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Nile monitor enclosure questions

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Posted by: Lupris at Sat Nov 12 02:43:28 2011  [ Report Abuse ] [ Email Message ] [ Show All Posts by Lupris ]  
   

I recent bought a baby nile monitor that is currently living in a 36 in. x 18 in. x 17 in. cage. Although it is a hatchling, it seems relatively docile. It never tried to bite me nor has it attempted to tail whip me. I could get within inches of the cage and it will not try to run and hide. However, when I open the cage it will sometimes run away, unless I have food (of course). Other times, it just stays in the same spot and lets me pet it gently. Sometimes it will even climb onto me from the cage. It’s about 15 inches long, and appears to be very healthy. It’s very curious and alert, and often keeps an eye on me. It appears to be very active, and loves to climb. These lizards grow extremely fast, so i’m already planning on building its future enclosure. I plan on moving it into a small room that is actually attached to my bedroom (not a closet, but still has a door). The dimension of the room 7ft x 6ft x 4-6ft (ceiling is not flat), with a small space attached to it on the left (2.5ft x 2.5 ft x 3-4ft). This room also has a small window, which is a plus. This gives my nile monitor roughly 48 sq ft of space. However, there is another room attached to that same room, which you can enter in through a 3 ft tall x 2 ft wide door. The dimension for the second room is about the same size as the first room (7ft x 6ft), but the ceiling slants to the floor, which leaves the room with 5 sides (rather than a standard 6 sided room). So if you looked at the second room from a sideway view, it would look like a right triangle. This gives my nile monitor a total of 90 sq feet. I’m pretty sure this space will suffice for an adult, but the problem is converting the room into an actual enclosure. The first room has carpeted floor, while the second room is unfinished and is covered in wood (including the sides). The first room has dry wall surrounding it, which my monitor could probably dig through. The main question I have: How do I convert both rooms into a full sized enclosure? I know I need to reinforce the walls and cover them waterproof material, but what would be best? I’m thinking of using FRP to cover the whole area, including the floor, but how do I safely attached it without really damaging the dry wall? Should I cover the floor with wood first for support then put FRP on top? Another concern I have is water maintenance. I don’t think hauling buckets of water for hours everyday is efficient. Could I instead put water filters in the water tub to clean the water. Are filters strong enough to clean monitor feces and make the water clean? I know I could create a drainage system connected to the tub, but I wouldn’t have a place to drain it, considering the enclosure is next to my bedroom on the second floor of my house. If there are no other options, I guess I don’t have much of a choice but to manually change the water. I have never actually built my own reptile enclosure, so I am relatively inexperienced with this kind of project. Are there any other things that I should take into account? In addition, I also have a shelf attached to the wall in my bedroom that stands between my bedroom and room #2. I’m thinking about knocking it down and replacing it with plexiglass, or any other strong clear material, so that I could have a better visual of my monitor from my bedroom to the second room. I’m going to keep the door open so that it has full access to both rooms. I have tried to research online, but there isn’t much information about converting a room into a reptile enclosure on the internet. If anyone could give me some advice, I would really appreciate it! I really want to make this happen and give my nile the space it deserves. Th


   

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>> Next Message:  RE: Nile monitor enclosure questions - lupris, Sat Nov 12 14:36:49 2011