Reptile & Amphibian Forums

This is a copy of what I have posted on another forum. Its a report on building a cage.
Here goes

Ok as you know, I started with a flat bottomed retangle type cage. I needed a nesting area and the door rails were very near the bottom. So I changed the idea of that cage to one where it goes from uphill to downhill to the water, which is a more natural feel.

It would also allow me to include a ground type nesting area along with two upper nesting areas, one in a vertical log and the other in a horizontal log.

So here goes.

This picture shows the structure I used to dam up the substrate. ITs a box with a wingwall.

This shows the retaining wall from the inside right of the cage. You can see the weather stripping that keeps animals and substrate out from between the wall and the glass.

This picture shows the nesting material in the retaining area, its about 12 inches of sand coco puff stuff, and 5 inches of leaflitter. Its then decorated to look natural. The larger rocks in this picture are also arificial.

This picture is on the left side of the hollow log. Here you can see the retaining wall.

This is the water feature on the downhill right side of the cage.

A little closer view.

The before and after. I paint the frit area brown, I was going to use black but it did not look good. So dark brown is what I liked.

Now for final decoration, then put the animals in.

Its very hard to photograph this cage as it looks smaller in the pictures. The cage is about 8 foot long, 6'6" high and 25" deep.

The bottom potential nesting area is about 3' by 2' by 16" deep.

I have to say, the decorations are very expensive. hahahahahahahaha Enjoy

With the animals in the new cage.
here goes

As expected, they stayed totally hidden all day yesterday, I did see some pellets that appeared to be dropped during the night.

So just before I went to bed, I went out and took these photos.

This is the male, he was basking in the area above the water. The right side of the cage.


This one of the two females, she was basking in the area to the left side of the cage, the green belt over the nesting.

She appears to be out of sight of the male. Which was the plan if you remember.

Now i have to add a bowl to hold fuzzies, as its a uphill/downhill cage and if fuzzies are just left in the cage, they will end up in the water.

I did place some dead small adult mice on the rocks on the bottom and some are gone.

I still have some work to do(always) but so far, so good. Best wishes

That enclosure is as stunning as the lizards in it.
-----
Regards,
Wayne A. Harvey
Thamnophis US
Savannah Monitors
Snakes and Lizards, It don't get any better....

Gosh, you ought to make enclosures for zoos and such....and how will you crush one by mistake when you use artificial rock formations? Actually though, it looks like a nice set up! something similar might suit some roughnecks quite well...just a thought...why not put in some of that bamboo-esque river grass from out there? stays fresh for a good while and is easily replaced.
How's the monsoon season going this year? Out here there seems to be a significant depletion of nocturnal insects. Almost none to be seen. virtually no craneflies whatsoever, which is very odd in these parts. only snake i ve seen was a young gopher snake,but the summer aint over...
guy