Planning my viv.

[Fiefster]

Hey every one.

I am new to the forum but not entirely new to Bearded Dragons. I had one but the little fellow passed on, now 2 years later I want to get one again but I've sold my previous cage and want to build a cage.

I was thinking of building it from pressed wood will that be good? All of the cages in South Africa is built from pressed wood. If not what hard wood can I use that is not too expensive?

I want to put the following in my cage. Please comment on what you think.

1 Lightning and electical stuff

- A ReptiGlo 10.0 OR a ReptiSun10.0 high output UVB flourescent tube.
Which is better?

- working with this I want to put in a basking light, Either a SunGlo thight beam OR a ZooMed Repti basking spotlamp
Which is better and what wattage should I take?

- I also want to put in an NightGlo moonlight lamp at 75W
Will this be able to keep the viv at the correct temp during the evenings or will I need to fit an Infrared heat lamp?

I am going to use three programmeble timers to control the lightning and to create the day night cycle. Will procelain lamp sockets be sufficiant or are they dangerous to the beardies? I will also make use of a deul digital thermometer. I also thought of maybe adding a ExoTerra heat wave rock for my beardie to lay on to help with digestion etc.

2 General

- Then I will obvously put in a food bowl and a drinking bowl.

- Do I have to like put in a hideout for the bd?

- I decided on using fine reptile sand as the substrate.

Then some decorations to make the cage look good, I want to go for a desert theme.

The cages size will be 960 liters, the dimensions. Length 2000mm by Width 800mm by Height 600mm. I know that is a huge cage but I dont want to change the cage after a year or two because my dragon grew to bigh for it. And too big is not a problem hey?

Well thanks for reading feel free to leave comments as I still have a lot to learn and would like to know what you all think.

 

[KrisWithaK1225]

First of all, how big is your beardie going to be when you get it?

Any hardwoods are good. I've used maple, hemlock, and cherry for my beardie related projects. I'm not too sure about pressed wood. I don't see any problems with it, but don't qoute me on that.

I use ReptiSun 10.0 uvb for my tank and it's worked fine so far. I would reccommend that.

If I were you, I would use the spotlamp so that there's a larger area being heated. Depending on if there's a high basking spot in the tank you would either want a 75 or 100 watt bulb.

How cold does it get at night were you live? If it's above the upper 60's, you won't need a nighttime bulb.

I haven't heard anything good about using those electric heat rocks. They tend to short out and become extremely hot and cause burns on countless animals. But they did say that they fixed them not too long ago. I wouldn't use them if I were you. Just get a smooth river rock and place it under the basking light. It looks better and is more natural.

Beardies do like to hide, so I would reccommend giving your beardie a hide, like a half-log or something.

If your beardie is young, use paper towel, newspaper or repticarpet. Sand is not good for beardies under 1 year. Young beardies tend to lick everything, and this includes sand. Too much of it, and they will become impacted, and that's not good at all. Personally, I don't like sand at all. Even for my beardie who's over a year old. I just don't like having to worry. And plus, it gets everywhere, and depending on what brand, it may get dusty (which isn't good either).

A desert theme is good. Especially for beardies

Those dementions sound great! Bigger is always better. But if it's a really small beardie, you may want to place a divider in the tank so that the beardie doesn't feel so lost.

If I missed anything, or you have more questions, feel free to ask!

 

[Fiefster]

Hey, thanks for the reply Kris.

I want to get my beardie from infant. I'm looking to get him/her from the age of 2 months but he/she should not be older than 4 months when I get him.

Thanks I will look at those woods. All of the vivs that one can buy here is made of pressed wood, but the people building their own vivs use other wood not pressed.

I want to use the ReptiSun light as well as a spotlamp. Because my viv will be so long I want to put the Reptisun florecent tube light in the centre at the top of the back panel of the viv and then the spotlamp on the left hand side to make the basking spot/area there..

Where I stay in winter time temperatures drop to or below 5 degrees CELCIUS, that is about 30 degrees Fahrenheit. But in summer time it is well above 60..

I also thought to at first not use the sand and wait till he is older. I first wanted to do a jungle theme then I thought.. Hey man they come from the Australian outback, The desert is their home so make his enviroment as close to that as possible.. And I will deffinitely build a hide for him as that was something that I was not sure of.

If I get a river rock as a basking rock and everything else that I might get from nature do I have to like disinfect it first before I use it in my viv?

Thanks again for all of the help.

 

[Bill]

I would put your Reptisun right next to your Basking light that is where he will spend most of his time .There natural enviroment is more of a packed hard dirt but they are in many different types of substrate there.

As for the temp I don't think you let it get to 30F in your home

 

[Fiefster]

Thanks Bill and Karen

And your correct it surely does not get that cold inside the house. Hehe So it is not really neccessary for the night moonlight lihgt?

 

[Bill]

nope