Reptile & Amphibian Forums

do i still need to treat/seal the wood in my roughneck monitor's future cage [dimensions 6X3 (maybe 28 in so it can fit in doorways)X6] if i plan on putting cement with little cliffs on all sides of the cage (except the roof... unless i put that there too and make the cage look kinda cavey...?). i think it would be cool cuz he can take better advantage of the space in his cage and provide him with more to do. i kind of wanna mold it to make a draining pool, planter(s), and a heat lamp cage/cover so he doesn't get burned (and hide it and make it look like a light entering the tunnel from a hole... this could be really cool!).i also thought about just applying corckbark to the treated wood with climbing plants.
any experiences with this? how much would you think it might cost? i plan on doing it using either this, or this technique, unless you know something better (advice please!).
would you recommend this or am i making this more for me than him?
is this a timely procedure?
the pic bellow is my rudi that'll be living in there asap
thanks,
jake

p.s. sorry if this sounds incoherent, i kinda thought half this stuff up as i was writing.

I noticed you were trying to link to the DIY article I have up on my website, which utilizes the same methods and technologies that zoos have been using for the past two or three decades. Personally, I prefer this technique over the "glop some grout on top of some spray foam, and call it a rock" technique.

But in your situation, where you are keeping V. rudicollis, I wouldn't recommend making it a rock wall; instead, I would affix cork bark or cork panels to the walls, with cork tube hollows running up the walls, acting like hollowed tree trunks.

Rock escarpments and cliffs really wouldn't be a natural landform that a roughneck would be frequently using. Give it something which acts more like a tree, in both accessibility and function(hiding in, etc.).

The faux rock enclosure that I describe in that article was for a pair of Togian Water Monitors, an animal that will be spending much more time on the ground, and in a more terrestrial type environment than a V. rudicollis.

Good luck with your project, whatever you choose to do. Take care, have a wonderful day,

Bob
treemonitors.com

**here's the link for my article:
Faux Rock DIY

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TheOdatriad

damn, that sucks, i had already kinda drawn plans with the waterfall and planters and everything, i think i will still use this to make the pool, probably the waterfall too. i'm glad you were the one to answer my post though because i wanted to ask you ahbout the quick and easy tree monitor cage. do you think it is possible to adapt this for a rudi? i was thinking maybe make that the top and have a medium or large waterland tub at the bottom to hold the dirt/water. it's probably obvious by now i have never really built a cage before, at least not one this large, so if you have any other tips/info/webpages that i may not have looked at yet i would really appreciate it. my aim is for a cage that my monitor will be very happy in and doesn't accumulate too much more debt for after i graduate college.
thanks again,
-jake

do i still need to treat/seal the wood in my roughneck monitor's future cage if i plan on putting cement with little cliffs on all sides of the cage?

I have not done faux rockwork in a number of years but I always sealed plywood carcass' with epoxy paint prior to applying cement. Probably overkill but I'm glad I did it. However, I was doing enough cages that the cost of the epoxy was not a huge deal. For a single cage it might be a significant cost.