enclosure questions

[Rhetoric]

If they feel they need to then they will. I don't think you can stop them if they're going down anyway. Rangos going through his 3rd fall/winter and he hasn't gone down for any of them. Guru is a year old and didn't go down last year. They hybrid went down his last 2 years but this year he is still going strong.

 

[james.w]

Like said, if they are gonna go down, they are gonna go down. They don't have to, but I don't know of a safe way to keep them up if they go down.

 

[Sirhc401]

Nice enclosure. For those who have built custom enclosures I am also looking to build a better enclosure. I had a simple question, what would be better to use for access? Sliding glass doors or glass hinged doors?

 

[Strange_Evil]

Nice enclosure. For those who have built custom enclosures I am also looking to build a better enclosure. I had a simple question, what would be better to use for access? Sliding glass doors or glass hinged doors?

Honestly i like sliding glass better when it comes to looks, but i always get dirt stuck in the tracks and i have a pretty big lip blocking it and still get dirt in the tracks and it gets jammed up.

Hinged is what i am going to do with my second cage. Also just another tip, use glass, the plexiglass stuff scratches way to easily!

 

[Rhetoric]

I like hinged, I have one enclosure with hinges and one with sliding doors. The sliding one is sometimes a little harder to open because dirt gets stuck into the grooves. I don't have a metal track, whoever built it that enclosure carved the grooves into the wood. I know there is not escaping with the sliding enclosure, the glass is way too heavy for my tegu to open on his own.

 

[james.w]

I have both as well, and I like hinged better.

 

[Sirhc401]

Does anyone have pictures of their hinged door enclosures? I would like some pictures to see for examples so I can get a better look at how I should go about making it

 

[james.w]

 

[Sirhc401]

Nice. So the downward hinged door works best?

 

[james.w]

I think it does, it would work best if it went all the way down so it isn't in the way but oh well. Opening to the side doors tend to sag because of the weight unless you use heavy duty hinges. Opening up, you have to put a latch of some sort so the door doesn't fall on you.

 

[Sirhc401]

How expensive is it to build A custom enclosure. I was thinking if it costs a lot I might as well buy one

 

[james.w]

it can be done for as cheap as about $150 if you really need it to be. The best deal I have seen on a new cage that would house an adult tegu was $500 plus shipping.

 

[Sirhc401]

That is about what I am looking at plus some for buying. I'm actually trying to build not just a tegu enclosure but an entire stacking enclosure unit for my reptiles that when all put together will be 5x2x6 with 5 enclosures total, the top one split in half. I have a sketch I'll post in a moment...

 

[james.w]

How big are you planning on doing your tegus cage?

 

[Sirhc401]

I plan on making his cage 5 feet long 2 feet wide. I know it is kinda small but by the time he gets bigger we want to take him out all the time so he does not have to be in it a lot. Not to mention we have limited room and we have to make something we can transport because my girlfriend will be taking all the reptiles when I leave for the air force. AnywaY, here is my sketches..

 

[james.w]

That is WAY too small for an adult tegu. I would definitely try to figure out a way to make a larger cage.

 

[Sirhc401]

Like I said. It is too small. But I am limited on space unless I built one under the bed which I have no idea how I could do that. I've seen it done but I don't know the first thing about building things. I would love to make his enclosure twice as big as that or more but we would not have a place to put it. And we need it to be transportable

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If there is a better option I would like to hear it. Im limited so it is hard to what I want with what I have

 

[james.w]

If you knew you wouldn't have the space for a tegu, why did you get one?

It wouldn't be that hard to build a cage under your bed.

 

[Sirhc401]

When I got him I was under the impresion he would be fine in a 4 foot cage. But for now he is still small and obviously I know now I need to go bigger. I have a queen size bed so having him under the bed would be ideal. My house has space but my girlfriends does not. And we don't want him in the cage all the time. And we originally had an entire room to put our reptiles in so we did have plenty of space. But then that room became occupied out of our control after we already had Odin. I know you must be thinking it was irresponsible of me to get a tegu if I had no space to put him. Had I known we would eventually be denied the space we had I would not have got him. But now I am happy I have him and am willing to do what I can to accommodate him

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So I hope you don't judge that I am that foolish.

 

[james.w]

I do understand things come up and plans change. This is the problem with your plan to have him out freeroaming a lot when he is bigger. What happens when you or your girl don't have time to let him out? Are you going to rehome him or leave him in an enclosure he can barely turn around in?