a TON of crap in the basement, so I just sort of heaved it onto the top of the pile.

~E
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1.0 Mali Uro Archimedes
0.0.1 Egyptian Uro Zuberi Mosca Khu (Mosca)
0.0 Fish
0.1 Sulcata Minnie
1.1 Iguanas Flik and Loki
0.1 Newfoundland Jasmine (RIP)
0.1 Feline Winter
Indiana & Wisconsin

Ok, I think I may have figured out a way around the month airing out after polyurathaning it:

Can I just leave it outside? Maybe for like 7-10 days and/or get a big industrial sized fan and put the tank in front of it? Cause that'd really air it out if left in front of a huge fan for like 5 days.

I really want to get the little on in mid July, this week I am going to see about getting the supplies listed on this website http://web.ics.purdue.edu/~echarris/archcage/ and seeing how much that'd run me in the end.

My brother has drills and such and he can help me put it together since he doesn't have a job or anything to do this summer.

Do you have any name suggestions?

Another suggestion. Insyead of Polyurethane you can try a product called polycrylic.
it has far fewer fumes dries fast and is water based.
It is not as durable as polyurethane but with enough coats it is still plenty tough. At the size he is now it is not a problem but at 24" and 4lbs they are pretty tough on furniture......

>>Another suggestion. Insyead of Polyurethane you can try a product called polycrylic.
>>it has far fewer fumes dries fast and is water based.
>>It is not as durable as polyurethane but with enough coats it is still plenty tough. At the size he is now it is not a problem but at 24" and 4lbs they are pretty tough on furniture......

If I can get ahold of polycrylic then I'll use it. If I can use that and have it take only 1 -5 days to air out then I'll be putting coats on it all day long.

I'd seriously go outside at 8 am and start putting coats on, and do that for 2 days straight. I'd probably get about 20 coats on there since I just want it to be tough and not have to do anything ever.

I'm really hoping this egyptian is going to be fine and work out for me since the last time I got something from this breeder it died because of pneumonia.

Oh dear, out of curiosity, why did you decide to use them again? Though bad things can happen to good breeders, so you may have just had the bad luck there.

I would leave a week for anything you use to off-gas, but that may just be my paranoia. I had the cage outside for 2 weeks, no fans though, and it still was pretty smelly. If I were to do it again, I would try to do it when the humidity was lower, and let it sit in a place I could put the heat lamps on 24x7 while it vented. I could not really smell anything in the cage until I turned the lights on, then the fumes came back in full force.

You can get the slides for the glass at rockler.com. It took me forever to find them. If I were to do it again I would get wood slides instead of plastic.

Because I was worried about fumes, I did not seal the outside of the cage, I just painted it... in retrospect I really should have set up a temporary tank, and just taken the time to seal the whole thing so I could worry about it less.

I had all the wood cut to spec at my lumber yard (less than a buck a cut), and got the entire thing assembled in one weekend. Painting and sealing took longer, lol.

Have fun!

As for names - I am a believer they name themselves once you see them. I had a very rare situation where I had a name for Mosca before he arrived, but that rarely happens.

Elizabeth

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1.0 Mali Uro Archimedes
0.0.1 Egyptian Uro Zuberi Mosca Khu (Mosca)
0.0 Fish
0.1 Sulcata Minnie
1.1 Iguanas Flik and Loki
0.1 Newfoundland Jasmine (RIP)
0.1 Feline Winter
Indiana & Wisconsin

>>Oh dear, out of curiosity, why did you decide to use them again? Though bad things can happen to good breeders, so you may have just had the bad luck there.
>>
>>I would leave a week for anything you use to off-gas, but that may just be my paranoia. I had the cage outside for 2 weeks, no fans though, and it still was pretty smelly. If I were to do it again, I would try to do it when the humidity was lower, and let it sit in a place I could put the heat lamps on 24x7 while it vented. I could not really smell anything in the cage until I turned the lights on, then the fumes came back in full force.
>>
>>You can get the slides for the glass at rockler.com. It took me forever to find them. If I were to do it again I would get wood slides instead of plastic.
>>
>>Because I was worried about fumes, I did not seal the outside of the cage, I just painted it... in retrospect I really should have set up a temporary tank, and just taken the time to seal the whole thing so I could worry about it less.
>>
>>I had all the wood cut to spec at my lumber yard (less than a buck a cut), and got the entire thing assembled in one weekend. Painting and sealing took longer, lol.
>>
>>Have fun!
>>
>>As for names - I am a believer they name themselves once you see them. I had a very rare situation where I had a name for Mosca before he arrived, but that rarely happens.
>>
>>Elizabeth

