Custom Vavarium

[The_Monk]

I'm now the proud owner of a Bearded Dragon! Im extremely chuffed, he is fantastic! However, shelling out £90 for his vivarium kinda got me a bit puzzled after I put it together as it is relatively simple. After a quick measure I popped down the local DIY store, got some MDF and knocked one up for £20! (Ok its got no doors but two pieces of cut glass or acrylic will do the job) Now i'm wondering how I should finish it as brown is kinda manky! Anyone else ever built a vivarium? how did you finish it, I wanna paint mine but any ideas what paint, Im thinkin waterproof paint, but what would be the chance of the lil guy clawing the paint off and eating it? would he do that? i dont want to kill him over something trivial like paint.

 

[micheleinvirginia]

Hey Monk,

Why dont you stain it and just let it air out well before you put him in? You can get stain in other colors besides brown... Or, leave the inside plain and just do the outside.

I have painted the inside of cages before, but that was for snakes. Bearded Dragons dont move around a whole lot so I cant imagine him scraping the paint off :?

 

[Andrew]

Actually, beardies do move around a lot if given enough room. And clawing up the inside of the cage is what they do best, especially young ones. My cage for my adult is made out of plexiglass. It is about 2 1/2 feet tall, 4 feet long, and 2 feet wide, which seems to be perfect for an adult beardie, while allowing space for 1 or two more if you ever want to get another. We just glued the pieces together and buffed it.

Thanks,

Andrew

 

[micheleinvirginia]

Hmmm... some friends of mine had one and I never saw him move except to eat. I never had one myself, but Ive had iguanas and Savannah Monitors and they just sit there too.

 

[Andrew]

Interesting.

Thanks,

Andrew

 

[The_Monk]

I never thought of staining it, gonna go check out the stains in the DIY store now. I did wonder about the plexiglass a completely see thru vivarium would be ace but does it act as a giant green house making the temperature a bit unstable, also does it confuse the beardie and he runs into the sides? Mine runs around like a missile when he's in the mood and loves the branches he can run round and round.

 

[The_Monk]

Went to the DIY Store and got some black enamel. Its tough, non toxic and safe for kids! Should be OK for my beardie as its pretty hard to scratch off.

 

[Orin]

Went to the DIY Store and got some black enamel. Its tough, non toxic and safe for kids! Should be OK for my beardie as its pretty hard to scratch off.

You may have already bought plastic doors but you could get a screen window kit for not too much money and make screen doors.

 

[The_Monk]

i got some 5mm clear acrylic. I was tempted to have the whole thing made out of acrylic but was not sure how the beardie would cope. From what Andrew said it would have been nice! Oh well in 6 months time no doubt i'll get something else!

 

[Leah]

Bearded dragons have some pretty serious nails.. acryllic would soon look pretty bad with their scratching habits.

 

[The_Monk]

most things would look pretty bad except glass, the laminated vivarium I have would scratch easy with his nails! Just gonna have to try different things till I get something that works well.

 

[Orin]

most things would look pretty bad except glass, the laminated vivarium I have would scratch easy with his nails! Just gonna have to try different things till I get something that works well.

The bearded cages I've seen have doors on the top. Yours are on the bottom sides?

 

[Oneida]

I keep my beardie in a glass Aquarium, 30 gallon, hes about 4-5 years old nowi notice he moves a lot more when i have the heat lamp on him *its on my 10 gallon for a mantid at the moment.

I would suggest handling him a lot, i stopped picking mine up, and now hes a vicious killer! ;-)

 

[The_Monk]

my doors on the side, got some runners from the DIY store and some 5mm clear acrylic, the guy at the shop cut and polished the edges for me too!! He said he could make anything I wanted out of acrylic so long as it was made out of flat pieces! I really want a clear vivarium now!

 

[PseudoDave]

It's probably already been taken into full account but just in case remember to ensure plenty of ventilation. An all glass/plastic/whatever tank isnt like the wooden vivariums you get in the fact that they 'sweat' more. Beardies are semi-arid/desert species, so nice and dry with plenty of heat and ventilation is a must for a healthy bearded dragon. Good choice of lizard, it's almost impossible to find an aggressive beardie when it's been handled correctly and consistently in the past. Also, they're very willing to hand feed and this is another way that they tame up, but we've got a situation here at the shop right now where a customer has bought hers in for a little bit of health care, she's just over double the weight an adult beardie should be, all because she was hand fed constantly and the wrong kinds of food to.

Anyway, best of luck with the little one and his house.

Dave