Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Hello everyone, hope you are well this holiday season. I know you guys are probably sick of all my cge questions by now, but I just want to get an much information as possible BEFORE I commit to a monitor.

I want to start off with a hatchling in a large aquarium, but when it gets bigger I would like to construct a knock-down glass and wood cage. The picture I have in my head is having plywood all the way around, but having a glass front with two larger doors that open opposite to each other. Also having a smaller door attatched to the bottom of one of the main doors just to access water tub, and poo and such. Also a strip hardware cloth for a bit of ventilation on the cool side, and on the ceiling of the warm side so I can set heat lamps on top of it.

Is there anything wrong with my idea? Also, has anyone made a large knock-down cage that could give me some advice? THe only way I can think of making a knock-down cage is having each side of the cage come apart and having the bottom be like a wooded tub all held together with screws. Is there a better way of going about this?

Sorry for such a long post, especially of a ANOTHER cage question. I really do appreciate all your help! Thanks!

~Aubrey
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1.1.0 Leopard Geckos (Booger & Gimp)
1.0.0 Veiled Chameleon (Lucutis)

I think you said you wanted a hardware cloth vent at the top of the warm side. All the vents would need to be low so that warm air and humidity would not excape easily. I buy vents from Home Depot because they look better than harware cloth and I put them low in the cage.

Other than that it sounds ok but complex. I follow the rule of keep it simple because I am lazy

What size cage are you thinking for what size monitor?

Here is one side of one of my enclosures with the vent I am talking about. It is an old picture.

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Ed

Yes, that vent does look better than what I imagine the hardware cloth will look. You suggested that I don't put any hardware cloth on the ceiling of the cage. While I understand your reasoning for this, I don't know how I could rig up heat lamps INSIDE the cage. Also, I would think heat lamps on the inside would limit space that the monitor could use for climbing, and I would worry about burns. The cage I intend to build is 7'L by 3' or 4' wide by 6'or 7' high. I would be getting either a Dumeril's or a Yellow monitor.

Any suggestions on simplifying this cage?

Thanks!
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1.1.0 Leopard Geckos (Booger & Gimp)
1.0.0 Veiled Chameleon (Lucutis)

You can see with this picture that was taken when originally setting up the cage how I put my lights in. The box holding the light has hardware cloth on the bottom and a hinged door on the front. Most people just hang the lights from the ceiling. My setup protects the monitors from getting burned. I can not adjust how far the lights are from the basking spot, though. Two 90 watt flood lights heat my basking spot to 130 degrees in the winter. I lower the wattage in the summer.

The first enclosures I built I did like you are talking about. I put the lights on top of the enclosure with hardware cloth covering the opening on the top. I have since put a wood box over the lights and opening. (It looks like crap) Too much heat and humidity escapes when there is a hole on the top. Heat and humidity rise, therefore you lose it, and the monitor can not take advantage of it. It is very hard to keep the needed humidity in the enclosure if there is a hole for it to escape.

It is warmer at the top than at the bottom so the monitors have a variety of temperatures to chose. If the heat is lost at the top, there wont be a very good temperature range for them to chose from. I believe that most of the more knowledgeable monitor keepers will agree with me that it is best to mount the lights inside a solid top enclosure and put the vents in low.

Other people have posted pictures of their enclosures with lights hanging from the ceiling. A lot of them can use lower wattage lights than I do to get the same basking and ambient temperatures. Look at older posts and see how they did it for some different ideas.

PS. I have changed the interior to include more and taller climbing trees for my Dumerils.

Good luck with the enclosure

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Ed

Wonderful! I didn't think of constructing a box to hold the heat lamps. I like this idea... do you have a vent on the top of your heat lamp box to allow the lamps to cool a bit? I would worry this might be a fire hazard if they are all enclosed... am I wrong?

Thanks for all the help!
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1.1.0 Leopard Geckos (Booger & Gimp)
1.0.0 Veiled Chameleon (Lucutis)

There is a hole large enough for the plugs to fit through above the lights on the side of the box. It hasn't caught on fire yet.
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Ed

i'm actually making one right now that sounds a lot like what you have in mind. i'll post pictures soon and i can give you the plans i made also.
-jake