Well they were both wild caughts and they both got sick and died. But I am dealing with the same breeder again since I know him and for a reason that I don't think I can disclose publically (if you want to know why email me at bosco55@gmail.com ).

I am trying to get a job right now, this old lady needs someone to take care of her so I'm supposed to meet her tonight. If things go good then I will get the job. Its supposed to pay $7.50 an hour just to take her to the store and hang out w/her.

So that'll give me the money I need for the egyptian. I'm taking your cut list to Home Depot and Lowe's and having them price out everything on it, to see how much it would run. Then I'm borrowing the money from my parents since I need the cage before I can get the uro him/herself.

I actually think I will wait until I get the little guy/gal home until I name him/her.

Thanks

I'm going to be building my cages fairly soon but am intending to either fiberglass the interior or just paint it over with epoxy. I contacted West Systems and they're indicating their 105 resin and 207 hardener will work extremely well and it outgasses completely in two days. Epoxy cures through regardless of thickness so long as it's mixed properly and would alleviate lots of the "painted" on problems I've heard people having.

It's a little more expensive and takes a little bit of skill to handle this stuff properly, but I thought I'd toss it out as an idea. This type of resin finishes with a hardness around that of aluminum and I've used it for all kinds of things including custom bicycle parts.
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2.3.0 uromastyx geyri (Saharan/Nigerian)
0.0.4 uromastyx hardwickii (Indian)
3.6.0 uromastyx macfadyeni (Somalian)
1.2.0 uromastyx ocellata (Sudanese)
1.3.0 uromastyx ornata (Ornate)

>>I'm going to be building my cages fairly soon but am intending to either fiberglass the interior or just paint it over with epoxy. I contacted West Systems and they're indicating their 105 resin and 207 hardener will work extremely well and it outgasses completely in two days. Epoxy cures through regardless of thickness so long as it's mixed properly and would alleviate lots of the "painted" on problems I've heard people having.
>>
>>It's a little more expensive and takes a little bit of skill to handle this stuff properly, but I thought I'd toss it out as an idea. This type of resin finishes with a hardness around that of aluminum and I've used it for all kinds of things including custom bicycle parts.

I might use that then. Anything that will work fast.

Oh yeah, did I mention I might be getting a job? I thought I did, but anyways I talked to this lady today while I was interning and I am probably going to get a job helping her out.

She's disabled and she can only walk short distances. So my job would include taking her to the grocery store and basically hanging out with her. If I get it I'll probably be taking her to the movies since she hasn't gone in such a long time. But I might have to cook for her, hope she can stand to gain a few pounds cause everyone loves my cooking.

Anyways just thought I'd share the good news with you all.

>>I might use that then. Anything that will work fast.
>>Oh yeah, did I mention I might be getting a job?

Well, research the prices before you emotionally commit to it. If that's your only job then this might be a tad expensive to do it right, particularly if you've never used epoxy before. You'll want to practice on something else and read ALL the usage materials you can find ahead of time. Properly mixed epoxy is a beautiful thing but improperly mixed epoxy leaves a LOT to be desired.
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2.3.0 uromastyx geyri (Saharan/Nigerian)
0.0.4 uromastyx hardwickii (Indian)
3.6.0 uromastyx macfadyeni (Somalian)
1.2.0 uromastyx ocellata (Sudanese)
1.3.0 uromastyx ornata (Ornate)

>>>>I might use that then. Anything that will work fast.
>>>>Oh yeah, did I mention I might be getting a job?
>>
>>Well, research the prices before you emotionally commit to it. If that's your only job then this might be a tad expensive to do it right, particularly if you've never used epoxy before. You'll want to practice on something else and read ALL the usage materials you can find ahead of time. Properly mixed epoxy is a beautiful thing but improperly mixed epoxy leaves a LOT to be desired.

