Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Wanted to share a couple pictures of my new S. occidentalis enclosure. It’s a 100% outdoor enclosure. The inhabitants have been in there for 2 days now and all seems to be working great. I know its still a little bare but soon it will mimic there natural habitat

My reptile research and collection

Jason-one thing for you to consider? The Swift lizards you have as you well know are very active, and they seem to have a habit of running up and down the screen and when alarmed they often will drag their nose on the screen knowing there are holes in the screen and they try and find a place to slip out. Whats bad about this is they can rub their noses raw, I would keep an eye out for this as it could cause the demise of your animals. IN the future as a suggetion, I would use garden shade cloth, the real tough stuff from home depot on one or two sides which provides easy climbing and shade for hot days as well as rain not entering so easily, but on tow of the other sides I would use 1/4 vinyl coated screen mesh. This is much easier on the noses, you'll just have to keep an eye on the females when they lay eggs and dig the eggs up, if you allow them to hatch in the cage the babies could escape through the screen. Hope this helps-you might think about it, these materials are usually available through Lowes or HOme Depot. Cheers!!!!
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Phrynosoma.com

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signature file edited. [phw 11/14/04]

I have considered all of this. When I went out to buy the screen I was looking for the nylon or the like screen but we have a huge cat problem on our property and I got worried the cats would rip into it so I went with the mettle. To help with the problem of rubbing there noses I do not put newly collected Sceloporus in that enclosure. They spend time in an all glass tank and get deticked and demited as well as tamed down a little bit. Once they are ready they are then put in the enclosure. The enclosure was originally made with ½” wire mesh but to my surprise a full grown S. Occidentalis can squeeze right out of that so I went with smaller. I my still try ¼” wire mesh as it will not be so course on the nose if they do happen to rub on it. As far as the eggs. I do plan on breeding them in this enclosure and I will be digging up and removing the eggs to incubate them. The biggest problem I have observed thus far is water. It is changed daily but outdoor enclosures evaporate water dishes at an astonishing rate. To keep tabs on this I fill it every morning and my wife checks and or fills it 2 times during the day

My reptile research and collection

If you like cats OR you read this message, I dont care.
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Paullywog

I have no idea what's going on. It's more fun that way.

Actually for the cats I have resulted in a more lethal method that we will not get into, Recently out local animals shelter as informed us that they will now take the cats so we are currently trapping them all and bringing them there. They will fix them and then adopt them out.

My reptile research and collection

i cant stand cats myself, because they torture any animal smaller than them and then leave it. America is about to be overrun with "wild" cats and we have to realize what it can do to native animals.
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Paullywog

I have no idea what's going on. It's more fun that way.