Would this be large enough to house my red?

[thomasjg23]

I would like to build an enclosure that is 6.5'x4.5'x28"

The 6.5'x28" are my max to fit through doorways.

The 4.5' Is the width of my queen mattress and i will be embarking on an underbed enclosure adventure.

I just need to know if these sizes will be suficient for an adult tegu.

FYI I have him out free roaming whenever I am home.

Thanks hope to hear from everyone!

 

[Toby_H]

I think we should have an enclosure that is large enough to keep them happy without free roaming. Then free roam them in addition as a treat. This way when life gets busy and we don't have time to free roam as much as we'd like, the Tegu doesn't suffer.

With that said, 6.5' x 4.5' isn't too bad of a size (29.25 sq ft). Although I think the 28" height will be slightly inconvenient for the Tegu but very inconvenient for you. I do not like the idea of an enclosure that comes apart in multiple pieces... but I do like the idea of a two piece enclosure with an upper and lower section that interlock to make a single large enclosure.

I settled with 35" depth (front to back) so I could get it through a 36" door frame. But I did this accepting it will never fit into a bedroom. I couldn't do the two part interlockign idea as my Tegu enclsoure doubles as an aquarium stand, thus needed to be perfectly flat and able to hold a lot of weight.

 

[james.w]

I would try to go a little longer if possible. I also went with 28" height for doorways and am hoping it isn't too much of a pain. I am not using it yet since he is still small enough for his 5x2x2, but if the 28" is too short I think I will remove the top and make another section on top.

 

[thomasjg23]

Well I never thought about 28" being an inconvenience to me I do like the idea of a two piece top and bottom but I would worry about that coming apart when I throw my bed and myself (and a plus one everyonce in a while) up there and potentially hurting my tegu or worse.

 

[Toby_H]

You would surely have to design the two part stacking enclosure to interlock, but doing so would be quite easy...

Ensure the boards where the top and bottom sections meet are cut square... allow the plywood to overlap slightly... lastly have a dowel in the bottom with a matching hole in the top (on all 4 corners)...

I really considered doing this on mine so I could go a full 4' depth (front to back)... but I feared the final product not being flat enough to safely support the fish tank on top. Looking back, I wish I would have done it that way as the assembly was much smoother than I anticipated. Not only would this have allowed me to make my enclosure larger, it would have made the single into two units which would have been much easier to carry. Oh My God is my enclosure heavy...........

 

[thomasjg23]

I might have to do this. I feel a pictured guide needs to be created so we can start getting these enclosures into bedrooms.