Actually I got to use epoxy when I was putting together some DVD racks I got from WalMart.

My brothers and I got 4 DVD racks. Opened them up and it had epoxy inside. Directions made us use them to fasten some of the bottome "T" brackets to one another.

Well I'm actually supposed to be getting a job pretty soon that pays me $300 for 3 days work. Just have to wait for the Crime Lab to order the folders until I can get the job.

But I'm pricing around the cut list from purdue's webpage, at a 3 diff places, then I'm going to the cheapest place. My parents said they'd lend me the money for the cage and I could repay them whenever, they are truly the worlds coolest parents.

Oh quick question: What about already laminated wood? Could that be used?

>>Actually I got to use epoxy when I was putting together some
>>DVD racks I got from WalMart.
Right, but I'm talking a much higher volume with a far more important thign contained than CDs. Ratios are critical. Make sure you practice. Get some of those small containers of epoxy from the local store and work on mixing it and brushing it out on surfaces. Laminating resins are very fluid and behave differently, almost the consistency of water instead of gel and are a different beast altogether, but the same principles apply. Feel free to e-mail me if you want to discuss the details / Q&A.

>>Well I'm actually supposed to be getting a job pretty soon
>>that pays me $300 for 3 days work.
I'll probably spend just that on resin and fiberglass for four cages. www.fiberglasssupply.com is a company I've been planning to buy from for years (but as of yet haven't) and will probably do so this week. Good prices, lots of volume options.

>>they are truly the worlds coolest parents.
I vote for cool parents

>>Oh quick question: What about already laminated wood? Could
>>that be used?
What kind of laminated wood and for what? I'm using a thin plywood floor with thin particleboard for the sides and top. The floor will sit on a row of 1x2 joists for support, above it a supporting framework of 1x2's that the other panels are bound to. The skeleton is oriented to favor stacking the units together. My purpose for epoxying the inside is to simplify cleaning, prevent moisture penetration/molding, discourage burrowing, and to deter any potential residence of mites in the cage, should they happen to occur. At the same time I can fiberglass the joints for reinforcement. My design is for lightweight stackability. Your intentions may vary.
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2.3.0 uromastyx geyri (Saharan/Nigerian)
0.0.4 uromastyx hardwickii (Indian)
3.6.0 uromastyx macfadyeni (Somalian)
1.2.0 uromastyx ocellata (Sudanese)
1.3.0 uromastyx ornata (Ornate)

>>
>>>>Oh quick question: What about already laminated wood? Could
>>>>that be used?
>>What kind of laminated wood and for what? I'm using a thin plywood floor with thin particleboard for the sides and top. The floor will sit on a row of 1x2 joists for support, above it a supporting framework of 1x2's that the other panels are bound to. The skeleton is oriented to favor stacking the units together. My purpose for epoxying the inside is to simplify cleaning, prevent moisture penetration/molding, discourage burrowing, and to deter any potential residence of mites in the cage, should they happen to occur. At the same time I can fiberglass the joints for reinforcement. My design is for lightweight stackability. Your intentions may vary.

Well Menards has already laminated wood. Just a piece of wood you could use for like a desktop (like computer desks, how they have laminants on them).

Maybe for the sides or top I was thinking if that would save money/work.

I need to be able to stack 2 of the units. One has to be on top of the other. My bearded is on bottom and my mali will be on top.

Then on top of the egyptian I was thinking of putting both of my gecko's up on top of that cage.

Or move my bearded into another room, taking my mali to my room and then just putting the gecko's on top of the mali's cage.

Not sure yet. I'd like to have all my reptiles in my room, but if I don't have the room then I'll just switch positions with some of the reptiles.

>>Well Menards has already laminated wood. Just a piece of wood
>>you could use for like a desktop (like computer desks, how
>>they have laminants on them).
Just knowing that, I'd say no. Table/desktops are thicker and heavier than necessary for a cage. Most of those surfaces are a type of composite particleboard (which has no significant strength and are sometimes moisture sensitive) with some sort of veneer be it a natural ply of wood or something synthetic like a formica countertop. The veneer is purely aesthetic in these cases.

>>Maybe for the sides or top I was thinking if that would save
>>money/work.
Thicker materials are almost always more expensive unless you're talking a "normal" thickness versus an unusually thin item. I don't know the surface characteristics of that material so I don't know what it would be saving. It sounds like overkill to me.

Home Depot has a small section of precut sizes called "Handy Panels" that are various plywood and particleboard materials in 2x2 and 2x4 foot options. That's what I'm designing my primary dimensions around.

>>I need to be able to stack 2 of the units. One has to be on
>>top of the other. My bearded is on bottom and my mali will be
>>on top.

As long as you support the floor properly and distribute the load away from ceiling surface of the lower cages into the vertical supports you should be good. The heavier the cages are, the more substantial the supports need to be. I'll see if I can sketch out some of my thoughts or get photos next week of the way I'm working. If you don't have tools, it'll be tough stuff to duplicate.
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2.3.0 uromastyx geyri (Saharan/Nigerian)
0.0.4 uromastyx hardwickii (Indian)
3.6.0 uromastyx macfadyeni (Somalian)
1.2.0 uromastyx ocellata (Sudanese)
1.3.0 uromastyx ornata (Ornate)

>>>>Well Menards has already laminated wood. Just a piece of wood
>>>>you could use for like a desktop (like computer desks, how
>>>>they have laminants on them).
>>Just knowing that, I'd say no. Table/desktops are thicker and heavier than necessary for a cage. Most of those surfaces are a type of composite particleboard (which has no significant strength and are sometimes moisture sensitive) with some sort of veneer be it a natural ply of wood or something synthetic like a formica countertop. The veneer is purely aesthetic in these cases.
>>
>>>>Maybe for the sides or top I was thinking if that would save
>>>>money/work.
>>Thicker materials are almost always more expensive unless you're talking a "normal" thickness versus an unusually thin item. I don't know the surface characteristics of that material so I don't know what it would be saving. It sounds like overkill to me.
>>
>>Home Depot has a small section of precut sizes called "Handy Panels" that are various plywood and particleboard materials in 2x2 and 2x4 foot options. That's what I'm designing my primary dimensions around.
>>
>>>>I need to be able to stack 2 of the units. One has to be on
>>>>top of the other. My bearded is on bottom and my mali will be
>>>>on top.
>>
>>As long as you support the floor properly and distribute the load away from ceiling surface of the lower cages into the vertical supports you should be good. The heavier the cages are, the more substantial the supports need to be. I'll see if I can sketch out some of my thoughts or get photos next week of the way I'm working. If you don't have tools, it'll be tough stuff to duplicate.

Brother's got a drill I can use for when I have to put screws and such in.

Congratulations on the new job! That sounds like fun, to bring some freedom and happiness into someone elses life, you really cannot beat that!

As a side note, I was warned about having any cuts made at a place like Lowes, they do not really have the right tools to make precise cuts, they do "close enough" cuts very well. We have a local lumber mill that does some finish work that cut the peices for me to exact specifications (actually more more exact than I ever would have!), and this is what made it such an easy project.

I cannot wait to hear how everything goes, my parents were/are super cool too, and it makes life a lot easier doesn't it!

Elizabeth
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1.0 Mali Uro Archimedes
0.0.1 Egyptian Uro Zuberi Mosca Khu (Mosca)
0.0 Fish
0.1 Sulcata Minnie
1.1 Iguanas Flik and Loki
0.1 Newfoundland Jasmine (RIP)
0.1 Feline Winter
Indiana & Wisconsin

>>Congratulations on the new job! That sounds like fun, to bring some freedom and happiness into someone elses life, you really cannot beat that!
>>
>>As a side note, I was warned about having any cuts made at a place like Lowes, they do not really have the right tools to make precise cuts, they do "close enough" cuts very well. We have a local lumber mill that does some finish work that cut the peices for me to exact specifications (actually more more exact than I ever would have!), and this is what made it such an easy project.
>>
>>I cannot wait to hear how everything goes, my parents were/are super cool too, and it makes life a lot easier doesn't it!

Well I think maybe our local lumber yard might do it, I'm not for sure though.

Maybe if I went with the officer I ride with while I'm on duty they might give us the "policeman's" discount .